USE Subway

Learning Activity #1

Using the company you selected for the Week 3 Learning Activity ( Subway), it is now time to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats you uncovered and determine what strategy is best suited based on the outcome of the IFE and EFE.

Discuss which generic business-level strategy is best suited to keep the company you selected competitive. Offer supporting rationale for your explanation and be sure to reference your statements using proper APA formatting

Learning Activity #2

Select one of the strategy formulation analytic tools and complete based on the information gathered in the Week 3 Learning Activities; the tools to select from are:

Space Matrix

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix

IE Matrix

Once you have completed the tool discuss the outcome in terms of what strategic direction the selected company should take and why. As always, offer supporting rationale for your explanation and be sure to reference your statement using proper APA formatting.

below is my infomartion:

nternal Strengths	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
Subway offers a healthy fast food option	0.2	3	0.6
Subway offers customization for each order. Allowing each customer to have their order exactly how they would like it.	0.2	4	0.8
Subway is the third most successful fast food chain in America, and continues to expand globally (Fitzpatrick, 2015).	0.2	3	0.6
Internal Weakness
Customer service varies from store to store.	0.2	2	0.4
The product received does not always portray the marketing image.	0.1	2	0.2
Employment opportunities are entry level, and subject to high turnover.	0.1	2	0.2
	1		2.8	Above average
External Opportunities
Young consumers are increasing the demand for healthier, less processed, and more sustainable fast food options (Danahy, 2016).	0.2	3	0.6
Subway offers online ordering and payment.	0.3	2	0.6
Global markets welcome Subway (Fitzpatrick, 2015).	0.1	3	0.3
External Threats
Not all consumers want a healthy fast food.	0.1	3	0.3
Other healthy fast food options are emerging as competition, such as Chipotle (Fitzpatrick, 2015).	0.2	2	0.4
Subway has been subject to lawsuits in recent years (Goldman, 2016).	0.1	2	0.2
	1		2.4	Below Average

IFE and EFE chart for Subway

EFE

Opportunities	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
Drive-thru service	0.2	2	0.4
Online ordering	0.14	2	0.28
Diversification	0.13	2	0.26
Threats
Offering fresher ingredients	0.3	3	0.60
Maintaining the market share	0.06	2	0.12
Competitors	0.17	3	0.34
TOTALS	1.00		2

IFE

Strengths	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
International brand recognition	0.20	3	0.60
Offering healthier food choices	0.20	4	0.80
Largest fast-food chain	0.10	4	0.40
Weaknesses
High employee turnover	0.20	3	0.60
Inconsistency	0.30	1	0.30
TOTAL	1.00		2.7

The company I chose to consider for IFE and EFE chart presentation is Subway. For EFE, the opportunities identified include drive-thru service, online ordering, and diversification. A large number of consumers enjoy the capability of ordering ahead of arrival. The capability of doing this with a healthier dinner alternative could be considered as a faster, better option than standing in line physically to order food. One of the reasons a consumer could go to Taco Bell of McDonalds is because he or she does not want to get out of his or her vehicle. The customers would go to Subway instead of to the competitors if it offered the drive-thru service. Indeed this could tie in to the online ordering. Moreover, the company is stuck with only a single type of product; however, it need to diversify into various types of healthy options to remain competitive (Bhasin, 2018). On the other hand, the identified threats include offering fresher ingredients, maintaining the market share, and competitors. Reportedly, in 2014, Subways sales reduced by three percent (Harwell, 2015). For an industry; notably, this is a huge quantity of lost sales. The social definition of the term healthy has actually changed. In that case, the consumers are not contented with the pre-cut processed meats. Such a factor could be driving the consumers to competitors, making sales to decline for Subway. For the weighted score of EFE for the threats and opportunities was found to be 2.00. In that regard, this implies that Subway does not have an effectual strategy to deal with its external environment. Fundamentally, the average EFE weighted score is 2.5 (Jurevicius, 2014).

On the other hand, the identified strengths include international brand recognition, offering healthier food options, and being the largest fast-food chain. Indeed, I find these as the companys main internal strengths. On the other hand, the weaknesses include high-employee turnover, and inconsistency and the company needs to improve on these to remain competitive within the market. Having a high employee turnover and being inconsistent can negatively affect the company and can make it to lose its market share. The IFE weighted score was found to be 2.7, which above the average of 2.5. From a strategic perspective, this score means the corporation has indeed a strong internal position and there is no much that needs to be done to improve its internal environment.