Discussion of organization problem

Discuss About The In Handbook On Business Process Management?

In the modern era, efficient management of operations and business practices is essential for the long-term growth and success of companies. Furthermore, organizations are now required to emphasize on reducing the overall cost of operations and enhancing the margin of profits (Smith, Maull, & CL Ng, 2014). The present study is based on Panda and Mickey which is an Australian based toy company. The purpose of this report is to identify the problem within Panda and Mickey, analyze its causes and define the most appropriate solution to deal with the problem.   

Panda and Mickey fundamental problem is that it is carrying out marketing and promotion of its toys through traditional ways and this is increasing the overall cost of operations. Panda and Mickey have recruited the team of marketing personnel’s who are responsible for carrying out promotion of products near shopping malls, schools, and public places. The traditional ways of marketing have resulted in increased cost of operations as the company is required to pay higher wages and incentives to all marketing personnel’s. However, even after so many efforts, the business is not at able generate higher sales and profits.

Lack of effective marketing plan is one of the principal causes which has affected the sales and profitability of Panda and Mickey. In today’s competitive world, companies are required to emphasize on developing result oriented marketing strategies and plans to deal with intense competition (Slack, 2015). This cause of the problem is related to management function of planning, and it has also led to increasing the overall cost of operations of Panda and Mickey. It can be expressed that marketing planning help organizations to acquire higher sales and profitability by providing right directions and guidelines.

On the other hand, the cost of marketing is also increasing because the company is making use of traditional marketing tools. The door to door selling, advertisement on newspaper and promotional events are the essential marketing tools which have been employed by Panda and Mickey. The use of traditional marketing tools not only increases the operating expenses but it also not able to provide desired outcomes (Sheth & Sisodia, 2015). Nowadays, the use of traditional marketing tools is also considered as a forced method of promoting and selling a product. The result of this is that companies fail to acquire a higher degree of customer satisfaction and to encourage them to buy the product and services offered. This cause is related to the leading function of management and affecting Panda and Mickey to a great extent.    

Identify the cause of the problem

Ineffective marketing staff can be termed as the third most important cause behind increasing marketing cost and low sales. At present, the human resources working under marketing department of Panda and Mickey are not skilled regarding using online or digital marketing techniques. The result of this is the company’s marketing practices gets restricted within the traditional tools and technology (Saucedo-Martínez, Pérez-Lara, Marmolejo-Saucedo, Salais-Fierro, & Vasant, 2017). This cause is related to the function of organizing and control and the rationale behind this is company’s failure to utilize its marketing personnel’s in the most efficient way.       

The use of traditional marketing tools and techniques can be termed as the primary and most important cause behind declining sales of Panda and Mickey. The organization believes that the use of traditional marketing practices provides employees with an opportunity to interact directly with customers and become aware of their changing need and demand (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). However, it can be critically argued that nowadays, clients in the market are not getting attracted from the advertisement and other promotional techniques which have been employed by Panda and Mickey to sell toys. Lack of modern marketing tools has resulted in decline the sales and increasing operational cost of the selected enterprise.

Panda and Mickey is required to take corrective measures to solve the problem mentioned above. The rationale behind this is that the business will not be able to sustain in the long run if it is not able to cut down its cost and attract the desired number of customers.

The first solution to the company’s problem can be termed as the use of social media marketing tools within all its marketing practices. Over the past few years, social media has emerged as one of the most convenient and potential platform to carry out sales and promotion of products and services (Brown, Bessant, & Lamming, 2013). Furthermore, organizations can reach a mass range of customers in a very cost-effective manner through the use of social media marketing (Kotler, Keller, Brady, Goodman, & Hansen, 2016). Panda and Mickey will be able to lower down its cost of operations as the brand will not be required to operate with a large number of marketing personnel’s. Marketing of toys can be easily carried out by two employees who have sound knowledge and skills linked to social media marketing.

Another possible solution to deal with this problem is to contact and tie up with other marketing agencies operating in the market. These businesses are highly skilled and competent regarding increases sales and profits of businesses (Khanna, 2015). However, it can be critically argued that the marketing agencies charge certain fees and margin on profit which can affect the overall growth of Panda and Mickey.

Critical underlying cause

Implementation of email marketing is another possible solution available in front of Panda and Mickey to deal with its issues and challenges. It can be expressed that the company can carry out marketing of offers, schemes, and new toys through sending emails to customers. On the contrary, it can be critically argued that majority of the people in the market can mark the emails of Panda and Mickey and in such cases, the implemented strategy remains of no use (Hutchinson, Donnell, Gilmore, & Reid, 2015).

Competition and social environment are the two major factors which can affect the cause and recommended solutions. It can be stated that changes in product, price, and marketing strategy of Panda and Mickey’s key competitors can result in adversely affecting the cause as well as the possible solution. On the other side of this, changing demand and need of people in the market is another major environmental factor which can have a potential impact on cause and recommended the solution for Panda and Mickey. The best way to deal with the mentioned above environmental factors is to conduct efficient and in-depth market research before implementing any new strategy (Feng, Li, McVay, & Skaife, 2014).

The reason behind this is that market research provides companies with accurate and more reliable information about changing customer demand, preferences and degree of competition (Hollensen, 2015). Based on the information collected, Panda and Mickey can develop the appropriate strategy to sustain in the market and overcome from the issue of declines sales and increasing cost.

Social media marketing can be termed as the most appropriate solution to the problem of decline toy sales and rising cost of operations. The rationale behind this is that social media marketing will provide Panda and Mickey with the wide range of benefits and advantages. For example, the company will not be required to operate with a large team of personnel’s to carry out marketing and sales of toys. Furthermore, the operational cost will also be reduced as the social media is considered as a very cost-effective tool for marketing.

The sales will increase as the use of the suggested marketing strategy will help Panda and Mickey to build its credibility in the marketplace, and at the same time, it will support the business in enhancing its brand image (Hitt, Xu, & Carnes, 2016). The use of social media marketing will also provide Panda and Mickey with an opportunity to increase brand recognition and develop the long-term relationship with its target audience. Thus, the company will be able to increase its sales and reduce the overall operational cost through social media marketing strategy (Grunig, 2013). 

Analysis of the most likely cause

From the above carried out analysis, it can be concluded that Panda and Mickey is not able to achieve efficient management of its marketing practices and strategies. Therefore, below mentioned are some recommendations which can help Panda and Mickey:

It can be recommended that Panda and Mickey should ensure that engaging and attractive content is promoted at the time of carrying out social media marketing practices. The company can make use of videos and attract images to market its toys to the target audience in a cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the use of info graphics in the overall social media marketing strategy is also suggested to the selected business enterprise.   

It is also suggested that Panda and Mickey should focus more on carrying out effective monitoring of its marketing practices and strategies. It has been observed that at present, no tools and technique of monitoring has been employed by the brand and this has resulted in declining the sales of Panda and Mickey toys. However, keyholes, Agora Plus, Brandwatch, BuzzSumo are different types of analytical tools which can be taken into consideration by Panda and Mickey to carry out monitoring of its social media marketing strategy.

References

Brown, S., Bessant, J. R., & Lamming, R. (2013). Strategic operations management. Abingdon: Routledge.

Feng, M., Li, C., McVay, S. E., & Skaife, H. (2014). Does ineffective internal control over financial reporting affect a firm’s operations? Evidence from firms’ inventory management. The Accounting Review, , 529-557.

Grunig, J. E. (2013). Excellence in public relations and communication management. Abingdon: Routledge.

Hitt, M. A., Xu, K., & Carnes, C. M. (2016). Resource based theory in operations management research. Journal of Operations Management , 77-94.

Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. London: Pearson Education.

Hutchinson, K., Donnell, L. V., Gilmore, A., & Reid, A. (2015). Loyalty card adoption in SME retailers: the impact upon marketing management. . European Journal of Marketing , 467-490.

Khanna, R. B. (2015). Production and operations management. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., Brady, M., Goodman, M., & Hansen, T. (2016). Marketing management. London: Pearson Education Ltd.

Rosemann, M., & vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management . Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Saucedo-Martínez, J. A., Pérez-Lara, M., Marmolejo-Saucedo, J. A., Salais-Fierro, T. E., & Vasant, P. (2017). Industry 4.0 framework for management and operations: a review. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing , 1-13.

Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2015). Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the future. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

Slack, N. (2015). Operations strategy. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Smith, L., Maull, R., & CL Ng, I. (2014). Servitization and operations management: a service dominant-logic approach. International Journal of Operations & Production Management , 242-269.