The strategic management is a process used by the top management of a company in order to formulate and implement the new goals and objectives that the company plans and the internal and external environment within the organisation that helps the company to be successful in its initiatives (Haas and Hansen, 2005). This study would allow us to analyse the various strategies applied by an electrical and telecommunication retailer named Currys operating in the UK. The main aim for this study is to analyse the internal as well as external environment of the company, the strategic options available to the company that it can undertake for further improvement of the company’s reputation.
During its business, the company faces a numbers of risks and uncertainties in its functioning and undertakes various strategies in order to mitigate these risks and take care of the interests of the shareholders (Haas and Hansen, 2005). The directors of the organization take the responsibility in mitigating the risk factors in order to ensure the effectiveness of the functioning of Currys. They take various initiatives in order to ensure that the company implements better risk management strategies (Birdi, et al., 2008). There are various levels of the management system of the company that is the board of directors handle the managers and the managers in turn control the team leaders. The team leaders are efficient enough in controlling the teams and execution of the projects successfully (Birdi, et al., 2008). They aim at creating various new risk management procedures that are successful in mitigating various types of risks (Haas and Hansen, 2005). Currys has its own risk register where the probable risks are registered and the higher authorities try to find out ways to mitigate various probable risk factors (Lowendahl, 2005; Brown, 2005).
Currys conducts external audits and the auditors are mainly appointed by the shareholders who provide some opinions regarding the financial statement of the company (Hunger and Wheelen, 2003). The study reveals that Delloite LLP has played a significant role in acting as an external auditor for the company for a longer period of time (Choo and Bontis, 2002).
Long term schemes used by the companies are aligned according to the interests of the shareholders. These schemes are rewarding only when it proves to be beneficial to the shareholders (Kaplan and Norton, 2001). The company also has a strategy to encourage the employees to invest in company’s shares and thus contribute to the long term success of the company (Thomsen and Pedersen, 2000). It tries to maintain the long term interests of the shareholders and thus plans for future growth prospect (Ireland, et al., 2001).
Political developments took place within and outside the UK including detailed inspection of the Currys’ industries and suppliers in the countries where they undertake their business (Bottani and Rizzi, 2006). There occurs material and legal regulatory change within or outside the UK that may have a serious impact on the Currys businesses (Dyer, Kale and Singh, 2001).
Since mobile phones have become an important aspect for the customers, it is expected that Currys’ products would be highly demanded.. However, the challenging environment determines the consumers demand for various types of handsets. It also depends on the purchasing power of the consumers (Guilding, Cravens and Tayles, 2000).
Some of the strategies used by the company to maintain reputation is by lowering the prices of the products manufactured by the company, producing exclusive products for their customers, having large stores, advertising about the brands and undertaking efficient sales techniques (Guilding, Cravens and Tayles, 2000).
Currys is responsible for providing well managed technology platforms in order to provide better services to its customers (Lyneis, Cooper and Els, 2001). It provides better mobile connectivity to the customers in order to gain brand loyalty and expand their customer base which would further lead to the growth of the company (Guilding, Cravens and Tayles, 2000).
The business conducted by the telecommunication retailer Currys is highly seasonal with a large portion of its revenue generated during the festive seasons of Christmas and New Year. During the months of December and January, the company hires employees in order to produce additional products (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). Consumer demands rises during this period and the company raises its production level in order to produce higher quantity of goods (Dyer, Kale and Singh, 2001).
The company has the power to decide in case of any changes in law and order that may be important for their businesses to run uninterruptedly. There may be a possibility that the company is subject to intellectual property rights that are owned by others and the company may face legal actions in case it tries to violet the rights owned by others (Guilding, Cravens and Tayles, 2000).
As Europe’s leading company in the field of Electronics and Telecommunication, Currys takes care of its ethics and reputation in the market. The company considers the interests of its employees, shareholders and customers as a priority and they ensure that these are reflected in their business decisions (Nag, Hambrick and Chen, 2007). Currys offers its customers a wide range of technological and innovative products for maintaining its strong customer base (Marginson, 2002; Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012).
