Adventure Street Co.’s Profile and Needs Assessment

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Company Mission: What Has to Be Accomplished
Strategic Plan of the Company: Going Global
Reference List

Abstract

Background. Expanding into the global market is a challenging task for any organization, primarily due to the need to reconsider the traditional organizational patterns and adopt new ones. The Adventure Street, Co. organization, which produces toys, seems to have gained enough experience to enter the realm of global economy. However, the introduction of the organization to the global economy environment presupposes facing a range of issues. For instance, the issue of leadership needs to be addressed, as entering the new market will require the use of a transformative leadership approach.

Goals. The goal of the study is to identify the primary goals that need to be accomplished in the course of staff training. Additionally, the issues regarding the current training strategies need to be identified so that the organization members could learn valuable lessons regarding the use of training techniques in the realm of global economy.

Outcomes. An analysis of the subject matter has shown that the current training process requires a significant redesign, as the training techniques are inconsistent with the leadership principles, mission and vision of the company. Moreover, it will be necessary to shape the attitudes of the staff members in order to alter their behavioral patterns. The specified steps can be accomplished by assuming the principles of transformative leadership and introducing the employees to the concept of corporate social responsibility. The specified actions are likely to help the Adventure Street, Co. enter the global market successfully.

Company Mission: What Has to Be Accomplished

Adventure Street Co. is a toy manufacturer, which has recently started its operations yet is already looking forward to entering the realm of global economy. In order to succeed in the target market, however, the organization will have to be guided by a decent strategy and create a very strong brand personality (Penson & Brosdahl, 2013) in order to attract as many customers as possible (Guèvremont & Grohmann, 2013).

The mission of the company is to make the childhood of every single customer unforgettable by creating the toys that will create the toys that children will enjoy and that swill be completely safe, help children learn new and important skills, assist parents in educating children, and seek new ways of reinventing the magical realm that children are so fascinated with. The vision of the organization, in its turn, concerns becoming a member of the global industry and providing children all over the world with an opportunity to enjoy new and unique toys, which will stretch their imagination and create premises for their early development.

Strategic Plan of the Company: Going Global

Strategic Vision

The strategic vision of the Adventure Street, Co. concerns primarily the process opf becoming a world-renowned organization and entering the environment of the global market successfully. Adventure Street, Co. sees itself as the toy manufacture that provides its services on a global level, attracting different types of audiences.

Additionally, the firm sees itself as the organization branching out in order to become competitive in the global economy. Although the firm started out as a small sole proprietorship, the entrepreneurship is capable of expanding into the global economy at present and, therefore, needs to be encouraged for the further exploration of the specified environment.

The strategic vision of the Adventure Street, Co., thus, concerns becoming a part of the global economy and becoming competitive in the specified market, as well as acquiring new customers in the specified market. Moreover, the company attempts at locating the niche that has not been filled by the current global organizations producing toys, such as Hasbro, Toys R Us, etc.

Goals and Objectives

Despite being a member of the local market for now, the company sees itself as a representative of the global economy relations and, therefore, is willing to enter the environment of the global economy, competing with corporate monsters like Toys R Us, Mattel, Hasbro, etc. Therefore, the creation of the bran image, which will become easily recognizable in the global market, is the primary goal of the organization (Guevremot & Grohmann 2013).

Along with the redesign of the company’s brand image (Gross, 2014), the very brand identity of the company will also have to be altered so that the organization could market its products to not only the home country but also to foreign states (Wheeler, 2014). There is no secret that the success of a brand product depends on the way, in which the company addresses the specifics of the local customers’ culture. Herein the need to develop a flexible brand image, which can be adjusted to the demands of the target audience and also retain the key characteristics of the organization, lies.

Apart from the above-mentioned objective, the need to redesign the current leadership strategy also deserves to be brought up. What has been working quite well in the environment of the local market may become the stumbling block in the company’s development in the global economy; specifically, the fact that the organization is governed with the help of a laissez-faire approach deserves to be mentioned (Butch, Martinsen & Kovaas, 2015). Despite being rather appropriate in a small organization, the above-mentioned leadership strategy is likely to backfire in the global market, as it does not allow for a proper information transfer to all stakeholders involved (Michelson, 2015). As a result, the organization may fall apart without the appropriate leadership strategy that would keep the company together. It is highly suggested that the Adventure Street, Co.’s leader should assume the transformative leadership approach, therefore, gaining an opportunity to shape the staff’s organizational behavior in accordance with the ethical principles of the organization. Speaking of which, the creation of a rigid set of ethical principles, which the firm will be guided by in the global economy environment, should be viewed as the third objective of the organization.

Finally, the adoption of a different method of promoting the products in question to the target denizens of the population will have to be considered carefully. Despite the fact that the current approach, which the company has adopted and which presupposes the use of traditional advertisement tools, also works quite well, it is necessary to integrate the elements of modern information technology into the array of tools used for marketing. While the Adventure Street, Co. has been promoted via Facebook and other social networks, the firm clearly needs to push the envelope in terms of advertising its services to the target audience. For instance, creating an app that would allow viewers to come up with their own designs for toys, can viewed as a reasonable step in promoting the products in question to the target clients.

Execution

To implement the objectives mentioned above, the Adventure Street, Co. will have to restructure the company’s current mission and vision statement. Particularly, the company will have to introduce the elements that will allow achieving the stated goal in a manner as efficient and expeditious as possible. Specifically, the leadership issue, which seems to be the key reason for concern at present, as it defines the outcomes of essential processes in the company, has to be dealt with within the shortest amount of time possible. The incorporation of the transformative leadership principles can be enhanced with the adoption of the CSR principles. Defined as “a management idea that has risen to unprecedented popularity throughout the global business community during the last decades” (Crane, 2013, p. 4), the concept of corporate responsibility creates premises for the reconstruction of the company’s principles of organizational behavior, as well as shaping the firm’s mission and vision statement without bringing too many drastic changes to them.

Needs Assessment

A closer look at the company’s operations will reveal that Adventure Street, Co. could use better approach towards staff training in terms of the process of communication with the customers. Particularly, a better system of feedback should be arranged so that the organization could retrieve information regarding the quality and popularity of the toys. Thus, the company will be capable of improving its current services, as well a update the quality assurance process correspondingly, introducing new standards for product quality.

Organization Analysis

Because of the need to enter a new market, the Adventure Street, Co. will have to rearrange the current corporate values and principles. Herein the need to shape the staff’s behavior lies; tough being generally open to innovations and eager to accomplish the tasks set by managers, the employees of Adventure Street, Co. clearly lack motivation for improvement in their performance, as well as a sense of responsibility. Thus, the redesign of the present-day values and vision of the firm is desirable (Burke & Richardsen, 2014).

The training strategy, therefore, will support the business strategy of expanding into the global market by creating premises for the staff to improve their current skills and acquire new ones. Particularly, the employees will gain an opportunity to learn the essential IT skills and, therefore, contribute to the overall strengthening of the company’s information security, as well as facilitating a better information management process. Moreover, the use of innovative technology, which the training presupposes teaching the staff members, is likely to help the firm advance in the global market by targeting the required denizens of the population in a more accurate and efficient manner (Gomez, 2009). Apart from the communication issue, the training in question is likely to help promote the required model of behavior, which the employees of Adventure Street, Co. will need to assume for a more successful operational process.

Person Analysis

On a personal level, the process of training is required, as the introduction of new leadership principles is bound to trigger a redesign of the company’s key communication processes (Swanson, Cattaneo & Bradley, 2012). Particularly, the principles of information transfer, such as the shared knowledge concept, will be incorporated into the organization’s framework (Zhou & Li, 2012). Therefore, the staff will need solid and consistent training to learn the essential principles of information transfer. This training will include the reconsideration of the traditional organizational behavior patterns, such as the principles of data transfer. Particularly, the information will have to be dispersed so that ever single member of the team could have access to the key corporate data.

Moreover, the principles of corporate social responsibility (Kotchen & Moon, 2012) will have to be integrated into the company’s framework. As a result, significant changes in the organizational behavior of the staff are expected to occur. Indeed, the current training procedures lack convincingness as far as their effects are concerned. Although the staff members follow the suggested patterns of behavior closely, they show no enthusiasm whatsoever; as a result, the managers fail to plant the required behavioral models in the corporate environment, leading to further failures. The redesign of the employees’ attitude towards their roles and responsibilities is, therefore, required. Seeing that CSR helps enhance the process of duties acceptance (Kotler & Lee, 2011), it will be required that the specified principle should be integrated into the framework of the company’s training processes.

Task Analysis

The company clearly has the human resources required to be able to compete in the global market. As the analysis carried out below shows, Adventure Street, Co. hires only the people, who are able to accomplish the required tasks in a manner as efficient and expeditious as possible. However, the current leadership strategy does not allow the staff members to accomplish their tasks in the realm of the global market, as the latter invites the need for the organization to split into smaller affiliates, controlling which with the help of a laissez-faire leadership approach does not seem a possibility. Because of the necessity to establish a tougher control over the core processes in the organization and its affiliates, Adventure Street, Co. will have to alter its leadership strategy (Nolan, 2014).

Number and Categories of Employers

As it has been stressed above, the introduction of a new principle of information management will require that the training of all staff members should occur in the firm. However, when it comes to identifying the staff members that need especially close attention, the company’s human resources such as the testing researchers need to be mentioned. Because of the need to put a stronger emphasis on the research and development in the organization, Adventure Street, Co. must reinforce innovative thinking among the above-mentioned staff members. Apart from the employees in question, the organization also needs to address the role of the company’s strategic planning specialist, the members of the advertising and media department, the creative services team, the executives, the designers, the customer service and support team, the manufacturing, marketing, procurement and logistics, product planning, project management, public relations, retail services, and security department members as the possible targets of the new corporate strategy.

Sites and Salience of Their Location

At present, the organization can be deemed as rather salient in terms of its physical location. Being situated in a close proximity to the city center, it can be accessed easily by the target population. However, going global means that the company will have to increase ethe amount of sites; therefore, a more elaborate planning based on the area of residence of the target population will have to be created.

Staff Training Options: Inspiring Ideas

To create the environment, in which staff member could be trained efficiently, one will have to design tasks that involve active use of new tools for the pur[poses of carrying out the employees’ routine tasks. Therefore, the organization will have to provide staff members with an opportunity to partake in free training courses every week for at least three months so that new skills could be acquired in a timely and efficient manner.

Advertisement: Incorporating Modern Media

Apart from the issues discussed above, one will have to focus on the promotion of the company’s products to the target audience. The toy industry is a very specific area, which needs a unique strategy because of the peculiarities of the industry.

Porter’s Five Force: Adventure Street, Co.

Threat of new entrants. Low, due to the existence of a vast variety of strong brands, which attract the attention of most consumers (e.g., Hasbro, Mattel, Toys R Us, etc.);

Threat of substitutive products. High, due to the opportunities in the toy industry and the abundance of ideas for toys;

Bargaining power of suppliers. Low, due to the number of substitute materials, which toys can be made of;

Bargaining power of buyers. High, since buyers have a range of alternatives in the target industry (Nguyen, 2015).

As the Porter’s Five factors analysis above shows, the lack of threats from new entrants, which the current toy industry can be characterized by, is leveled by the considerably big threat of new products and services. Therefore, the organization in question is likely to face considerable challenges when promoting its products to the target denizens of the population. Indeed, children are rather difficult buyers, as they are easily distracted by new toys and options. Thus, it will be required for the Adventure Street Company to keep in pace with the customers’ demands, at the same time making sure that the toys produced should qualify as good based on the current standards.

Reference List

Burke, R. & Richardsen, A. M. (2014). Corporate wellness programs: Linking employee and organizational health. Northampton, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Butch, R., Martinsen, O. L. & Kovaas, B. (2015). The destructiveness of laissez-faire leadership behavior: The mediating role of economic leader–member exchange relationships. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 22(1), 115–124.

Crane, A. (2013). Corporate social responsibility: in a global context. In A. Crane, D. Matten & L. J. Space, Corporate social responsibility: Readings and cases in a global context (4–26). New York, NY: Routledge.

Gomez, M. (2009). The company size effect in innovative performance. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 4(4), 14–31.

Gross, P. (2014). Growing brands through sponsorship: an empirical investigation of brand image transfer in a sponsorship alliance. New York City, New York: Springer.

Guevremot, A. & Grohmann, B. (2013). The impact of brand personality on consumer responses to persuasion attempts. Journal of Brand Management, 20(6), 518–530.

Kotchen, M. & Moon, J. I. (2012). Corporate social responsibility for irresponsibility. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 12(1), 1–21.

Kotler, P. & Lee, N. (2011). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. New York City, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Michelson, B. M. (2015). Character development of U.S. Army leaders: the laissez-faire approach. Military Review, 93(5), 30–39.

Nolan, R. L. (2014). Executive team leadership in the global economic and competitive environment. New York City, New York: Routledge.

Nguyen, T. (2015). Porter’s five forces reconsideration: Model of joint MBA programmes and schools’ fusion in the industry of Management Education as a counter point of competitive environment model. Communication pour la Biennale, 448(1), 1–10.

Penson, C. & Brosdahl, D. J. C. (2013). The Church of Mac: exploratory examination on the loyalty of Apple customers. Journal of Management & Marketing Research, 14(1), 1–15.

Swanson, C., Cattaneo, A., & Bradley, E. (2012). Rethinking health systems strengthening: key systems thinking tools and strategies for transformational change. Health Policy and Planning, 27(4), 54–61.

Wheeler, A. (2012). Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team. 4th edn. New York City, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Zhou, K. Z. & Li, C. (2012). Research notes and commentaries how knowledge affects radical innovation: Knowledge base, market knowledge acquisition, and internal knowledge sharing. Strategic Management Journal, 33(9), 1090–1102.

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