IT Strategy Plan: Perisher Blue - Case Study Example

Running head: IT Strategy plan Student name: Student number: Course title: Lecturer: Date: Executive summary The main purpose of this strategic plan is to make sure that the company, Perisher Blue, gets access to the best practice that will deliver leading cutting edge technology to her operations which integrates with the best practices in IT/IS systems. With this assurance, it will enable the company to have good systems; the core operations of the company will be streamlined to match the requirements. The plan that will be rolled out will bring the operations of the affiliate companies, Perisher Valley, Sniggin Holes, Mount Blue Cow, The SDtation and Skitube railways, and Guthega. Bringing all these to work under one management will not only require efficient and good management practices, but it will also require that the systems that are used in the company are efficient and align well with the company. Vision and mission Perisher Blues believe that the vision can be realized if the following mission and values are adopted in the organization: To give a high quality Information Technology capabilities through well-focused and wholly integrated approach for the organization that will give good response to the diverse affiliates in the company and that will also need the needs of the organization. The key elements that will be required for the IT/IS strategy will include the following: Research: the organization will continuously research on new ways of doing their operations with the new IT systems in place. The IT/IS strategy plan should be able to include good and efficient ways of integrating the various strategies that will ensure that this is achieved. Management: The strategy should also include the ways in which the organization should adopt good management processes within the company. This will help implementation of the new strategies that are required in the organization. Service quality: there should be improved service quality with the introduction of operations and delineated approach towards management. Infrastructure: the use of reliable and efficient IT system will bring new opportunities that will make the organization to get better services. Applications: The applications will integrate well with the organization and will bring about shared applications. The mission of the company has been dated as follows: Perisher Blue will be the pre-eminent four-season destination mountain resort in Australia, providing international class facilities, based on ecologically sustainable principles. With this strategy, there are higher chances that the company will realize their desire to have good and efficient systems in place. Table of Contents Running head: IT Strategy plan 1 Student name: 1 Student number: 1 Course title: 1 Lecturer: 1 Date: 1 Executive summary 2 Vision and mission 2 Table of Contents 4 Introduction 5 Literature review 5 SWOT Analysis 7 Strategy Formulation 9 Strategy Implementation 10 References: 11 Introduction With the advent of Information systems, there is a need for companies to have a strategy that they will use to leverage their IT and their operations in general. In this era of information and communication technology, it is the company or organization which incorporates the latest technologies and embraces technology in most of their otherwise manual operations that will be ahead of the competition (Hill et al, 2008). Companies are aligning their operations so that they are at par with the modern technologies. Most of the companies are looking for new ways of managing their systems, operations and procedures. For a company to come up with any strategy, they have to evaluate their standing and see what they have and what works. They should also have management aligned so that there are people that are tasked with making sure that the strategy are executed successfully and that the opportunities that are there in the company are successfully taken advantage of (Parrott, 2009). This paper will look at the strategy plan of a company which is based in Australia. It has many affiliate companies and for this, it should have a good strategy that will be able to marshal the resources from all these affiliates to come out successfully. Literature review The increasing significance of strategic management has come from a combination of many factors. One of the most notable factors that have led to this is that of competition which has been seen in organization today (Armstrong, 2009). There has been increased competition which has been a threat for the growth of many businesses. The advancement of technology has led to increasing global trade and awareness. Without much regard to reasons of their existence, the last twenty years has seen many companies adopt strategic management to leverage their operations. There are many perspectives that have been developed for adopting strategic management (Schlosser, 2007). A SWOT analysis is an integral component of the strategic planning process of any company and is used to study the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of that particular organization. The central theme for the SWOT analysis of Perisher Blue is to identify the strengths that the company has and how it utilizes these strengths so as to compete effectively in the market. By identifying it strengths, the organization will be able to rate the performance of its product in the market (Kotler, 2009). The following SWOT analysis shows Perisher Blue current position in the market place, their core competences and possible improvements which can be utilized so as to advance the strategy. For the implementation process to succeed in every company the management should appoint some people who will be monitoring the whole process to ensure that implementation is done as per the initial plan. MacDonald can ensure effective implementation of the selected strategies by following the procedures. The first step is defining the parameters to be measured in the company and this should be followed by defining the target values of the implemented parameters. The third step is performing the measurements which have been adopted in the previous stages. Lastly, the actual result should be compared with the planned or expected results so that effective strategies are identified and those strategies which do not work are eliminated. The managers should exercise enough care to ensure that the company is maintaining only the effective strategies in the company (Hill, Jones, Galvin and Haidar, 2008. P 168). SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is an integral component of the strategic planning process of any company and is used to study the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of that particular organization. The central theme for the SWOT analysis of Perisher Blue is to identify the strengths that the company has and how it utilizes these strengths so as to compete effectively in the market. By identifying it strengths, the organization will be able to rate the performance of its product in the market. The following SWOT analysis shows Perisher Blue current position in the market place, their core competences and possible improvements which can be utilized so as to advance the strategies of the business. Strengths The first strength is that the company has a recognized brand name. Since the company has been in place for a long time, many people have come across their products and therefore they can identify with them. Their global local presence is also strength in that it serves many countries and therefore has gained a competitive advantage over many regions. It utilizes a strong advertising and promotional campaign which has been made possible by the recent developments in the use of the internet. This has made sure that the product can be viewed over the internet making it possible for a greater percentage of individuals to be reached at. The company offers a variety of products and varied features of the product therefore appealing to a diverse group of people (Cateora, 2009.p 135). The Similarity and uniformity of quality across geographical locations makes the company to experience a greater market share. The company offers convenience and timeliness services thus making sure that their customers enjoy them to the fullest. The affiliation with other bodies like heart to heart foundation and Coca-cola corporation ahs also enabled the organization to gain an upper hand with it customers. Weaknesses The company has over the years experienced a negative public perception that its products are of low nutritional value. Because of lower disposal income, people have resorted to spending less on fast food. Social changes and lifestyles of people have made the company less flexible. Opportunities Further investment in charities made it possible for the company to expand its operations and made its brand name well known. Creativity and innovation within the product development and variety of choices in store has made the company to design new and more personalized products. New greener policies and conversation with regard to disposal of wastes and packaging of products has necessitated the company to influence a greater market. The current trends in technology have proved to be an opportunity since in trying to be in a brace with technology, many have been forced to purchase the new products of this company. Threats There has been a shift from fast food to healthier operations in the world today thus posing a threat to products of this company. The products that Perisher Blue Company offers are highly substitutable product thus a threat in terms of its products not obtaining an upper hand (Parrott, 2009. P 131) The highly competitive and mature marketplace today is also a threat to the company. The continued inventions and innovations are a threat to this product since new and appealing features are being introduced, a scenario which may mean substituting this product. Strategy Formulation This is normally done after careful environmental scan. The company should therefore maximize on in strength and opportunities and developed strategies of handling threats and weaknesses in the company (Cateora, 2009). Macdonald have attained superior profitability due to the quality of the food they provide to its customers in the market, in addition, the company have implemented various competitive strategies so as to developed a competitive advantage over the competitors in the market. The main strategies which Perisher Blue has been using are differentiation strategy and the use of cost. This has left the customers with no other option since they get the best in Perisher Blue Company, other find it so expensive to leave the company for competitors. Strategy Implementation The most effective strategies which have been selected are put into practice by means of programs, budgets, and procedures (Aaker, 2009). The implementation in Perisher Blue Company has been done through the use of resources and motivation of the employees in the organization so that they can offer quality food and other services such as accommodation. The effectiveness of the plans and strategies which has been adopted depends on the way they have been implemented. For example, Perisher Blue is an international company, and therefore, the people implementing the proposed strategies are different from those who are formulating them. Due to this, the implementations must be communicated in order to obtain enough reason for implementation of such program. Communication is very important because it allow everyone who will participate in implementation to be aware on what to be done. Furthermore, it will enable all the managers especially the line managers to understand what to be done in the company. References: Aaker, D. 2009. Marketing Research, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd. 9th edn. P 456-463 Armstrong, G. 2009. Marketing: An Introduction. Financial Times Prentice Hall 5th edn. P 124-127 Cateora, P. 2009. International marketing. McGraw-Hill 6th edn. P 133-136 Hill, CWL; Jones, GR; Galvin, P; and Haidar, 2008. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach, John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, 3rd pp.165-198 Kotler, P. 2009. Marketing Management. Prentice Hall 4th edn. P 78-82 Parrott, C. 2009. Kaplan AP Macroeconomics/Microeconomics. Kaplan Publishing. 4th edn. P129-134 Schlosser, E. 2007. Fast food nation: McDonald’s contribution to quality food production, Read More