Content
70 Percent / Met / Partially Met / Not Met / Comments:
- Propose a new product or service for the new company division. The division should be customer-focused with an innovative mission statement. Ensure that you are differentiating your product or service.
- Describe how the division addresses customer needs and achieves competitive advantage.
Details that includea plan for specifically addressing competition and aninitial point of view beyond your own beliefsfor competitive differentiation that relatesto your mission statement are missing. You can only develop those details from research.
FOR CONTINUED PROGRESS: As you continue to advance your plan,build-outdetails that will provide aprecise directional outline for the development of your business. This willhelp to give relevant context to your mission statement.Keep coming back to themission statementto confirm it continues to represent the organization through any refinements you make to the plans along the way. Avoid generalities;focus specifically on your business. Instead of explaining concepts, explain how you will specifically apply the concepts in your business. Continue to refine your ideas as we advance through the development of the strategic plan.
- Create a vision and a business model for this new division that clearly demonstrates your decision on what you want your business to become in the future.
- Explain how the vision, mission, and value of the new division align with the company’s mission and vision.
- Summarize how the vision, mission, and values guide the division’s strategic direction.
FOR CONTINUED PROGRESS: As you continue to build-out your plan, continue to validate your vision toensure it represents abroad-based, but achievable future aspiration in a single, definitive statement that can serve as a unifying focal point for your stakeholders.The statement should providethe focusyour organizationwill taketo establisha credible and practicaldirection for the business.
- Define your guiding principles and values for your division in the context of culture, social responsibility, and ethics and its alignment to those of the company.
FOR CONTINUED PROGRESS: Consider the specific ethical issues for a business like yours.In light of competition, what obstaclesdo you suspectyour business may run into as itattempts to claim its position in the marketplace? How will youovercome those obstacles? How will you support and enforceyour plans. For example, particularly as the organization grows,what operational safeguards and programs (e.g., specific type of training) will you use to ensure compliance with the spirit and intent of the vision, mission, and core values (e.g., formal customer feedback and associated support)?
The paper is between 1,400 and 1,750 words in length.
Total Available / Total Earned
7 / 4/7
Writing Guidelines
30Percent / Met / Partially Met / Not Met / Comments:
The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, andreference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelinesand meets course-level requirements. / 0.1/0.1 / You properly formatted your paper.
Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page. / 0.5/0.5 / You included references and in-text citations.
Paragraph and sentence transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper. / 0.4/0.4 / You presented your ideas in a logical and understandable way.
Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. / 1/1 / You effectively presented your ideas.
Rules of grammar and usage are followed including spelling and punctuation. / 1 /1 / You used proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Total Available / Total Earned
3 / 3/3
Assignment Total / 10 / 7/10 / Demonstrates a satisfactory comprehension of the subject matter.
Additional comments:
FOR CONTINUED PROGRESS: Raymond, expand your use of qualified research to include a targeted range of academically reliable source material that is specific to your business and industry to help you add "depth" and perspective to the development of your strategic plan. It will not be possible to formulate a credible plan based only upon personal observations, feelings, opinions, and general references.
Consider my feedback above and my comments inserted below, within your paper to continue making progress. Let me know what questions you have.
Conceptualizing a New Product or Service Division of an Existing Business
Raymond Trudeau
BUS 475
December 22, 2014
Mark Guberman
CONCEPTUALIZING A NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE DIVISION / 1Conceptualizing a New Product or Service Division of an Existing Business
Introduction
A solid strategic analysis is beneficial to shareholders, employees, customers, and decisions makers within a company. The core of an effective strategic plan contains a well-thought and informative mission statement. Using the Ralph Lauren Corporation as a benchmark, a mission statement has been developed to differentiate the company’s products from the competition. In addition, the vision statement as plays an important role in communicating the ultimate goal of the company’s strategic decisions. [ This sentence is not properly constructed.] A driving force behind the mission and vision is the company’s values and ethical principles, which often dictate the choices made during strategic planning. When it is fully implemented, the strategic plan will allow Ralph Lauren Corporation to gain a strategic advantage over its established competitors.
Mission Statement
By delivering uniquely Made top coats and outer wear at budget prices, Ralph Lauren seeks to establish an international presence over the next 5 years. The current international clothing markets in Asia, South America, and Africa are dominated by American style clothes that leaves considerable opportunity for competing styles of top coats that will be presented by RL, which will use an aggressive marketing plan and develop a supply chain network that will enable rapid growth in overseas markets. Newly established retail stores and wholesale stores will be able to supply local communities with quality top coats and outer wear at competitive prices while simultaneously creating value for shareholders.
Vision Statement
Ralph Lauren Corporation will grow into the largest Top Coat distributor of Outer Wear for the global retail markets. The brand will have an established presence in Asia, South America, and Africa with retail stores and wholesale stores being found within the top 25 major cities on these continents. By saturating the world’s most populous metropolitan cities, Ralph Lauren will not only be the most recognizable Outer Wear brand in the world.
[ This is an effective start because your statement is focused on what you want the business to pursue, assuming the mission is successful. That is the basis for an effective vision statement. For refinement, consolidate your ideas into a single comprehensive statement that will be memorable for all of your key stakeholders.]
[For a mission statement, consider how you can consolidate your ideas into a single comprehensive customized statementthat highlights the distinct qualities of your organization in relation to what you intend to accomplish. That will form the basis for your mission statement. Consider advice about crafting an effective mission statement from the message I posted on 16 Decemberin the Week 1 tab under, “Information you can use: Crafting and Executing Strategy” (Chapter 2) discussion about “Practical Advice for Crafting Effective Mission and Vision Statements” or this website for additional guidance:
Executive Summary
[In terms of placement, an executive summary should always be the starting point of your paper.]
The Ralph Lauren Corporation has been an industry innovator and leader since 1967. The RL brands have been extended far beyond our original ties and women’s suits to a host of clothing and apparel items. Our products can dress the contemporary successful man from head to toe, but as yet we have not added outerwear. Our new initiative, “Covering It”, will add jackets, rainwear, overcoats, topcoats, and casual outerwear to our men’s clothing lines.
Our products already offer leather, wool, cashmere, and other fabrics and materials. Extending our leather products to jackets will allow consistency in coloring and manufacture. Our wool suit and cashmere sweater fabrics can be manufactured into classic men’s topcoats and winter coats with a consistency in quality and profitability. The coat market for our target demographic is segmented with a number of known and unknown vendors. Coats can be offered in most of our retail clothing locations, piggybacking onto our existing retail model. We can now offer a complete clothing line, and place our outerwear at a price point that delivers expected quality and satisfaction that correlates with our brand status.
Manufacture can be extended into our existing factory and production outlets. Product consistency would be a notable hallmark of our new outerwear products. The report looks into the different items to be added. A limited introductory line, consistent with prior product offerings in our history, is envisioned. If approved, we expect that products can be available in our stores for the fall 2015 sales season.
Since this is an expansion of existing product lines (materials), we could be tempted to just extend one of our men’s lines to include outerwear. We are going to start a new division, RL Outerwear, which will offer premium topcoat and overcoats. This will coordinate with our existing RLX offerings in down jackets/vests (ralphlauren.com).
Our product placement should mirror our business men’s wear placements, with premium fabrics, cut and styling at prices that are not necessarily the market’s highest. Brooks Brothers, for example, offers their wool Mason’s Topcoat for $1,198.00 (brooksbrothers.com). We believe we can offer our wool topcoat at hundreds less.
There has been a problem with emblems or branding on men’s business wear, and overcoats are no exception. The garment should speak to the choices of the wearer; his fashion consciousness, self-image, and how he chooses to advertise his success. Logos have been eschewed in these garments, but we believe we have a solution: An exclusive RL button and cuff overlay that allow for logo placement. Offering business outerwear completes our men’s business wear offerings, and allows a man to choose RL for his entire work wardrobe, if he so chooses.
Guiding Principles, Values, and Culture
Ralph Lauren Corporation has several important ethical principles that influence major decisions in the strategic planning process. First, the company is concern about making quality products available to the lowest income groups. Therefore, it is important to keep a wide selection of low cost products available to the concerned citizens. This becomes an especially important consideration as we expand in markets that experience high levels of poverty. Second, the company is committed to delivering exceptional customer service to its patrons. Customer loyalty is a driving factor towards the long-term success of the brand. Failing to deliver exceptional customer service could seriously hinder the ability to grow into new markets. In order for employees to express Ralph Lauren’s guiding principles, it is essential to create a corporate culture that that reflects these principles. Providing ample opportunity for advancement within management hierarchy and the ability to participate in supplemental training will keep employee motivation high. As a result, employees will be eager to follow the ethical values set forth in the strategic plan. It is likely that the company will need to make slight modifications to organization culture to meet the preferences of various world cultures.
[What processes and controls will you need to ensure your best intended values are integrated within the day-to-day operations of your new business division?]
Impact on Strategic Direction
The mission, vision, and values of Ralph Lauren serve as the foundation for strategic decision making while the company gears up for expansion. When an unexpected variable causes a change in direction, the company will continue to use its mission as a guide for future choices. The primary mission is always to maximize shareholder profits, but the values determine the approach the company will take to achieve this goal. Overall, this will help the company build a corporate culture in these new markets that gains the respect of the locals. If the company is considered to be helping the local community, the chances of creating an effective strategic plan are highly unlikely.
Addressing Customer Needs
Expanding into emerging markets presents a unique challenge to address customer’s needs. Every country exhibits its own unique culture and it is essential to pander to the preferences of each individual culture. A system that works in the United States is not likely to see the same level of success in Bangladesh, unless serious modifications are made to the business model. To overcome this challenge, the company will conduct independent research and use paid consultants to determine how to tailor the brand’s image for success in vastly different cultures. As time progresses, the company will be able to assess strengths and weaknesses by testing different models in each regional area. Gaining insightful knowledge about each country’s cultural preferences will allow the company to attain a competitive advantage. [ Won’t competitors most likely be doing this same thing?] Making sure to keep the culture of the new locations of the Ralph Lauren Top Coat or outer wear in mind; the consumers in that culture will buy the new product and continue to support the new line from Ralph Lauren.
Conclusion
These items have been a staple of business attire for many decades. A businessman knows the appeal of a fine topcoat when the weather calls for it. Adding these products seems like a natural extension of the brand, but is not without challenges, some consistent with challenges faced by other RL products. A style choice must be made, with classic styling or more modern, slimmer style for trendy consumers. Many consumers will be happy with the new outer coats not to mention that it is made by Ralph Lauren and sold at a prices that even low income families can purchase them . [ Using research, what is the risk of the brand attempting to appeal to all income level customers? To what extent will this diminish the appeal among consumers who are interested in an exclusive brand? What research can you find to indicate there is demand for a low cost version of this brand?]
Reference
Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009).Strategic management: Formulation, implementation,
and control(11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Ralphlauren.com, company website, Cold Weather Shop. Retrieved 12/20/14 from:
Thompson, A. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: Winning in the
marketplace: Core concepts, analytical tools, cases (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Wool Mason Topcoat, brooksbrothers.com, company website, retrieved 12/20/14 from: