STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

This is all about the analysing the strength of businesses' position and understanding the
important external factors that may influence that position.

Strategic analysis is about looking at what is happening outside your organisation now
and in the future. It asks two questions:

• How might what's happening affect you?

• What would be your response to likely changes?

Strategic Analysis is:

‘… the process of conducting research on the business environment within which an organisation
operates and on the organisation itself, in order to formulate strategy.’
BNET Business Dictionary
‘… a theoretically informed understanding of the environment in which an organisation is
operating, together with an understanding of the organisation’s interaction with its environment in
order to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness by increasing the organisation’s
capacity to deploy and redeploy its resources intelligently.’

Professor Les Worrall, Wolverhampton Business School

ANALYSIS AREAS

Analysis of target markets or Customers:- Existing customers and potential customers

and markets. What do they do? What would help them do what they do better? What are
their needs? Where are the most profitable customers?

Analysis of competencies:- Skills, knowledge and relationships. What do you do well?

What abilities could you draw on? What costs do you have to carry? Where do you make
money?

Analysis of competition and environment:- The whole competitive environment from

regulation to real life competition. What is the basis of competition? Where are the
threats? Where is their pressure and where is the market easy?
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS TOOLS
• SWOT Analysis
• PEST Analysis
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Competitor Analysis
• Comparative Cost Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Operational Analysis

1) SWOT analysis
Identifies the internal and external factors that are important to achieving that
objective. strengths and weaknesses are usually internal to the organisation, while
opportunities and threats are usually external.

Strengths
• What does your organisation do better
than others?
• What are your unique selling points?
• What do you competitors and customers
in your market perceive as your
strengths?
• What is your organisations competitive
edge?
Opportunities
• What political, economic, social-
cultural, or technology (PEST)
changes are taking place that could
be favourable to you?
• Where are there currently gaps in
the market or unfulfilled demand?
• What new innovation could your
organisation bring to the market?

Weakness
• What do other organisations do better
than you?
• What elements of your business add
little or no value?
• What do competitors and customers in
your market perceive as your weakness?
Threats
• What political, economic, social-
cultural, or technology (PEST)
changes are taking place that could
be unfavourable to you?
• What restraints to you face?
• What is your competition doing that
could negatively impact you?
2) PEST analysis
PEST analysis is a scan of the external macro-environment in which an organisation
exists. It is a useful tool for understanding the political, economic, socio-cultural and
technological environment that an organisation operates in. It can be used for evaluating
market growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for a business.
Political factors. These include government regulations such as employment laws,
environmental regulations and tax policy. Other political factors are trade restrictions and
political stability.
Economic factors. These affect the cost of capital and purchasing power of an
organisation. Economic factors include economic growth, interest rates, inflation and
currency exchange rates.
Social factors. These impact on the consumer’s need and the potential market size for an
organisation’s goods and services. Social factors include population growth, age
demographics and attitudes towards health.
Technological factors. These influence barriers to entry, make or buy decisions and
investment in innovation, such as automation, investment incentives and the rate of
technological change.
PEST factors can be classified as opportunities or threats in a SWOT analysis. It
is often useful to complete a PEST analysis before completing a SWOT analysis.

3) Michael Porter's Five Force Model: ( 1979)

There are five forces which determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a
market. Porter’s five forces helps to identify where power lies in a business situation.
This is useful both in understanding the strength of an organisation’s current competitive
position, and the strength of a position that an organisation may look to move into.
Strategic analysts often use Porter’s five forces to understand whether new products or
services are potentially profitable. By understanding where power lies, the theory can
also be used to identify areas of strength, to improve weaknesses and to avoid mistakes.
The five forces are:
1. Supplier power. An assessment of how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This
is driven by:
• the number of suppliers of each essential input
• the uniqueness of their product or service
• the relative size and strength of the supplier
• the cost of switching from one supplier to another.
2. Buyer power. An assessment of how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. This is
driven by:
• the number of buyers in the market
• the importance of each individual buyer to the organisation
• the cost to the buyer of switching from one supplier to another.
If a business has just a few powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms.

3. Competitive rivalry. The key driver is the number and capability of competitors in the
market. Many competitors, offering undifferentiated products and services, will reduce
market attractiveness.
4. Threat of substitution. Where close substitute products exist in a market, it increases
the likelihood of customers switching to alternatives in response to price increases. This
reduces both the power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the market.
5. Threat of new entry. Profitable markets attract new entrants, which erodes
profitability. Unless incumbents have strong and durable barriers to entry, for example,
patents, economies of scale, capital requirements or government policies, then
profitability will decline to a competitive rate.
4) Competitor Analysis:
• A wide range of techniques and analysis that seeks to summarise a businesses'
overall competitive position.
– what your competitors are doing,
– where the next technological developments are coming from
– which directions the market is moving.
• Competitive advantage is defined as the strategic advantage one business entity
has over its rival entities within its competitive industry. Achieving Competitive
Advantage strengthens and positions a business better within the business
environment.
5) Comparative Cost Analysis:
• Ability of a party (an individual, a firm, or a country) to produce a particular good
or service at a lower opportunity cost than that of a competitor.
(Opportunity cost is the cost related to the next-best choice available to someone
who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices.)
Comparative cost theory indicates that the countries which have the advantage of raw
materials, human resources, natural resources and climatic conditions in producing
particular goods can produce the products at low cost and also of high quality. Customers
in various countries can buy more products with the same money. In turn, it can also
enhance the living standards of the people through enhanced purchasing power and by
consuming high quality products.
Examples of Cost Leadership: Nissan; Tesco; Dell Computers
ADVANTAGES
• Advantage of raw materials, human resources, natural resources and climatic
conditions à products at low cost and high quality.
• Ability to expand and diversify its activities.
• Ability, to bear political and commercial risks.
• Paying, less rate of interest to its creditors and underwriters.
• Ability to bargain with the suppliers of inputs and achieve the agreement at
favorable terms for the company
• Providing customer services efficiently and economically.
• Paying less tax to the Government by shifting the funds from one business to
another.
Effects on the economy
For a country, the following factors are important in determining the relative costs of
production:

• The quantity and quality of factors of production available (e.g. the size and
efficiency of the available labour force and the productivity of the existing stock
of capital inputs). If an economy can improve the quality of its labour force and
increase the stock of capital available it can expand the productive potential in
industries in which it has an advantage.
• Investment in research & development - Important in industries where patents
give some firms significant market advantage
• Movements in the exchange rate. An appreciation of the exchange rate can
cause exports from a country to increase in price. This makes them less
competitive in international markets.
• Long-term rates of inflation compared to other countries. For example if
average inflation in Country X is 4% whilst in Country B it is 8% over a number
of years, the goods and services produced by Country X will become relatively
more expensive over time. This worsens their competitiveness and causes a
switch in comparative advantage.
• Import controls such as tariffs and quotas that can be used to create an
artificial comparative advantage for a country's domestic producers- although
most countries agree to abide by international trade agreements.
• Non-price competitiveness of producers (e.g. product design, reliability, quality
of after-sales support)