Group Semester Project

Strategic Management

Group Members:
HAMZA FAYYAZ (FA18-BBA-005)

HASSAN LATIF (FA18-BBA-27)

HASSAN ABRAR (FA18-BBA-170)

Course Instructor: Dr. Syed Nauman Ahmad

TOPIC
"Effects of the pandemic on the strategic management on the
operation of manufacturing firm"
Description:
As covid-19 contributed to the firm's servile due to lockdown and SOPs' management, it was a
different job for managers to meet the demands as the labor was not physically fully available due
to the restrictions. Raw material supply was also an issue, and distribution of products was not easy,
so how the managers and firm managed all these situations and what leadership role was used to
motivate the employees during that time is discussed. The supply chains have been seriously
damaged by the recent coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 outbreak. We collected the relevant
information through various sources, including the company's sales manager, i.e., Interwood Pvt ltd.
He told us about the condition during those days and which management strategies were used to
rotate the employee and motivate them. Manufacturers of specific commodities have seen a
significant increase in demand, while raw materials supply, which is required to make such items,
has decreased due to supply failure.
Justification:
We choose this topic because it happened recently when the covid-19 caused a big disaster in the
firm, so a leader plays a role in resolving these situations and motivating the employee. No project
or plan can succeed without a leader because without a leader, everyone on the team will have their
own opinions about how to attain the best outcomes, and they'll never be able to select which path
to follow to achieve that goal. A leader in the team can solicit input from all members and then
make a decision based on that input, thus ensuring that the team moves in the right direction. We
also want to mention the positive and negative aspects of the leaders to bring forward both sides of
a leader's job. We'll also learn about the role of a leader in the workplace and how they influence
their subordinates in covid-19 days.

Literature review:
There is a brief theoretical foundation on supply chain and management practices during that
period.
"A supply chain is a collection of three or more entities (organizations or individuals) directly
involved in the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, funds, and information from
a source to a customer." SCM (Supply Chain Management) is the active management of such
operations and relationships to achieve a long-term competitive advantage and maximize customer
value by optimizing SC in the most effective and efficient possible ways. Organizations must
adequately manage their operations by planning, scheduling, and regulating SC activities to be
successful. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on world production and trade; t had a
detrimental effect on global production and supply chains, notably in the 2nd quarter of 2020.
Covid-19 Effect on Organizational Environment:
As the covid-19 pandemic puts the world at pause, the operations of the manufacturing world also
get disturbed. The environment of Interwood Mobel Ltd. was also affected by the pandemic. In an
interview with its manager, how operations were affected is discussed below:
Internal Environment:
The internal environment is composed of the owner, shareholders, board of governors/directors,
employees, and culture of the organization. So, when the lockdown was imposed, human resources
were not allowed to come physically to the site as they used to be. The communication among
authorities was held virtually on online platforms, and the employees were reduced to 50%
simultaneously to meet the order demand with a low labour force, which was a challenge.
The firm made a strategy to connect with its employees to virtually work from home with the
factory employees to minimise the communication gap and get things done on time. The company
adapted to the situation and didn't let the pandemic create many hindrances.
External Environment:
These factors include suppliers and customers of a firm, and we found in the interview that all the
customers of Interwood Mobel Ltd. The manager mentioned that they faced difficulty
communicating with the customers, so they fixed it by trying to guide customers to use digital
means to do effective meetings or arrange a physical meeting in a completely safe environment by
sanitizing both individuals to keep virus risk eliminated. The payment was also an issue in those
times as traditionally, cheques are used to make payments. Still, during the pandemic, which was
problematic as there was a chance of contracting the virus, the company made its customers
perform online banking and keep the processes fluent.
Employee's Motivation:
In an interview with the sales manager of Interwood Mobal Pvt Ltd., Mr Nauman Shahid said that
employees' motivation to work was a challenge for the leaders during the Covid-19 Pandemic. So,
to keep employees engaged in the work field, the company practiced multiple strategies to back the
employees emotionally. For this, they provided them with health safety at the workplace. As
financial incentives are not effective enough, they offer their employees other securities. The firm
contracted with laboratories to provide service inside the workplace to conduct medical tests for any
individual feeling unwell. This provided employees with a sense of health security which
encouraged higher attendance. They also offered them alternative weeks for physical work; the
other week, they were required to work from home. Meetings were conducted online like Zoom,
which kept both the leaders and the subordinates in contact. For transportation, the firm increased
the number of vehicles so that the imposed restrictions for travelling by the government could be
met. Cars during the pandemic carried 50% of their capacity. Although it increased the costs for the
firm, they preferred employee's health over cost and kept them motivated to work effectively for the
organization to meet targets.
Ensuring Employee Health:
The company began workforce rationalization, which means that companies often entail a change of
policy and alternation of products, which may lead to reducing or adding employees. During the
pandemic, they allowed their employees to attend 40 to 50 per cent. They also made a policy for
travelling according to government instructions and put a gap of 1 seat in every employee by
creating a strategy and buying a new bus for the employee. By doing so, the company shows how
employee-oriented it is.
Conclusion:

In conclusion, the organizations that displayed an active role and made strategies during the
pandemic like work-from-home and staff rotation in a week minimized their losses. As we
discussed, Interwood Mobel Pvt Ltd motivated their employees and taught them about the online
session by organizing workshops; they showed concern for the employees' health by maximizing
transport unit. Thus, during the pandemic, strategists formulated the strategies accordingly and
implemented which resulted in an all in all positive impact on their sales as they captured the
customer virtually and then delivered their orders, which made Interwood Mobel Pvt Ltd. was
stable and did not have such a hugely destructive impact on that pandemic.