Any company with a wish to strive in this corporate world full of competition and challenges must have well-structured goals and target. These goals must be achievable and objective of the business environment, the company is located. The accomplishment of these objectives is subject to purposeful planning structures published by the company. The success and attainment of the goals require that the companies design both a short-term and a long-term plan of its activities. A working plan is made after a study on the factors surrounding the firm. An internal audit is also useful in establishing an impeccable plan. This is where the SWOT analysis becomes necessary. The two types of planning required for a company to succeed are operational and strategic planning (Cheng et al., 2011).

The strategic plan is a map of the company’s actions meant to direct its path towards the achievement of its primary goals. This type of plan determines the long-term direction of the firm. It is the most vital part of any successful company and is usually left to the top management of the company to structure it. On the other hand, operational planning refers to the daily activities of any company. The day-to-day operations of the company are subject to this kind of planning. Although its importance may seem trivial, operational planning is very critical since it contributes to the long-term success of the company (Kenny, 2005).

In the case of Walt Disney, just like any other firm, its main agenda is the maximization of profit through the provision of quality services to its clientele. From SWOT analysis, its chief weakness is the concentration of its firms in just the US and Canada. This concentration has limited its market share to these countries only. The strategic plan should be to enter gradually into the untapped and unexplored markets (Walt, 2014). The procedure will involve finding these markets, studying them to ascertain the particular needs of specific clientele, and making a budget estimate of the requirements of the venture. The plan portrays the company as a major provider of service in the respective market. Therefore, its structure should include all the needs of this new market.

The main objective brought about by this plan to venture into the new markets other than Canada and the US, will reduce its weakness in its size of the market. In addition, the increase in the customer base means that the company will increase its profits hence enabling it to achieve its goal of financial success.

The day-to-day activities of any organization are crucial to the long-term performance of the company. In order for Disney to keep the penetration of the cable network into the market, the daily operations should be structured in such a way that the daily programs in its cable TV networks are attractive to the consumer. Scheduling of programs should be reliable for respective consumers. For instance, a program that needs parental control should be scheduled to air during late hours of the night when the children and the teens are asleep. Moreover, the technical part of the company should also be on standby to fix any problems that may crop out during the times of transmission.

A long-term plan to keep the existing clientele will involve researching on the needs of this particular clientele. In the corporate world, consumer needs keep changing every day, hence the need to keep updating the service given by the provider. Therefore, a strategic plan to keep this market will, involve doing research on the existing clients to ascertain their needs. A system should also be established to keep track of the changes in the clients’ tastes (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). The results gotten from the studies will help the planning team in their efforts to design an exciting service for their customers.

This plan will aid in enabling the company deal with competition from firms delivering the same service. It will also help in increasing the size of its market because of the improvement of its service delivery with new and up-to-date services.

One of the pronounced challenges in TV broadcast the composition of content on a broadcaster’s network. The government is particularly strict when it comes to programs that are considered immoral. These programs tend to elicit much supervision from the government. Broadcasters with the reputation of airing related products are under the careful watch of the government. In addition, those licensed to broadcast programs for the kids are under many regulations. Since Disney’s forte is in the kid business, this regulation has a tremendous impact on its operations (Walt, 2014). Therefore, it is wise to design a product in accordance to the law to avoid legal suits and threats of closure. This plan will be tricky because many people in today’s world prefer programs with some percentage of sexual occurrences. However, the possibility occurs when the company separates its stations (Kenny, 2005). For instance, a TV station meant for children should have its programs made of morally upright ideas. On the other hand, adult TV stations designed should have advisories on the content of its programs.

Strategic and operational planning is very critical factor for any forward-thinking company. To make a successful plan, whether it is short-term or long-term depends on the research done on the subject. A good research will result on the formulation of an impeccable plan capable of allowing the company to rid itself of unnecessary weaknesses and threats. SWOT analysis is an important tool in measuring the performance of the firm, and it is prudent for the administration to do seasonally (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008).

References

Cheng, J. K., Tahar, R. M., & Ang, C. L. (2011). A system dynamics approach to operational and strategic planning of a container terminal. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 10(4), 420.

Drucker, P. F., & Maciariello, J. A. (2008). Management (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Collins.

Kenny, G. (2005). Strategic planning and performance management: develop and measure winning strategy. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.

Walt Disney Company’s Mission Statement and Vision: Formula for success. (2014).HubPages. Retrieved September 3, 2014, from http://simondixie.hubpages.com/hub/Walt-Disney-Companys-Mission-Statement-and-Vision-A-formula-for-success