Briefly restate your group’s strategic recommendation(s) for the company
The strategic recommendation for the Lululemon company is that it should expand its market niche to start producing clothes for both the sportspersons and the non-sportswear. The company should also lower its costs of operations to help it adopt the differentiation strategy and the cost leadership strategy in its generic strategic planning.
For each of the functional areas listed below, identify the policies and processes that would aid in implementing your recommended strategy
Production/Operations
Production is one of the most important activities in an organization, as it plays a vital role in shaping the business’ competitiveness. In implementing the recommended strategy, Lululemon will need to find ways of lowering the costs of production and still maintain quality in production. It is important to note that the company has a quality assurance team that is concerned with the quality of the products (Lululemon Athletica par. 1). The department should ensure that all the production activities are geared towards enhancing the quality of the sportswear and reducing the operations costs. In addition, the company needs to introduce a policy that will enable it to produce clothes for a different market niche.
Marketing
Marketing is essential to the success of any organization (Hennig-Thurau and Hansen 419). One of the recommended strategies is that the company should expand its market niche. Lululemon will, therefore, need to come up with new marketing policies in order to penetrate the new markets. The marketing activities should cost the company as little as possible to maintain low costs of operation and achieve the cost leadership strategy.
Accounting and finance
The accounting and finance policies should help to reduce the operations costs as much as possible in order to support the cost leadership strategy. Therefore, the expenses should be as lean as possible.
Research and development
R&D is useful in enabling a company to venture into a new market niche (Landström 37). Lululemon’s R&D department should conduct research on what is required in the market. It should also determine what would be produced at a low cost and still maximize the company’s sales.
Human resource management
The human resource policies should enable the employees maintain and observe quality in production (Burke 100). The procedures should ensure that little or no wastage of materials happens to reduce the general cost of production. Only qualified personnel should be hired by the company to ensure quality in production (Mathis and Jackson 87).
The Company’s Current Structure
Lululemon’s structure is made up of the Board of Directors. The founder chairs the board. There is a CEO, a Chief Financial Officer, a Vice President, as well as two independent directors. The board makes up the top management. There are middle-level managers, as well as lower level managers. In addition, there are the employees who carry out most of the day-to-day operations.
In what ways does the current structure support the implementation of the recommended strategy?
The current structure supports the application of the recommended strategy because all the departments are committed to ensuring Lululemon improves its performance and becomes more competitive. Every structure is, therefore, supportive of any strategy that helps the company achieve this objective. The current structure ensures that communication is highly effective, thereby enabling proper implementation of the recommended strategy.
In what ways does the current structure hinder the implementation of the recommended strategy?
The present structure mainly supports the recommended structure. However, the hierarchy of the structure is a hindrance to effective implementation of the strategy, as it acts as a barrier to effective communication.
What changes, if any, would you recommend in the company’s structure to facilitate the implementation of the recommended strategy?
Lululemon will need to change its current hierarchy to facilitate the implementation of the recommended strategy. There should be ease of communication, such that the lower managers can quickly access the top level administrators. Therefore, a decentralized structure is needed.
Culture
Describe the company’s current culture
The current culture of the company is geared towards ensuring greatness and creating products that will improve the lives of the people. Therefore, innovativeness makes up a considerable part of the company’s culture.
In what ways does the current culture support the implementation of the recommended strategy?
The current culture is highly supportive of the recommended strategy because innovativeness is part of the culture (Schein 65). With its innovative culture, Lululemon will be able to produce new clothes that will facilitate its expansion into new markets and lower the costs of production at the same.
In what ways does the current culture hinder the implementation of the recommended strategy?
The current culture hinders the application of the recommended strategies because it is mostly focused on sports clothing, rather than clothes that can also satisfy the rest of the clients who are not sportspersons.
What changes, if any, would you recommend in the company’s culture to facilitate the implementation of the recommended strategy?
The present culture is favorable for the implementation of the recommended strategy. However, the management and the employees need to focus on the new market niches, as well as find ways of lowering the costs of production.
For each of the changes in processes, structure, and culture that you identified above, address how management should make these changes
The management should follow the recommended procedures for making changes. There should be good communication regarding the intended change. Any other alternative to the change should be taken into consideration (Burke 56). Moreover, all the employees should be included in the change process so that they can own the change. The major obstacle that would be encountered would be resistance to change. However, this would be addressed through effective communication.
Works Cited
Burke, W. Warner. Organization Change: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2010. Print.
Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten, and Ursula Hansen. Relationship Marketing: Gaining Competitive Advantage through Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention. Berlin: Springer, 2000. Print.
Landström, Hans. Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. Boston: Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005. Print.
Lululemon Athletica. Quality Assurance. 2015. Web.
Mathis, Robert L, and John H. Jackson. Human Resource Management Essential Perspectives. NSW: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.