Strategic Plan

The technology market is one of the most competitive landscapes. Without constant innovation and introduction of new products, it may be quite difficult for technology firms to thrive in the long run. Nevertheless, introducing a new product presents a significant moment for an organization as shifts in strategy, organizational structure, business units, and processes are often involved (Hill & Jones, 2012). Accordingly, the process must be carefully managed to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved, especially in terms of stakeholder involvement and communication (Thompson & Martin, 2010). These two aspects will be particularly important as Tex Technologies Limited (Tex) introduces a new product in the increasingly promising consumer drones market. This paper provides a plan for the introduction of the new product, specifically focusing on the strategy for the new product launch, key internal stakeholders to be involved, and communication strategy.

Established in 2000, Tex is a fictitious technology firm involved in the design, development, production, and marketing of a range of consumer technology products, including digital watches, virtual reality headsets, as well as consumer applications. The company seeks to make life easier, funnier, and more fascinating for the consumer by delivering innovative, everyday technology products. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California and has operations throughout the U.S. In a little less than two decades, the company has achieved tremendous success as exemplified by the considerable increase in its customer base, customer satisfaction levels, and financial performance. In the next five years, the company seeks to increase its presence to more regions within the U.S. and outside the U.S., specifically in Canada and the UK. Launching a new product has been identified as an appropriate route for achieving this route. This will be important for improving the firm's competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The new product to be introduced is a consumer drone, dubbed as the Super Drone. The introduction of this product is particularly informed by the increasingly promising consumer drones market. Also, known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), consumer drones have gained prominence in the last five years. In that short period of time, the use of consumer drones has transformed from a hobbyist affair to an everyday phenomenon. Drones now have applications in diverse areas, including product delivery, amateur photo and video taking, film making, property tours, 3D modeling, as well as recreation and aerial games. Projections indicate that the consumer drone market will grow tenfold in the next five years (Tractica, 2016).

Though there are now numerous consumer drones in the market, there is still a gap as the market is still growing. The Super Drone will have superior capabilities compared to most drones in the market. The drone will be easier to fly and will be able to film anything anywhere. Designed for not only amateur filmmakers, but also professional filmmakers and novice pilots, the drone will have a 360-degree camera, excellent shutter speed, a wide range of autonomous flight modes, a better touch screen controller, and unparalleled obstacle avoidance and sensing capabilities. It will provide an uninterrupted flying experience, unmatched durability, more responsive controls, an onboard micro SD card, and virtual reality capabilities. These unique features will come at a more competitive price compared to most consumer drones in the market.

Introducing the new product will have substantial benefits for the company. First, it will broaden the firm's product portfolio, hence increasing revenue streams. Indeed, the importance of product diversification in today's business world cannot be overemphasized (Hill & Jones, 2012). Overreliance on a single or a few products often exposes a firm to the negative consequences of diminishing growth and sales decline at the end of the product lifecycle (Samson & Bevington, 2012). Diversifying revenue streams will significantly enhance the firm's financial performance, consequently giving the firm greater financial muscle to pursue opportunities in the market.

For the new product to be successfully introduced, extensive involvement of employees will be crucial. Indeed, little or no employee involvement is one of the factors responsible for the failure of most strategic plans (Thompson & Martin, 2010). As internal stakeholders, employees require to be engaged throughout the entire strategic implementation process -- from initiation to product design, and launch. The need to involve employees in strategic implementation is particularly informed by the fact that employees are directly involved in executing the strategic plan. When employees are involved, they are more likely to be more committed to the goals and objectives of the plan.

An important stakeholder in the strategic implementation process is the top management. Strategic plans are often initiatives of the management. The management assesses the organization's strengths and weaknesses, identifies opportunities in the market, and plans how to exploit those opportunities. The role of the management involves not only creating the strategic plan and overseeing its implementation, but also mobilizing and providing the necessary resources (Hill & Jones, 2012). Introducing a new product is without a doubt a resource-intensive undertaking, requiring processes such as research and development (R&D), procurement, product testing, and marketing, hence the need for management commitment.

In most cases, it is prudent for the management to constitute a team to implement the project (Hayes, 2014). This ensures more specific accountability for the project. As introducing the new product involves several diverse processes, the project team should be drawn from different functions within the organization. In this case, it will be important to have a team comprising representatives from the top management, R&D, finance, sales and marketing, procurement, and human resource. From each of these functions, individuals with outstanding skills, capabilities, knowledge, and experience will be selected to participate in the project team. Having representatives for the various functions in the team is important for ensuring perspectives touching on each function are included in the strategic implementation process (Hayes, 2014). For instance, sales and marketing personnel will provide insights about packaging and promotion, while human resource personnel will ensure effective selection and training of personnel in regards to the new product. In essence, having an inclusive team will be crucial for the success of the project.

As mentioned earlier, employees comprise one of the important stakeholders as far as the implementation of the new strategic plan is concerned. As such, they must be effectively engaged throughout the implementation process. Involving employees has a lot do with communication. Effective communication is actually an important ingredient of success in strategic implementation (Thompson & Martin, 2010). Communication will be important for familiarizing everyone in the organization with the objectives and rationale of the strategic plan (Hayes, 2014). As direct implementers of the strategic plan, members of staff must clearly understand why introducing the new product is crucial and how it fits in the organization's strategic goals and objectives. Making employees aware of the bigger picture increases their commitment to the strategic plan, which will be crucial for the success of the project.

Employees need communication about not only the importance of the strategic initiative, but also its implications on their roles and responsibilities as well as the organization's structure (Samson & Bevington, 2012). As mentioned earlier, the new product will require the formation of a project team to coordinate the project. This will mean some temporary reorganization since the team will be drawn from various functions within the organization. In other worlds, inter-departmental collaboration will be crucial. This will involve sharing resources and information as well as minor or major changes in roles and responsibilities. For instance, the team may be required to spend more time in the office and participate in tasks beyond their functional scope. The initiative will affect not only members of the project team, but also other members of staff within the organization, meaning that communication should be made to everyone in the organization.

Communicating to members of staff how the project will affect their roles and responsibilities will be essential for gaining organization-wide buy-in to the initiative. Most strategic plans fail due to internal resistance, which is in large part caused by poor communication (Hayes, 2014). When staff members clearly understand the importance of the strategic initiative and its implications on their roles and responsibilities, they are more likely to support the initiative -- they readily devote their time and effort to ensuring the initiative succeeds.

Support can further be increased by communicating how the strategic initiative will directly benefit members of staff (Samson & Bevington, 2012). As strategic initiatives may often require more of employees' time and effort, it is prudent for rewards to be identified and communicated. For instance, rewards may involve bonuses, vacations, formal recognition, promotion, as well as training and development opportunities. When a strategic initiative benefits both the organization and employees, employees are more likely to support it (Hayes, 2014). In fact, rewarding employees for their contribution is often a crucial driver of motivation and empowerment -- employees gain a sense of appreciation, consequently contributing to the success of the project.

It is imperative to note that communicating a strategic initiative to employees is not a one-time process as often thought. Indeed, it is common for the CEO to not make further communication relating to the project after the first speech or presentation. For everyone in the organization to comprehensively understand the significance of the strategic initiative, the CEO must communicate the initiative consistently and frequently (Samson & Bevington, 2012). The CEO should use every opportunity available to reinforce the message. Consistent and regular communication achieves two important things. First, the commitment of the CEO to the initiative becomes evident. Second, as the CEO is the leader of the organization, employees are likely to emulate their behavior -- they become as enthusiastic about the initiative as the CEO. They are motivated to put their best foot forward for the success of the initiative.

There are various channels the CEO can utilize to communicate the initiative to employees. The first is a presentation or a speech. A CEO presentation is the first formal communication of the initiative to employees. At this stage, the CEO reiterates the mission and vision of the organization, announces the new initiative, and articulates its goals and objectives. The presentation marks the beginning of a chain of communications aimed at reinforcing the CEO's message. Subsequent communications are delivered through channels such as memos, staff meetings, discussion forums, informal talks, and team building activities (Hayes, 2014). Literally, the CEO utilizes as many communication channels as possible.

Following the speech, the CEO will send memos to every head of each function in the organization. Functional heads can then relay the CEO's message to the rest of the organization. Staff meetings will also be a vital communication tool. As meetings will mainly involve the project team, the CEO will utilize this opportunity to build further support for the initiative. The project team will talk about the initiative in not only meetings, but also discussion forums and team building activities. The CEO will also capitalize on these forums to engage members of staff. Informal talks essentially entail unplanned dialogues such as hallway and lunchtime conversations. Informal channels can indeed be useful in reinforcing communication relating to the strategic initiative and getting employees' feelings about the initiative.

While the CEO speech and memos are characterized by one-way communication, staff meetings, discussion forums, informal talks, and team building activities often involve two-way communication. In essence, the CEO not only conveys a message to employees, but also gives them an opportunity to seek clarifications, ask questions, and offer their views about the initiative (Hayes, 2014). This is ideally in line with the spirit of employee involvement, which as earlier mentioned, is crucial for the successful implementation of the strategic initiative.