Question

PART ONE: Please identify some of the concepts that you have learned in this course that will be of greatest value to you and your work within your organization. What benefits will you and your organization derive from a more focused approach to crafting and executing strategy?

PART TWO: Please reflect on the simulation process of this course. How was that experience generally, what did you learn from it, what might we change and why? Also, was the team experience helpful in this process and if you could change something, what would it be.

Answer 1

The key learnings from the course are as follows:

• Strategy of a company must be in alignment with the culture and value system of the company
• The strategy must be SMART i.e. specific, measurable, attainable, realistic as well as time bound
• The leaders must be the propagator of strategy in the company
• Employee involvement in strategy formulation, helps in increasing its overall effectiveness

There are various business strategies that a business has to develop. One of the most critical strategy in current times is the marketing strategy of the company. The primary steps involved in developing effective marketing communication strategy are:

• Identify the target audience for the marketing communication: The companies try to narrow down the scope of marketing campaigns and try to aim at the primary customers of the company. For example: Marketing campaign at Zara will be aimed at the young fashionistas.
• Determine the primary objective of the marketing communications plan: The objective of the marketing communications plan must be very clear. This helps in developing a crisp campaign. Usually companies try to enhance awareness about its new initiatives through the marketing campaign and this emerges as their primary objective.
• Choose the media to transmit the marketing communication: With the advent of social media, the company has various options to choose the marketing media as the launch platform for the communication plan. Social media platform poses to be quite cost effective as well as attractive for the millennial customers.
• Select the message source: This will portray how the company will be involved in the marketing plan- whether the portrayal will be direct or indirect.
• Develop the marketing message: Based on the above-mentioned decisions, the marketing plan is finalized and the marketing message is developed.

The simulation experience was quite a learning process. The most important aspect which stood out was the importance of team work. By undergoing the simulation process, I realized that effective teamwork is one in which all communication lines are clearly established. The team members work to the best of their ability and collaborate with each other to get the common objective fulfilled. The team experience was quite enriching. We analysed and learnt from our mistakes and that helped us to grow and develop.