1 AAON Strategy Report Week 1 AAON Strategy Report Business plans are official documents authored to plainly state the strategies of a business, how and when the goals are to be achieved and how fast the goals need to be achieved. In addition, it gives the background of the business, financial projections and, strategies to be implemented to achieve its goals. The thesis below will cover the business plan of AAON. 2 AAON is a company located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the industry of manufacturing, AAON indulges in the sale of manufacturing, engineering, and sale of air conditioning and heating equipment since its foundation in 1988. Strategic Management Process. Strategic management process is the psychological strategic ideas and moves that the upper management uses to gain competitive advantage and increase profits to the organization. After management critically analyzes the idea, the rest of the staff is educated about it and then implemented only if it is understood for full results. Strategic management process has some stages or components. The components include; Goal setting, analysis, strategy formation, strategy implementation, and strategy monitoring. Goal setting clarifies and clearly states the idea of the business. Long-term and short-term goals are stated, identification of the best procedure to be followed to accomplish the tasks, and break down the task into modules and allocate each module to the best employee in respect to the job to be accomplished. A mission statement is drafted upon completion of this task. Analysis of information is the second step which involves gathering all the data that is relevant to the vision. The data is put to scrutiny observing the needs of the business and picking the data that will make the business grow. Along with the process, strengths and weaknesses that might appear along the path are identified (Slack & Brandon-Jones, 2018). Strategy formation is now done upon completion of the analysis. The process gleans on the results from the analysis stage. The available resources are identified and manipulated to write down the strategy that manipulates the resources. All the issues in the company are put on the table alongside all the strengths, and a good plan is arrived upon, and it should cut across all 3 issues. Of course, not one strategy is developed, other approaches are designed as backups. Finally, the approach is implemented. All the modules incorporated in the plan are notified of their duties, and all funding ventures are put ready and the plan is executed. Evaluation and monitoring come after the implementation was a success. The plan is put under a magnifying glass and in case of errors, it is debugged, and in case of any updates, they are installed as the plan is in play. Benefits of Strategic Management Process to AAON. The process discussed in the strategic management process impact and organization positively. AAON could benefit from the process. The advantages are; Identifying competitive advantages sources, identifying complex interdependencies and inter-relationships, and improved flow of activities like finances and information. AAON could identify competitive advantages against their rivals. AAON involves different activities and processes that share some similarities. The new venture of considering economic rent activities could cause cost disadvantages to the competitors and a significant boost to AAON. External and internal linkages are identified among the strategic management processes. These linkages both internal and external could bring joint optimization and benefits like new ideas that would benefit the organization. The strategic management process incorporates the products, finance and information flow. The process could make the company identify external threats quickly and tackle them appropriately. The gaps in information loss and miscommunication are closed as the company involves many activities; hence it would be beneficial for AAON. Material and product flow are improved, and information bottlenecks are eliminated increasing customer relationship. 4 Mission and vision statement. The mission statement, vision statement, motivation strategy, innovation strategy, and people strategy all work hand in hand to achieve the goal of the company. These strategies work together to bring a positive impact to the organization. These positive impacts include; Improved marketability, it dictates the business structure, informs benchmarks, and above all motivate employees and attract customers. The statements give a common hope for a brighter future to the people, acts as role models to the community and its people, and develops individuals to be better people by giving them a sense of direction. Innovation strategy and people strategy are strategies designed to gain market advantage by enticing and seducing the crowd and use the innovation benefits to gain the advantage (Taiwo, et al., 2016). Strategic Planning Strategic planning involves the incorporation of mission and vision to design the path for the betterment of the company. The ethics and corporate social responsibility aid the strategic plan by maintaining the positive energy and eliminating the negative energy and vibe. The employees observe the ethics and ethical conduct in the organization, and the strategic plan would fall into place as there are reduced misconduct and bad behavior; Hence quality is observed. The mission and vision in line are to provide quality service and to maintain better working conditions and better customer quality across all platforms (Cassidy 2016). Conclusion The company AAON, though small, observes and maintains the quality service and engages the customer in the plans and to understand what the customer needs to incorporate it in the strategic plan. The goal of a business plan is to raise the company from the first spot and 5 move to a higher position in the industry. The strategies developed have to be followed to the letter for positive results. References Cassidy, A. (2016). A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach Publications. Slack, N., & Brandon-Jones, A. (2018). Operations and process management: principles and practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK. 6 Taiwo, A. A., Lawal, F. A., & Agwu, E. (2016). Vision and Mission in Organization: Myth or Heuristic Device?. The International Journal of Business & Management, 4(3). 1 AAON, Inc. Environmental Scan Week 2 2 AAON, Inc. Environmental Scan Environmental scanning is a process that gathers information concerning events and how they are related to a company's external and internal events. The main purpose of conducting an environment scan is to determine the direction that the company will head towards in the future. This can be achieved by understanding certain factors such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that the organization has. The information gained from an analysis of these factors then forms a basis of coming up with a new direction or goals that need to be achieved. This report will determine how environmental scanning can help AAON, Inc. plan for its future and ensure that it's a success. Creating Value and Sustaining Competitive Advantages Using Environmental Scanning An environmental scan allows the organization to understand whatever is happening outside and inside the organization allowing for an increased probability to develop good strategies that reflect on the company’s environment. In business, rapid changes are needed to add value. These changes cannot be just made without a clear basis. Management has to understand different aspects of its environment (Martinez et al., 2019). For instance, a SWOT analysis shows the company its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that they face. Rapid changes will be based on these four factors that reflect entirely on business environments. For instance, using SWOT analysis, AAON, Inc. can identify strengths and advantages that the organization possesses. These advantages can be improved on or used to create a better value for the organization. Also, weaknesses offer AAON, Inc. with the chance to identify its shortcomings and improve on them. The shortcomings derail the business and need to be improved on in a bid to increase value. Opportunities are advantages that the organization can 3 actually capitalize on and add to its list of strengths. Furthermore, threats are issues that AAON, Inc. needs to shield itself from. Threats are a common part of the business environment and shielding them to avoid their effects is a necessary exercise that should be carried out from time to time (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Wills, 2019). The use of SWOT analysis will also allow the company to come up with strategies aimed at maintaining a competitive advantage for the organization. Another environmental scanning approach that can also be used is PESTLE analysis. PESTLE looks at political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors that need to be considered. They too can be used to add value and maintain competitive advantages that the organization has. AAON, Inc. External Environment Political AAON, Inc. runs an international operation where it operates in over 30 countries. In each and every one of these countries, the organization has to adhere to different laws that cover areas such as manufacturing and taxation (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Wills, 2019). The manufacturing industry has become very cognizant of how manufacturing practices effect the environment. This is an area that the organization should focus on improving. Sociocultural The organization manufactures ventilation and air conditioning equipment which might not be affected by social or cultural factors. Mostly, the organization has to put more focus on its 4 marketing strategies. So far, the company generalizes its marketing strategy to make sure that it effectively targets its consumers despite their social and cultural backgrounds. Economic There are several factors that could affect the organization negatively. One of the factors is the stagnation of income in the middle-class in developed countries like its primary market, United States. Middle-income is the largest consumer of housing and a drop in housing will affect the company negatively. A strong US dollar will also increase the exchange rates making it very difficult to operate in markets such as China and Europe. Ecological There are increased costs when it comes to storing, disposing and recycling AAON, Inc. products. The organization has to indulge in corporate responsibility in a bid to make sure that it protects the environment. Regulations to prevent the emission of harmful gases are also increasing by the day and the company has to adhere to these rules. Technological AAON, Inc. can be referred to as a technological company. They rely on technology to manufacture and distribute their products. Marketing takes up most of the technology uses and the emergence of marketing in social media is a big positive for the company (Recica et al., 2019). Also, finding new technological avenues will affect the organization positively. General Environment The organization is in a very competitive industry. The organization relies on housing to sell its products. An increase in housing means a higher demand for ventilation and heating 5 equipment. Most productive markets are in developed and emerging markets such as the United States, China, and European countries. A boom in housing such as in China has provided the organization with a very strong market that it can utilize. However, trends in developed countries show that the need for housing is low. Industry Operating Environment The industry AAON, Inc. currently operates in is becoming highly competitive. There are new entrants, especially companies developing products that are closely related to modern technology. These new entrants pose major threats for the future of AAON, Inc. Trends also show that housing demand is decreasing in developed countries which are the primary consumer for the organization's products. Furthermore, technology is the latest critical and key factor that consumers are looking for. The organization should look into this area and make sure that it integrates technology with its products. Conclusion Conducting an environmental scan is a very important task that AAON, Inc. should undertake. The organization needs to be always aware of its internal and external environments to promote growth. The environmental scan will help the organization retain its competitive advantage and increase value and move to a higher position in the industry as it intends. 6 References Martinez, M. G., Zouaghi, F., Marco, T. G., & Robinson, C. (2019). What drives business failure? Exploring the role of internal and external knowledge capabilities during the global financial crisis. Journal of Business Research, 98, 441-449. Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, 194-203. Recica, F., Hashi, I., Jackson, I., & Krasniqi, B. (2019). Innovation and the export performance of firms in transition economies: The relevance of the business environment and the stage of transition.
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