The Business Goals and Objectives
The Business Goals and Objectives
But things aren’t always as they seem. If the direct‐to‐customer strategy was so effective, why is Dell now also selling its computers at major retail outlets such as Walmart, Staples, and Best Buy? It is likely that the sales figures and profit margins were not measuring up to Dell’s stated objectives and performance targets. And Dell has branched out to other hardware, such as printers and servers, and more recently, providing IT services. Con- sequently, Dell adjusted its business strategy, and we can expect to see changes in its organizational design and information systems to reflect its altered direction.
Now consider your favorite dot‐com company. Every dot‐com company has a business strategy of delivering its products or services over the Internet. To do so, the dot‐coms need organizations filled with individuals and processes that support this business strategy. Their employees must be Internet savvy; that is, they must have
FIGURE 1.2 Mission statements of three retail businesses.
Company Mission Statement
Zappos To provide the best customer service possible. Internally we call this our WOW philosophy.a
Amazon We seek to be Earth’s most customer‐centric company for three primary customer sets: consumer customers, seller customers and developer customers.b
L.L. Bean Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings and they will always come back for more.c
a http://about.zappos.com (accessed March 19, 2015). b http://www.amazon.com Mission Statement on Amazon Investor Relations page (accessed March 19, 2015). c http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/company_values.html (accessed March 19, 2015).
c01.indd 20 11/26/2015 6:19:40 PM
http://about.zappos.com
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/company_values.html
21Brief Overview of Business Strategy Frameworks
Business Models versus Business Strategy Some new managers confuse the concept of a business model with the concept of a business strategy. The business strategy , as discussed in this chapter, is the coordinated set of actions used to meet the business goals and objectives. It ’ s the path a company takes to achieve its goals. One of the components of the business strategy is the business model, the design of how the business will make money and how customers will get value from its products and services. Some might argue that a business model is the outcome of strategy. *
Some examples of business models commonly seen in the digital world include † :
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
