SM Chapter 2

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2
a
CHAPTER a
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS:
EXTERNAL
ENVIRONMENT
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

♦ Examine the criticality of the business environment in strategic analysis.
♦ Describe various elements of the domestic macro environment of
business.
♦ Utilise PESTLE Analysis as a tool for environmental analysis.
♦ Situate a business in an industry and conduct industry analysis.
♦ Analyse aspects related to competition in the industry with reference to
Porter’s five competitive forces.
Environmental analysis is the process by which strategists monitor the

economic, governmental/legal, market/ competitive, supplier /
technological, geographic and social settings to determine opportunities
and threats to their firms. William F. Glueck
The analysis is the critical starting point of strategic thinking. Kenichi Ohmae
© The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

a 2.2 a STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Analysis - External
Strategy and Business Environment
Understanding Product and

Environment
Industry
Industry Environment Analysis
Market and Customer
Competitive Strategy
2.1 INTRODUCTION
There are different kinds of business activities that take place in an organisational
setting, and a cursory look into their world reflects a wide variety of organisations
ranging from small local businesses to international or multinational corporations’
level. Generally, organisations are distinguished based on their size, type of
products, markets, geographical coverage, legal status, and like because of vast
organisational diversity.
Whatever their size or other distinguishing feature they do not operate in a vacuum.
They continuously act and react to what happens outside their periphery. The
factors that are outside the business operations are typically referred to as
organisational / business environment. In other words, and in the specific context
of business, environment may be defined as a set of all external factors that weigh
in the minds of the managers. Drawing an analogy with the term ‘atmosphere’ one
could envision layers of such influences. See Figure-

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS: EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT a 2.3 a
International Politico-legal,
Socio-cultural, Economic,
Decomgrpahic, Ecological
and Teachnological
Environment
Domestic Politico-legal,
Socio-cultural, Economic,
Decomgrpahic, Ecological
and Teachnological
Environment
Industry shaping
competitive force
Firm's
stakeholders
Firm's Internal
Environment
The process of strategic formulation begins with a strategic analysis. Its objective
is to compile information about internal and external environments in order to
assess possibilities while formulating strategic objectives and contemplating
strategic activities. In this chapter various aspects of external environment are
covered with the perspective of strategic analysis. We will also attempt to
understand how to identify, and tackle strategies to adapt within complex and
turbulent external environment.
2.2 STRA GIC ANALYSIS

Strategy formulation is not a task in which managers can get by with intuition,
opinions, instincts, and creative thinking. Judgments about what strategies to
pursue need to flow directly from analysis of a firm’s external environment and its
internal resources and capabilities. Environmental scanning is a natural and
continuous activity for every business and some do it on an informal basis, while

others have a formal structure to collect meaningful information. It is just as

important to learn about changes in tax regulations through television news as it
is through a well-established reading material from experts. The capacity to collect
important information in informal settings usually separates great entrepreneurs
and managers. Using just informal techniques, on the other hand, exposes the
organisation to missed opportunities and unanticipated hazards. A systematic
approach to environmental assessment is essential for managing risk and
uncertainty.
The majority of the rapidly expanding organisations use strategic planning
throughout various stages of their operations. The strategic analysis is a component
of business planning that has a methodical approach, makes the right resource
investments, and may assist business in achieving its objective. It forces to think
about the rivals and aids in the evaluation of business plans to stay ahead of the
competition. The two important situational considerations are:
(1) industry and competitive conditions, and
(2) an organisation’s own capabilities, resources, internal strengths, weaknesses,
and market position.
Identify
External
Analysis Opportunity,
Evaluation Threats
Current
Vision
Analysis
Mission
Goals
Strategies Identify
Internal
Analysis Strength,
Weakness
Figure: Strategic Analysis

The analytical sequence is from strategic appraisal of the external and internal
situation to evaluation of alternatives of strategies, to the final choice of strategy.

Accurate diagnosis of the business situation is necessary for managerial

preparation to decide on a sound long-term direction, setting appropriate
objectives, and crafting a winning strategy. Without perceptive understanding of
the strategic aspects of a company’s external and internal environments, the
chances are greatly increased that managers will finalize a strategic game plan that
doesn’t fit the situation well, that holds little prospect for building competitive
advantage, and that is unlikely to boost company performance.
The strategic analysis is a continuous process which is not without limitations. There
are two major limitations of strategic analysis that we need to be aware of. First, it
gives a lot of innovative options but doesn't tell which one to pick. The options can
be overlapping, confusing or difficult to implement. Second, it can be time-
consuming at times, hurting overall organisational functioning and also strain other
efficient innovations such as developing a new product or a service.
2.2.1 Issues to consider for Strategic Analysis

Strategy evolves over a period of time: Each strategic decision must balance the
different factors that impact and constrain strategy. A key element of strategic
analysis is the probable outcomes of everyday decisions. A current strategy is the
result of several little choices taken over a protracted period of time. A
management radically changes strategy when they try to speed up the
organisational growth. Strategy is influenced by experience, but it has to be
updated when the results become clear. It therefore evolves with time.
Balance of external and internal factors: In practise, strategic analysis
necessitates creating a reasonable balance between many and conflicting
challenges, because a perfect fit between them is unlikely. Management must
consider opportunities, influences, and constraints while taking a strategic decision.
There are factors driving a decision, such as entering a new market. Concurrently,
there exist constraints that limit the option, such as the presence of a large
opponent. These limiting constraints will have various implications on the kind,
degree, volume, and significance of the impact. While some of these aspects are
under your control, there will be others way beyond the existing capabilities.

Risk: In strategic analysis, the principle of maintaining balance is important.

However, the complexity and intermingling of variables in the environment reduces
the strategic balance in the organisation. Competitive markets, liberalization,
globalization, booms, recessions, technological advancements, inter-country
relationships all affect businesses and pose risk at varying degrees. An important
aspect of strategic analysis is to identify potential imbalances or risks and assess
their consequences. A broad classification of the strategic risk that requires
consideration in strategic analysis is given below:
Time
Short Time Long Time
Errors in interpreting the

environment cause Changes in the environment
External strategic failure lead to obsolescence of
strategy.
Strategic Risks
Organizational capacity is Inconsistencies with the

unable to cope up with strategy are developed on
Internal strategic demands. account of changes in internal
capacities and preferences
Figure: Strategic Risk

External risk is on account of inconsistencies between strategies and the forces in
the environment. Internal risk occurs on account of forces that are either within the
organization or are directly interacting with the organization on a routine basis.
The below given broad list of analysis that a business undertakes to plan a strategy
covers both aspects of external analysis and internal analysis. An analysis helps
identify opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses.

Strategic Analysis
External Analysis Internal Analysis

Customer Analysis: Segments, Performance Analysis: Profitability,
motivations, unmet needs. sales, customer satisfaction, product
qualify, relative cost, new products,
Competitor Analysis: Strategic groups,
human resources.
performance, objectives, strategies,
culture, cost structure. Determinants Analysis: Past and
current strategies, strategic problems,
Market Analysis: Size, growth,
organizational Capabilities and
profitability, entry barriers.
constraints, financial resources,
Environmental Analysis: Technological, strengths, and weaknesses.
government, economic, cultural,
demographic.
Opportunities, threats, trends, Strategic strengths, weaknesses,

problems, constraints, and
and
uncertainties
Strategic uncertainties
Strategy Identification & Selection

 Identify strategic alternatives
 Select strategy
 Implement the operating plan
 Review strategies
Figure: Framework of Strategic Analysis

It is evident that industries differ widely in their economic characteristics,
competitive situations, and future profit prospects. The economic character of
industries varies according to such factors as overall size and market growth rate,
the pace of technological change, the geographic boundaries of the market (which
can extend from local to worldwide), the number and size of buyers and sellers,
whether sellers’ products are virtually identical or highly differentiated, the extent
to which costs are affected by economies of scale, and the types of distribution

channels used to access buyers, marketing opportunities, disposable income of

prospective buyers, government support, etc. Competitive forces can be moderate
in one industry and fierce, even cutthroat, in another. In some industries
competition focuses on who has the best price, while in others competition is
centered on quality and reliability (as in monitors for PCs and laptops) or product
features and performance (as in mobile phones) or quick service and convenience.
(as in online shopping and fast foods) or brand reputation (as in laundry detergents
and soft drinks). In other industries, the challenge is for companies to work
cooperatively with suppliers, customers, and maybe even select competitors to
create the next round of product innovations and open up whole new vistas of
market opportunities.
An industry’s economic traits and competitive conditions, and how they are
expected to change, determine whether its profit prospects are poor, average, or
excellent. Industry and competitive conditions differ so much that leading
companies in unattractive industries can find it hard to earn respectable profits,
while even weak companies in attractive industries can achieve good performance.
2.3 STRATEGY AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

To accomplish the goals and objectives of a business, business strategist creates
strategies and formulate policies considering both internal and external factors. A
framework for adjusting to the demands of an unpredictable environment and an
uncertain future is provided by strategic management.
Management
Strategy Environment
Resources
Figure: Strategy and Environment

The business environment is highly dynamic and continuously evolving. Strategists
provide an interface between the organizational abilities and the opportunities and
challenges it must deal within the larger environment.

The term "business environment" refers to all external factors, influences, or

situations that in some way affect business decisions, plans, and operations.
Organisational success is determined by its business environment, and even more
from its relationship with it.
Strategic management is involved with choosing a long-term direction in relation

to these resources and opportunities. There is a close and continuous interaction
between a business and its environment. This interaction helps in strengthening
the business firm and using its resources more effectively. It helps the business in
the following ways:
i. Determine opportunities and threats: The interaction between the business
and its environment would explain opportunities and threats to the business.
It helps to find new needs and wants of the consumers, changes in laws,
changes in social behaviours, and tells what new products the competitors are
bringing in the market to attract consumers.
ii. Give direction for growth: The interaction with the environment enables the
business to identify the areas for growth and expansion of their activities. Once
the business is aware and understands the changes happening around, it can
plan and strategise to have successful business.
iii. Continuous Learning: The managers are motivated to continuously update
their knowledge, understanding and skills to meet the predicted changes in
the realm of business.
iv. Image Building: Environmental understanding helps the business

organizations to improve their image by showing their sensitivity to the
environment in which they operate. For example, in view of the shortage of
power, many companies have set up captive power plants with their factories
to meet their own requirement of power as well as extend surplus capacities
in the vicinity. Understanding the needs of the environment help to showcase
that the business is aware and responsive to the needs. It creates a positive
image and helps it to prosper and win over the competitors.
v. Meeting Competition: It helps the businesses to analyse the competitors’
strategies and formulate their own strategies accordingly. The idea is to
flourish and beat competition for its products and services.

Business strategies relate organisational resources to challenges and opportunities

in the larger environment. The changes happening in the external environment
challenge organisations to find novel and unique strategies to remain in business
and succeed. As the world is getting smaller and competition is increasing,
organisations have an increasing pressure to develop their businesses and
strengthen their competitiveness. Strategic analysis covering internal and external
environment is highly relevant and important for the strategists in organisations in
order to achieve competitive advantage, as well as ensure high performance for
survival and growth.
To flourish, a business must be aware of, assess, and respond to the many
opportunities and threats present in its environment. In order to succeed, the business
must not only be aware of the numerous aspects of its surroundings but also be able
to handle and adapt to them. The business must continuously evaluate its
environment and modify its operations in order to thrive and expand.
Strategic decisions are significant aspects of business management and are

essential for the success and continued existence. Two crucial aspects for the
success include are the function of top management and the method of
formulating strategic decisions. Improvement of strategic decisions is constant
endeavour for strategist. Due to the contemporary environment's changes and the
challenges that managers must overcome when making decisions, there is interest
in enhancing strategic decision-making. The environment is far more dynamic and
unpredictable than it used to be.
2.3.1 Micro and Macro Environment

The environment in which an organization exists can be described in terms of the
opportunities and threats operating in the external environment apart from the
strengths and weaknesses existing in the internal environment. Business strategists
should always be adequately informed on developments occurring in their
company, its industry, and within micro and macro environment of business. For
making any strategic decision, they should be able to comprehend the facts
available and challenge the underlying assumptions.
The external environment can be categorised in two major types as follows:
♦ Micro environment
♦ Macro environment

Micro-environment is related to small area or immediate periphery of an

organization. It influences an organization regularly and directly. Micro
environment consists of suppliers, consumers, marketing intermediaries,
competitors, etc. These are specific to the said business or firm and affect its
working on a direct and regular basis. Within the micro or the immediate
environment in which a firm operates we need to address the following issues:
♦ The employees of the firm, their characteristics and how they are organised.
♦ The existing customer base on which the firm relies for business.
♦ The ways in which the firm can raise its finance.
♦ Who are the firm suppliers and how are the links between the two being
developed?
♦ The local community within which the firm operates.
♦ The direct competition and their comparative performance.

The factors in micro environment often relate an organization to the macro issues
influencing the way a firm reacts in the market place. The macro environment is the
portion of the outside world that significantly affects how an organisation operates
but is typically much beyond its direct control and influence.
2.3.2 Elements of Macro Environment

Macro environment has broader dimensions as it consists of economic, socio-
cultural, technological, political and legal factors. The classification of the relevant
environment into components or sectors helps an organization to cope with its
complexity, comprehend the different influences operating, and relating the
environmental changes to its strategic management process.
“The environment includes factors outside the firm which can lead to
opportunities for, or threats to the firm. Although, there are many factors, the
most important of the factors are socio-economic, technological, supplier,
competitors, and government.” Gluek and Jauch
The external environment of an organisation is made up of all the individuals,

teams, organisations, agencies, and factors that it routinely interacts with when
conducting business. In addition to carrying out transactions, it develops and puts

into action pertinent plans and policies to address environmental changes. It

negotiates its way into the future as well.
Demographic Environment
Demographics are the characteristics of a population that have been classified and
explained according to certain criteria, such age, gender, and income, in order to
understand the features of a specific group. Demographical analysis considers
factors such as race, age, income, education, possession of assets, house ownership,
job position, region, and the degree of education. Data about these qualities across
homes and within a demographic variable are of importance to both businesses
and economists. Marketers and other social scientists regularly divide up
populations based on their demographic makeup. India has relatively younger
population as compared to many other countries. Many multinationals are
interested in India considering its population size.
Considering demographics is of immense importance for any business. Business
Organizations need to study different demographic factors. Particularly, they need
to address following issues:
♦ What demographic trends will affect the market size of the industry?
♦ What demographic trends represent opportunities or threats?
The size, age distribution, geographic dispersion, ethnic mix, and income
distribution of a population are all of great importance to the organisation.
Identifying the implications of changing demographic characteristics or population
components for a future strategic competitiveness is often a challenge for
strategists.
Socio-Cultural Environment
A general factor that influences almost all enterprises in a similar manner. It
represents a complex group of factors such as social traditions, values and beliefs,
level and standards of literacy, the ethical standards and state of society, the extent
of social stratification, conflict, cohesiveness and so forth. It differs from
demographics in the sense that it is not the characteristics of the population, but it
is the behaviour and the belief system of that population.
Socio-cultural environment consists of factors related to human relationships and

the impact of social attitudes and cultural values which has bearing on the

operations of the organization. The beliefs, values and norms of a society determine
how individuals and organizations should be interrelated. The core beliefs of a
particular society tend to be persistent. It is difficult for a business to change these
core values, which becomes a determinant of its functioning. This means, that
businesses have to adjust to social norms and beliefs to operate successfully. The
social environment primarily affects the strategic management process within the
organization in the areas of mission and objective setting, and decisions related to
products and markets.
Economic Environment
Economic conditions have a direct bearing over the business strategies. The
economic environment refers to the overall economic situation around the business
and include conditions at the regional, national and global levels. It encompass es
conditions in the markets for resources that have an effect on the supply of inputs
and outputs of the business, their costs, and the dependability, quality, and
availability.
Economic environment determines the strength and size of the market. The
purchasing power in an economy depends on current income, prices, savings,
circulation of money, debt and credit availability. Income distribution pattern
determine the business possibilities. The important point to consider is to find out
the effect of economic prospect, growth and inflation on the operations of the
business.
Higher interest rates are detrimental for the businesses with high debt. In the real
estate market, they reduce the capability of the prospective buyers to avail loan and
pay instalments, thus lower the demand.
The economic conditions of a nation refer to a set of economic factors that have
great influence on business organizations and their operations. These include gross
domestic product, per capita income, markets for goods and services, availability
of capital, foreign exchange reserve, growth of foreign trade, strength of capital
market, interest rates, disposable income, unemployment, inflation, etc. All these
factors generally tell the state of the economy. Whether it is doing good or is it
performing poorly.

Political-Legal Environment
Political-legal environment takes into account elements like the general level of
political development, the degree to which business and economic issues have
been politicised, the degree of political morality, the state of law and order, political
stability, the political ideology and practises of the ruling party, the effectiveness
and purposefulness of governmental agencies, and the scope and type of
governmental intervention in the economy and industry. It is partly general to all
similar enterprises and partly specific to an individual enterprise.
Business is highly guided and controlled by government policies. Hence the type
of government running a country is a powerful influence on business. A business
has to consider the changes in the regulatory framework and their impact on the
business. Taxes and duties are other critical areas that may be levied and affect the
business.
Businesses prefer to operate in a country where there is a sound legal system.
However, in any country businesses must have a good working knowledge of the
major laws protecting consumers, competitions and organizations. Businesses must
understand the relevant laws relating to companies, competition, intellectual
property, foreign exchange, labour and so on.
Nationalism supports measures aimed at enhancing the position of a country in

International business. Presently, there is immense thrust on nationalism in Indian
business through policies like Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Production
Linked Incentives scheme, another step in the direction, rewards businesses for
increased sales of goods produced domestically. The scheme encourages foreign
businesses to open businesses in India, and at the same time incentivises domestic
businesses to open or expand their manufacturing facilities, create more jobs, and
lessen India's reliance on imports.
Technological Environment
A highly important factor in the present times is technology. Technology has
changed the way people communicate and do things. Technology has also changed
the ways of how businesses operate now. Technology and business are linked and
are interdependent on one another. Businesses help society access the outcomes
of technological research and development, raising everyone's standard of living.

As a result, business leverages technology. Businesses use new discoveries to adapt

themselves for the advancement of society.
Technology has impacted on how businesses are conducted. With use of
technology, many organisations are able to reduce paperwork, schedule payments
more efficiently, are able to coordinate inventories efficiently and effectively. This
helps to reduce costs of companies, and shrink time and distance, thus, capturing
a competitive advantage for the company.
Changes in technology have an effect on how a business runs its operations. The
technological advancements might require a business to drastically alter its
operational, production and marketing strategies.
Technology is leading to many new business opportunities as well as making

obsolete most of the existing business products and services. Technology can act
as opportunity, when a business effectively adopts technological innovations to
their strategic advantage. However, at the same time technology can act as a threat
too. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation is some of
the new technological tools that businesses are adopting and can act as both
opportunity and threat to a business.
2.3.3 PESTLE– A tool to Analyse Macro Environment

The term PESTLE is often used to describe a framework for analysis of macro
environmental factors. PESTEL analysis is frequently used to assess the business
environment in which a firm operates. Political, economic, social, and technological
(PEST) analysis was the name given to the framework in the past; however, later,
the framework has been expanded to include environmental and legal factors as
well. PESTLE analysis involves identifying the political, economic, socio -cultural,
technological, legal and environmental influences on an organization and providing
a way of scanning the environmental influences that have affected or are likely to
affect an organization or its policy.

‘PESTLE analysis is an increasingly used and recognized analytical tool, and it is an

acronym for:
P- political
E- economic
S- socio-cultural
T- technological
L- legal
E- environmental
The PESTLE analysis is simple to understand and quick to implement. The advantage
of this tool is that it encourages management into proactive and structured
thinking in its decision making.
The Key Factors
♦ Political factors are how and to what extent the government intervenes in
the economy and the activities of business firms. Political factors may also
influence goods and services which the government wants to provide or be
provided and those that the government does not want to be provided.
Furthermore, governments have great influence on the health, education and
infrastructure of a nation.
♦ Economic factors have major impacts on how businesses operate and take
decisions. For example, interest rates affect a firm's cost of capital and
therefore to what extent a business grows and expands. Exchange rates affect
the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in
an economy. The money supply, inflation, credit flow, per capita income,
growth rates have a bearing on the business decisions.
♦ Social factors affect the demand for a company's products and how that
company operates.
♦ Technological factors can determine barriers to entry, minimum efficient

production level and influence outsourcing decisions. Furthermore,
technological shifts can affect costs, quality, and lead to innovation.
♦ Legal factors affect how a company operates, its costs, and the demand for
its products, ease of business.

♦ Environmental factors affect industries such as tourism, farming, and

insurance. Growing awareness to climate change is affecting how companies
operate and the products they offer--it is both creating new markets and
diminishing or destroying existing ones.
On the basis of these, it should be possible to identify a number of key
environmental influences, which are in effect, the drivers of change. These are the
factors that require to be considered in making meaningful decisions. Take a look
at the table given below:
Political Economic
♦ Political stability ♦ Economy situation and trends
♦ Political principles and ideologies ♦ Market and trade cycles
♦ Current and future taxation policy ♦ Specific industry factors
♦ Regulatory bodies and processes ♦ Customer/end-user drivers
♦ Government policies ♦ Interest and exchange rates
♦ Government term and change ♦ Inflation and unemployment
♦ Thrust areas of political leaders ♦ Strength of consumer spending
Social Technological
♦ Lifestyle trends ♦ Replacement
♦ Demographics technology/solutions
♦ Consumer attitudes and opinions ♦ Maturity of technology
♦ Brand, company, technology ♦ Manufacturing maturity and
image capacity
♦ Consumer buying patterns ♦ Innovation potential
♦ Ethnic/religious factors ♦ Technology access, licensing,
♦ Media views and perception patents, property rights and
copyrights
Legal Environmental
♦ Business and Corporate Laws ♦ Ecological/environmental issues
♦ Employment Law ♦ Environmental hazards
♦ Competition Law ♦ Environmental legislation
♦ Health & Safety Law ♦ Energy consumption
♦ International Treaty and Law ♦ Waste disposal
♦ Regional Legislation

2.3.4 Internationalization of Business

Internationalization has emerged as the dominant commercial trend over the last
couple of decades. It enables a business to enter new markets in search of greater
earnings and less expensive resources. Additionally, expanding internationally
enable a business to achieve greater economies of scale and extend the lifespan of
its products.
The strategic-management process is essentially the same for global firms as it is
for domestic firms; nevertheless, international processes are much more
complicated due to additional variables and linkages. A business can approach
internationalisation systemically with the aid of international strategy planning.
One method for an organization to identify opportunities and threats in global
markets is by scanning the external environment. The development of effective
strategies and the formulation of global strategic objectives are made feasible by
internationalisation.
Characteristics of a global business
To be specific, a global business has three characteristics:
♦ It is a conglomerate of multiple units (located in different parts of the globe)
but all linked by common ownership.
♦ Multiple units draw on a common pool of resources, such as money, credit,
information, patents, trade names and control systems.
♦ The units respond to some common strategy. Besides, its managers and
shareholders are also based in different nations.
Developing internationally
International development is expensive and challenging. Moving on in a thorough
and structured manner is thus the ideal approach to adopt. The steps in
international strategic planning are as follows:
♦ Evaluate global opportunities and threats and rate them with the internal
capabilities.
♦ Describe the scope of the firm's global commercial operations.
♦ Create the firm's global business objectives.

♦ Develop distinct corporate strategies for the global business and whole
organisation.
Why do businesses go global?
Technological developments and evolving political views are two important factors
in the rapid rise of multinational organisations. Because of technological advances,
the process of internationalisation is now simpler than it was previously. Worldwide
communication makes it easier to define and implement global strategy by linking
corporate headquarters with their abroad operations. In addition, introduction of
improved transportation has increased the mobility of money, people, raw
materials, and finished items. There are several reasons why companies go global.
These are explained as follows:
♦ The first and foremost reason is the need to grow. It is basic need of every
organisation. Often finding opportunities in the other parts of the globe,
organisations extend their businesses and globalise their operations.
♦ There is rapid shrinking of time and distance across the globe, because of
faster communication, speedier transportation, growing financial flow of funds
and rapid technological changes.
♦ It is being realised that the domestic markets are no longer adequate. The
competition present domestically may not exist in some of the international
markets.
♦ There can be varied other reasons such as need for reliable or cheaper source
of raw-materials, cheap labour, etc. Many foreign businesses shift and set up
some of their operations to take advantage of availability of vast pool of talent.
♦ Companies often set up overseas plants to reduce high transportation costs.
It may be cheaper to produce near the market to reduce the time and costs
involved in transportation.
♦ When exporting organisations find foreign markets to open up or grow big,
they may naturally look at overseas manufacturing plants and sales branches
to generate higher sales and better cash flow.
♦ The rise of services to constitute the largest single sector in the world
economy; and regional economic integration, which has involved both the
world’s largest economies as well as certain developing economies.

♦ The apparent and real collapse of international trade barriers redefines the
roles of state and industry. The trend is towards increased privatization of
manufacturing and services sectors, less government interference in business
decisions and more dependence on the value-added sector to gain
marketplace competitiveness. The trade tariffs and custom barriers are getting
lowered, resulting in increased flow of business.
♦ Globalization has made companies in different countries to form strategic
alliances to ward off economic and technological threats and leverage their
respective comparative and competitive advantages.
2.3.5 International Environment

The social, cultural, demographic, environmental, political, governmental, legal,
technological factors that an international organisation faces are nearly limitless,
and the number and complexity of these factors increase manifold as the number
of products produced and geographic areas served increase. An assessment of the
external environment is the first step toward internationalisation. Analysing
international environment is important since it allows organisation to discover
opportunities in the global market and evaluate feasibilities of capitalising on these
opportunities. Assessments of the international environment can be done at three
levels: multinational, regional, and country.
Multinational environmental analysis involves identifying, anticipating, and
monitoring significant components of the global environment on a large scale.
Understanding global developments covering economic and other macro elements
is important. Governments may have free or interventionist tendencies in
economies that needs to be carefully considered. These characteristics are
evaluated based on their present and expected future impact.
Regional environmental analysis is a more in-depth evaluation of the critical
factors in a specific geographical area. The emphasis would be on discovering
market opportunities for a goods, services, or innovations in the chosen location.
Country environmental analysis has to take a deeper look at the important
environmental factors. Study of economic, legal, political, and cultural dimensions
is required in order for planning to be successful. The analysis must be customised
for each of the countries to develop effective market entrance strategies.

International environment has become an inherent part of strategic management

for businesses of all sizes with global interests. It essentially involves various global
aspects like political risks, cultural differences, exchange rate fluctuations, legal
compliances and taxation issues. Thus, it becomes more important for the people
at the decision-making levels to focus on factors comprising the international
environment.
2.4 UNDERSTANDING PRODUCT AND

INDUSTRY
Businesses sell products. A product can be either a good or a service. It might be
physical good or a service, an experience. Business products have certain
characteristics as follows:
♦ Products are either tangible or intangible. A tangible product can be handled,
seen, and physically felt, such as a car, book, pen, table, mobile handset and
so on. Alternatively, an intangible product is not a physical good, such as
telecom services, banking, insurance, or repair services.
♦ Product has a price. Businesses determine the cost of their products and
charge a price for them. The dynamics of supply and demand influence the
market price of an item or service. The market price is the price at which
quantity provided equals quantity desired. The price that may be paid is
determined by the market, the quality, the marketing, and the targeted group.
In the present competitive world price is often given by the market and
businesses have to work on costs to maintain profitability.
On account of competition, businesses are not able to fix market price by adding
profit margin on the costs. Rather, they work on reducing the costs given the
prevailing market price.
♦ Products have certain features that deliver satisfaction. A product feature is a

component of a product that satisfies a consumer need. Features determine
product pricing, and businesses alter features during the development process
to optimise the user experience. Products should be able to provide value
satisfaction to the customers for whom they are meant. Features of the
product will distinguish it in terms of its function, design, quality and

experience. A customer's cumulative experience with a product from its

purchase to the end of its useful life is an important component of a product
feature.
♦ Product is pivotal for business. The product is at the centre of business around
which all strategic activities revolve. The product enables production, quality,
sales, marketing, logistics and other business processes. Product is the driving
force behind business activities.
♦ A product has a useful life. Every product has a usable life after which it must
be replaced, as well as a life cycle after which it is to be reinvented or may
cease to exist. We have observed that fixed line telephone instruments have
largely been replaced by mobile phones.
2.4.1 Product Life Cycle

An important concept in strategic choice is that of product life cycle (PLC). It is a
useful concept for guiding strategic choice. Essentially, PLC is an S-shaped curve
which exhibits the relationship of sales with respect of time for a product that
passes through the four successive stages of introduction, growth, maturity and
decline. If businesses are substituted for product, the concept of PLC could work
just as well.
The first stage of PLC is the introduction stage with slow sales growth, in which
competition is almost negligible, prices are relatively high, and markets are limited.
The growth in sales is at a lower rate because of lack of awareness on the part of
customers.
The second phase of PLC is growth stage with rapid market acceptance. In the
growth stage, the demand expands rapidly, prices fall, competition increases, and
market expands. The customer has knowledge about the product and shows
interest in purchasing it.
The third phase of PLC is maturity stage where there is slowdown in growth rate. In
this stage, the competition gets tough, and market gets stablised. Profit comes
down because of stiff competition. At this stage, organisations have to work for
maintaining stability.
In the fourth stage of PLC is declines with sharp downward drift in sales. The sales
and profits fall down sharply due to some new product replaces the existing

product. So, a combination of strategies can be implemented to stay in the market

either by diversification or retrenchment.
Figure: Product Life Cycle

The main advantage of PLC approach is that it can be used to diagnose a portfolio
of products (or businesses) in order to establish the stage at which each of them
exists. Particular attention is to be paid on the businesses that are in the declining
stage. Depending on the diagnosis, appropriate strategic choice can be made. For
instance, expansion may be a feasible alternative for businesses in the introductory
and growth stages. Mature businesses may be used as sources of cash for
investment in other businesses which need resources. A combination of strategies
like selective harvesting, retrenchment, etc. may be adopted for declining
businesses. In this way, a balanced portfolio of businesses may be built up by
exercising a strategic choice based on the PLC concept.
2.4.2 Value Chain Analysis

With each transaction, successful businesses produce value for their consumers in
the form of satisfaction and profits for themselves and their shareholders.
Companies that generate more value are more likely to profit than those that
generate less value. Understanding value chain of an organisation is critical for
evaluating how much value it generates. Value chain analysis is a method used by
strategists to break down each process that their business employs. This analysis
could be used to improve the sequence of operations, enhancing efficiency and
creating a competitive advantage. Value chain analysis can be used by businesses
of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to multinational organisations. Each

organisation has a unique set of procedures to perform its duties, and they may all
benefit from value chain analysis to evaluate and optimise their processes.
Value chain analysis is a method of examining each activity in value chain of a

business in order to identify areas for improvements. When you do a value chain
analysis, you must analyse how each stage in the process adds or subtracts value
from the end product or service.
Value chain analysis has been widely used as a means of describing the activities
within and around an organization and relating them to an assessment of the
competitive strength of an organization (or its ability to provide value-for-money
products or services). Value chain analysis was originally introduced as an
accounting analysis to shed light on the ‘value added’ of separate steps in complex
manufacturing processes, in order to determine where cost improvements could
be made and/or value creation improved. The two basic steps of identifying
separate activities and assessing the value added from each were linked to an
analysis of an organization’s competitive advantage by Michael Porter.
Figure: Value Chain (Michael Porter)

One of the key aspects of value chain analysis is the recognition that organizations
are much more than a random collection of machines, material, money and people.
These resources are of no value unless deployed into activities and organised into
systems and routines which ensure that products or services are produced which

are valued by the final consumer/user. In other words, it is these competences to

perform particular activities and the ability to manage linkages between activities
which are the source of competitive advantage for organizations. Porter argued
that an understanding of strategic capability must start with an identification of
these separate value activities.
The primary activities of the organization are grouped into five main areas: inbound
logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service.
♦ Inbound logistics are the activities concerned with receiving, storing and
distributing the inputs to the product/service. This includes materials
handling, stock control, transport etc. Like, transportation and warehousing.
♦ Operations transform these inputs into the final product or service:
machining, packaging, assembly, testing, etc. convert raw materials in finished
goods.
♦ Outbound logistics collect, store and distribute the product to customers. For
tangible products this would be warehousing, materials handling, transport,
etc. In the case of services, it may be more concerned with arrangements for
bringing customers to the service, if it is a fixed location (e.g. sports events).
♦ Marketing and sales provide the means whereby consumers/users are made
aware of the product/service and are able to purchase it. This would include
sales administration, advertising, selling and so on. In public services,
communication networks which help users’ access a particular service are
often important.
♦ Service are all those activities, which enhance or maintain the value of a
product/service, such as installation, repair, training and spares.
Each of these groups of primary activities are linked to support activities. These
can be divided into four areas;
♦ Procurement: This refers to the processes for acquiring the various resource
inputs to the primary activities (not to the resources themselves). As such, it
occurs in many parts of the organization.
♦ Technology development: All value activities have a ‘technology’, even if it is
simply know-how. The key technologies may be concerned directly with the

product (e.g. R&D product design) or with processes (e.g. process

development) or with a particular resource (e.g. raw materials improvements).
♦ Human resource management: This is a particularly important area which
transcends all primary activities. It is concerned with those activities involved
in recruiting, managing, training, developing and rewarding people within the
organization.
♦ Infrastructure: The systems of planning, finance, quality control, information
management, etc. are crucially important to an organization’s performance in
its primary activities. Infrastructure also consists of the structures and routines
of the organization which sustain its culture.
2.5 INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

A combination of ideas and methodologies may be utilised to create a clear picture
of key industry traits, competition intensity, industry change drivers, rival firms'
market positions and tactics, competitive success, and profit forecasts. Industry
analysis enable strategic understanding about the entire state of any industry and
make decisions about whether the industry is a lucrative or not.
The goal of the industry environment analysis, which is typically an important step
of strategic analysis, is to estimate the amount of competitive pressures the
business is presently facing and is expected to face in the near future.
The analysis entails seeing the firm in the context of a bigger framework. The
purpose of industrial analysis is to get insight into a wide range of elements within
and outside the business. Analysing these elements enhances knowledge of
surrounding and serves as the foundation for aligning strategy with changing
industry circumstances and realities.
2.5.1 Porter’s Five Forces Model

Every business operates in the competitive environment. Competitive state of an
industry applies a strong influence on how firms develop their strategies. Porter's
Five Forces analysis is a simple but efficient way for determining the key sources of
competition in business or industry. It is a powerful and widely used tool to
systematically diagnose the significant competitive pressures in a market and
assess the strength and importance of each. Understanding the variables that affect

industry helps to adapt strategy, boost profitability, and stay ahead of the
competition. Strategist may use a strong position to organizational advantage or
reinforce a weak one to avoid making mistakes in the future.
Michael Porter believes that the basic unit of analysis for understanding is a group
of competitors producing goods or services that compete directly with each other.
It is the industry where competitive advantage is ultimately won or lost. It is through
competitive strategy that the organisation attempts to adopt an approach to
compete in the industry.
The character, mix, and intricacies of competitive forces are never the same from
one industry to another. The model holds that the state of competition in an
industry is a composite of competitive pressures operating in five areas of the
overall market:
♦ Competitive pressures associated with the market manoeuvring and jockeying
for buyer patronage that goes on among rival sellers in the industry.
♦ Competitive pressures associated with the threat of new entrants into the
market.
♦ Competitive pressures coming from the attempts of companies in other
industries to win buyers over to their own substitute products.
♦ Competitive pressures stemming from supplier bargaining power and
supplier-seller collaboration.
♦ Competitive pressures stemming from buyer bargaining power and seller-
buyer Collaboration.
The strategists can use the five-forces model to determine what competition is like
in a given industry by undertaking the following steps:
Step 1: Identify the specific competitive pressures associated with each of the five
forces.
Step 2: Evaluate how strong the pressures comprising each of the five forces are
(fierce, strong, moderate to normal, or weak).
Step 3: Determine whether the collective strength of the five competitive forces is
conducive to earning attractive profits.

POTENTIAL
NEW Competitive pressures
ENTRANTS coming from the threat of
entry of new rivals
INDUSTRY
COMPETITORS
SUPPLIERS BUYERS
Competitive pressures Competitive pressures
stemming from RIVALRY AMONG stemming from buyer
suppliers Bargaining EXISTING FIRMS Bargaining Power
Power
FIRMS IN OTHER Competitive

INDUSTRIES OFFERING pressures coming
SUBSTITUTE from substitute
PRODUCTS products
Figure: Porter’s Five Force Model of Competition

Porter’s five forces model is one of the most effective and enduring conceptual
frameworks used to assess the nature of the competitive environment and to
describe an industry’s structure. The interrelationship among these five forces gives
each industry its own particular competitive environment. By applying Porter’s five
forces model of industry attractiveness to their own industries, the manager can
gauge their own firm’s strengths, weaknesses, and future opportunities.
I. The Threat of New Entrants
New entrants can reduce industry profitability because they add new
production capacity leading to an increase supply of the product even at a
lower price and can substantially erode existing firm’s market share position.
New entrants are always a powerful source of competition. The new capacity
and product range they bring in throw up new competitive pressure. And the
bigger the new entrant, the more severe the competitive effect. New entrants
also place a limit on prices and affect the profitability of existing players. A

firm’s profitability tends to be higher when other firms are blocked from
entering the industry.
To discourage new entrants, existing firms can try to raise barriers to entry.
Barriers to entry represent economic forces (or ‘hurdles’) that slow down or
impede entry by other firms. Common barriers to entry include, capital
requirements, economies of scale, product differentiation, switching costs,
brand identity, access to distribution channels and possibility of aggressive
retaliation by existing players. These are explained as follows:
(i) Capital Requirements: When a large amount of capital is required to
enter an industry, firms lacking funds are effectively barred from the
industry, thus enhancing the profitability of existing firms in the industry.
(ii) Economies of Scale: Many industries are characterized by economic
activities driven by economies of scale. Economies of scale refer to the
decline in the per-unit cost of production (or other activity) as volume
grows. A large firm that enjoys economies of scale can produce high
volumes of goods at successively lower costs. This tends to discourage
new entrants.
(iii) Product Differentiation: Product differentiation refers to the physical
or perceptual differences, or enhancements, that make a product special
or unique in the eyes of customers. Firms in the personal care products
and cosmetics industries actively engage in product differentiation to
enhance their products’ features. Differentiation works to reinforce entry
barriers because the cost of creating genuine product differences may
be too high for the new entrants.
(iv) Switching Costs: To succeed in an industry, new entrant must be able
to persuade existing customers of other companies to switch to its
products. To make a switch, buyers may need to test a new firm’s
product, negotiate new purchase contracts, and train personnel to use
the equipment, or modify facilities for product use. Buyers often incur
substantial financial (and psychological) costs in switching between
firms. When such switching costs are high, buyers are often reluctant to
change.

(v) Brand Identity: The brand identity of products or services offered by

existing firms can serve as another entry barrier. Brand identity is
particularly important for infrequently purchased products that carry a
high unit cost to the buyer. New entrants often encounter significant
difficulties in building up the brand identity, because to do so they must
commit substantial resources over a long period.
(vi) Access to Distribution Channels: The unavailability of distribution
channels for new entrants poses another significant entry barrier.
Despite the growing power of the internet, many firms may continue to
rely on their control of physical distribution channels to sustain a barrier
to entry to rivals. Often, existing firms have significant influence over the
distribution channels and can retard or impede their use by new firms.
(vii) Possibility of Aggressive Retaliation: Sometimes the mere threat of

aggressive retaliation by incumbents can deter entry by other firms into
an existing industry. For example, introduction of products by a new
firm may lead incumbents firms to reduce their product prices and
increase their advertising budgets.
II. Bargaining Power of Buyers
This is another force that influences the competitive condition of the industry.
This force will become heavier depending on the possibilities of the buyers
forming groups or cartels. Mostly, this is a phenomenon seen in industrial
products. Quite often, users of industrial products come together formally or
informally and exert pressure on the producer. The bargaining power of the
buyers influences not only the prices that the producer can charge but also
influences in many cases, costs and investments of the producer because
powerful buyers usually bargain for better services which involve costs and
investment on the part of the producer.
Buyers of an industry’s products or services can sometimes exert considerable

pressure on existing firms to secure lower prices or better services. This
leverage is particularly evident when:
(i) Buyers have full knowledge of the sources of products and their
substitutes.

(ii) They spend a lot of money on the industry’s products i.e. they are big
buyers.
(iii) The industry’s product is not perceived as critical to the buyer’s needs
and buyers are more concentrated than firms supplying the product.
They can easily switch to the substitutes available.
III. Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Quite often suppliers, too, exercise considerable bargaining power over
companies. The more specialised the offering from the supplier, greater is his
clout. And, if the suppliers are also limited in number, they stand a still better
chance to exhibit their bargaining power. The bargaining power of suppliers
determines the cost of raw materials and other inputs of the industry and,
therefore, industry attractiveness and profitability.
Suppliers can influence the profitability of an industry in a number of ways.
Suppliers can command bargaining power over a firm when:
(i) Their products are crucial to the buyer and substitutes are not available.
(ii) They can erect high switching costs.

(iii) They are more concentrated than their buyers.
IV. The Nature of Rivalry in the Industry
The rivalry among existing players is quite obvious. This is what is normally
understood as competition. For any player, the competitors influence strategic
decisions at different strategic levels. The impact is evident more at functional
level in the prices being charged, advertising, and pressures on costs, product
and so on.
The intensity of rivalry in an industry is a significant determinant of industry
attractiveness and profitability. The intensity of rivalry can influence the costs
of suppliers, distribution, and of attracting customers and thus directly affect
the profitability. The more intensive the rivalry, the less attractive is the
industry. Rivalry among competitors tends to be cutthroat and industry
profitability low under various conditions explained as follows:
(i) Industry Leader: A strong industry leader can discourage price wars by
disciplining initiators of such activity. Because of its greater financial

resources, a leader can generally outlast smaller rivals in a price war.

Knowing this, smaller rivals often avoid initiating such a contest.
(ii) Number of Competitors: Even when an industry leader exists, the
leader’s ability to exert pricing discipline diminishes with the increased
number of rivals in the industry as communicating expectations to
players becomes more difficult.
(iii) Fixed Costs: When rivals operate with high fixed costs, they feel strong
motivation to utilize their capacity and therefore are inclined to cut
prices when they have excess capacity. Price cutting causes profitability
to fall for all firms in the industry as firms seek to produce more to cover
costs that must be paid regardless of industry demand. For this reason,
profitability tends to be lower in industries characterized by high fixed
costs.
(iv) Exit Barriers: Rivalry among competitors declines if some competitors
leave an industry. Profitability therefore tends to be higher in industries
with few exit barriers. Exit barriers come in many forms. Assets of a firm
considering exit may be highly specialized and therefore of little value
to any other firm. Such a firm can thus find no buyer for its assets. This
discourages exit. When barriers to exit are powerful, competitors
desiring exit may refrain from leaving. Their continued presence in an
industry exerts downward pressure on the profitability of all
competitors.
(v) Product Differentiation: Firms can sometimes insulate themselves
from price wars by differentiating their products from those of rivals. As
a consequence, profitability tends to be higher in industries that offer
opportunity for differentiation. Profitability tends to be lower in
industries involving undifferentiated commodities such as, memory
chips, natural resources, processed metals and railroads.
(vi) Slow Growth: Industries whose growth is slowing down tend to face
more intense rivalry. As industry growth slows, rivals must often fight
harder to grow or even to keep their existing market share. The resulting
intensive rivalry tends to reduce profitability for all.

V. Threat of Substitutes
Substitute products are a latent source of competition in an industry. In many
cases they become a major constituent of competition. Substitute products
offering a price advantage and/or performance improvement to the consumer
can drastically alter the competitive character of an industry. And they can
bring it about all of a sudden. For example, coir suffered at the hands of
synthetic fibre. Wherever substantial investment in R&D is taking place,
threats from substitute products can be expected. Substitutes, too, usually
limit the prices and profits in an industry.
A final force that can influence industry profitability is the availability of
substitutes for an industry’s product. To predict profit pressure from this
source, firms must search for products that perform the same, or nearly the
same, function as their existing products. For example, Real estate, insurance,
bonds and bank deposits for example are clear substitutes for common stocks,
because they represent alternate ways to invest funds.
The five forces together determine industry attractiveness/ profitability. This
is so because these forces influence the causes that underlie industry
attractiveness/ profitability. For example, elements such as cost and
investment needed for being a player in the industry decide industry
profitability, and all such elements are governed by these forces. The collective
strength of these five competitive forces determines the scope to earn
attractive profits. The strength of the forces may vary from industry to industry.
2.5.2 Attractiveness of Industry

The industry analysis culminates into identification of various issues and draw
conclusions about the relative attractiveness or unattractiveness of the industry,
both near-term and long-term. Strategists assess the industry outlook carefully,
deciding whether industry and competitive conditions present an attractive
business opportunity for the organisation or whether its growth and profit
prospects are gloomy. This is important because companies invest capital, either
the promoters or from the public and should be inherent careful in choosing an
industry. The important factors on which the management may base such
conclusions include:
♦ The industry’s growth potential, is it futuristically viable?

♦ Whether competition currently permits adequate profitability and whether

competitive forces will become stronger or weaker?
♦ Whether industry profitability will be favourably or unfavourably affected by
the prevailing driving forces?
♦ The competitive position of an organisation in the industry and whether its
position is likely to grow stronger or weaker. (Being a well-entrenched leader
or strongly positioned contender in an otherwise lackluster industry can still
produce good profitability; however, having to fight an uphill battle against
much stronger rivals can make an otherwise attractive industry unattractive).
♦ The potential to capitalize on the vulnerabilities of weaker rivals (perhaps
converting an unattractive industry situation into a potentially rewarding
company opportunity).
♦ Whether the company is able to defend against or counteract the factors that
make the industry unattractive?
♦ The degrees of risk and uncertainty in the industry’s future.
♦ The severity of problems confronting the industry as a whole.
♦ Whether continued participation in this industry adds importantly to the firm’s
ability to be successful in other industries in which it may have business
interests?
As a general proposition, if an industry’s overall profit prospects are above average,
the industry can be considered attractive; if its profit prospects are below average,
it is unattractive. However, it is a mistake to think of industries as being attractive
or unattractive to all firms in the industry and all potential entrants. Attractiveness
is relative, not absolute. Industry environments unattractive to weak competitors
may be attractive to strong competitors.
An assessment that the industry is fundamentally attractive typically suggests that
current industry participants employ strategies calculated to strengthen their long-
term competitive positions in the business, expanding sales efforts and investing
in additional facilities and equipment as needed. If the industry and competitive
situation is judged relatively unattractive, more successful industry participants may
choose to invest cautiously, look for ways to protect their long-term
competitiveness and profitability, and perhaps acquire smaller firms if the price is
right; over the longer term, strong companies may consider diversification into
more attractive businesses. Weak companies in unattractive industries may

consider merging with a rival to bolster market share and profitability or,
alternatively, begin looking outside the industry for attractive diversification
opportunities.
2.5.3 Experience Curve

Experience curve akin to a learning curve which explains the efficiency increase
gained by workers through repetitive productive work. Experience curve is based
on the commonly observed phenomenon that unit costs decline as a firm
accumulates experience in terms of a cumulative volume of production. It is based
on the concept, “we learn as we grow”.
The implication is that larger firms in an industry would tend to have lower unit
costs as compared to those for smaller companies, thereby gaining a competitive
cost advantage.
Experience curve results from a variety of factors such as learning effects,
economies of scale, product redesign and technological improvements in
production.
Experience curve has following features:
♦ As business organisation grow, they gain experience.
♦ Experience may provide an advantage over the competition. Experience is a
key barrier to entry.
♦ Large and successful organisation possess stronger “experience effect”.
A typical experience curve may be depicted as follows:
Figure: Experience curve

As a business grows, it understands the complexities and benefits from its

experiences.
The concept of experience curve is relevant for a number of areas in strategic
management. For instance, experience curve is considered a barrier for new firms
contemplating entry in an industry. It is also used to build market share and
discourage competition. In the contemporary Indian automobile industry, the
experience curve phenomenon seems to be working in Maruti Suzuki. The likely
strategic choice for competitors can be a market niche approach or segmentation
based on demography or geography.
2.5.4 Value Creation

The concept of value creation was introduced primarily for providing products and
services to the customers with more worth. Value is measured by a product’s
features, quality, availability, durability, performance and by its services for which
customers are willing to pay. Further, the concept took more space in the business
and organizations started discussing about the value creation for stakeholders.
Value to Customer
Customer’s
Surplus
Price
Profitable
Pricing Band
Firm’s
Margin
Firm’s Cost of Value Creation
Figure: Value Creation
Thus, we can say that the value creation is an activity or performance by the firm
to create value that increases the worth of goods, services, business processes or
even the whole business system. Many businesses now focus on value creation both

in the context of creating better value for customers purchasing its products and
services, as well as for stakeholders in the business who want to see their
investment in business appreciate in value. Ultimately, this concept gives business
a competitive advantage in the industry and helps them earn above average
profits/returns.
Competitive advantage leads to superior profitability. At the most basic level, how
profitable a company becomes depends on three factors:
(1) the value customers place on the company’s products;
(2) the price that a company charges for its products; and
(3) the costs of creating those products.

The value customers place on a product reflects the utility they get from a
product—the happiness or satisfaction gained from consuming or owning the
product. Utility must be distinguished from price. Utility is something that
customers get from a product. It is a function of the attributes of the product, such
as its performance, design, quality, and point-of-sale and after-sale service.
Companies are ultimately aiming to achieve sustainable competitive advantage,
which enables them to succeed in the long run. Michael Porter argues that a
company can generate competitive advantage in two different ways, either through
differentiation or cost advantage. According to Porter’s, differentiation means the
capability to provide customers superior and special value in the form of product’s
special features and quality or in the form of aftersales customer service. As a result
of differentiation, a company can demand higher price for its products or services.
A company will earn higher profits due to differentiation in case the expenses stay
comparable to the costs of competitors.
The above-mentioned differentiation and cost advantage will affect a company’s

ability to achieve competitive advantage, but there are many different
organizational functions that will influence whether a company can achieve cost
advantage or differentiation advantage. Michael Porter used the concept of value
chain to explore closer different functions of the organisations and mutual
interactions among those functions. Value chain analysis provides an excellent tool
to examine the origin of competitive advantage. It divides the organisations into
two different strategically important group of activities, namely, primary activities

and supporting activities, which can help to comprehend the potential sources for
differentiation and to understand an organisation’s costs behaviour.
It is basically the value consumer wants to pay, over and above the price that the
business wants to charge from the consumer. This excess amount is called value
creation, wherein the consumers value the product or service more than it actually
costs them.
2.6 MARKET AND CUSTOMER

A market is a place for interested parties, buyers and sellers, where items and
services can be exchanged for a price. The market might be physical, such as a
departmental store where people engage in person. They may also be virtual, such
as an online market where buyers and sellers do not meet in person but tools of
technology to strike a deal. In addition to this broad definition, the term market
can apply to a wide range of contexts. For example, it might be used to describe
the stock exchange, where securities are traded. It may also refer to a group of
individuals trying to buy a specific commodity or service in a specific place, such as
grain or vegetable market where farmers come to sell their produce. It may also be
used to define a business or industry, such as the global oil market.
While the market is a place, business strategist work on marketing to improve the
chances of success. The term "marketing" encompasses a wide range of operations,
including research, designing, pricing, promotion, transportation, and distribution.
Often market activities are categorised and explained in terms of four Ps of
marketing – product, place, pricing, and promotion. These four kinds of marketing
activities help marketers identify customer needs so they may meet their demands
and deliver satisfaction. Delivering the best customer experience and establishing,
maintaining, and growing relationships with customers are the main goals of
marketing.
The orientation of product marketing has evolved and acquired different

dimensions centred around product, production, sales and customers. Businesses
that have product orientation think that buyers will choose those products that
have the best quality, performance, design, or features. Next, there are production-
oriented businesses that believe that customers choose low price products. Sales-

oriented businesses believe that if they spend enough money on advertisement,

sales and promotion, customers can be persuaded to make a purchase.
In a customer or market-oriented approach strategists prioritise efforts on their
customers. In order to create better value propositions for customers, businesses
gather, disseminate, and use customer and competitive information. A customer-
centric business is one that continuously learn from its customers' needs and
market dynamics. In the present times success, many business lies in customer
centric approaches.
2.6.1 Customer
A customer is a person or business that buys products or services from another
organisation. Customers are important because they provide revenue and
organisations cannot exist without them. All businesses vie for customers, either by
aggressively marketing their products or by lowering their pricing to boost their
customer bases. The terms customer and consumer are practically synonymous and
are frequently used interchangeably. There is, however, a thin distinction.
Individuals or businesses that consume or utilise products and services are referred
to as consumers. Customers are the purchasers of products and services in the
economy, and they might exist as consumers or only as customers. In homes
groceries are often bought by a parent and consume by all the members of family.
Businesses routinely research the characteristics of their consumers in order to fine-
tune their marketing strategies and adjust their inventory to attract the most
customers. Customers are frequently categorised based on demographics like as
age, race, gender, ethnicity, economic level, and geographic region, which may all
assist businesses in developing a profile of a perfect customer.
2.6.2 Customer Analysis

Customer analysis is an essential marketing component of any strategic business
plan. It identifies target clients, determines their wants, and then defines how the
product meets those needs. Thus, it involves the examination and evaluation of
consumer needs, desires, and wants.
Customer analysis includes the administration of customer surveys, the study of
consumer data, the evaluation of market positioning strategies, development of

customer profiles, and the selection of the best market segmentation techniques.
Using the facts generated by customer analysis, an effective profiling of customers
may be established. Customer profiles can reveal demographic information about
customers. A number of parties, including buyers, sellers, distributors, salespeople,
managers, wholesalers, retailers, suppliers, and creditors, can assist in gathering
information to effectively assess the needs and desires of consumers. Successful
businesses constantly monitor the behaviour of existing and prospective
customers.
2.6.3 Customer Behaviour

Customer behaviour moves beyond the identification of customers to explain how
they purchase products. It examines elements like shopping frequency, product
preferences, and the perception of your marketing, sales, and service offerings.
Understanding these details allows businesses to communicate with customers in
an effective manner. Understanding the behaviours of customers enables
businesses to establish effective marketing and advertising campaigns, provide
products and services that meet their needs, and retain customers for repeat sales.
Consumer behaviour may be influenced by a number of things. These elements can
be categorised into the following three conceptual domains:
♦ External Influences: External influences, like advertisement, peer
recommendations or social norms, have a direct impact on the psychological
and internal processes that influence various consumer decisions. The focus
of external effects is on the numerous elements that have an impact on
customers as they choose which needs to satisfy and which products to use to
do so. These aspects are divided into two groups – the company's marketing
efforts and the numerous environmental elements.
♦ Internal Influences: Internal processes are psychological factors internal to
customer and affect consumer decision making. Consumer behaviour is
influenced by a combination of internal and external influences, including
motivation and attitudes.

External Factors
Market Stimuli
Environmental Purchase and
Factors Decision
Post Purchase
Making
Actions
Internal Factors
Figure: Process of consumer behaviour

♦ Decision Making: A rational consumer, as decision maker would seek
information about potential decisions and carefully integrate this with the
existing knowledge about the product. After weighing the advantages and
disadvantages of each option, they would make a decision. The stages of
decision making process can be described as:
➢ Problem recognition, i.e., identify an existing need or desire that is
unfulfilled
➢ Search for desirable alternative and list them

➢ Seeking information on available alternatives and weighing their pros
and cons.
➢ Make a final choice
This behaviour of making decisions happens very frequently. However, it
mostly applies when the purchase is one that is significant to the customer,
such as when the product could have a significant influence on their health or
self-image. The process is extremely valid when purchasing a car, television or
a refrigerator in contrast to purchase of ice creams or soft drinks.
♦ Post-decision Processes: After making a decision and purchasing a product,
the final phase in the decision-making process is evaluating the outcome. The
consumer's reaction may vary depending upon the satisfaction. While a happy
customer may make repeat purchase and recommend to others, customer
with dissonance will neither purchase the product again nor recommend it to
others.

2.7 COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Competition is a fundamental attribute of economic systems and business, and it
is frequently connected with small and large organisations. Businesses compete
with each other for the same set of resources and customers. Within a industry,
competition is frequently encouraged with the wider goal of attaining and
achieving higher quality services or superior goods that the firm may manufacture
or develop.
The competitive strategy of a business is concerned with how to compete in the
business areas in which the organization operates. In other words, competitive
strategy defines how a firm expects to create and sustain a competitive advantage
over competitors. Having a competitive advantage over competitors means being
more profitable in the long run. The competitive strategy of a firm within a certain
business field is analysed using two criteria: the creation of competitive
advantage and the protection of competitive advantage.
An important component of industry and competitive analysis involves delving into
the industry’s competitive process to discover what the main sources of competitive
pressure are and how strong each competitive force is. This analytical step is
essential because managers cannot devise a successful strategy without in-depth
understanding of the industry’s competitive character. Even though competitive
pressures in various industries are never precisely the same, the competitive
process works similarly enough to use a common analytical framework in gauging
the nature and intensity of competitive forces.
Porter’s five forces model is useful in understanding the competition. It is a
powerful tool for systematically diagnosing the main competitive pressures in a
market and assessing how strong and important each one is. Not only is it the
widely used technique of competition analysis, but it is also relatively easy to
understand and apply.
2.7.1 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Competitive landscape is a business analysis which identifies competitors, either
direct or indirect. Competitive landscape is about identifying and understanding
the competitors and at the same time, it permits the comprehension of their vision,
mission, core values, niche market, strengths and weaknesses. Understanding of
competitive landscape requires an application of “competitive intelligence”.

An in-depth investigation and analysis of a firm’s competition allows it to assess

the competitor’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace and helps it to
choose and implement effective strategies that will improve its competitive
advantage. Thus, understanding the competitive landscape is important to build
upon a competitive advantage.
Steps to understand the Competitive Landscape
i. Identify the competitor: The first step to understand the competitive

landscape is to identify the competitors in the firm’s industry and have actual
data about their respective market share.
This answers the question:

➢ Who are the competitors and how big are they?
ii. Understand the competitors: Once the competitors have been identified, the
strategist can use market research report, internet, newspapers, social media,
industry reports, and various other sources to understand the products and
services offered by them in different markets.
This answers the question:

➢ What are their product and services?
iii. Determine the strengths of the competitors: What are the strengths of the
competitors? What do they do well? Do they offer great products? Why are
consumers liking their product/service? Do they utilize marketing in a way that
comparatively reaches out to more consumers? Why do customers give them
their business?
This answers the questions:
➢ What are their financial positions?
➢ What gives them cost and price advantage?

➢ What are they likely to do next?
➢ How strong is their distribution network?
➢ What are their human resource strengths?
iv. Determine the weaknesses of the competitors: Identify the areas where
the competitor is lacking or is weak. Weaknesses (and strengths) can be

identified by going through consumer reports and reviews appearing in

various media. Financial strength and weakness can always be learnt from
annual reports.
This answers the question.
➢ Where are they lacking?
v. Put all of the information together: At this stage, the strategist should put
together all information about competitors and draw inference about what
they are not offering and what the firm can do to fill in the gaps. The strategist
can also know the areas which need to be strengthen by the firm.
This answers the questions:
➢ What will the business do with this information?
➢ What improvements does the firm need to make?
➢ How can the firm exploit the weaknesses of competitors?
2.7.2 Key factors for competitive success

An industry’s Key Success Factors (KSFs) are those things that most affect industry
members’ ability to prosper in the marketplace - the particular strategy elements,
product attributes, resources, competencies, competitive capabilities, and business
outcomes that spell the difference between profit and loss and, ultimately, between
competitive success or failure. KSFs by their very nature are so important that all
firms in the industry must pay close attention to them.
Key success factors are the prerequisites for industry success or, to put it another
way, KSFs are the factors that shape whether a company will be financially and
competitively successful.
The answers to three questions help identify an industry’s key success factors:
♦ On what basis do customers choose between the competing brands of sellers?
What product attributes are crucial to sales?
♦ What resources and competitive capabilities does a seller need to have to be
competitively successful, better human capital, quality of product or quantity
of product, cost of service, etc.?

♦ What does it take for sellers to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage,

something that can be sustained for long term?
For example, in apparel manufacturing, the KSFs are appealing designs and colour
combinations (to create buyer interest) and low-cost manufacturing efficiency (to
permit attractive retail pricing and ample profit margins).
Determining the industry’s key success factors, given prevailing and anticipated
industry and competitive conditions, is a top-priority analytical consideration. At
the very least, managers need to understand the industry situation well enough to
know what is more important to competitive success and what is less important.
They need to know what kind of resources are competitively valuable.
Misdiagnosing the industry factors critical to long-term competitive success greatly
raises the risk of a misdirected strategy. In contrast, an organisation with perceptive
understanding of industry KSFs can gain sustainable competitive advantage by
training its strategy on industry KSFs and devoting its energies to being distinctively
better than rivals on one or more of these factors. Indeed, business organisations
that stand out on a particular KSF enjoy a stronger market position for their, efforts-
being distinctively better than rivals on one or more key success factors presents a
golden opportunity for gaining competitive advantage. Hence, using the industry’s
KSFs as cornerstones for the company’s strategy and trying to gain sustainable
competitive advantage by excelling at one particular KSF is a fruitful competitive
strategy approach.
Key success factors vary from industry to industry and even from time to time within
the same industry as driving forces and competitive conditions change. Only rarely
does an industry have more than three or four key success factors at any one time.
And even among these three or four, one or two usually outrank the others in
importance. Managers, therefore, have to resist the temptation to include factors that
have only minor importance on their list of key success factors. The purpose of
identifying KSFs is to make judgments about what things are more important to
competitive success and what things are less important. To compile a list of every
factor that matters even a little bit defeats the purpose of concentrating
management attention on the factors truly critical to long-term competitive success.

SUMMARY
In this chapter, we learnt about the concept of strategic analysis, which is an
important tool to appreciate and assess environment of business as it largely
defines how an organisation conducts its operations. We have also discussed in
detail the environmental influences on business functioning and competition.
Employees, customer demands and expectations, supply and demand,
management, clients, suppliers, owners, government actions, technological
innovation, social trends, market trends, economic changes, and so on are all part
of the business environment.
Modern businesses face competitive challenges covering condition in a market in

which businesses or sellers struggle for the attention of buyers in order to attain a
certain commercial goal. We explored competition and competitive landscape,
which is a business analysis to identify competitors, either direct or indirect. The
chapter also covered PESTLE analysis, product life cycle, experience curve,
competitive analysis and value chain analysis,
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Multiple Choice Questions
1. KSFs stand for:
(a) Key strategic factors
(b) Key supervisory factors
(c) Key success factors
(d) Key sufficient factors
2. Competitive landscape requires the application of-
(a) Competitive advantage
(b) Competitive strategy

(c) Competitive acumen
(d) Competitive intelligence

3. The term PESTLE analysis is used to describe a framework for analyzing:

(a) Macro Environment
(b) Micro Environment
(c) Both Macro and Micro Environment

(d) None of above
4. ‘Attractiveness of firms’ while conducting industry analysis should be seen in-
(a) Relative terms

(b) Absolute terms
(c) Comparative terms
(d) All of the above

5. What is not one of Michael Porter’s five competitive forces?
(a) New entrants
(b) Rivalry among existing firms

(c) Bargaining power of unions
(d) Bargaining power of suppliers
6. Which of the following constitute Demographic Environment?
(a) Nature of economy i.e. capitalism, socialism, Mixed
(b) Size, composition, distribution of population, sex ratio
(c) Foreign trade policy of Government

(d) Economic policy i.e. fiscal and monetary policy of Government
7. All are elements of Macro environment except:
(a) Society
(b) Government
(c) Competitors
(d) Technology

8. The emphasis on product design is very high, the intensity of competition is low,
and the market growth rate is low in the ______ stage of the industry life cycle.
(a) Maturity
(b) Introduction
(c) Growth
(d) Decline
Scenario Based Questions

1. Suresh Singhania is the owner of an agri-based private company in Sangrur,
Punjab. His unit is producing puree, ketchups and sauces. While its products
have significant market share in the northern part of country, the sales are on
decline in last couple of years. He seeks help of a management expert who
advises him to first understand the competitive landscape.
Explain the steps to be followed by Suresh Singhania to understand competitive
landscape.
2. Eco-carry bags Ltd., a recyclable plastic bags manufacturing, and trading
company has seen a potential in the ever-growing awareness around hazards
of plastics and the positive outlook of the society towards recycling and reusing
plastics.
A major concern for Eco-carry bags Ltd. are paper bags and old cloth bags. Even
though they are costlier than recyclable plastic bags, irrespective, they are being
welcomed positively by the consumers.
Identify and explain that competition from paper bags and old cloth bags fall
under which category of Porter’s Five Forces Model for Competitive Analysis?
3. Baby Turtle is a children's clothing brand that has been created a new age
demand for washable diapers. The major benefit for the brand has been that not
many companies have shown interest in the product, thinking it is not viable,
however, customers, majorly working mothers are loving their product. The core
material needed for production is also used in many other water proofing
products in various industries. Baby Turtle sources this material from a
renowned supplier at comparatively low prices. Which of the five forces of
competitive pressure would Baby Turtle experience due to above setup and what
are major factors that create such pressure for a product? Do you think Baby
Shark has an advantage in some way to fight off this pressure?

Descriptive Questions
1. Explain the concept of Experience Curve and highlight its relevance in strategic
management.
2. Write a short note on Product Life Cycle (PLC) and its significance in portfolio
diagnosis.
3. Explain Porter’s five forces model as to how businesses can deal with the
competition.
ANSWERS/SOLUTION
Answers to Multiple Choice Questions
1 (c) 2 (d) 3 (a) 4 (a) 5 (c) 6 (b)
7 (c) 8 (b)
Answers to Scenario Based Questions

1. Steps to understand the competitive landscape:
(i) Identify the competitor: The first step to understand the competitive
landscape is to identify the competitors in the firm’s industry and have
actual data about their respective market share.
(ii) Understand the competitors: Once the competitors have been
identified, the strategist can use market research report, internet,
newspapers, social media, industry reports, and various other sources
to understand the products and services offered by them in different
markets.
(iii) Determine the strengths of the competitors: What is the strength of
the competitors? What do they do well? Do they offer great products?
Do they utilize marketing in a way that comparatively reaches out to
more consumers? Why do customers give them their business?

(iv) Determine the weaknesses of the competitors: Weaknesses (and

strengths) can be identified by going through consumer reports and
reviews appearing in various media. After all, consumers are often
willing to give their opinions, especially when the products or services
are either great or very poor.
(v) Put all of the information together: At this stage, the strategist should
put together all information about competitors and draw inference
about what they are not offering and what the firm can do to fill in the
gaps. The strategist can also know the areas which need to be
strengthen by the firm.
2. Eco-carry bags Ltd. faces competition from paper bags and old cloth bags and
falls under Threat of Substitutes force categories in Porter’s Five Forces Model
for Competitive Analysis. Paper and cloth bags are substitutes of recyclable
plastic bags as they perform the same function as plastic bags. Substitute
products are a latent source of competition in an industry. In many cases, they
become a major constituent of competition. Substitute products offering a
price advantage and/or performance improvement to the consumer can
drastically alter the competitive character of an industry.
3. Baby Turtle would experience, Bargaining Power of Suppliers, as a competitive

pressure for their washable diaper product. This is because the core material
for production is sourced from a single supplier, who is renowned and in a
position to create pressure in terms of prices.
Further, other factors that lead to such pressure are:
1. Their products are crucial to the buyer and substitutes to the material
required for production are not available.
2. Suppliers can manipulate switching cost as the brand is in inception
stage and making margins are important.
An advantage that Baby Turtle has is even though the material required has
no substitutes, but it used to make many other products and thus there are
many other suppliers who can provide that material. It might affect operations
in short term but will help to fight off the pressure created by existing supplier.

Answers to Descriptive Questions

1. Experience curve is similar to learning curve which explains the efficiency
gained by workers through repetitive productive work. Experience curve is
based on the commonly observed phenomenon that unit costs decline as a
firm accumulates experience in terms of a cumulative volume of production.
It is represented diagrammatically as shown in the next page.
The implication is that larger firms in an industry would tend to have lower
unit costs as compared to those of smaller organizations, thereby gaining a
competitive cost advantage. Experience curve results from a variety of factors
such as learning effects, economies of scale, product redesign and
technological improvements in production.
The concept of experience curve is relevant for a number of areas in strategic
management. For instance, experience curve is considered a barrier for new
firms contemplating entry in an industry. It is also used to build market share
and discourage competition.
2. Product Life Cycle is an important concept in strategic choice and S-shaped

curve which exhibits the relationship of sales with respect of time for a product
that passes through the four successive stages.
The first stage of PLC is the introduction stage in which competition is almost
negligible, prices are relatively high and markets are limited. The growth in
sales is also at a lower rate.

The second stage of PLC is the growth stage, in which the demand expands
rapidly, prices fall, competition increases and market expands.
The third stage of PLC is the maturity stage, where in the competition gets
tough and market gets stabilized. Profit comes down because of stiff
competition.
The fourth stage is the declining stage of PLC, in which the sales and profits
fall down sharply due to some new product replaces the existing product.
Product Life Cycle

PLC can be used to diagnose a portfolio of products (or businesses) in order
to establish the stage at which each of them exists. Particular attention is to
be paid on the businesses that are in the declining stage. Depending on the
diagnosis, appropriate strategic choice can be made. For instance, expansion
may be a feasible alternative for businesses in the introductory and growth
stages. Mature businesses may be used as sources of cash for investment in
other businesses which need resources. A combination of strategies like
selective harvesting, retrenchment, etc. may be adopted for declining
businesses. In this way, a balanced portfolio of businesses may be built up by
exercising a strategic choice based on the PLC concept.
3. To gain a deep understanding of a company’s industry and competitive
environment, managers do not need to gather all the information they can
find and waste a lot of time digesting it. Rather, the task is much more
focused. A powerful and widely used tool for systematically diagnosing the

significant competitive pressures in a market and assessing the strength and

importance of each is the Porter’s five-forces model of competition. This
model holds that the state of competition in an industry is a composite of
competitive pressures operating in five areas of the overall market:
➢ Competitive pressures associated with the market manoeuvring and
jockeying for buyer patronage that goes on among rival sellers in the
industry.
➢ Competitive pressures associated with the threat of new entrants into
the market.
➢ Competitive pressures coming from the attempts of companies in other

industries to win buyers over to their own substitute products.
➢ Competitive pressures stemming from supplier bargaining power and
supplier-seller collaboration.
➢ Competitive pressures stemming from buyer bargaining power and
seller-buyer Collaboration.


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After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

Environmental analysis is the process by which strategists monitor the

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a 2.2 a STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategy and Business Environment

Understanding Product and

Industry Environment Analysis

Market and Customer

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2.2 STRA GIC ANALYSIS

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others have a formal structure to collect meaningful information. It is just as

Figure: Strategic Analysis

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Accurate diagnosis of the business situation is necessary for managerial

2.2.1 Issues to consider for Strategic Analysis

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a 2.6 a STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Risk: In strategic analysis, the principle of maintaining balance is important.

Short Time Long Time

Errors in interpreting the

Organizational capacity is Inconsistencies with the

Figure: Strategic Risk

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External Analysis Internal Analysis

Opportunities, threats, trends, Strategic strengths, weaknesses,

Strategy Identification & Selection

Figure: Framework of Strategic Analysis

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channels used to access buyers, marketing opportunities, disposable income of

2.3 STRATEGY AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Figure: Strategy and Environment

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The term "business environment" refers to all external factors, influences, or

Strategic management is involved with choosing a long-term direction in relation

iv. Image Building: Environmental understanding helps the business

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Business strategies relate organisational resources to challenges and opportunities

Strategic decisions are significant aspects of business management and are

2.3.1 Micro and Macro Environment

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STRATEGIC ANALYSIS: EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT a 2.11 a

Micro-environment is related to small area or immediate periphery of an

♦ The direct competition and their comparative performance.

2.3.2 Elements of Macro Environment

The external environment of an organisation is made up of all the individuals,

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into action pertinent plans and policies to address environmental changes. It

Socio-cultural environment consists of factors related to human relationships and

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STRATEGIC ANALYSIS: EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT a 2.13 a

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Nationalism supports measures aimed at enhancing the position of a country in

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As a result, business leverages technology. Businesses use new discoveries to adapt

Technology is leading to many new business opportunities as well as making

2.3.3 PESTLE– A tool to Analyse Macro Environment