Long-term goals and objectives of the company

Within the next five years, the corporation intends to enter new markets, with South America, Europe, and Asia as its primary focus areas. Given that the corporation has been operating in North America since 1955, it will begin by expanding into South America because it is a simpler undertaking. The decision to choose the aforementioned markets was made after apparently taking into account potential rivals, which demonstrated that H & R has a competitive advantage over them.

Strategic management has been emphasized more by the corporation as one of its main areas of focus. The strategic management is effected to ensure that individual departments in each branch are expected to formulate their strategies and the strategies from the branch strategies which are also in line with the corporate strategies. The Chief Executive Officer do oversee the strategy formulation process, which is accompanied by short-term goals evaluation.

The company has deposited more efforts in ensuring that the strategy formulation team is well skilled and at the same made up of loyal individuals. 90% of the team are shareholders in the company and hence have more interest in its well being. 40% of the team are part of the staff, therefore ensuring that the company strikes a balance between strategy formulation and implementation. 50% of the strategy formulation team is part of the evaluating team.

Markets

The company has a strong market base in the US which has been a reliable source of revenue to the company. With the diversification, the company will be able to serve more people. This is due to the common need to maintain good financial plans and evade the fines that come along with failure to file tax returns, (Feldman, et al., 2007). Governments will keep taxing citizens, and therefore ensure that the company will remain relevant in the industry. The strategy to venture into new markets such as Europe and Asia among others is in place.

Unique value offered

The company has maintained value in its services by ensuring that they are unique and reliable. The fact that customers can access the software anywhere in the US and outside its borders makes it more valuable. Moreover, the user-friendly characteristic of the software makes it more attractive.

Required resources and capabilities

The company is committed to improving its services through unique operations that are characterized by creativity and innovation. The company was at first involved in helping clients prepare tax returns, but with time there has been a need to diversify. There is, therefore, need to acquire resources which include finances that will support the expansion of the business.

The main challenge that the company has been experiencing since the early 1980s is the lack of adequate skilled labor. This demand arose because the company acquired CompuServe company. However, improvement in handling the challenge has been noticed with the frequent training and development. The resources involved in training are in high demand.

How the company will capture value and maintain competitive advantage

The company offers value regarding the quality of service. Plans have been put in place to ensure that quality management is done on a daily basis. There is a quality management department in all branches that ensure that that value delivered from our services is outstanding. Our services are certified by ISO 9001, (Paulk, 1993).

Competitive advantage is a major determinant of survival of every organization in the industry. For H & R Block company to keep thriving, it has clear plans for ensuring that it maintains a competitive advantage. One of them is the fact that it doesn’t offshore. It does not have physical branches in other countries but serves customers in other countries online. This has lead to lean production and operations, ensuring that the company charges less for quality services, therefore having a competitive advantage. The company intends to maintain this through the adoption of the modern technology. The system allows the US citizens to enjoy services both at home and away from home.

Cost and differentiation advantages

The company has taken advantage of the fact that customer does not have to physically avail themselves for them to be served. They are served in the comfort of their homes, hence minimizing the operating space that is required. This has greatly reduced the cost of operations. The fact that the company offers services also enables it to evade costs associated with inventory, such as carriage costs, handling costs, among others.

Corporate strategy

The corporate strategy is a function of the branches strategy. It is long-term in nature, hence need for it to be supported by some short term strategy. This has been attained through the formulation of short-term strategies by the departments which are in support of the corporate strategy. The strategy is also subject to frequent evaluations and at the same time maintaining a balance between formulation and implementation. The corporate strategy covers a period of five years, and it has a contingency plan.

Vertical integration

The company has maintained an excellent relationship with its seniors and juniors in the industry. Its strategy has involved acquisitions, for example, it acquired CompuServe company which was a junior regarding the operations. The company has also maintained a good relationship with the government. It has met the set standards such as integrity and maintenance of security in handling clients' private information.

Strategic alliances

H & R Block has been keen to ensure that it has long-term alliances that are of benefit to itself and also to others. For instance, it has concentrated on mergers and acquisition. For example, the purchase of Option One Mortgage gave the company the ability to provide mortgage loans to its clients. Olde Financial was acquired to provide financial advice to the company. However, before the acquisition took place, the companies were still working together.

Competitive advantage

The current discoveries have made competition to be stiff in the industry, whereby companies are required to adapt and change at a fast rate, just like the technology is improving at a recommendable pace. H & R has maintained a good position when compared with its competitors. The use of current software has made it possible for the company to cut down on costs, hence increasing revenue. The reduction in cost has led to low charges on the company’s services chance attracting more customers, (Porter, et al., 1985).

The company has put innovation and diversification as the pillars that will enable it to maintain a competitive advantage. Development of more customer friendly software has attracted more customers. This has given the company an edge over their competitors.

Organizational chart

Chairman

CEO

Managements

Managements

Employees

Employees

CFO

References

Feldman, N. E., & Slemrod, J. (2007). Estimating tax noncompliance with evidence from

unaudited tax returns. The Economic Journal, 117(518), 327-352.

Paulk, M. C. (1993). Comparing ISO 9001 and the capability maturity model for

software. Software Quality Journal, 2(4), 245-256.

Porter, M. E., & Advantage, C. (1985). Creating and sustaining superior

performance. Competitive advantage, 167