Value Chain Analysis of Fit Juice

The report is an internal environmental audit of Fit Juice. The firm positions itself as the solution provider to health conscious consumers in the energy sector. Apart from offering refreshment, the brand provides an additional benefit of a mental boost. Realization of these goals depends on the ability of the management to balance between the needs of the various stakeholders, the culture and operational model as depicted through the value chain analysis, SWOT, and vision and mission statements.

Contents

Executive Summary. 2

Part 1. 4

Mission, Vision, and Values. 4

Strategy Clarification. 4

Cultural Assessment 5

Value Chain Analysis. 6

Summary. 7

Part 11: SWOT Analysis. 7

Part 111: Balanced Strategic Scorecard. 9

Findings and Conclusions. 10

Part 1

Mission, Vision, and Values

The organizational structure influences the vision and mission statements. Through the statements, a culture comprising of shared beliefs and values (integrity, honesty, trust, open communication, knowledge sharing), is established by the firm’s leadership using a variety of methods. Fit Juice management should comprehend the importance of a viable business strategy and invest finances, effort and time for its development (Zagotta and Robinson, 2002). Since the main focus of the company is to offer a revolutionary drink that maximizes refreshment value by boosting the mental capacity of the consumers, the leadership can capitalize on the proposition to develop an organizational culture that focuses on a healthy lifestyle and creativity. The reason for this is that employees are ambassadors of the company and as such, they should cultivate behaviors and values that resonate with the missions and vision of Fit Juice. When workers are enlightened on the need for using natural ingredients to offer solutions, strategic competitiveness is assured since they are confident to communicate the same to buyers for sustainable operations.

Strategy Clarification

The senior management is aware of the competitive nature of the energy drink industry. As a result, the management resorts to differentiating its unit by adding mental boost capability to the units value proposition and low pricing to attract consumers from different economic segments given that average income level of Texas population is $39,552. Remaining competitive and sustainable in the long run, the management should ensure that eliminates the gap between strategy and implementation. Both employer and workers should share in the commitment to offer timeless and healthy brand to consumers for consistent and sustainable growth and development.

Strategy clarification and development is assured using Becha (2005) model that promotes employee understanding of strategies and the manner in which they affect their personal and professional lives. The firm’s management must motivate the workers towards the strategic goals by communicating the strategies in an understandable and relevant manner. Second, the operational programs should be manageable in a manner that enlightens and empowers workers to own the vision and mission statements. Thirdly, monitoring of the results should be periodical to address gaps in time, and finally, performance should be measurable in a way that growth prospects are highlighted and spearheaded by each stakeholder. Achievement of the four goals is critical in sustaining the firm’s value proposition, competitive advantages and market position so that the operating model remains resilient in the changing industry factors.

Cultural Assessment

A study by Inabinett and Ballaro (2014) confirmed the existence of a relationship between organizational culture, employee retention and values. The underlying corporate culture directly impacts the overall performance. Fit Juice management is dedicated to establish a culture that promotes positive outcomes at individual and organizational levels. When employees are aware of their individual obligations and how they influence end result, they are able to position themselves in such a way that their behaviors and values enhance productivity. Given the diversity of workers, the management of Fit Juice promotes knowledge sharing that is a facilitator of creativity and ultimate innovativeness. The operating environment should enhance open communication and participation. A diverse team is likely to offer varying opinions and ideas that are critical in decision making. The managers should therefore be conscious of the needs of the individual workers so that they develop empowerment programs that offer custom solutions. When workers feel appreciated by the organization, they become committed to the goals of the firm since the outcomes affect their personal and professional lives. Although sharing leads to diverse opinions that require deliberation by team leaders and ultimately the CEO to come up with one strategic decision thus slowing response time, ultimately, the process yields long-term solutions. Compared to an environment that does not promote participation in an effort to reduce response time, the latter may be unable to retain its resilient since the manager may not posses all information about the external environment thereby making short-term solutions that reduce competitive advantage in the long term.

Value Chain Analysis

Delivery of the value proposition and attainment of the firm’s goals depends on the ability of the management to establish its primary and support activities and credible analyze them so that they are capable of reducing costs or improve differentiation. According to Jungbae et al. (2018) value chain comprises of the internal processes that an organization engages in to convert needs, in this case an energy drink that refreshes and boosts mental ability, and solution, Fit Juice.

Fruit Juice primary activities will consist of receiving the raw fruits and other ingredients from the suppliers, conversion of the materials to finished product, marketing and sales to create awareness to the target market, and after sale services including delivery of the purchases to customers in their different locations. Support will be provided by the human resource department by providing incentives and programs necessary to motivate the workforce, digital technology to reach to consumers online and identify their expectations for a more fulfilling experience, and the firm infrastructure in form of the different Fit Juice outlets across Texas. Direct activities provide cost advantage since it is possible to determine costs for each properly for management. Support activities, for instance use of digital technology to reach consumers that enable customization of solutions offer differentiation advantage.

Summary

Evidently, sustaining the vision and mission of Fit Juice depends on the management ability to balance between the needs and expectations of the workers, through the established culture, and the value chain. It is upon the management to provide an environment that boosts productivity by matching the stakeholder needs with the processes used to achieve goals.

Part 11: SWOT Analysis

Developed in line with Porters competitive advantage analytical tool, table 1 depicts the strengths and weaknesses of Fit Juice brand as influenced by external conditions, and the opportunities and threats which are impacted by its internal conditions.

Table 1: Fit Juice SWOT Analysis

Fit Juice SWOT

Strengths

Weaknesses

- Unique value proposition – mental health boost ability

-Experienced and skilled management

-A large consumer base

-Localization of the brand

-Low visibility and customer awareness

-Short shelf life

Opportunities

-Trend toward healthy lifestyle

-Changes in customer preference towards nutritious brands

-Restrictive laws

-Increase in prices

Threats

-Competition from substitute brand competitors

-High unemployment rate

-Most of the health conscious consumers are the aged who are not in social media

Fit Juice will take advantage of the opportunities available in the market by using its core resources. The management is already familiar with the needs of the consumers and as such, the team of employees will be empowered to utilize the programs and structures of the organization to position the brand competitively. For instance, the energy drink market is predicted to grow by 7 percent in the coming ten years (Grand View Research, 2017). As such, the firm should continuously grow its brand by meeting the demands of consumers to penetrate other markets for higher and sustainable revenues. However, the management should use both traditional and modern approaches to reach out to consumers since different population segments prefer different strategies. A focus on the value proposition ensures that each stakeholder is able to identify with the brand leading to sustainable growth.

Part 111: Balanced Strategic Scorecard

The balanced scorecard combines various components of mission, vision, strategic focus, operational measures and core values to map the firm’s products with the target market and solutions. The systems perspectives, including financial, customer expectations, learning and growth and internal operations are balanced by the leadership of Fit Juice to maintain its business model.

Financial: Evidently, Fit Juice is a start up and as such, it’s not possible to map its current financial position with the strategies. However, the management is aware of the need to have a balanced structure such that there is an assurance of 40% gross profit margin on expenses. A budget that is structured based on lean approaches ensures that all variable and fixed experiences are managed for sustainable profits.

Customer: The consumer is the main stakeholders since he or she influences the profitability, wealth and growth maximization goals of Fit Juice. As such, consideration is made on the tastes and preferences of the target market so that offerings are customized to their needs. A review of rival customers, study of literature on the characteristics of the market, and use of digital and other traditional tools to reach consumers will facilitate the customization process for a satisfied market.

Internal Processes: Fit Juice base its leadership on lean approaches to save on cost promoting differentiation for a more stable market share. Lean methods focus on procedures that lead to attainment of objectives such that there resources are used to full capacity.

Organizational Capacity: Training and development programs will be used to empower employees so that they remain updated with the changing needs of the consumers for better results.

Findings and Conclusions

Fit Juice operational model is strategically positioned to offer solutions to consumers who are health conscious. The leadership intends to maintain a culture of collaboration, participation and open sharing so that employees are creative and innovative enough to foster the implementation of the firms mission and vision statements in a sustainable manner. Notably, low visibility still remains a constrain for the business due to the existence of strong and aggressive competitors but if the management and employees focuses on the changing consumers needs and application of lean approaches, the operational model will remain resilient to external forces.

References

Becher, J. D. (2005). Operational alignment: Bridging the gap between strategy and execution. Business Performance Management, 3(1), 11-16.

Inabinett, J. M., & Ballaro, J. M. (2014). Developing An Organization By Predicting Employee Retention By Matching Corporate Culture With Employee's Values: A Correlation Study. Organization Development Journal, 32(1).

Grand View Research (2017). Energy Drinks Market Size Worth $84.80 Billion by 2015. Retrieved from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-energy-drinks-market

Jungbae Roh, J., Hong, P., & Park, Y. (2008). Organizational culture and supply chain strategy: a framework for effective information flows. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 21(4), 361-376.

Zagotta, R., & Robinson, D. (2002). Keys to successful strategy execution. Journal of Business Strategy, 23(1), 30-34.