4. Business Strategy
4.4. Strategy and Key Performance Areas
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• Create a good working environment for our employees
• Create credibility for the company by adhering to laws and regulations
In the long term, over a 5-year strategic plan interval outlay, the company aims to have rampaged at least 30% of the overall market share by year 2028 through the following goals achievement:
• Inclusion of the Swaziland Government, Parastatals and Private Companies into the revenue stream of the company through the establishments of long term contracts.
• Product branding culminating to a stable and strong community of wheel and tyre customers that are loyal to the company.
• Raising awareness to customers about benefits of safe and sound driving experiences through having the best wheel and tyre services.
• Strive to partner with Motor Vehicle Accident Funds in order to collectively aid in raising awareness in road safety and thus be involved in social activities.
• Extend business to small towns around the four regions of Swaziland where wheels and tyres services businesses have not been exploited.
4.4. Strategy and Key Performance Areas
Swaziland is a small country with only 1,3 million in population across just four regions and has only 8 official towns. About three of those towns have not been exploited and this means that the wheel and tyre industry is still at its emergent stages and not yet reached its full capacity where companies would enjoy a great deal of economies of scale. Considering that two competitive wheel and tyre companies are already in the market and well known, the best Porter’s strategy for Qina Wheel and Tyre Services Company to pursue, is a focus
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differentiation strategy. The strategic location of the business in this case will enable the company to focus in building good relationship with its target customers through branding, offering quality and distinctive product and service line to one or two market segments. And this will allow for up and down movements in premium price charging.
To create value and accomplish the desired goals, several initiatives need to be in place:
Suppliers: South Africa is the powerhouse for establishing strong ties with the wheel and tyre producers and suppliers and it is imperative that the company guarantees an endless chain of supply. It is fortunate that South Africa and Swaziland has free trade agreements and no visas are needed between the two countries. In addition, both countries use the same currencies even despite the differences in terms of Rands for South Africa and Lilangeni for Swaziland, the value is the same which makes business transactions very easy and efficient. Amongst the harbors of South Africa is Cape Town and Durban, with Durban being the closest to the country, it becomes ideal for good business. Also next to Swaziland is Mozambique mainly Maputo City where also good suppliers could be sourced from there.
Talent Management: The company intends hiring professionals and experienced personnel that will add credibility to the company. The success of the company depends entirely on its ability to lure the best employees in the industry and not only regarding them as human resources but as “talents”. Amongst the already established companies in Mbabane are individuals who are well known and have been in the industry for a long time. The company’s success depends on such kind of talents since customers would want to be associated with reputable staff, who can be trusted to give a long-lasting quality service. Having attracted the best staff would mean that the company derives strategies to retain those individuals by giving
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them the best healthy working environment in the short run, through bonuses that will be based on the overall performance of the company.
The compulsory provision of a high benefit Medical Aid to the staff will be our main priority taking into account that a healthy staff is a healthy company and a place which is home away from home. The company also aims to give double pay for a day to each staff celebrating a birthday as well as free lunch. In the long run, the company intends selling shares to the employees in an endeavor to make them feel they are treated like partners and owners of the company. The provision of housing allowances and commission reward system is also in the future plans of the company and in order to gain the employees trust, the company needs to be as transparent as it can possibly be in terms of the reward systems to put in place.
Information Communication Technology: Swaziland has vastly improved in communication technological advances and more and more individuals are owning either one or two gadgets for interaction purposes. As a giant step to setting up the company, it is imperative to go with the latest trends by developing and creating e-commerce platforms for our clients where they will be able to select the products and services they want, view prices, compare and contrast and then make the payment online. This can be done through the creation of the company’s website, WhatsApp account, Facebook page integrated on the website and all this should be designed to allow customers to interact with the company for the services and products required in any time of the day.
Almost everyone in the country can now be reached through WhatsApp and many companies have successfully developed strong relationships with their customers through that platform.
Facebook on the other hand has been used frequently by people aged between 16 and 40 years.
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Having established the platforms, it is necessary that one person is hired to monitor and address all orders, questions, queries and concerns if any in a timeous manner otherwise all the efforts for the platforms will be detrimental to the image of the company. The company will have to choose safe payment options available in the country and through advances in technology, many have been established. To name but a few is online banking, e-Wallet and Mobile Money and all have proved to be reliable.
Market Penetration Strategy: Positive publicity is key in this industry if the company intends generating revenue and making profits thereof. This can be done through huge investments in rigorous marketing, a strategy aimed at educating customers about the benefits of having proper and safe wheels and tyres amongst motorist on the roads. In doing so, there is a need for a marketing campaign, a strategy that is aimed at attracting and retaining as much customers as possible and this requires that the company partners with parastatals, private and public institutions and the Government of Swaziland at large. The sectors that would wish to partner with the company cut across all sectors that exist to serve the nation through the prevention of road accidents and thus putting emphasis on road safety measures. Below is a detailed description of some of the intended partners:
Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) - One of the parastatals dealing with road safety and processing of claims for road accidents victims. Its head offices are located in the city centre of Mbabane and generates revenue from each litre of petrol filled by every car across all petrol stations around the country. MVA financially reaches to every member of the public, motorist, passengers and pedestrians who have been involved in any kind of road accidents. Their theme has been numerous ‘Road Safety Campaigns’ intended to raise awareness to the public about the benefits of having roadworthy cars, safe driveways and accident free roads. The company
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has the opportunity to publicly declare that safety roads can never be attained unless the public visits the company for new wheels and tyres with much emphasis on safety amongst responsible motorist.
Ministry of Public Works and Transport – A well-known government department boasting
of Road Safety Inspectors who are hired to make sure that the roads are safe. They make sure that only roadworthy cars embrace our Swazi roads thus they are mainly known of scrapping off the roads all cars that are not fit to be on the roads. They put emphasis on good wheels and tyres and their first stop during car inspections is the wheels and tyres. The department has conducted numerous studies on the causes of most road accidents and found out that about 90%
of road accidents in the country were due to bad wheels and tyres. This is where the company becomes handy in joining forces with the department during those early hours road blocks to target all motorist, to educate them on road safety and thereafter giving them the company brochures advising on the prices, products and services provided by the company at large.
Swaziland Royal Insurance Company (SRIC) – One of the influential companies that has almost all motorist insuring their cars with them to cover for road accidents and car theft.
Partnering with SRIC is ideal in the sense that no claim will be processed by the insurance company before a vigorous investigation is conducted to ascertain the causes of each accident.
The fact that a claim will never be approved if the accident cause is attributed to bad tyres and wheels is an opportunity enough for the company to partner with SRIC in an endeavor to strategize on how to reach out to the public in raising awareness to safety wheels and tyres.
Worth noting is the fact that SRIC has been sponsoring the Ministry of Public Works and Transport on its quest for road safety campaigns presenting a greater opportunity for our company to do the partnership.
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Having interrogated the marketing strategy in terms of partners, it is necessary that a marketing strategy designed for the company be developed in the next section. This is a strategy intended to classify the market segment that the company wants to target, description and specification of the services and products offered, the location and place where the company will be operating and where customers can find the products and services, the price and the promotions the company will be rolling out.