Subway's Objectives

Subway's Objectives

1. Importance of objectives

The objective of Subway, to bring customers into the stores and keep them coming back, is quite straight-forward. However, by setting this objective, many aspects of the organizations are affected. In order to bring customers into the stores, the shop should be clean and well advertised. To have them coming back, the store's food and service should be of good quality. 

Since Subway is a franchise company, its franchisees will work hard to improve their service and food so they can achieve the objective. Also, Subway as a whole organization will work hard to improve its menus or advertise their sandwiches in order to achieve the objective. 

Since the objective directly relates to the profit of the organization, it is very important.

2. Role of the Mission Statement (Delight every customer so they want to tell their friends - with great value through fresh, delicious, made-to-order sandwiches, and an exceptional experience.)

Subway's mission statement is very simple and straight-forward as well. However, it contains all the necessary elements that Subway desires to acquire. By looking at the mission statement, one can know what to provide the customers with. "Delighting" every customer would directly come from good service, and when the service is very good, "[customers] will want to tell their friends". The "fresh, delicious, made-to-order" part explains how the sandwiches should be. This provides Subway's franchisees of a rough guideline of making the sandwiches. The part about an "exceptional experience" is interesting, because it does not state what kind of an experience it is talking about. This could be interpreted differently for different people. Some can think the experience is the taste, and some might think it is the service. This is a great strategy, because each franchisees will have a slightly different interpretation of the mission statement, eventually having them provide slightly different services. 

The mission statement also is deeply related to the objective, as achieving the mission statement will mean achieving the objective.  

3. Relationship between aims, strategic objectives and operational objectives

Aims are the finalized and abstract goals of a company. Strategic objectives are shorter term goals that are more specific than aims, but still longer term and abstract than operational objectives. 

In Subway's case, their aim is to be the number 1 Quick Service Restaurant franchise in the world. Their strategic objectives are to build good company reputations and have a wider customer range, while their operational objectives are to make their food healthier, or to construct a wider range of menu.

Operational objectives support strategic objectives, while strategic objectives support aims. These goals should not go against each other, and should benefit each other.

Business Objectives

The difference between aims, strategies, and tactics

Aims are the general goals that a company seeks to achieve in a long span of time, while strategies and tactics are the methods used to achieve that aim. The difference between strategies and tactics is that strategies are more long term and broad. Tactics are more likely to be day-to-day and detailed.

The difference between a mission statement and a vision statement

A mission statement and vision statement are very similar in that they both express the company's purpose and values. However, the main difference is that a vision statement states where the company hopes to be positioned in the future, while a mission statement expresses where is tries to be now. Also, because of this difference, a mission statement usually should be able to be measured quantitatively, while a vision statement is based on a qualitative criterion.

NPOs supported

In order to make the community more healthy and active, Subway supports various non-profit organizations through corporate donations and sponsorships. Subway constantly supports certain NPOs, and also donated in 2011 to 10 organizations chosen by the employees of Subway.

List of supported NPOs

• Doctors without borders
• Feed the Children
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• UNICEF
• Save the Children
• The Jared Foundation
• Make-A-Wish Foundation
• American Red Cross
• American Cancer Society
• American Heart Association
• Jump Rope for Heart
• Hoops for Heart
• National Institutes of Health
• We Can!™ 
• Little League Baseball
• Jared Foundation
• Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation

The NPOs supported by Subway are mostly centered around health and activity. I believe this is because it relates to Subway's aim for fast but healthy sandwiches.

Influence of Public Sector

Subway's business deals with a huge number of competitors, since the food industry is full of them. However, as most public sector businesses tend to provide their consumers with essential needs, they do not act as competitors of Subway. Also, it does not have obvious relationships with any public sector companies. However, the governments do affect the business through various laws and restrictions. For example, Los Angeles has set regulations in order to limit the number of fast-food restaurants in its state. Also, many customers who believed in the catch phrase 'Eat Fresh' of Subway have been disappointed to find out that some of the ingredients of the sandwiches are banned in several countries in Europe. As these examples prove, Subway is constantly affected by government laws, but not directly.