Caso Robin Hood - Bruno Mariana Joni

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Masters in Electronics Engineering:

Bruno Guilherme, 66004

Mariana Daniel, 66020

Joni Jormanainen, Nº77427

Gestão Estratégica e Comercial

1st Practical Case – Robin Hood

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Index

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 3

2. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 4

3. DEFINITION OF MARKET / MARKET SEGMENT ...................................................................... 5

4. ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT .................................................................... 10

4.1 PESTL ............................................................................................................................. 10

4.2 PORTER'S 5 FORCES ......................................................................................................... 13

5. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 15

5.1 VALUE CHAIN.................................................................................................................. 15

6. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITIVE POSITION OF COMPANY / ORGANIZATION ...................... 17

6.1 FCS .................................................................................................................................. 17

6.2 BENCHMARKING .............................................................................................................. 17

7. ANALYSIS SWOT ................................................................................................................ 18

8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................... 19

9. QUESTIONS ASSIGNEMENT .................................................................................................. 21




1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The mission of an organization basically consists of answering three short questions:

"What we are, what we do and why we do it?".

Analyzing this case, one comes to the conclusion that if Robin Hood's mission is:

"We are a group, Merrymen, who Steal the rich to give to the poor to combat the sheriff

and his ideals.".

In a more detailed analysis we look at history as an organizational structure led by

Robin Hood. Robin is the leader because it was he who formed the group Merrymen

and is responsible for the allocation of tasks and specialization of their subordinates

(lieutenants). Each lieutenant had specific functions, such as collecting information

discipline among men, took care of the finances and provisioning.

As in any business or organization considers itself a strategic shift if needed due to

the emergence of problems that can occur. This case is no exception because Robin is

facing some problems both in the formation of the group as around personal revenge

against the sheriff.




2. INTRODUCTION

In this first case study, analyzes the story of Robin Hood and his Merrymen group.

Robin is the leader of the group mentioned above and is responsible for assigning tasks

to the same. What moves this team is the slogan "Steal from the rich to give to the

poor." Throughout the case are problems of management and analysis with different

solutions.

For that, this report is divided into several parts for a better analysis of this case.

Initially defined market segment, through an analysis of the external and internal

environment and an analysis of the organization's competitive position. In a final stage

for a future strategy of the organization withdraw the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats to the achievement of the SWOT analysis, ending with a brief

conclusion and future recommendations.




3. DEFINITION OF MARKET / MARKET SEGMENT

Case assumption:

The fame of the Robin Hood's Marrymen led to lots of new recruits and he's

band grew bigger and bigger. This resulted in the forest food capacity being exceeded

and they had to turn to outlying villages for supplies. This was costly and started to

drain the band's financial reserves. The Merrymen's operations had also caught the

attention of the travelers which in turn started to avoid taking the rout through the forest

and thereby further diminishing the Merrymen's main income source.

It is evident that Robin is in a pickle and has to figure out the next strategical

move in order to respond to the changing situation.

To help Robin and he's operation we will assume that Robins band can be seen

as a company with Robin as the CEO and henceforward we will view the situation as

such. We are able to help Robins company by applying a market segmentation approach

based upon the STP method to define and divide the available market.

Defining the market:

Current market is based upon the confiscation of goods from travelers that

passes through the Sherwood forest. A switch to a fixed transit tax for the travelers

through Sherwood forest is strongly resisted by Robins lieutenants. Essentially the only

thing keeping the Merrymen together is their motto and core value "Rob from the rich

and give to the poor".

Therefore it is evident that the definition of the market has to be associated with

its roots. In order to define the market and simultaneously keep the prospects for growth

we suggest Robins quest to be broadened and the purpose of the company's operations

to be shifted towards an equitable reorganization of wealth of the financial market.

Under this definition the company still operates in agreement with its core value while

at the same time also give the company the freedom to expand and to penetrate other

markets that service the same purpose of increasing the wealth of the poor.




However, it has to be noted that the true goal of Robins endeavor from the first

place is to remove the Sheriff of Nottingham and his administration from office. In fact,

Robin is failing in this regard since he had hoped that with the help of his Merrymen he

could pursue a state of perpetual unrest and thus make the Sheriff to fail in his duties to

collect taxes and he would be removed. But as the situation unfolds Robins plan

backfired and the Sheriff is only getting stronger and Robin is now at the point where he

could get in even more trouble if Prince John is choosing to get in on the action. With

this as a basis we could say that the company's true purpose is the removal of the Sheriff

and his administration as well as all of the Sheriff's supporters.

While defining the market under this light we would be more interested in who

is against and who is for the Sheriff's administration than who is rich or not, and hence

the market definition would be given a higher political weight. Pursuing this line of

thought the matter of whether Robin should join with the Barons or not gets very

important for many reasons. Just to mention a few: Firstly he would probably have to

switch to another main income source since he could not continue to rob the Barons or

their marketers. Secondly, he then has to solve the cultural misalignments in he's

organization. Thirdly, he has no guaranties that joining with the Barons will actually

result in the removal of the Sheriff. Obviously his line of thought requires more

information than we are given in the case and therefore we are sticking to the previous

definition of equitable reorganization of wealth of the financial market or the "wealth

market".

Market segments:

In order to be able to identify market segments one must first choose an

appropriate segmenting basis. In our case we can identify the following segmentation

basis:

Geographic segmentation:

Robin can choose to conduct he's operations only in certain areas, as he's already

doing. This is done by dividing the market into differential geographical units such as




nations, states, regions, counties, cities or towns. Geographic segmentation can not be

done for this case since there's not sufficient information provided in order to make such

a segmentation.

Robin has already chosen one location for his company and the geographic

market is tightly bound to that location. Depending on the surrounding areas

around the Sherwood forest and the benefits/drawbacks they provide he can

choose to expand or not. However, in order to expand many things has to be

considered and evaluated and below are some of the main issues listed.

Logistics between the two locations; easy vs hard? How are the two areas

connected?

Management; can he manage more than one band of Merrymen that are

separated? How would he manage it? What is his strength, weakness,

opportunities and threats?

Location; how far away could he establish and are there enough resources? Is it

safe? Is it going to make the company stronger or weaker in terms of safety?

These are just a few of he questions that must be answered in order to address the

issue of geographical segmentation.

Demographic segmentation:

Robin can choose to divide the market based on variables such as age, gender,

family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation,

nationality etc.

Demographic factors are the most popular bases for segmenting customer

groups and serves some purpose in our case since all travelers passing through

the forest can be seen as customers. The only relevant demographic

segmentation basis is the one based on income or occupation. These two are

highly linked to each other and seen as a source of wealth. However, Robin is

already indirectly employing this basis to some extent. The farmers and the




towns people are poor and their lives depend on them tending to their land and

hence they will not be traveling a lot. And even if they did have to pass trough

the forest the Merrymen would not rob the people they swore to protect. On the

other hand, the rest of the travelers such as the marketers, noblemen, the King's

men and all the other rich people with higher social status and power would not

be able to pass trough freely.

Psychographic segmentation:

Robin could divide the market into different groups based on social class,

lifestyle, or personality characteristics.

This basis serves mainly the same purpose as the previous on in this case. All

travelers are customers if they have money, so they can for instance be divined

into social class which in principal is a result of the combination of occupation

and income.

Beneficial segmentation:

This approach does not apply to this case since all travelers with money will be

customers. However, if a fee for passing through the forest is considered, then the

market could be segmented into non-travelers, ex-travelers, potential travelers, first-time

travelers and regular travelers. Respective group could then be assigned an approbate

fee. Similarly the market could also be segmented into light, medium and heavy

travelers, by traveler loyalty or by path taken through the forest.

Although there exist several more segmentation bases such as industrial-,

business-, multiple- and behavioral segmentation we consider a segmentation basis

based on demographic segmentation to sufficient enough for our case.

Hence we can identify the following market segments:

The total market consists of all the people.

The potential market is all travelers through Sherwood forest.




The Available market consists of all the travelers that bring with them some sort

of value in form of wealth to the Merrymen, i.e. includes King's Men, Noble Men

Sheriff's Men and travelers of similar nature.

The qualified available market consists of the travelers that are traders,

marketers or merchants. This segment brings the highest amount of value to the

Merrymen.

In our case the target market is the same as the qualified available market.

Figure 1 - Market Segmentation.




4. ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

4.1 PESTL

In terms of helping Robin and his company we are also able to provide him an

analysis of his organizations macro environment which is based upon a PEST analysis.

Political factors identified:

Conflict with the Sheriff of Nottingham

→ Main political factor.

Potential conflict with Prince John

→ Robin is not yet in direct conflict with Prince John, only with his Sheriff. But if

Robin was to kill the Sheriff for example, he could be dealing with a new Sheriff or

directly with the Prince and the Prince's forces.

Relation with Barons

→ Robins relationship with the Barons has a direct impact on his operations. Most

likely an alliance with the Barons would be good for his operations, but the question is

for how long?

Trading policies

→ Prince John can prohibit all trading through the forest

Somewhat unstable overall political stability of the country

→ Kingdom in potential unrest due to some amount of opposition to the current ruler

→ Is there risk for war?

The Sheriff is gaining in strength

→ The Sheriff poses a bigger and bigger threat as time goes by




Economical factors identified:

Trade routes

→ Merchants and travelers are beginning to take to alternative trade routs to avoid the

forest which lead to a decline in revenues.

General taxation by the Sheriff

→ Higher trading taxes decreases the amount of goods and money the travelers will be

able to bring into the forest.

Fast growth of employees in the company

→ Requires more food which already is scarce and thus would give rise to higher

spendings.

→ Safety issues in form of easier detection and larger camp

→ Is the forest big enough to sustain the growing company?

Social factors identified:

General attitude towards operations is positive

→ Robin has good reputation that is spreading fast and wide which results in a large

available workforce.

→ They have the support of the common people.

Prince Johns unpopularity

→ Siding with King Richard and freeing him could yield some beneficial opportunities.

Technological factors identified:

Sheriff's good connections

→ If there would be a new technical advancement that the Sheriff could use to

strengthen his forces then he would probably be one of the first to know about that new

piece of technology.




Environmental factors identified:

Natural catastrophes

→ Fires, earth quake, meteor strike, tsunamis, extreme cold etc.

Bad weather

→ A bad year in therms of the farmers harvest would further intensity the food issue.




4.2 PORTER'S 5 FORCES

Negotiating Power of Suppliers - It is considered that the providers are a high force,

since the goods from merchants seized are essential for the survival of the group.

Rivalry among Competitors - It is considered that the competitors are a high force,

since the direct opponents of Robin (Princepe sheriff and John) are the main threat of

the goals espoused by Merrymen.

Negotiating Power of Customers – It is considered that the customers are a low force,

because they do not represent any threat to the Merrymen since these are the main

protectors of the people.

Threat of New Entries - It is considered that the new entries are a low force, because it

is more likely that a new entry joins the group Merrymen than form a new group.

Negotiating Power of

Suppliers

Threat of

Substitute

Products

Negotiating Power of

Customers

Rivalry among

Competitors

Threat of

New Entries




Threat of Substitute Products - Considered to be the substitute products are a low

force, since the people as alternatives only shows the high fees charged by Princepe

John and forest trail.




5. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

5.1 VALUE CHAIN

To further help Robin to make the right strategic moves we are providing him

with an internal environment analysis based on value chain analysis.

Primary Activity:

Inbound logistics

→ Supplies from the towns people. Consisting mostly of food but also tools, metals,

weapons etc.

Operations

→ Raiding travelers in the Sherwood forest. Mostly merchants and tax collectors.

Outbound logistics

→ Money and goods that been taken from the merchants and tax collectors.

Marketing and Sales

→ The spreading fame of the Merrymen. The motto "Rob from the rich and give to the

poor" is a source of profound pride for the Merrymen. "They are doing a good deed and

if you share the same values you can also be a part of it."

Service

→ Intelligence, scouting and provisioning. Collection of information and travel plans of

rich merchants and tax collectors. Discipline among the Merrymen and high quality

archery. Financial management in terms of converting loot to cash, paying shares of the

take and finding hiding places for the surplus.

Secondary Activity:

Procurement

→ Sourcing and negotiation with suppliers. Mainly with townspeople for food and raw

materials.




Human Resource Management

→ Recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding the workforce, e.i. the Merrymen

Technology Development

→ High level of information and "raiding know how". Robin has handpicked

lieutenants that has the same core values as himself which he then trained. As a result all

Merrymen are skilled raiders.

Infrastructure

→ Robin is the CEO and he has his trusted team that make up the general management.

Scarlett, Little John, Scarlock and Much the Miller.




6. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITIVE POSITION OF COMPANY /

ORGANIZATION

6.1 FCS

In this organizational structure there are several success factors that Robin Hood and

his team reach. Stated below are 5 of the success factors identified.

1. Robin's leadership led to the structuring and formation of the Merrymen. It is

considered that the fact that Robin is the leader of the group is critical because it

leads to the formation of a team work that tries to produce satisfactory results.

2. Robin decided to specialization of tasks. Assigned to small groups of men, different

tasks in order to make the group organized, disciplined, loyal and united. Robin was

able to delegate tasks efficiently organize your group.

3. It is considered that the way that advertising was used to promote the group is

critical because of the great importance of recruitment achieved. It was due to word

of mouth advertising that Robin got his big fleet.

4. One of the tasks assigned to Robin that one group was gathering information. It is

considered that the search for information is a critical factor because it was very

useful information that Robin had about the next steps of the sheriff and travel

marketers. On the side there is also a rival of this critical part of Princepe since he

had spies for information.

5. One of the critical factors is the resources, both human and essential. Because

resources are one of the factors that most influence the evil being or welfare of the

whole team to achieve the goals.

6.2 BENCHMARKING

Factor Robin Hood and Merrymen Sheriff %

1 4 3 30

2 3 3 30

3 5 2 10

4 3 3 10

5 3 5 20

Total 3.5 3.3 100




7. ANALYSIS SWOT




8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Finally, after analyzing the case study, it is necessary to answer two questions: "Now

what will you do?". The best way to answer these questions is to present some

recommendations for this case. Then presents various recommendations topics in order

to facilitate understanding.

You need to make a kind of aptitude test, a kind of interview for the recruitment

of new members to the group Merrymen. If this test is done, it is possible to

better control the number of members to join the team. So to recruit people who

have spirit and capacity to learn quickly the policies of the group. This

recommendation will improve the performance of the Merrymen.

With the increasing number of persons in the group, it is necessary that the level

of formation also increases. Robin should have a fleet with a manageable

number. Should form small working groups and will form each person

individually giving your best. Robin should discipline your group to be

competent in their tasks to cope with the great power of the sheriff.

It is important that we not implemented the tax rate that Robin Hood wants to

apply to merchants and villagers. This policy that Robin wants to apply is unfair

to merchants and residents who support him in his struggle against the sheriff.

This action will reduce the support of the villagers to the group Merrymen,

which in turn would feel bad and with moral very low. If the group has a low

morale, discipline among them may be affected and may even disperse your big

objective.

This tax rate could only work if it was temporary and only Robin explained to

the villagers so that they understand and agree.

The union with the Barons is one of the suggested recommendations. As

explained in this report, if Robin siding with Barons get a larger support beyond

that will obtain the release of King Richard's prison in Austria.




Kill the Sheriff is not a recommendation, since it would not solve the problems.

In another perspective could get another type of problems.

Finally, Robin could ally himself with other members through various parts of

England. Could create several other groups Merrymen. Robin could form a

leader in each subgroup Merrymen so as to have skills to train other members

too. So this policy that defends Robin, was spreading further and created greater

affluence and importance.




9. QUESTIONS ASSIGNEMENT

1 - What problems does Robin Hood have? What issues need to be addressed?

Due to word of mouth advertising group formation Merrymen, there was a

strong support on the part of the people. This strong adhesion led to the exponential

growth of the group. This growth led to problems due to lack of resources for their basic

needs, lack of communication among men, the formation by the Robin was not so

efficient and also led to the removal of travelers and traders of forest (these merchants

were the source yield group). On these issues derived from the high growth of the group,

raise some questions that should be thought: "Would not it was better to have a more

limited group? Does not worth having few people with great training than many men

with little training? Does the relationship growing group vs quality is good? ".

Another problem we encountered was Robin that sheriff's becoming increasingly

stronger and more powerful. This increased power with the support of the court's ruling

and Princepe John and with the vast money existed. This problem leads to some

questions that are pertinent: "Does Robin should not have relied on a power stronger?

Does Robin did well to join the people only? Robin should reject the tender of the

Barons?”.

2 - Do Robin Hood and Merrymen need a new mission? New objectives? A new

strategy?

To answer this question we have to look at the fact at hand. From the text we

could assume that Robins vision is a fair society in terms of wealth and is run by a good

and honourable King that has the support of the people. In order to accomplish this he

sets out on a mission to remove the Sheriff and his administration. Robins strategy to

accomplish this is to “rob from the rich and give to the poor” with he help of men with a

deep sense of justice. That way he assumes he can cause a state of perpetual unrest and

thus make the Sheriff to fail in his duties to collect taxes which would lead to his

removal.

However, when looking at the external and internal environment we clearly noticed

the following factors; revenue is down and costs are rising, he has a cultural




misalignment in his company and in just 2 years his company from a small band to a big

corporation with a strong regional presence. Along with these changes there are also

several other important questions and decisions that has to be addressed.

Is Sherwood Forest becoming to small for him to sustain the organisations

operations?

How can he avoid detection of his growing organisation? Prince John has a lot

of spies that can infiltrate his operations due to the problems with cultural

misalignments, e.i. Robin doesn't know half of his men any more.

How should Robin deal with the growing strength of the Sheriff's forces?

What about the idea of killing the Sheriff? Should he do it, can he do it?

What about the idea of joining the Barons? Should he do it?

What about the idea of impose fixed taxes? Should he do it?

These are all questions that has to be addressed and answered in order to evaluate if

the changes in the external environment means that the original mission no longer

applies. For instance Robin could choose to kill the Sheriff, join the Barons and impose

fixed taxes. But would that serve his vision?

With this as a background we can easily see that Robin is indeed in need of a new

strategy. In fact, almost every decision he is confronted with requires a strategical

change. However, we believe that Robin would make decisions in line with his vision

and to do that he doesn’t necessary need to change his mission. He can still pursue his

mission to remove the Sheriff and his administration from office but in order to

continue to do so he has to change strategy. Due to the growth of his company he has to

develop a competitive strategy to sustain his position in the industry. He should also

develop an internal communications strategy to ensure that his vision, mission and

strategy is ensured, known and valued in his company and thus avoid cultural

misalignment by his Merrymen.




3 - What strategic options does Robin Hood have? Is continuing with the present

strategy an option or is the present strategy obsolete?

Robin's strategic options are:

Forming an alliance with the barons to rescue Princepe Ricardo, despite all the

drawbacks and dangers that stemmed from the alliance;

Expand the area afforested Merrymen group to have access to more merchants and

travelers who avoided the forest;

Kill the sheriff satisfying his personal vendetta.

In this case it is considered that the strategy is obsolete and need a strategic shift.

The viagentes prevent passage in the forest, revenue and resources of the group is not

sufficient for survival. With the increasing growth of the group Merrymen the situation

does not seem likely to improve and so you need a change, a difference in the quality of

training and better use of resources.

4 - Why not try to end the campaign by killing the Sheriff?

Killing the Sheriff would be a high risk undertaking with uncertain

consequences. In worst case he and all his Merrymen could be killed. Robin already

knows that the Sheriff is stronger now than ever before and is gaining in strength and

Robin doesn't currently have the resources to pull it off safely. And even if he could pull

it off, there would for sure be a new sheriff appointed by Prince John and there are no

guaranties that the new sheriff would be any better. With a succeeded removal of the

Sheriff, Robin also confronts the issue of putting himself as the main target of Prince

John and that would put more pressure on him and his Merrymen. The problem at hand

is bigger than just the Sheriff.

5 - What are the pros and cons of accepting the offer of the barons to assist in

securing King Richard´s release from prison?

Robin had in his hands deciding to ally themselves barons or not. This alliance

would help the release from prison of King Richard of Austria. If Robin is allied to the

barons would have pros and cons of your decision. By allying Robin gain amnesty and

the expected resolution to campaign against the sheriff. But if for some reason the plan




failed, Princepe John would use all its power and revenge to ensure that Robin Hood

and his group were exterminated.

6 - What action plan would you recommend to Robin?

Robin should embrace his original vision, expand his mission and implement

new strategies to accomplish that. Because of the threat of the growing strength of the

Sheriff he can not really wait for much longer if he want to have a chance of fulfilling

his vision. Therefore, he should expand his mission and think about joining the Barons.

If he joined with the Barons he could solve the supply issues and he could stop

worrying about the increasing growth of his company. This would also let him expand

to other areas more easily (gaining more men for a greater cause) as well as increase the

security of his company since he have the protection of the Barons. After joining with

the Barons he should focus on getting King Richard back. Then together they could

overthrow Prince John and the Sheriff and thus completing his vision. However, there

are some risks involved in this quest. Firstly, Robin has robbed a lot of travellers and it

is not sure how the rich Barons would feel about Robin would they free King Richard

and succeed in overthrowing the current ruler. However, if they succeed in freeing King

Richard, then Robin would be very keen on letting King Richard know that he also

contributed in his release. Secondly there is the problem of getting all of the Merrymen

in on the same line of thought as Robins vision. e.i. the challenge of implementing the

strategical changes as well as the mission expansion. Perhaps he couldn't convince all of

his Merrymen to quit robbing and see the bigger picture and he would make new

enemies of those. Another risk he must be able to take should he consider joining the

Barons, is that it is not written in stone that they would be able to overthrow Prince John

and his followers. Robin must also be willing to loose some of his control to other

(especially King Richard) if he would join the Barons in the quest of freeing King

Richard.

After reviewing the risks and benefits Robin has, we suggest that he attempts to

join the Barons and starts implementing his new strategies and whilst simultaneously

expands the company's mission.




7 - How should Robin implement the recommended plan? What action steps will

need to be taken to make the recommended strategy work successfully?

Robin should have the initiative to send a small group of men disciplined,

responsible, with the power of the word and its maximum confidence Robin to talk with

the Barons. This conversation would be helpful to clarify the whole situation, to make

sure the potential alliance and delegate tasks.

Robin would be responsible for arranging the group of men capable of

implementing the details of the rescue plan of King Richard. The Barons would serve as

a way to improve logistics and guarantee provisions. This alliance could be seen in the

business aspect such as the Barons would be the company's investors and would

Merrymen manpower company.

Documents

Caso Robin Hood - Bruno Mariana Joni