Strategic Planning (Longitudinal Strategic Development Study) Coursework

Strategic Planning (Longitudinal Strategic Development Study) - Coursework Example . . . . . . . . 4 3.1 Development History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 3.2 Prior Investments and Disinvestments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.3 Markets Served and Products Offered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7 3.4 Resources Gained and Capabilities Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.5 Culture, Leadership and Management Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-8 3.6 Strategies Pursued and Outcomes Achieved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9 4. Current Strategic Situation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4.1 Trends in the Macro Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 4.2 Changes in Industries and Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 4.3 Strateg ic Resources, Assets and Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4.4 Financial Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4.5 Industry Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4.6 SWOT Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 5. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 5.3 Choices for Future Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-16 5.4 Evaluation of Available Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5.5 Justifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 5.6 Getting to the Future First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7. Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 ABSTRACT This paper covers the furniture industry with regards to the retailing industry. The industry is closely related to the home industry in the sense that people buy new furniture once they moved to a rental home or into a house they had recently bought. On this note, the furniture industry relies on new sales (when people buy entirely new furniture) to furnish a home or on replacement sales (when a furniture is worn due to use or is out of style). The paper discusses in broad terms the significant changes in the business environment such as new lifestyle patterns, threats such as the environmental movement and depletion of forests and the opportunities presented to pro-active industry players who can seize the opportunities to expand market shares and further revenue growth. The paper then focuses on the furniture group of IKEA which is from Sweden but is now present in some 40 countries and territories with about 316 stores (as of 2010, combined for franchised and company-owned

Telecommunication systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Telecommunication systems - Essay Example If telephone lines are used then serial access program are used to enable the communication of the computer with telephone line. Because the firm employees require voice transmission voIP system is necessary, this system helps set up and separate calls into audio codec’s. The speech is encoded to allow transmission over the IP network as an audio stream (Haykin, 2001). They help in data transfer, i.e. data reception and transmission between the terminus equipment. They enable in conversion of data from analogue to digital and vice versa, modems, microwave links, wireless link, repeaters hubs are all used in computer networking to enable data transfer. In the case of the medium sized firm modems and hubs can be used. This refers to the path/ medium used for data transmission. Most common data communication channels are copper wires, fiber optic cables, coaxial cable and microwave links. The most common types of communication channels are the simplex communication and duplex communication. This is the control software present in all computers and helps in controlling network functions and activities. In the case of the medium sized firm this will include application software to be used is run on the application server such as java application server, Microsoft platforms, Zend platforms etc. for the firm to implement WAN, application web server which accept HTTP program request from the user has to be used. web severs perform authentication, handling of file static and dynamic content, HTTP support through encrypted connections, data compression for transmission, virtual hosting bandwidth throttling among other functions. Exchange server such as the Microsoft exchange server aids in electronic mail exchange, support for web and mobile programs. The help in interconnecting computers within a small area. E.g. in this case the company with 20 – 50 employees, if all the employees have computers, these computers can be interlinked