Harwell Group Business Strategy

Description

This paper answers the following essay prompt – Harwell Zest Energy Drink:

Harwell group expresses their gratitude for the last advice you provided when they were venturing into the food and drinks business. Most of the useful advice given were taken on board and they are glad to announce that ‘Zest’, the canned energy drink is performing well in the market and gaining considerable market share within the competition. Again, Lewis and Rebecca have asked for your advice regarding their current investments going forward. Apart from the energy drink business, the other businesses (fashion, sports, events and fitness) have been in existence over 10 years and sales figures are beginning to fluctuate and perhaps dwindle. Particularly, the fashion business has been rescued twice by the sports business which appears to still be doing very well compared to others. In line with current trends, sales and marketing process systems for the entire group are about to be changed to a more responsive system which the IT department claims would enhance processing and delivery. Finally, on the new business (Zest), although, so far, market share has been increasing based on increasing sales figures, there is a need to sustain, and in fact increase this figure if the business would remain sustainable over the coming years – Harwell Zest Energy Drink.

Based on this information, Harwell group has asked for some thoughts and advice on the followings. Meanwhile, they also request that you reflect on your past advice as this may be useful in providing some fresh advice based on their current circumstances.
1. What stage of the product life cycle do you think the fashion business is currently at, based on its present circumstance? Please provide convincing justifications for your thoughts. Can you also advice on next steps? – Harwell Group Business Strategy
2. Based on the strategic choices available to Harwell group, critically review a minimum of three strategic management models.
3. Advice on how consumers can become attached and remain loyal to ‘Zest’ over other energy drinks.
4. Provide three clear recommendations on how Harwell group can change its system and manage the change management process as effectively as possible and avoid disruptions to its current sales and marketing during the change process.
You are allowed to make reasonable assumptions stating clear reasons for these if you need to do so – Harwell Group Business Strategy.

You will find this paper useful in answering these case study questions.  Here is a preview of the paper.

Harwell Group Business Strategy

Introduction

Harwell Group is a company based in Scotland that so far has four businesses (sports, events, fitness, and fashion). Considering that it is experiencing reduced profits in these business areas and especially fashion, the business considered the option of entering the energy drinks market by offering a canned energy drink, zest, as its product and sought advice on this matter. To come up with sound advice for the company regarding its proposed investment in the manufacture and marketing of energy drink, a PESTLE analysis of the energy drinks industry was done. Based on the results of the pestle analysis, it was recommended that the Harwell Group proceeds with its proposal to venture into the energy drinks business. This recommendation was made considering that the UK is politically and economically stable, and the energy drinks market in the nation is huge and growing. The technological, legal, and environmental conditions prevailing in the country in relation to the energy drinks industry were also found to be generally favourable. The competitive market was evaluated by applying Porters’ five forces model (Porter, 1998) and based on the results of an analysis using the Ansoff matrix (Pierce, 2009), diversification was recommended as an appropriate growth strategy for the business. This strategy option was settled on considering that the company seeks to introduce a new product in a new market. …

The Lifecycle Stage of the Fashion Business

One of the businesses that Harwell Group engages in is fashion. To establish what is ailing the fashion industry, it is vital to consider the business and its products in light of product life cycle. Stark (2015) notes that the product life cycle is an essential concept in marketing. Product life cycle basically describes the stages that a product undergoes from the time it is first conceived to when it is eventually removed from the market. Not all products reach the final stage; while some rise and fall, others continue on the growth path. The product life cycle has four main stages … including introduction, growth, maturity, and decline as can be seen in figure 1. …

Strategic Choices for Harwell Group

With several brands and businesses, including fashion, in its portfolio, Harwell Group is probably faced with the challenge of how to allocate its limited resources for investment across its businesses. It may decide to close the unprofitable fashion business altogether or continue operating it. One model that can help the company decide whether or not to close the fashion business is the Boston Group Consulting Matrix. Commonly known as the Boston matrix, the model analyses a portfolio of products or businesses based on market share and market growth (Marci, 2017). Based on these two factors, the Boston matrix categorises products into one of four areas; stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs (Marci, 2017), as can be seen in figure 2. … 

Contents:

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• The Lifecycle Stage of the Fashion Business
• Strategic Choices for Harwell Group
• How to Attract Customer Loyalty to Zest
• Management of Change Relating to the New IT System
• Summary and Conclusion
• References