Sample content Strategic Plan STR/581 Strategic Plan James Cash Penney started JCPenney, now known as JCP, 110 years ago. Penney aspired to be a lawyer for his family was not really well-off. His father was a Baptist minister and a farmer. He never had an opportunity to start in law school due to educational expenses that his family cannot afford. He worked in a local dry goods store where he became an assistant manager in Golden Rule Store. He had the chance to acquire one-third of the venture. In five years time, that was 1907, Penney acquired that of his partners (Soylent Communications, 2012). He had a vision to establish an entity that treats people the way he wants to be treated and this is what people commonly hear as “fair and square”. His very first retail business was named Golden Rule as based on his philosophy in life coming from the words of Confucius: “treat others as you want to be treated”. JCPenney was successful in his business for long years. His venture has

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Sample content
Strategic Plan
STR/581

2. Strategic Plan
James Cash Penney started JCPenney, now known as JCP, 110 years ago.
Penney aspired to be a lawyer for his family was not really well-off. His father was
a Baptist minister and a farmer. He never had an opportunity to start in law school
due to educational expenses that his family cannot afford. He worked in a local dry
goods store where he became an assistant manager in Golden Rule Store. He had
the chance to acquire one-third of the venture. In five years time, that was 1907,
Penney acquired that of his partners (Soylent Communications, 2012). He had a
vision to establish an entity that treats people the way he wants to be treated and
this is what people commonly hear as “fair and square”. His very first retail
business was named Golden Rule as based on his philosophy in life coming from
the words of Confucius: “treat others as you want to be treated”. JCPenney was
successful in his business for long years. His venture has the capacity to be an
industry leader in innovation, pricing, and marketing strategy. Way before internet
was invented, JCPenney offered catalogs to showcase their products. And now,
they have jcp.com and their facebook page in which they do their promotions,
marketing and sales (Toy, 2012).
JCPenney had difficult times in keeping a close competition with Macy’s and
Dillard’s Department Store especially when there were costs hikes when sales
were down. The company adopted measures to deal with its problem. There were
reorganization and product modifications to satisfy their customers. JCPenney
used to adopt a Mission Statement that speaks of the company’s aim to provide
fashionable and high quality products at reasonable prices. It wishes to supply its
customers the best service and products that an entity can provide. By establishing
stores in ideal locations, JCPenney can respond to customer orders and inquiry on
a timely manner.
Today’s vision of JCPenney includes eight “Winning Together
Principles”-associates, integrity, performance, recognition, teamwork,
quality, innovation, and community.
All associates are valued, developed and rewarded by JCPenney for all their
hardwork and skills. To show the company’s integrity, JCPenney conducts its
business in accordance with ethical business principles. Trainings and comments
are provided to personnel to boost their performance. The success of every
employee is recognized by the company. To show teamwork, JCPenney’s
workforce strive for success together by means of headship, cooperation, open and
straightforward communication, and respect. The company aims to provide quality
and innovative products, work, and services with the touch of creativity and smart
ideas. As part of JCPenney’s ethical principles, the entity cares for its environment.

3. Before the end of 2011, JCPenney recognized the necessity of bringing together a
new set personnel to fill the organizational hierarchy especially the top level who
would lead the entire team towards the fulfillment of its revised vision. One of the
persons who filled a very important position is Ron Johnson, the company’s new
CEO since November 2011. Johnson has a very competitive record in the field of
retail business and he is the man behind the success of Apple Inc. and Target
Corporation. Another personality is Michael Francis who became jcp.com’s
president during December 2011. Having a successful experience in Target
Corporation, Francis provided JCPenney with his skills in marketing,
merchandising methods, and harmonization. For financing, relationship with
stakeholders, company plans, budgeting, supply chain, management of resources,
and technological innovations, JCPenney hired Mike Kramer as its new COO
during December 2011. JCPenney’s Senior Vice President Michael Dastugue is its
present Chief Financial Officer. This new organizational line-up was introduced by
JCPenney to achieve its target sales figure and give its entity a new image that can
help attract new customers.
JCPenney has this new program statement that shows the entity is redoing things
and is willing to recover from the negative effects of the past moves the entity
made. It further announced that their organization wants to entertain clients the
way they want to be entertained: fair and square. JCPenney wants to be of value to
the community more than its goal to be the biggest store in the retail industry. The
company strives to be the American’s favorite store (jcp.com, 2012). This program
characterized JCPenney and confirmed the philosophy of the entity’s creator.
After the company experienced decreasing revenue figures for a matter of ten
years, it has now decided to follow a new strategic plan. Its aim is to offer its
products at affordable prices and give its clients memorable and satisfactory
services at the lowest possible cost. The company adopted a strategy that would
entail the lowest cost and that would provide products matched to the needs of
specific class. When a generic strategy is already in place, the company shall
reflect on execution plans that best suit its strategy.
Identify the Best Value Discipline
The very foundation of every successful company can be one of the three
important concepts of value discipline. These concepts are operational excellence,
product leadership, and customer intimacy (Horwath, 2006). In operational
excellence, the company is devoted to provide the clients with the best value
products (Horwath, 2006). In customer intimacy, the company is devoted to provide
specific clients with their specific requests thus promoting individual contentment.
In product leadership, the company is devoted to provide its clients with the
endless supply of trendy items and services (Pearce & Robinson, 2011).

4. The latest program of JCPenney aimed to earn client’s trust and provide product
segregation through its pricing strategy. In 2011, the company introduced the two
latest member of its board. The organization validated this information by releasing
the statement that these two new directors have the same enthusiasm as those of
the current members and that enthusiasm is to achieve success for the entity
(jcp.com, 2012).
Of the three value disciplines, JCPenney is adopting operational excellence. The
entity aimed to operate in the most efficient means by lowering overhead,
minimizing non-value adding activities, minimizing transaction expenses, and
maximizing resources and potentials (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). With these,
it is evident that the foundation of JCPenney’s new method is its operational
excellence.
Identification of a generic strategy
Generic strategy is a means to execute a grand strategy with no other framework
but to aim for success in the industrial competition. Generic strategy can be
classified into three. These are aiming for an efficient industry leadership; aiming to
release exceptional products for people from all walks of life; and lastly, aiming to
get into every customer’s heart. In summary, the company’s focus is on two things:
cost and differentiation (Pearce & Robinson, 2011).
To continue on its growth, JCPenney incorporates the above mentioned strategies
in three ways. First, it has in fact said that
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