Identifying Areas of Wekaness in Thorntons

Methods of professional development and training

Identifying areas of weakness

In Thornton's, there are areas of weakness that need to be reconciled in training and development, nothing is perfect is in business, but Thornton's must strive to try and establish the weaknesses in their methods and develop new and more effective plans and systems for the way they function.

An example of this would be that some employees use the company for qualifications such as in the Administration department, training is used or use of I.T and qualifications are given out when staff complete training or in the manufacturing department where training is given in Health and Safety and packaging skills are trained. Employees may stay in the company until they are trained in whatever qualification and skills they need and then could leave the company, deserting the workforce and causing the company to loose money on recruiting and selecting new employees and then more costs on the training and developing of these new staff.

A suggestion to improve this weakness is to wait for employees to be at the company for a certain period of time before training them up, although this may be difficult at the start of the process as the business needs employees with the correct skills, in the long run this could be an advantage as once employees are trained, the company will probably retain them as if they have been at the company for a certain period of time, they will probably stick to it resulting in the retention of staff. To compensate for poorly trained staff at the beginning of the process. Agencies could be used to employ temporary staff, although this would be expensive, it would result in being cheaper than employees leaving and costs on recruiting and training new employees.

Another suggestion to this situation would be only using in house training and promotion as if staff have worked at the company for a certain period of time, they will probably be staying at the company in the long run, this could also help with staff motivation and incentives for staff to work hard if they see a promotion in their midst.

Another area of weakness in Thortons is that the business only trains staff in one particular part of their job, not all the skills that are needed in all of the departments. Although this would probably be costly and would take time it would be effective as if staff were absent, it would be easier for their jobs to be covered by other staff, as they would be qualified in all aspects of the business.

To make a suggestion to this problem, a few staff that can be deemed as 'flexible' could be trained in different departments so that, if absence has arisen then it can be accommodated better.

Systems

Organisational culture

In Thornton's, 'organisational culture is the characteristic spirit and belief of an organisation, demonstrated in the norms, values and attitude that are generally held about how people should behave and treat each other. '

Norms- unwritten rules of behaviour, this could be classed as mannerisms and politeness

Values-what is believed to important about how the employees and Thortons behave

Corporate plan

The corporate plan is the main economic responsibility that Thornton has to consider when achieving their main aims and objectives for the company. As a result, they must plan out in each area, what they are willing to achieve in the next year and a review of what they have achieved in the previous years.

The following is an example, taken from the Thornton's website, that shows how the business is achieving and what they plan to achieve in the following year.

"Thornton, which received two takeover offers earlier in the year before deciding to continue with its own recovery plan, said that pre-tax, pre-exceptional profits rose by almost 25 per cent to Ј8 million as sales rose by a more modest 6.9 per cent to Ј178.7 million - an indication that the company's new strategy is beginning to pay dividends."

"A successfully integrated retailer with a strong brand should enjoy good return on sales versus the retail industry average. Whilst Thorntons has a respectable return on sales, it punches below its weight," said CEO Peter Burdon, this shows that Thornton's, although they are a qualified and experience business, has the right tools to perform in their market, are not using their tools effectively to beat competitors and stay leader of the area.

A major overhaul of the company's business was therefore begun three years ago, concentrating on Thornton's main advantage, its reputable brand name and its main weakness its market portfolio.

Building on the brand name has seen the company begin selling its products through third-party outlets, for example, Tesco stores. A strategy, which has proved highly successful with this particular part of its business growing faster than any other over the last 12 months.

Total sales for this operation, which also includes making own label chocolate for Marks & Spencer, rose 8 per cent to Ј23.7 million, of which 42 per cent (double the previous year's level) came from the Thorntons brand.

Also, Thornton's have researched the main locations for there branches and outlets, changing them to a more popular area if it 'did not meet performance criteria', this meant that they moved the stores to mostly populated areas where custom will be high, such as busy city centres.

"Consumers are increasingly demanding when it comes to their shopping requirements, and Thorntons' stores suffered as a result of a combination of factors such as poor product mix and poor store layout, one factor behind the development of a new format store, Thorntons Cafй." this means that Thornton's have to generate a new marketing mix so that they are customer orientated and that will be the most effective to the company and to their market.

"This format - which Burdon said was best suited to out-of-town retail parks, currently popular in the UK - is expected to be a major driver of growth for the company - despite initial uncertainty about its long-term future in a market saturated with coffee shops and cafйs. ", developing their business will give them a larger market base and better customer advantage.

Cost cutting has also been an important