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You are the newly appointed Strategic Planning Manager for a state-owned agricultural development corporation in Zambia. The corporation’s mission is to enhance food security and support small-scale farmers by providing affordable inputs (seeds, fertilizers) and market access. However, the corporation has faced declining profitability over the past five years due to, inefficient distribution networks causing delays in input delivery, competition from private agribusinesses offering cheaper, subsidized imports, and poor stakeholder trust, as farmers perceive the corporation as bureaucratic and unresponsive. The board suggests diversifying into commercial farming to boost revenue. However, this could divert resources from small-scale farmers, contradicting the corporation’s social mandate.

The board has tasked you with formulating a 3-year strategic plan to revitalize the corporation.

You are expected to:

Conduct a SWOT analysis to evaluate the corporation’s internal and external environment. Highlight at least two critical strategic issues emerging from your analysis.

Apply Porter’s Five Forces to assess the competitiveness of Zambia’s agricultural inputs industry. How might these forces shape your strategy?

Use the Resource-Based View (VRIO framework) to identify one tangible and one intangible resource the corporation could leverage to gain a competitive edge and assess if these resources are currently meeting VRIO criteria.

Propose a revised vision/mission statement aligned with the corporation’s goal of sustainability and farmer empowerment. Justify your changes.

Advise the board on diversification using ethical and strategic lenses.