American Abyss Express: Company Analysis

Company’s Mission Statement 

The mission statement is meant to demonstrate the efficiency of the company’s products and services to the consumers. The mission statement is given as: 

“ We provide a variety of well crafted high-quality products and services suited for every household at the most competitive market prices.” 

Company’s Vision Statement 

The company’s mission best describes the essence of its existence. It is simple and easy to understand so that the company’s employees can align their activities towards meeting the objectives of the company. It demonstrates the company’s objectives. The statement is given as: 

” To be every households name across the world.” 

Company’s Values 

1. Integrity. The company offers to deliver its products and services with the highest level of integrity with regard to disclosure of information to the customers. The company’s employees also offer service to the customers with the highest levels of integrity for best customer experience. 

2. Professionalism. The company’s employees deliver services to the customers at the highest level of professional standards in the industry. These help to create customer satisfaction in the customers which in turn results to repeat buys and referrals. 

3. Winning Together. We believe in our ability and our customers to bring change to the world of product and service delivery by encouraging increased innovations in the industry that matches the customers’ expectations. 

4. Teamwork. The company values teamwork among the employees which enhances product and service delivery to our customers. 

5. Creativity and Innovation. The company has embarked on increased innovation to improve the customers’ satisfaction in our products and services. 

6. Respect for Customer’s Dignity. The company places the customer as the king. It, therefore, seeks to protect the customer in the products and services that it delivers. The mode of delivery is also aligned to improve the customer experience in our company. 

Trends 

Business Environment 

The business environment in the modern world is currently faced with diverse factors affecting how the business undertakes its activities ("Business Trends", 2014). The factors cut across internal and external factors. The company’s internal and external factors are described below. 

Internal Factors 

1. Organizational and operational procedures (Contributor, 2018). These two factors determine how well an organization delivers its products and services to the customers. It also has a great impact on decision making within the company which has an impact on products and service delivery. AAE Company needs to ensure that its operational and organizational procedures are well established as this could affect the efficient delivery of services if not well formulated and subsequently lead to customer dissatisfaction. 

2. Financial stability and adequate capital base (Contributor, 2018). For any business to thrive well, it needs to have strong capital and financial muscle in order to meet the customers’ needs. Without a struggle. As a startup, AAE Company currently has sufficient financial muscle to support its current customer base. However, the company needs to consider seeking other sources of financing to support expansion in terms of products and geographic location ("Business Trends", 2014). 

3. Employee satisfaction and morale (Contributor, 2018). Douglas Conant, a former Fortune 500 CEO, stated that, in order to win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace. AAE Company understands these words quite well as they have an impact on how customers are served by the employees. AAE has incorporated a remuneration program that matches the industry standards. It has also formulated other programs meant to benefit the employees which help improve the employees’ satisfaction. 

External Factors 

1. Competition. Other businesses operating in the same space with a company, therefore, gives competition over the same customers. The company, therefore, needs to design competitive advantages that give it a competitive edge over the competitors in order to win the customers ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). AAE, therefore, needs to design superior products in the company and enhance its service delivery to exceed the stiff competition from its rivals. 

2. Government regulations. The government provides regulations within which a company should undertake its business operations. It provides guidelines meant to protect the consumers and also to curb unfair competition practices which could have a bad impact on smaller companies ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). AAE, therefore, needs to ensure strict adherence to government regulations in order to avoid negative sanctions by the government. 

3. Customer base and their choices and preferences ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). A company’s customer base determines the amount of revenues generated and product uptake. Their product preferences also have an impact on how a product performs in the marketplace. Being a startup, AAE needs to ensure that it designs highly competitive products that have a competitive edge in the market in order to persuade more customers to consume the company’s products. 

4. Status of the economy. How the economy performs affects the consumers’ purchasing power, therefore, affecting product uptake ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). A company should, therefore, research on economic indicators to determine the level of production that it should maintain to avoid obsolete products in the market which could lead to losses. 

5. Government taxes. Taxes reduce the amount of income that a company earns ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). A violation of the tax structure also has a negative impact on the company as it could lead to punitive fines by the government. AAE should, therefore, ensure strict observance of the government’s tax structure to avoid collisions with the government. 

6. Political environment. Everywhere across the world, politics have a major impact on how the business performs ("The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business", 2018). In some instances, some businesses have been seen to have some political alienation which results in the withdrawal of the opposing sides customers. Also, a bad political climate affects business performance while a good political climate favors business performance. 

Trends in CSR, Sustainability, and Business Ethics 

Companies have embarked on Corporate Social Responsibility activities to improve the way customers associate with them and subsequently increase their Sustainability in the market (Camilleri, 2018). Other than CSR activities, other business ethics determine how a company operates and relates to its environment. There has been an increase in these activities meant to drive business revenues upwards by appealing to the customers on how a company does its products. The emerging trends in CSR and Business Ethics in AAE Company’s business environment are discussed in the paragraphs below. 

Increased competition regulation by the government to control unfair operations by some companies to the disadvantage of others (Camilleri, 2018). In the past, companies were not strongly regulated which led to some company’s being unfairly diminished in the marketplace by other bigger companies. As a result of the regulations, companies have resulted in engaging in activities that benefit the consumers at no extra cost (Camilleri, 2018). Some of these include product promotions towards individual customers’; others are general activities such as community development programs meant to benefit not only the company’s customers but also other people within the community (Camilleri, 2018). 

Another factor affecting business stability is the employee satisfaction. Disgruntled employees pose a threat to the company’s future as their performance in the current world affects the company’s productivity (Tsoukas, 2017). One of the trend that companies have engaged in is the introduction of additional employee benefits programs meant to improve employee satisfaction and their productivity at the workplace (Camilleri, 2018). This completes the remuneration that a company puts in place for the benefit of the employees. Also, many companies have embarked on an equal opportunity employer that seeks to reward employees based on their performance (Camilleri, 2018). As a result, employee productivity is encouraged and subsequently the company’s productivity. 

Another emerging trend in the market that has a great impact on a company’s business performance is its adherence to business ethics ("Business Trends", 2014). In the recent past, companies have suffered great losses for violating business ethics. These include negative publicity in the market and sometimes widespread campaigns against the company and its products. As a result, the company suffers losses, and its future is not guaranteed as a result of the business violations. 

Innovation and use of technologically driven methods of production and marketing is another major trend affecting the business environment ("Business Trends", 2014). Companies have embarked on the usage of technology to enhance their production and improve delivery to the customers. Another marketing strategy that companies have embarked on is the use of social media as a marketing tool for their products ("Business Trends", 2014). Following the increased usage of social media by the general public, companies have resulted to increasing their presence in the social media platforms which helps create awareness of the company’s products to a wider market with complete disregard of demographic factors. It also helps to collect customer feedback much faster and act on it to improve on customer experience. 

Impact of the Trends 

The trends identified above have a great impact on the how our business performs in the market. With regard to increased engagement in CSR activities by competitors as a counter to increased competition regulations, AAE might find its customers shifting loyalty to other competitors who the consumers feel have greater market presence and response to their needs even with no cost. AAE, therefore, needs to identify other means of ensuring its products are well represented including CSR activities. Employee satisfaction has become an important aspect of today’s business environment. AAE, therefore, needs to ensure that its employees are satisfied through good remuneration, favorable working conditions and other employee benefit programs such as medical schemes. 

Innovation and technology have emerged as a major driver of today’s business ("Business Trends", 2014). AAE, therefore, needs to employ technology both in production and delivery to customers for enhanced efficiency. To increase market presence, the company should actively engage in social media presence. It should consider investing in online retail services with guaranteed delivery as this will improve customers’ convenience. Technology will improve the way the company delivers its products and services to its customers in terms of efficiency and convenience. It will also provide an opportunity for customers to give feedback and subsequently act on feedback given in quick time to avoid customer dissatisfaction. 

Ethics 

Business Ethics and Regulatory Issues 

Business ethics and regulatory policies are meant to guide a business’ operations to the benefit of both the company and the consumers. Some ethics and regulations cut across the different business lines while others are specific to certain business lines. However, regardless of how this ethics and regulations are formulated, they all have an impact on how a business performs with regards for its strategic plans, its brand development and how the company makes its decisions. Ethics and regulatory issues affecting AAE’s market space are discussed in the paragraphs below. 

Some ethics and regulations are geared towards ensuring fair competition and consumer protection from unfair exploitation by the companies (Tsoukas, 2017). Some include price controls and product quality standards. A violation of the regulations may lead to reputational damage by the company and subsequently legal suits or loss of customers. AEE, therefore, needs to align its business strategies and company branding in line with the regulations and ethical guidelines to avoid the company facing unfortunate occurrences which could hurt the company. 

Having a high-quality information management system helps a company to manage customers’ feedback effectively. In the current environment, there is a need to develop quick and rapid decision making structures that respond quickly to customers concerns. AEE, therefore, needs to develop a strong customer response structure and improved customer experience. With regard to the emerging environmental concerns and corporate social responsibility demanded of companies, organizations need to develop their corporate strategies to match with environmental protection activities. AEE, therefore, needs to align its corporate strategies and also branding techniques to match environmental conservation practices being advocated for in the market. 

Business leaders need to identify skills and competencies within their workforce that deliver the best products and services to their customers. This is in line with ensuring professionalism in product and service delivery for the best customer experience. This affects how companies structure their administration and decision making structures to match the professional regulations provided within the industry. AAE, therefore, needs to structure its decision making and administrative structures meant to drive the corporate strategies and company’s branding to match the industry standards and reduce on reputational risk which may affect the company’s performance. 

Alignment to Corporate Strategy, Brand Development, and Decision Making Process 

In order to meet the company’s goals and objectives, AEE needs to align its corporate strategy, its brand development and decision-making process with the ethical standards and regulatory policies identified. With regard to environmental conservation, the company engages in developing programs which are driven towards environmental conservation. This includes taking advantage of renewable energy in the production and use of environmentally friendly materials in marketing and branding the company’s products. This will align the company’s activities with the environmental conservation demands of the market. 

Professionalism is one of the ethical standards required of businesses today (Tsoukas, 2017). AEE Company aligns its activities to this ethical requirement by ensuring that it recruits well-qualified employees that meet desirable professional qualifications. Response to customer queries also requires that companies have a well-set decision-making structure to improve responding to customers queries. To improve the decision-making process, AEE has assigned different levels of responsibility to different members of staff which improve responsibility and customer response. 

Fair competition cuts across different company activities which are subject to certain regulations. AEE ensures healthy competition in the industry by innovating new competitive advantages such as acting on the retail market and providing other convenient means through which the customers can access the company’s products. The company’s corporate strategy is geared towards identifying and innovating other competitive edges to exploit which are in line with the set ethical standards and behaviors (Tsoukas, 2017). 

Sustainability 

A business’ future is determined by how well it operates within the set guidelines and its profitability. Businesses violating ethical requirements and regulatory policies face the threat of facing regulatory disciplinary actions including hefty penalties and sometimes stoppage of business operations by the authorities. Adhering to environmental conservational policies will help the company to meet the global environmental demands (Tsoukas, 2017). Employing qualified employees improves customer experience and subsequently customer loyalty. Companies that have engaged in the unfair competition have faced legal suits accompanied by hefty fines which affect the companies’ profits. By avoiding violations of competition guidelines, AEE will avoid incurring extra costs which provide an opportunity for further investments thereby increasing the company’s market base. 

References 

Business Trends. (2014). Deloitte University Press. Retrieved from http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/c-suite-3-0/Business-Trends2014.pdf 

Camilleri, M. (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility: Theoretical Underpinnings and Conceptual Developments. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/236012116_Corporate_Social_Responsibility_Theoretical_Underpinnings_and_Conceptual_Developments 

Contributor, P. (2018). Internal Factors that May Affect the Business Organization. Retrieved from http://pestleanalysis.com/internal-factors-affect-business-organization/ 

The 7 Main External Factors Affecting Business. (2018). Retrieved from http://scopegater.com/external-factors-affecting-business/ 

Tsoukas, H. (2017). Strategy and virtue: Developing strategy-as-practice through virtue ethics. Strategic Organization, 16(3), 323-351.