Introduction

Companies, small and big enterprises and organizations all have their set objectives that they work hard to achieve. Formulation of the right strategies for the business therefore enhances the top management’s role in formulating and implementing the goals and objectives that the organisation seeks to achieve.

Management has to make sound decisions because the decisions they make will definitely have an impact on the general functioning of the company. This therefore keeps the management under pressure of ensuring that they make decisions that will enable them to evaluate both the internal and the external factors that they are competing. The most important factors to consider are the company’s stakeholders, and the impact they have on the organization. This paper will explain the company’s strategy and describe strategy implementation and evaluation.

Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises

The company was established in the year 1972. It is set as one of the trading arm of the Al Rawahy Family that consists of a group of companies. The company was established purposely to capture the emerging markets in Sultanate of Oman during Renaissance period. It is specialized in dealing with construction, oil, and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication sectors. It is currently one of the best performing businesses in Sultanate.The company has earned its reputation as one of the most resilient highly innovative companies in the UAE.

The company is best known for its efforts to work closely with the rest of the community in establishing a working community that is economically stable. It has successfully natured the entrepreneurial spirit within its community with most of the people within the region in which the company is established becoming staunch business personnel. In its efforts to foster economic growth and development, the company has driven growth through strategic partnership with renowned international companies. This has been a successful marketing company because it has been able to let the region and areas of the companies it has integrated with to know of its existence. This group of companies has embraced strategic not at the expense of attaining economic stability within the region.

The group of companies has inhibited great potential that has pushed it from a few individual successful companies to the success of the group of companies as a whole. The company has invested well in its diversification strategy based on the steady performance that it has continuously been getting. The group of companies is slowly but surely expanding its footprints in the global market. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises is putting a lot of efforts in supporting Abu Dhabi in becoming a diversified city both socially and economically. Since 1995, the group of companies has channeled its resources and energy towards a strategy that will foster the Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises to greater success in terms of growth and diversification.

Analysis of Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises Strategies

Designing the best strategic policies for a company is impossible without a complete scrutiny of the external environment affecting the business. The decisions that the business management makes must incorporate the external factors that influence the performance of the business. Macro environment analysis creates a platform for the business to identify possible threats that the business has no control. It also identifies the possible opportunities that the industry has which are not within the control of the industry.  The external factors are bound to affect all the companies in the industry. However, analysis should only include how the industry will be affected by the external factors and not how the industry in general will be affected. The group of companies has settled on strategies that will promote growth and diversification.

This therefore means that that the strategies that they implement on have to provide this result. Judging from the company’s performance since it was established, it is clear that company’s efforts to promote growth and diversification have been a success. This can much be attributed to the long ties and relationship that the company has had with respected international companies that have trimmed the company in applying the right strategies that will promote growth and development. These international companies have provided an external effect to the performance and decision-making in the company. However, it is important to note that externalities cannot always work to the advantage of the company.

External environment strongly influences the decisions made in a company and therefore the managers formulate policies of dealing with these externalities especially negative externalities, if they want the business to stand firmly. Changes in the external environment results to uncertainties, constraints or in some cases open up new opportunities for the business. The externalizes also create an opportunity for the business to evade certain potential threats to the business. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has been extremely vigilant to guarantee that they will remain competitive even in the cases of a flooded market characterized with a lot of negative characteristics.

Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises opts to design strategies that conform to the behaviors of the industry’s environment and by introducing a completely new strategy with the intention of reshaping the company to take over the industry. Macro environmental factor not only do they affect the short-term performance of an organization but also play a role in deciding the long-term sustainability of the organization.

These factors include the political, economic, social, technological factors, environmental and legal factors. The success of Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises can also be attributed to the political arena, high available market opportunities, economic growth and development, little or no element of cultural disunity, low levels of unnecessary legal barriers, and no elements physiographic barriers.

In the efforts to deal with the negative external factors that might affect the general performance of Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises, the company has taken advantage of its economic, political, technological, legal, social, and demographic factors in making decisions that will promote diversification and growth in the industry and the economy at large. This can be analyses under the PESTEL analysis as follows.

PESTEL analysis

PEST analysis is a tool used by the management in scanning the external environment surrounding a business organization. It is an abbreviation derived from the term political, economic, social, technological factors, environmental and legal. The framework is essential in scanning an organization’s external environment in order to analyse their influence on the decision-making process and performance of the company. These six factors have an impact on the organisation’s functions and will be explained based on how Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises applied this information to diversify the economy and the promote growth. These factors have played an important role in nurturing the right environment from all aspects for the growth of Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises.

Political factors

This defines the stability of a country’s political environment, political parties, and other movements that are politically related. The political landscape of a country shapes the incentives for the potential investors to agree investing in a country. Most of the countries operate in an economy where the government has the liberty to interfere with the operations of the economy. The most powerful tool that the government uses in as far as interfering with the economy is concerned involved regulating tax policies and taking part in agreements related to trade. Government policies are the major constituent of the political factors affecting a business entity. The success of Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises is determined by the policies put in place by the government that will have a direct impact on the group of companies. The regulations put in place between the government and the company will determine the policies and decisions that Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises will implement in its operations.

Wars and terrorism are factors that may affect the political environment that influences Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises. The government is responsible to provide the country security against terrorism attacks. This is because these attacks not only interfere with the operations of the business but also affects the entire economy of the country. Good political stability is one of the items that unite people together. This is irrespective of their diversities including political interests, religion, gender, and education among others. This is in line with the company’s strategic plan of promoting diversity both economically and socially. Change in potion that respectable politicians take also has influence on the economic performance of the business. UAE enjoys a remarkable level of political stability with just some minor changes in political institutions since it came to existence.

The country has a stable and promising political environment with the government becoming increasingly concerned with the needs of the people and the businesses as well. Reforms have been made in the country to ensure that the people of UAE are given an opportunity to participate in the governmental operations for the development of a free country. The government is in control of issues of corruption and the law has the authority to impact punishment on people involved in such malpractices. This creates an environment for Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises to introduce new strategies because of the good political stability in the country.

Economic factors

A change in an economy setup highly influences the forces of demand and supply, the consumers’ purchasing power and their willingness to spend more on purchasing a product, among other economic variables. Consequently, changes in these variables result to a change in the economic status of a country. The variables affecting the economic status of a country cannot be controlled by a single unit business the variable not only affects the economic decisions of the business but also affects the general economic performance of the country. The basic feature of a country’s economy is the composition of all the economic units available.

This includes small and large enterprises; both private and public owned. Globalization has really influenced the economic situation in UAE through the introduction of resources from other parts of the world into the country. This therefore implies that UAE is able to trade and do business with organizations from other parts of the country. This gives businesses in UAE including Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises a leeway advantage to excel and make better decisions in as far as strategies in business are concerned. Economic conditions have an impact on the transport industry because of demand for travel and transportation of goods. There is a direct relationship between a country’s change in economy and the construction, oil and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication sectorsin Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises.

United Arab Emirates is a country that has one of the biggest economies in the world. This status therefore serves as an advantage to Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises because it becomes easy for the company to spur to a powerful and growing company. The growth of the company to the level of integrating with respected companies is attributed to the strong economy in the UAE hence making it easy for the company to make the right economic decisions. The good economic environment has increased the demand for construction, oil and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication. In the event where there is an economic crisis, then the problem also reflects on the performance of the Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises.

Social factors

These changes in culture and society have an impact on customers. Most of the people in UAE belong to the Muslim religion and this is included in the country’s constitution. It is therefore mandatory that all the organizations in UAE have to abide to the Islamic way of life even though the constitution has accepted the operation of businesses owned by people from other religions present in UAE. It is important for a business to take all the religious values seriously because in one way or the other, these values determine the performance of the business in UAE. Religion brings people together regardless of their differences

. Management has to consider the customer’s response in relation to the business, and identify ways of ensuring that the organization’s strategy is attained.  Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has put a lot of efforts in promoting diversity of people irrespective of their sociological differences. The diversity in values, attitudes, lifestyle and religion have to be put in place when the company intends to make a decision putting in mind that that what one culture considers acceptable is an abomination to another. The citizens of UAE respect their culture and traditions and occasionally get involved in activities that show respect for their cultures. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has adapted the cultural living of the people and gets involved in activities that will promote integration as well as the economic productivity of the people of UAE.

This move has enabled the company to earn a lot of respect from the people. It important to point out the business ought to establish a good relationship with the people primarily because these same people form the population of the target market for the Bin Salem General Trading Enterprise sproducts in the market. If the relationship between the business and the people is distorted then it simply implies that the business too has no relationship with its customers. Social factor comprises of the composition of the population in terms of their level of education, the age distribution of the citizens, how wealth is distributed among the people and the living standards of people.

These are elements that the business is not in a position to control. However ,the business can participate in ways of ensuring that they influence the lifestyle of the people through giving donors, opening up employment opportunities, supporting the young entrepreneurs in starting their own investments, and paying taxes to the government so that the government can do proper allocation of resources to projects that can improve the living standards of the people.

In the case where the population of people is, growing at a very alarming rate not proportional to the resources available in the country then it is important for the business to ensure that it raises awareness to the people on the importance of controlling the growth rate of the population. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has been a great influence of promoting improved living standards of the people by opening up new employment opportunities to the people, participating in community activities that promote good social relationship among the people, and helping the younger generation by giving those tips on how they can start their own investments. This move has contributed to not only improved living standards of the people but also ensuring that the country is on the right direction of ensuring that there is even distribution of resources and the social classes in the country.

Technological factors

It defines the rate at which there are new inventions and technical development, change in information technology and gadgets, expanding use of the internet around the globe, e-commerce, and the fact that government has increased its expenditure on research. It is out research that new inventions in a country are developed. UAE over the past few years has been operating with professional with knowledge and skills on the use of technology.

One of the major achievements is concerned is the use of internet facilities within companies which has improved communication. These facilities have also improved working conditions in the sense that doing business in the modern UAE is much easier. Technology is constantly changing; organization management has to identify ways of sustaining investments to meet future technological demands. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has been ensuring that they establish the right technologies to ensure that they can access more people in the market and that they can get their products to the respective destinations in time.Technologies have also enabled Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises to keep in touch with the companies they have partnered with in order to monitor performance.

Legal factors

The government is responsible for formulating law and regulation in the country. It expects that once the laws have been put in place, all citizens including the business owners must comply. However, some regulations may pose a threat to the performance of a business in the sense that it curtails the business ability to maximize on the profit levels. On the other hand, the government may also introduce other law and regulations that may promote the ability of the business to make better decision and maximize their utility of making more profits.

The government introduces these laws to protect the producer, consumer, or both of them. It is the right of the customers to get quality services. It is also the right of the producers to maximize his or her profit levels as long as he or she is operating a legal business. The government therefore has to get involved to ensure that there is equilibrium. This ensures that both parties leave happy. The consumer gets the satisfaction of consuming a product and at the same time, the producer maximizes on his or her profits without exploiting the consumer.

Environmental factors

Incidents of flights being cancelled in airports are very common. The major reasons why flights are cancelled are mostly related to the weather condition at either the departure point or the destination. UAE has arid climatic condition. The country therefore experiences less or sometime no rainfall at all. The country has therefore improvised the use of technology to ensure that there is a steady supply of water. Harsh weather conditions cannot be controlled. It is therefore important that a business set aside resources in preparation of dealing with such natural calamities.

Strategy and Performance

Strategies analysis is very important to Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises since it is an aspect that they have to consider in identifying their status in the market. The business therefore focuses on how strategies are to be implemented in the organization considering the best approaches and the resources they have.  As Atkinson explains, strategy implementation enables the management to work on the strengths of the company and eliminate the weaknesses so that they are in apposition to achieve their set goals and objectives. The strategic objectives to be implemented in the company are to intensify customer focus, deliver consistent service excellence, extending capabilities by creating local strength and driving practical innovation, attracting, developing and retaining talent, and relentlessly drive efficiency. This can only be achieved by using the marketing mix tools that enhance competition among companies

The components for the elements of this marketing tool include product, place, price, and promotion. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has a variety of products that it offers to its customers like construction, oil, and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication. The company has defined uniform services to all the centers regardless of the diversity in religion, culture or any other aspect of differentiation.

All their customers are treated in absolute fairness. Price is the value attached to the services that the consumers get from the company. The lower the cost, the higher the number of customers that one attracts. The company is therefore using the pricing strategy to attract more customers.
Promotion refers to the strategies put in place by the management in order to market their products and make them known to their customers. Mostly uses their websites and internet facilities in marketing their products. This has achieved great success especially because of the increase in the number of internet users. More customers therefore get to understand what the company is offering to the market.

Problems facing the company

The company is faced with some challenges that are curbing its excellent performance in the market including

New entrants in the market

The construction, oil, and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication sectors of UAE are growing day by day. New companies offering similar services to Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises create positive competition in the market. The customers not only get a chance to choose from the more options available in the market but also get to choose services based on quality and the affordability of the services. When new companies enter the market, the existing companies in the market like Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises are also forced to ensure that improve not only on the quality of services that they offer the customers but also to ensure that they are  at per with the new technology that the new entrants bring to the market. This therefore results to a change in the industry where new technology is introduced. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has not taken over the market of UAE and the fact new entrants are joining the market only make things harder for the company to maximize on the available opportunities.

Competition

Competition is vital for the success if a business. Porter’s five forces model is a tool used to determine the competitive environment of a business. It explains the conditions that the business is operating in as far as competition is concerned. This tool has five forces that have a significant impact on a business organization.

Rivalry among firms

These organizations competing for the same services that Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises competes for. Examples of its competitors include Muscat Securities Market and Oman that are established companies in the market. These companies offer the same services to the market as the Bin Salem General Trading Enterprisesand therefore as Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises formulates on its policies it puts into consideration that if wrong policies are implemented, then they will lose a share of the market to their competition.

Bargaining power of customers

As an organisation produces a certain good or service, he or she has customers in mind. It is therefore a responsibility to the company to ensure it gets feedback from the customers on what products they want the company to create or make available to them. If the company does not sort out to determine what the customers want, then they are planning to fail. This is because the competitors to the company will go to the consumers to determine what they want. Once they have established this, then they will be in a position to take over the market. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises is not as established in the market as its competitors and there competing through giving the consumers a high bargaining power becomes a challenge.

Bargaining power of suppliers             

Suppliers provide organizations with inputs used to ensure that every organization goal falls into place. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has a few suppliers concerned with issues like Logistics, freight transportation, warehousing and distribution, insurance, supply chains solutions among others.

 

Threat of substitutes

These are services that people use other than the Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises. The biggest challenge for the company become management of the competition to a level it can compete effectively with the established companies in the market.

Threat of new entrants

New companies may enter the contract logistics industry and offer the same services as Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises. This becomes more of a challenge especially in the case where the new entrants are offering their products at a relatively cheaper price.

Increasing globalization

There is growth in the construction, oil, and gas, industrial, electrical and telecommunication sectors industry. Due to globalization, countries can trade easily and efficiently. Globalization makes it possible for people not only communicate from one region to another but also has simplified the movement of goods from one continent to another. Globalization has promoted trading activities between countries that are not even within the same region. Investors are not curtailed to trading within their regions or continents but are at the liberty of moving from one region to another. Globalization is working best for the already established companies in the market. This is because they have higher levels of resources that they channel towards expansion of the company to regional and international market. This has become a challenge for Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises. The best option available for the company in order to promote growth of the company is to partner with the established companies internationally. The benefits of this partnership do not solely go to the company, which under most circumstances reduces the ability of the company to maximize on profits.

Market position by rivals in the industry

The industry is becoming more and more competitive and aggressive because more companies are joining the industry. The firms compete in offering similar services to the customers and therefore each of them must ensure that it has what it takes to be competitive enough and attract a wider market share. Customers have a variety of options to choose from. However, it is the responsibility of each of the company to ensure that it has the right policies in order to attract more customers. The greatest rivalry Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has been price. Companies compete by offering the customers cheaper prices for the same services. Customers now have the opportunity to choose from the company they feel offers the best deal. It is also evident in the industry that customers also want to sort for services from a more recognized company. This therefore limits opportunities for Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises.

Strategic moves by rivals

It essential for the management of a company to follow up on what their competitor companies are doing in the market so that they are in a position to design strategies to enable the company expand on its market shares. When the management fails to plan on how to analyse the strategies by the competitors then they are planning to fail. The competitors also follow up to know what their competitors are doing in the market. To compete effectively, it is important to analyse what the other firms are doing in the industry so that you design strategies to enable you compete effectively. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises does not have enough resources to invest towards the search for all the important information about their rivals. They therefore may not know how their competitors are capitalising on the arising opportunities in the market.

What Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises should do to become successful?

The major intention for an investor when he or she wants to invest in a certain line of business is maximizing on the profits levels. The investors goes to the extreme ends in ensuring that he or she acquires the best of the raw materials and capital that would guarantee profit maximization. The management of a business ought’s to invest more resources in sourcing for the best human capital that maximally utilizes the available resources so that the business can perform at the optimum level. The business has to invest in human capital with very high creativity level, maximum productivity, and cognitive abilities to the business so that the business can attain a higher economic value in the markets.

Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises is obligated to ensure that it efficiently manages resources and has right procedures for hiring new employees to the business to ensure that the employees are working to meet the objectives of the business. Theories in economies link human capital, investment and the success of a business. It is therefore important that a business create policies that will properly manage the talents they have in the business so that the business can maximize on their investments levels. This will also increase their profits level and improve their performance in the markets.

You can arguably not mention the issue of the best human capital without pointing out the element of talent management. This is because in the procedure of sourcing out for the best human capital, the most evident factor used for comparing the applicants is their talents. The talents undergo training so that they are in a position to work with the aim of ensuring that the company attains its set objectives and vision. Regardless of the type and size of a business, talent management is a key factor that will determine the aggregate performance of the business. When the right policies are put in place to ensure that the talents available in a business are managed efficiently, that is a major step towards the best performance of the business.

Talent Management

The human resource manager is responsible for managing talents in a business organization. The human resource manager also plays the responsibility of ensuring that the business sorts for the best talents to achieve its objectives by being directly involved from the preliminary stage. How effective the talent management will be depends on the talents absorbed in the business and their relation to the organization’s vision. If the talents do not add value to the aggregate economic value of the business, and if it is not in line with the aims of the business that it will be necessary for the management to opt for another plan. The human resource manager therefore takes charge to ensure that the organization hires the best talent available, creates channels that will make the employee feel motivated in order to increase productivity and most importantly ensuring that he or she is in a position to retain the talent in the organization other than losing it to their competitors. The quality of talent that the business admits into the organization will determine the quality of output produced by the business and the performance of the business in the market. Businesses will opt to go for the best talent available in order to spend fewer resources in training the employee on the job. The business will only have to impact the new employee with skills that will streamline the employee in a way that will be instrumental to ensure that the business maximizes on the profits level.

Cultivating and Maintaining Good Customer Relations

A business should create a balance between its intention to maximize profits and maintaining a good relationship with customers. The two companies discussed below are examples of companies that have maintained good relationship with customers and at the same time become successful in business.In order to market the company to more customers and maximize on the opportunities open for the company in the market, the company should be investing more in ethical issues that will improve its quality of relationship with the customers and the public. Ethical practices that are customer related are therefore important for a business to look out for because of the influence that it has on the business objectives.

The company should be on the forefront advocating for the use of renewable sources of energy by donating towards the project in order to attract more investors. This is because the company wants to be part of the group that champions environment conservation by controlling the rate of pollution. This will ensure that customers are living in a clean and conducive environment. The company should participate in the fight for the freedom of speech so that all people are treated equally regardless of their choice of sex life. The company works towards providing their customers with quality products at an affordable rate. Affordable quality products have higher sales compared to the less quality of products. It is also important for the company to ensure that it employs the right marketing strategies that will promote development of the company’s agendas in the market.

Competitive Success

For businesses to succeed, it is essential that they maintain a competitive edge in the industry. The key factors for determining the success of an organization depends on the organization and the policies it implements. An organization needs to initiate mechanisms of ensuring that they maximize their limited resources towards achieving greater success of the business. This is because every organization has it set target to meet. The organization must have certain participants and principles to ensure that they become successful by hitting their set targets.

Product Attributes

It is the responsibility of a production company to guarantee customers of good quality of products at an affordable rate. Customers would always shift from one producer to another in search of both quality and quantity satisfaction. It is therefore important that a firm provide the two services to the customers if it intends to stay competitive in the market. More companies providing similar services are joining the industry and therefore Bin Salem General Trading Enterprise’s management ought to ensure that they provide quality products to the customers for the company to experience competitive success.

Strategy elements

For a firm to stay competitive in the market, it also has to ensure that it enacts the right strategies in the market. Wrong strategies are suicidal moves to the business. The management needs to research on the right strategies to implement in the business in order to stay competitive in the market. Efficient planning and use of resources will determine the future of the company. If the strategies implemented in the business are wrong then there is a very low probability of the company to achieve competitive success.

Resources

The future of a company depends on its access to resources. These resources include the human capital, natural resource, financial resources and technological resources. These factors are vital if the business is to achieve a competitive success. Human capital for example refers to the knowledge and skills of the employees. The skills are important because even for a company that has a strong financial resources, it cannot function efficiently in the absence of quality human capital. It is therefore important that a company invest its resources in acquiring the best of the available resources to stay competitive in the market and most importantly meet its targets.

Competitive Capabilities

New entrants are entering the market and introducing new tariffs and technology in the market. The existing firms in the market must also work extra hard in order to introduce similar or even better technologies in their operations. This is because customers would always want to go for services offered cheaply and at the same time are of good quality. The existing companies in the industry therefore have no choice but to up their game in terms of introducing the best technology in order to be able to compete with the new entrants. This consequently enables the firm to achieve competitive success.

Strategic Choices

Strategic choice is a situation where management has to consider alternatives in order to make a choice out of the alternatives. A company has to make evaluation on both the internal and external environment before making a choice. This is vital for the management to determine the best decision to make with reference to the company’s current status quo. The company comes up with the list of alternatives it has and then results to make a better decision based on the relative options.

 

Conclusion

The success of a business not only depends on the amount of capital and raw materials deposited in the business but are also determined by how the human capital available in the business is managed. When the business manages the available human capital efficiently, it becomes easier for the business to achieve its objectives. In the case where a business is admitting fresh talent, the employee needs to be equipped with the right skills that are in line with the organization’s set objectives. This ensures that all the workers are streamlined in a way that they are working according to the organization’s objectives and hence participating in making the organization more successful. The success of the business and the level in which they will maximize on their revenue and profit levels will depend on the skills that the business impacts to their employees.

The evaluation process by the business gives the management an opportunity to make decisions on the future policies that they can put in place to ensure that the business meet its objectives. The management will evaluate the training programs to determine their effects on the performance of the business. The training programs serve the purpose of making the already existing talent more productive. The higher the productivity levels of a talent the higher the performance of the business and consequently, the higher the level of profits that the business makes at the end of the financial period. It therefore is important that the management create training programs that will increase the productivity of the talents. This is part of the talent management and will be instrumental in taking the business to the next level.

Recommendation

For a business to remain competitive in the market, efficient employment of strategic management is mandatory. The form of strategies that a company comes up with is what makes it distinct from its competitors. An analysis by use of PEST tools and porter’s five models is vital for enhancing complete implementation of strategies. Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises has put in place strategies whose result has been the expansion of the company to other countries around the globe and offering quality services to the customers.

 

 

Bin Salem General Trading Enterprises

Introduction