Strategic Plan for Visa Company

Executive Summary

Strategic management is known as the process of ongoing planning, monitoring, analysis, and assessment of all the things that are necessary for an organization to meet its goals and objectives. Due to the constant changes in the business environment, organizations are required to assess their strategies plans to aim high for success. This paper will look at the Visa Company by analyzing how it can adopt a strategic plan that will be useful in meeting its mission. Over the years, technology has made significant advancements in creating new entrants in the market. It has thus created a lot of competition that requires Visa Company to come up with tactics of gaining a competitive advantage through improving their operations. The paper will, therefore, analyze common areas within the organization by looking at how it can run different activities to facilitate the successful implementation of the plan. To develop a paper that will identify the major components of the strategic management plan, the entire company will be evaluated to come up with a suitable formulation. This paper will then discuss how these components work together to create value for the organization.

In addition to that, this paper will evaluate the company’s mission statement, vision statement, motivation strategy, innovation strategy, and people strategy. An environmental scan will equally be done, which will help in coming up with an internal and external analysis of the company.  The examination will be used in guiding the company through the factors that should be included in the strategic plan. The recommendations will have to target on what should be implemented and what changes will have to be made where necessary. In conclusion, this paper will come up with strategies to be applied in organizational change management and a break-even analysis that will be used in evaluating the risks associated

with the plan.  The analysis will help in finalizing the plan where key areas will be highlighted with proper measures given on how to go about them.

Company’s Background

Visa Company is an American multinational financial service provider with its headquarters at Foster City in California. The company provides electronic money transfer services in more than 200 countries across the world. The services are facilitated through the use of credit, pre-paid, and debit cards that are Visa-branded. The company has considerable competitors in its industry, such as Bank of America, PayPal, JP Morgan Chase Bank, American Express, Discover Financial Services, MasterCard, and Capital One. It is a company that works to facilitate global payments via the use of technology in countries across the world. Through the use of a digital currency that works to promote its services, the company focuses on bringing a positive change through their services.

Mission Statement

Visa Company’s mission statement states that it is a company that works to enable their consumers, banks, businesses, and the government to use their digital currency.

Vision Statement

Visa’s vision statement indicates that the company seeks to create the best what to pay and also get paid, for everyone, everywhere is what guides their purpose.

Value Statement

Visa has incorporated values that they use to achieve their vision, which includes; Integrity, people, innovation, clients, collaboration, and excellence.

Environmental Scan

Due to stiff competition in the market, Visa company must come up with a favorable environmental scanning strategy that will improve its competitiveness and value creation. The first thing the company should focus on during environmental scanning is the steady growth that the world is experiencing. Consumers are spending more, and transactions are increasing (Glenn & Gordon, 2015). Therefore the company should consider investing in improving digital money transfers at a lower cost to attract more customers. The provision of faster ways to transfer money or make transactions will not only help increase the profit margin of the company but also a competitive advantage. Second, the company should consider the consolidation of the payment and schemes processors. Visa Inc. should do this either through the extension of its services in less penetrated markets or the introduction of cost synergies through acquisitions. The company has to upgrade its platforms through the adoption of the latest technologies, such as machine learning, Artificial intelligence, and cloud services.

Third, the company should also do research to identify its potential targets. The targets should be evaluated based on strategic fit and financial health. Lastly, the company should partner with potential partners in the market to facilitated innovation in new payment methods and data analysis techniques (Glenn & Gordon, 2015). The integration of these considerations from environmental scanning will help Visa company to improve its competitive advantage and creation of value for its consumers.

The external environment of the company consists of political, economic, legal, social, environmental, and technological factors. To begin with, is the political factors that play a vital role in determining how the politics of a particular country can affect the long-term profitability of the company. The company operates in more than 200 countries across the globe.

Therefore, it is exposed to different political systems that can affect its overall operations. Visa

Inc. has to counter the problem by diversification of its financial services to improve overall performance. The next factors are economic factors that include inflation rate, interest rate, foreign exchange rate, and economic cycle. The economic factors help determine the aggregate demand and supply of the company’s financial services at any given time (Henry, 2018).     Therefore, Visa Company can use the economic factors of a given market to assess and forecast the growth of its market in a particular market. The next factors are social factors related to the way a certain society does things. The marketers of Visa Inc. must consider the attitudes and beliefs of a particular community while penetrating any market. This should help them to understand how they need to craft the marketing message to deliver to a specific society. The next factors are technological factors that are affecting a lot of industries at a fast rate in current days. Financial services have shifted from the old fashioned way of business operations to digital methods and techniques, which are much quicker and reliable. Therefore, for the company to keep pace, it needs to be proactive in digital innovations and creativity.

The next factors are environmental factors that refer to standards and norms that each particular market has. The environmental factors of a given country affect the profitability of the company (Henry, 2018). Therefore, before entering a given market, Visa Company must consider the environmental factors of the industry to ascertain if they will be favorable. The last external environmental factors are the legal factors that differ from country to country (Henry, 2018). Some are high in protecting intellectual property rights, while others are low. Visa Company should scan for legal factors of a market before entering it to avoid losing its crucial information and plans to competitors.

The general environment of the Visa Company consists of both the external and internal environmental factors. The external environmental factors include the external factors that affect the organization from an external perspective. They include political, economic, social, international, environmental, technological, and legal factors. Political factors deal with the politics of a country the company operates. Economic factors are the state of the market in terms of the inflation rate, economic cycles, foreign exchange rates, savings rate, and interest rate (Murphy, 2018). International factors are the factors that affect the global markets for a particular industry. Legal factors involve the regulations and laws set in a particular market, while social factors are the norms and beliefs of a particular market.

Technological factors are the advancements that a market is having or working towards attaining. On the other hand, the internal environmental factors of Visa Company are competitors, consumers, suppliers, and organization culture. The largest competitors of the company are MasterCard, JP Morgan Chase Bank, American Express, and Discover Diners Club. Due to the advancement in technology, new entrants are entering Visa Company’s industry-leading to a threat in profitability and performance (Murphy, 2018). Next, the demand for debit and credit cards by middle-class consumers has increased, leading to improved profitability of the company. The relationship between the company and the suppliers is great and has been enhanced through the supplier’s portal that brings together diverse suppliers (Murphy, 2018). Last is the organization culture that is established to align with the ethical standards and core values of the company.

Visa Company believes that it needs to earn the trust of investors, merchants, financial institutions, and cardholders. That is why the company commits itself to a high level of personal and professional behavior. In the process, the company can act with transparency and openness. The company implements a strong governance structure and constantly monitors its corporate governance and practices. This ensures that it stays at the level of set standards of the law and regulations of the NYSE and meets the investor’s expectations (Visa, n.d.). Visa Company consists of a board of directors who are comprised of independent people entirely except the Chief Executive Officer. There is an annual election whereby the shareholders elect the board of directors. The independent directors of the company meet regularly in its executive sessions. The chairs of the committee are rotated in general at least once after five years (Visa, n.d.). The board committee chatter establishes the responsibilities and roles of each company’s committee. The company also has a code of business ethics and conduct defining its operations globally.

Internal and External Environmental Analysis

The Visa Corporation commits to environmental sustainability beyond direct operations by empowering it as a lifestyle. Environmental sustainability focuses on the rates of renewable resource that includes harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely. If environmental sustainability cannot be continued indefinitely, then they are considered not sustainable. The main principles of the energy usage within Visa is known to have high standards for integrity, compliance, and corporate governance in all interactions.

The most likely places available for energy efficiency improvements are the global prioritization of the potential impacts of climate change and waste reduction. The main aspect of the environment hurt by Visa is the waste of paper and plastic, which is utilized when creating the cards for customers, in addition to sending paper form documents and bank statements that are mailed to the homes of cardholders who have chosen not to go paperless. Plastic waste also of cardholders with initial cards and constant replacements.

The Visa Corporation has boosted the environment ecosystem by creating their “electronic network,” which is a way for cardholders, financial institutions, and merchants to connect without means that may harm the environment, for example, paper. Visa has replaced energy efficient equipment by transitioning their system to purchasing renewable electricity in

2018. Visa is not involved in any government energy conservation or protection schemes. They are transparent with their expectations, even with the employees, government, vendors, and cardholders. In conclusion, Visa has great energy and environmental management system, and they are known as one of the top 100 eco- friendly organizations.

I would recommend they go extremely paperless regardless of the customer’s opinion. Banks in general, waste so much paper, which is insanely negligent to the ecosystem. As of 2019, the whole world is updated with the internet, and most people don’t do anything but shred the documents, which is another use of wasteful materials. It would eliminate paper waste and help cardholder because their documents would be accessible at any time. This method also prevents customers from becoming a vulnerable target for identity theft.

Strategic Recommendation

Some of the strategies that the organization should implement include changing the behavior of their consumers. I recommend that Visa consumers use multiple devices that provide intuitive and seamless experiences as a user that apply to all applications. Visa should focus more on creating centric design strategies that will drive their consumers to their payment

products for usage. Providing convenience for consumers when checking out speeds up the drive for the need of payment channels.

Having a digital payment strategy in place will help to implement an integrated approach to the various channels that an available to their consumers. Because millennials are increasing the demand for alternative payment methods, I recommend that the Visa Corporation provide the specific payment methods being that they are quicker, convenient, and preferred channels to engage with. The form of communication used by millennials is much more different than the form of communication used by the baby boomers. The millennials avoid using as much verbal communication as possible; instead they prefer to communicate via text and other alternative methods.

Implementation Plan

Visa Company is an American multinational financial service provider with its headquarters at Foster City in California. The company provides electronic money transfer services in more than 200 countries across the world. The services are facilitated through the use of credit, pre-paid, and debit cards that are Visa-branded. The company has considerable competitors in its industry, such as Bank of America, PayPal, JP Morgan Chase Bank, American Express, Discover Financial Services, MasterCard, and Capital One. Recently the company has been seeking ways of advancing its operations to match the global market due to high competition. To do this, the company needs to formulate an implementation plan that will identify the course of action that will be taken for the company in alignment with the assessment of risk, implementation process, and financial projections that will be applied in moving the company forward. This paper will, at this moment, come up with a strategic plan that Visa Company can apply in meeting their goals.

Objectives

Visa Company is a technology company that seeks to allow global payments among its customers, banks, businesses, and the government by the use of digital currency. It is, therefore, committed to making continuous innovations where they can meet the demands of the market. The company also has a vision of making friends with its product users, which is a way of ensuring they meet their demands. Visa Company being common in the world of global payment, it focuses on ways of building amazing

Products with unique features that allow their customers to enjoy them. It as well is interested in improving the economies and lives around the world through their inclusion in different activities.

Functional Tactics

Functional tactics refer to the activities and means that will be applied by Visa Company to attain its short-term objectives and gain a competitive advantage. They can be successful by having the management of the company involved in the implementation of the strategic plan. It will require that functional departments are involved as well to ensure that changes happen within the operations of the company. These include finance, human resource, research and development, operations, and marketing departments. The departments will be useful in the strategic plan, where they will identify areas that are essential in advancing the product features within the company.

Action Items

Visa Company is a global organization used all over the world to make payments. The company focuses entirely on looking for techniques for building a significant association with their customers. It gives the most inclination to their clients and to make sure that they satisfy their demands. Each worker in the company will, therefore, have to be arranged

in a way that yields the best clients benefit from being legitimately prepared for critical innovation and furnished with information evaluating systems. The company’s representatives are also equipped with all the vital assets, and having purchased the internet domain, they will be able to do their work effectively. The departments will also have to enhance creative ideas to help Visa Company pick a focused edge over their clients. The management team, on the other hand, should go about extending and conveying all the essential data of the market up to the improvement and exploration office. The data collected in this activity will then be incorporated to acquire the customer’s feedback.

Milestones and Deadlines

The Company, in this case, will be expected to meet the strategic plan put in place within the given timeline. To accomplish this, the departments will have to be assigned different roles to help them work within the budgeted time. For instance, the research and development department being the most crucial should be engaged in coming up with new product advancements to suit the market. In addition to that, goals will have to be met where a step by step procedure will be targeted to ensure that the plan works as per the stipulated procedure. Here, most of the activities will be carried out with clarity and in an organized manner to ensure that every process is completed at the right time. A product life cycle will also have to be evaluated in the model to help in analyzing the entire plan.

Tasks and Task Ownership

The best way to motivate employees into working well is by creating ownership of jobs.

It is useful as it will help in ensuring that each employee takes the responsibility of the tasks assigned to them. For instance, the software technicians and web developers will be entrusted with the task of developing software and webpages that are simple for the customers to use. It will enable customers to use digital currency to run their issues and interact with the company. The new product will as well be offered and product branding, which will be the responsibility of the marketing department. In the case of having the image of the company starts to lose value, the marketing department will be responsible for creating new strategies for reassuring the customers.

Resource Allocation

Resource allocation in the company will be essential as it will ensure that the plan goes through well. Here, resources will have to be provided to ensure that the employees are fully equipped and empowered to work with the plan. All the departments will as well be sensitized, where most of them will be given technological resources, materials, and labor needed to operate with the specified budget. The research and development department will have a more significant role to play as they will have to bring in their innovative ideas by working with funds allocated to make the plan a reality.

Key Success Factors

At the implementation phase, critical success factors will be analyzed to determine the success of the plan. Here, the financial statements of the company will be reviewed to help in ascertaining the possibilities of having the company succeed. The evaluation of Visa Company and its operations, in this case, will determine whether the entire process will attract a profit or

loss. In cases where there will be no benefits accrued to the operation, the strategic plan will have to be reviewed and budget allocated for each task. It as well is possible to have issues come up in the plan in which proper measures should be taken in managing them. Here, the entire company’s operations will have to be checked with evaluations done from time to time to improve the accuracy of the plan. Forecasting will equally be done for purposes of coming up with estimates of the entire process. Forecasting will ensure that that expenses and revenues stay in line. Break-even analysis will be the most useful tool as it will help in calculating the profits and costs of the company.

Break-Even Analysis of Visa Company in millions

Sales 58,150

Variable expense per unit 109

The contribution margin of 146

Fixed cost 41,300

Contribution margin ratio of 51.67%

Yearly break-even point 2.34

Organizational Change Management Strategies

The management of Visa Company will have to employ organizational change management strategies to encourage the successful implementation of the plan. The operational excellence of the Company must align with its mission and vision statements for it to create value in the organization. Martin (2018) points out that operational excellence will help the company in gaining and sustaining its competitive advantage. Visa Company will have to operate through the efficiency of its operations need by setting strategic goals to meet the needs and expectations of its target market. The use of strategic controls will help the company

in scrutinizing the success and the failures of the implementation process and its vital points. Monitoring the progress of the strategic goals will help determine if the company is meeting its set standards and fulfill any adjustments that need to be done.

Risk Management Plan

Visa Company being a company that deals with technological tools, the entire management will have to take up proper measures to minimize risks in the plan. Lee & Trimi (2018) explains that the company needs to be well prepared to come across different types of challenges where it should be in a position to address them. There is a likelihood of having changes in foreign exchange, which will affect the entire plan. Here, it will be essential to come up with solutions that will curb these risks. , and there is a need to find solutions for the risks. Employees should equally be well trained to make them familiar with the new operations to avoid putting the company at any risk.

Conclusion

Visa Company has, over the past years, been facing a lot of competition, which makes it crucial that they come up with new ways of operating in the market. Here, in coming up with the strategic plan, it will be essential to consider looking at all the areas of operating within the company to help in coming up with proper means of implementing the plan. Going through the internal and external environmental factors will also work in facilitating proper resource allocation and creating an effective implementation plan. Proper risk management strategies will as well have to be taken into account to be able to minimize cases of having the plan fail due to future events.

References

Black, K. (2017). Business Statistics: For Contemporary Decision Making, (9th Edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Glenn, J., & Gordon, J. (2015). (PDF) Environmental Scanning – ResearchGate. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286279000_Environmental_Scanning.

Henry, Z. (2018). Visa Inc PESTEL Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.case48.com/pestel-analysis/3173-Visa-Inc.

Lee, S. M., & Trimi, S. (2018). Innovation for creating a smart future. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(1), 1-8.

Martin, O. (2018). Marketing Influences through Strategic Campaigns and Sustainability.

Murphy, F. (2018). Visa Inc PESTEL & Environment Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.essay48.com/term-paper/3173-Visa-Inc-Pestel-Analysis.

Visa. (n.d.). Operating Responsibly | Visa. Retrieved from https://usa.visa.com/about visa/operating-responsibly.html.