Thesis on "Organizational Analysis it Perspective"

Thesis 4 pages (1270 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Organizational Analysis for it at Imperial Tobacco Canada

Description of the Company and Industry

Imperial Tobacco Canada competes in the global market for loose-leaf tobacco, tobacco-related products including tobacco tubes and filters. The company relies extensively on an indirect channel of distribution, serving North American markets. The company's distribution channels include in-airport facilities and locations serving Canadian travelers in duty free outlets, in addition to continuing this strategy in the U.S. airports along the northern regions of the country. Through a partnership with ITL, their U.S.-based retailing partner, Imperial also has created a series of unique retail-based products specific to the American market. The reliance on Channel 2, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tobacco Canada, is also focused on the retail channels, creating value through the development of in-channel events and programs. The reliance on their distribution channels in conjunction with their supply chains has made the company highly dependent on systems and process integration across their entire value chain.

Primary Competitive Strategy

The primary competitive strategy for Imperial Tobacco is to concentrate on adding value to what is primarily a process-oriented good, which is tobacco and its byproducts. For Imperial to stay competitive in its retail channels, the company will need to continually increase on how to continually improve on the processes they rely on for managing their supply chains, the processes that integrate their supply chains and retailing strategies, all coordinated with a synchronized pricing strategy. At present Imperial Tobacco relies on pricing strategies that are specific to each retail channel, first defined on a product basis. While the company initially concentrated on Profit and Loss (P&L) by product line it is increasingly becoming clear that there is the need to create a more effective approach to defining, managing, and handling pricing exceptions across the many channels the company sells through today.

Given the onslaught of competition in the tobacco industry globally, Imperial Tobacco must concentrate on how to turn pricing into a differentiator. The price/quality relationship that its higher-end competitor's brand rely on to protect their gross contribution margins while also sustaining a high-end brand image has led to Imperial Tobacco attempting to compete purely on price at the lower-end of the market. This has only had short-term success and over time could potentially arm the brands' reputation for quality as well. From a competitive standpoint it is more advisable to seek price optimization across all products and channels and not attempt to incite or compete in price wars in lower-end segments. Paralleling the stabilization of pricing for Imperial Tobacco is the need for creating a more synchronized multichannel strategy globally. The lack of multi-channel management synchronization at the product level is a competitive disadvantage as evidenced by the diverging direction of Channel 2 as well from both a strategy and product perspective as well. In summary the competitive strategy of Imperial Tobacco of concentrating on specific channels with specific pricing and product strategies may have been successful in the short-term and even enabled a higher level of performance in specific markets has not been successful in maximizing the level of profits attainable by centralizing pricing. One of the most critical of processes that rely on an enterprise-wide coordination of pricing is the managing of special pricing requests (SPRs) in addition to the ordering of large, customized lots of tobacco products. The ordering of customized lots of tobacco products is often called package-to-order, a highly collaborative process that is cross-functional in nature requiring coordination of external suppliers and a minimum of four internal departments to ensure accuracy. SPR workflows are in fact a specific sub-process in the package-to-order process. In essence an SPR is a request from a Imperial Tobacco channel partner, distributor, larger retailer or grocery change for a price exception to their existing pricing arrangements. Competitors to Imperial Tobacco have used… READ MORE

How to Reference "Organizational Analysis it Perspective" Thesis in a Bibliography

Related Thesis Papers:

Diagnostic Analysis Organizational Research Proposal

Diagnostic Analysis

Organizational analysis is the process of evaluating the development, personnel, operations, and work environment of an organization (Perow, 2005). Carrying out a consistent and detailed analysis of an… read more

Research Proposal 9 pages (2722 words) Sources: 10 Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Organizational Analysis of Family Farms When Family-Run Thesis

Organizational Analysis of Family Farms

When family-run businesses such as organic farms succeed they do so because the organizational culture of both family and business are similar.

There are a… read more

Thesis 10 pages (2686 words) Sources: 6 Style: APA Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Toyota SWOT Analysis Organizational SWOT

Toyota SWOT Analysis

Organizational Analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the largest and most diversified auto manufacturers globally… read more

SWOT 8 pages (2427 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Organizational Analysis it Perspective Thesis

company's competitive strategy and value model. Explain how information systems and technology are used to create strategic advantage.

Comments on the Answers Provided

The answer to this section does not… read more

Thesis 12 pages (3492 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Organizational Change and Development Essay

Organizational Change and Development

The critical enterprise consists, ideally, of three aspects: (1) explanation and critique of current systems and the historical currents that have given rise to them, (2)… read more

Essay 10 pages (2653 words) Sources: 12 Style: APA Topic: Management / Organizations

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>