Strategic Management Business Case Study for Insight Magazine

crawfish come on figure of speech unpackg drawg INSIGHTs MISSION, VISION & doctrine drawtext-box acuteness is a local societal mag founded to carry out dissimilar appeals in the Egyptian society. It ar pull to face our ch each(prenominal)enges by embracing and creating change, through innovative solutions to extend the over exclusively content distribution and foodstuffing model to include websites, digital pickups, virtual events, and another(prenominal) unused-fashioned technologies to establish positive relations and credibility between the magazine and its readers.It is committed to providing an informal yet professional exertioning environment that upgrades and rewards creativity, teamwork and en thuslyiasm. brainwaves operation is environmentally friendly. drawtext-box ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING When setting the mission, discernment had to first understand the big read of the environment, in which it is operating, and the opportunities and threats that lie wit hin. such(prenominal) understanding of the surrounding environment leave alone alter us to generate profit of the opportunities that will come in our tracks and minimize the threats that will face us along the way The Big Picture ( gadfly ANALYSIS) PEST synopsis service of marchs understanding the big picture of the Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Technological environment, it ensures that what we ar aiming for in our mission is aligned positively with the powerful carts of change that atomic number 18 modify the press media.Political factor Understanding the political environment in Egypt is almost the most primary(prenominal) step in the scanning phase, the independence of press in Egypt is not as escaped as it may seem because of the following The political environment might not be stable within the next five years due to the presidential resource which may negatively influence the commercialise. Egypts state security investigating apparatus empowered to interfere in almost each field of force of public life under the state of emergency in force for the pass 28 years which forms a barrier for writers to speak up their minds freely.On the other hand, there are some positive changes in the political environment such as the reform program that is a work in progress. Egypt has made substantial progress in ontogenesis its legal, tax and investment infrastructure, over the past five years Egypt has passed, amend and admitted over 15 legislative pieces one of which was the reform of the countrys presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls in the upcoming presidential elections. frugal factor The financial crisis and the recession which has recently struck the initiation all over definitely had an impact on the Egyptian job food market place in many versatile ways such as The declivity of the western rescue forced the expatriates working abroad consider in two ways before asking for a senior high salary, this made the hiring of foreign calibers easier and resulted in the layoffs of many local employees and the increase of unemployment and job market instability.Unemployment in the Egyptian society has aggressively increased during the last five years bear upon indirectly the press industry. Many musical ar concatenationments started to adopt the policy of cost stinging and benefit minimization this as well had the same effect as the precedent point resulting in unemployment and instability.The worsening state of the global economy makes 2009 a horror show for publicizing-dependent juveniles idea and television companies, with some analysts predicting that business organizationes may take to wait until 2011 to see positive ad increase. It must be noted as well that the Egyptian economy has been gaining, thanks to the large amendments & reforms that the country began implementing in 2004 and due to such amendments and administration of many legislative pieces the economy is expected to grow by about 4% to 6% in 2009/2010.Technological Factor We are living the technology era, every day, a youthful invention, revolution or innovation strikes the market in every business, if cleverness is not open to apply juvenile in operation(p) strategies that can help to address the effects of both technological streamlining and remediate developing meaningful ways of generating an exchange of ideas, it wont last before its competitors, with a daily change magnitude pace in the world of technology.The rise of online media presents another challenge reliability. The internet has become the fastest and easiest way for the readers to get the type of info they claim, low-priced and as diverse as they desire, and this rise is obliging the media world to give attention to online advertisement as a great visual modality as or even at a higher(prenominal) interest that normal printed magazines. Socio- pagan Factor A cultural change has came into the surface, with he increase of the coffee shops outings, the sneakics that were point of interest to readers have been changed , perceptivity carried out spic-and-span researches to cover a broad range of blanketics to earn readers. all over the last 5 years, the interest in football, politics and religion rule over many areas in life, sixth sense cosmos a social modus vivendi magazine it has to fill out with the new interests in our society. Given that side of meat is the language of the magazine in an Arabic speaking country this has magnified the difficulty of the magazines distribution in the Egyptian market.environmental Factor Global warming that became perhaps the most complicated reappearance facing the world of magazine business after study showed that the carbon paper dioxide emissions caused by the production and distribution of one replica of an average size 0. 39 pound magazine total about 0. 95 kilograms including paper from trees, materials, production, shipping and cus tomer use henceforth, the loss of natural habitat capability from the 0. 39 pound magazine is estimated to be 0. 3 square meters. This has take to a great increase in the prices of the papers which is the most important element of the magazines industry. drawframe The Small Details (SWOT ANALYSIS) SWOT Analysis is a simple but powerful framework for analyzing the magazines Strengths and Weaknesses, and the Opportunities and Threats it faces. Thus, helping perceptivity to focus on its strengths, minimize threats, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available.Strengths Insight magazine enjoys a very in effect(p) image that has a business idea and credibility amongst its competitors. It has an extensive advertize and good promotions that withhold good value and quality. The magazine enjoys good halalty full point through advertising which provides quadriceps for innovation and expansion. Most of Insights staff is between 20-25 years, at these young ages the ability to cope with new challenges of life is much much flexible than older generations and this provides the space to innovate & improve in many fields.Weakness Any formation has its weaknesses Insight suffers from the lack of a good distribution plan compared to its rivals. another(prenominal) weakness facing Insight is the fact that the teams are self managed by jr. staff which lack knowledge and experience leadership of its junior staff. Threats Insights main threat is the strong competitors dominating the market and how quickly they can adapt to market changes. The inability to cope with new technologies may also lead to the magazines failure.Opportunities Giving that Egypt is in a state of transition and sparing growth, our good cash flow will enable us to seize any opportunity of hiring nice calibers and adopting new technologies. drawframe STRATEGY FORMULATION Strategy locution is the process of de marchesining appropriate courses of action for achieving the mak eupal objectives and thereby accomplishing organisational purpose. The strategies formulated should reflect environmental digest previously discussed, lead to fulfillment of the mission, and result in reaching our organizational objectives.TOWS MATRIX The TOWS Matrix is a relatively simple tool for generating the strategical options, using it, will enable us to look intelligently at how Insight takes the best advantage of the opportunities open, at the same quantify that we minimize the impact of weaknesses and protect ourselves against threats. By analyzing the international environment (threats and opportunities), and the inhering environment (weaknesses and strengths), we can use these techniques to regard about our incorporate, business & working(a) strategies.Corporate Strategy Corporate schema is one, which decides what business the magazine should be in, and how the overall group of activities should be incorporated and managed, it is as well a description of the magazines overall focusing in terms of its general attitude toward growth, stability or Retrenchment and the focus of its various businesses and product lines. Following the change of the external major forces as well as the declining procedure of the distribution unit and the marketing department, the slip by anxiety had to consider formulating an alternative scheme other than the previously followed growth outline.A stability scheme is now the new corporate schema followed by Insight, it is decision of doing nothing new in the worsening placement but instead to act as though Insights problems are exclusively temporary, and it is an attempt to artificially support profits when sales are declining by reducing short term discretionary expenditures. Insight magazine is currently following the stability strategy as its corporate strategy knowing that it will be temporarily adopted until Insight settles its weakness in the marketing area and regains a significant model in the Egyptian market.Business Strategies In light of the ongoing scotch crisis besetting the world, many business leaders had to consider just exactly how they are going to put together a winning business strategy to help tame the hard times. Insights business strategy is a militant one, it involves making the right choices in decree to pass cost leadership, differentiation and focus this is discoverd by invest our money and strategies in this area as well as coordinating properly Insights characteristic competencies in the provision of the service we provide.In differentiate to sustain our competitive advantage, Insight has to determine the durability and imitability of its main distinctive resources which are the human and the financial resources. Business Model Insight serves incline reading customers in Egypt by providing them with the latest lifestyle information Insights Insight sustains a competitive advantage through recruitment through the strong cash flow from adve rtisements made by bill sort brands, young calibers who adapt easily with any changes in the external environment, thus allowing diversity in writing materials and articles. drawframe running(a) Strategies Functional strategy is the approach taken by Insights playal departments to achieve corporate and business unit objectives and strategies by maximise distribution. In each functional area, the manager is concerned with developing a distinctive competence to provide Insight with the competitive advantage that it aims to obtain. merchandise & Sales Strategies After 14 years Insight is still assay and to maintain, capture larger market share, and continues market penetration. It is very hard to achieve now days e modifiedly in our case and similar to many magazines and newspapers in the region and world wide. Insight relies heavily on advertising money for revenue since the price consumers pay when they purchase a copy of the magazine has never been sufficient to cover the prod uction costs much less creating any profit.Insight Magazines marketing strategy consists of market and product development as well as dealings with pricing, selling and distributing the magazine through the following Creativity Launch new campaigns with developed layout and logo. Distribution Generate new distribution plans to cover different venues hotels, bookshops, newsstands, supermarkets, airports, cultural centers, advertisers, numerous Egyptians and international business peoples and VIPs.Make a deal with a well known distribution agency to circulate the magazine on a wider scale on one hand, and on the other hand to put booths in many different areas and offer special gifts to people in order to attract the readers. Sales Give free issues on special occasions in order to encourage and attract customers Instead of selling space to marketers for print ads, we started selling services that marketers want to have. Diversification To focus more on nipics that have overwhelmed p eople of late especially football.Emphasize profitable material and realign their content production costs with where the revenue is generated. A publisher will need to demote the unique and defining material that attracts their readership. Go Green Despite the economic state and the rapid increase of paper prices, the trade head suggested to the top solicitude to use recycled papers and environmentally friendly materials in order to save cost and maintain same quality of the product that the customer got used to and at the same time to cope with the green veer of the world.Technology & Innovation Digital marketing media and web publishing have become a very tangible area for improvement and market enlargement, Insights strategy for development in print media magazine world is mainly based on enriching Insights website, with new means of advertisements such as online purchasing of a wide range of products starting from pictures all the way to specific non published exclusive ar ticles.HR Strategies Giving that a good human resources management practice enables organization to achieve higher profits and better survival rate than do firms without these practice, Insights strategies towards its most valued asset-the people had to be reviewed and revise to the following Insight being owned and managed by a repair proprietor, have always followed a top-bottom strategy, as a new practice, the top management is now opening the door for a bottom-top strategy thus taking advantage of any new ideas, innovations and changes that can increase the magazines share in the Egyptian Market.Insight magazine is considering the bring of a mix of young generation, skilled respected writers and foreign calibers as well, no matter how high they get pay. This mixture will help the different teams at Insight to properly manage themselves and thus achieving high productivity to the magazine. Encouraging the hire of part time employees and free fling writers it will save cost since they will not be paid for health care benefits, pensions and many allowances offered to the full time employees.Promote new company traditions such as family outings, annual dinners. Improve the communication take aim between the top management and staff by involving employees in decisions that tinge their jobs and the overall direction of the company whenever possible. Recognize excellent proceeding by implementing new exercises such as employee of the month, additional rewards for high performers. Promote biography & personal growth perspectives such as victorion planning, trainings, education, challenging, assignments and more.Assign a development team to cope with the recent technologies. Insights civilization & Behavior Insight enjoys a very friendly and supportive work environment, everyone is free to speak up their minds, and all new ideas are being appreciated, but giving that the top management of the magazine is being held by the owner, the last word is always up to them. This gives Insights a mix of Supportive and Autocratic behavior, any suggestions are being conservatively interpreted but the final decision is always up to the owner.Insights culture is a Multi-directionalone, being a relatively little(a) organization that has only four distinct function, each department share considers themselves as a part of his function only forgetting that they are a member of a whole body. Insights Organization social organization Insights organization was structured based on functional groups centered on clusters of titles each led by chief function officer with complete responsibility for their respective business unit as per the below chart. drawframe STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION The murder of organization strategy involves the application of the management process to obtain the desired results. Particularly, strategy implementation includes designing the organizations structure, allocating resources, developing information and decision process, and managing human resources, including such areas as the reward system, approaches to leadership, and staffing. Strategy mplementation skills are not easily mastered, unfortunately. In fact, virtually all managers find implementation the most difficult reflection of their jobs more difficult than strategic analysis or strategy formulation. Marketing & Sales Strategy Implementation Implementing a rock-solid marketing strategy is likely the most important factor contributing to the long-term sustainable success of any business and the one that will set Insight up of its competitors.Insights main task is to get its message across the market, make sure that its unique selling proposition is articulated in all of its marketing messages, campaigns, and sales channels through the following implementation HR Strategy Implementation The HR Strategy has at its total maximizing the potential talent of Insights staff. Each of these strategic themes are interlinked and are the strategic objectives for each of these themes facilitates the delivery of the Institutional Strategy, the pecuniary Strategy, enhanced organizational performance and Operational Plans.This is illustrated as follows drawframe In implementing the desired strategy of Insight to resolve the sales and distribution, The HR function have done the following Get the big picture of the whole company, to provide the readers with the ultimate life experience through lifestyle magazine and becoming No. 1 magazine the Egyptian market Recruit a mix of the young generation and skilled reputable writers and employees who receive high pay and are trained to participate in self managing teams.By implementing this strategy it will result in employee blessedness and high productivity to the magazine. Hire part time employees and free propel writers it will not save cost since they will not be paid for health care benefits, pensions and many allowances offered to the full time employees. boost diversity in na tionality, and age as in aligning with the Egyptian labor law, this strategy has proven higher productivity inside the magazine. prize employees at all times. Listen to them deeply use their ideas. Offer performance feedback and praise good efforts and results.Involve employees in decisions that affect their jobs and the overall direction of the magazine whenever possible thus increasing the loyalty and sense of belong to the magazine Recognize excellent performance, and especially, link pay to performance. Value and encourage the magazine traditions through events and gatherings like Family day and annual company dinner. gain the employees skill by providing them with the best training opportunities to enhance their competencies and develop their skills. outsource professional distributors in an attempt to reach the target.EVALUATION & CONTROL Although the term observe and military rank tends to get run together as if it is only one thing, monitoring and evaluation are, in fact , two distinct sets of organizational activities, related but not identical. Monitoring is the systematic collection and analysis of information as a compute progresses, aimed at improving the strength of organization. If done properly, it is an invaluable tool for good management that provides a utilitarian base for evaluation. Evaluation is the comparison of actual project impacts against the agreed strategic plans.It can be formative (taking place during the life of a project or organization, with the intention of improving the strategy or way of execution of the project or organization). It can also be summative (drawing larn from a completed project or an organization that is no thirster functioning) During the planning and implementation phases, it was crucial to conduct a reporting tool to monitor whether the right milestones have been taken towards the targeted goals or not as well as to ensure that employees are keeping pace with the progress.This monitoring was done by Chief executives submitting a monthly report to the prexy as well as scheduling a quarterly encounter to continually keep an eye on the sales, client feedback, foresee what could be done for improvement of any new ideas that would help in increasing the sales of upcoming editions, and finally to ensure that the business and functional levels are keeping track with the corporate objectives and goals. On the other hand, daily meetings are held in each functional department to continually monitor and mensurate work quality and business progress.After an extensive monitoring process the HR strategy was found week in the following points No HR interview was made any manager interviews his calibers from his own aspects and cultural background. Huge cultural gaps between foreign and local employees No relatively clear difference between the full time and part time employees in term of salaries and benefits which creates unfairness and injustice among them. The rewards were not given in great value and are not fairly given to all employees. Trainings were not fairly distributed among employees.In order to evaluate the magazine performance we have found the following diagnostic checklist items CONCLUSION Insight is a local English magazine which has been in the Egyptian market for more than a decade. Although Insight enjoys good cash revenue from the top class advertisements it provides, it is struggling with a marketing and distribution setback which gave the top management the sufficient motives to alter the current strategies followed in order to reclaim its top position in the Egyptian market.Insights top management first steps of creating new strategies started by setting a new mission of developing the marketing function followed by an external and internal scanning of all possible threats and opportunities that could in a way or another affect the strategies. The scanning that was done helped Insight distinguish its competitive advantage which consequently assisted in the formulation of new corporate, business and functional strategies. After implementing the previously formulated strategies precise monitoring and evaluation were done in order to conclude the gap areas that resulted in the implementation. wizard of the gap areas that were found was the wrong implementation of hiring foreigners without giving them a proper induction on the Egyptian culture which lead to a huge conflict in ideas between the local and foreign staff. As a final conclusion to the previous report, Insight top management should enquire what went wrong during the implementation of the HR strategy that lead such gaps and how to overcome these gaps to properly implement the functional human resources strategy that will at long last reflect its success in Insights overall performance. drawframe