Strategic Position The Environment

Slide 2.
Part I:
The Strategic Position
Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, Exploring Strategy, 9th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 2.2
The Focus of part 1:

The strategic position
• How to analyse an organisation’s position in the
external environment.
• How to analyse the determinants of strategic
capability – resources, competences and the
linkages between them.
• How to understand an organisation’s purposes,
taking into account corporate governance,
stakeholder expectations and business ethics.
• How to address the role of history and culture in
determining an organisation’s position.
2
Slide 2.3
The Strategic Position

2: The Environment
Slide 2.4
Learning outcomes (1)
• Analyse the broad macro-environment of

organisations in terms of political, economic,
social, technological, environmental (‘green’) and
legal factors (PESTEL).
• Identify key drivers in this macro-environment

and use these key drivers to construct alternative
scenarios with regard to environmental change.
Slide 2.5
Learning outcomes (2)
• Use Porter’s five forces analysis in order to

define the attractiveness of industries and sectors
and to identify their potential for change.
• Identify successful strategic groups, valuable
market segments and attractive ‘Blue Oceans’
within industries.
• Use these various concepts and techniques in
order to recognise threats and opportunities in
the marketplace.
Slide 2.6
Layers of the business environment
Figure 2.1 Layers of the business environment
Slide 2.7
The PESTEL framework (1)
The PESTEL framework categorises

environmental influences into six main types:
political, economic,
social, technological,
environmental legal
Thus PESTEL provides a comprehensive list of

influences on the possible success or failure of
particular strategies.
Slide 2.8
• Political Factors: For example, Government

policies, taxation changes, foreign trade
regulations, political risk in foreign markets,
changes in trade blocks (EU).
• Economic Factors: For example, business

cycles, interest rates, personal disposable
income, exchange rates, unemployment rates,
GDP trends.
• Socio-cultural Factors: For example,

population changes, income distribution, lifestyle
changes, consumerism, changes in culture and
Slide 2.9
• Technological Factors: For example, new discoveries

and technology developments, ICT innovations, rates
of obsolescence, increased spending on R&D.
• Environmental (‘Green’) Factors: For example,

environmental protection regulations, energy
consumption, global warming, waste disposal and re-
cycling.
• Legal Factors: For example, competition laws, health

and safety laws, employment laws, licensing laws, IPR
laws.
Slide 2.10
Key drivers of change
Key drivers for change:

• The environmental factors likely to have a high
impact on the success or failure of strategy.
• For example, the birth rate is a key driver for
those planning nursery education provision in
the public sector.
• Typically key drivers vary by industry or sector.
Slide 2.11
Using the PESTEL framework
• Apply selectively –identify specific factors which

impact on the industry, market and organisation in
question.
• Identify factors which are important currently but
also consider which will become more important in
the next few years.
• Use data to support the points and analyse trends
using up to date information
• Identify opportunities and threats – the main point
of the exercise!
Slide 2.12
Scenarios
Scenarios are detailed and plausible views of how

the environment of an organisation might develop in
the future based on key drivers of change about
which there is a high level of uncertainty.
• Build on PESTEL analysis .

• Do not offer a single forecast of how the
environment will change.
• An organisation should develop a few alternative
scenarios (2–4) to analyse future strategic options.
Slide 2.13
Carrying out scenario analysis (1)
• Identify the most relevant scope of the study – the

relevant product/market and time span.
• Identify key drivers of change – PESTEL factors
that have the most impact in the future but have
uncertain outcomes.
• For each key driver select opposing outcomes
where each leads to very different consequences.
Slide 2.14
Carrying out scenario analysis (2)
• Develop scenario ‘stories’ - That is, coherent

and plausible descriptions of the environment
that result from opposing outcomes
• Identify the impact of each scenario on the
organisation and evaluate future strategies in
the light of the anticipated scenarios.
• Scenario analysis is used in industries with long
planning horizons for example, the oil industry
or airlines.
Slide 2.15
Scenarios for the global financial

system, 2020
Illustration 2.2
Slide 2.16
Industries, markets and sectors
An industry is a group of firms producing

products and services that are essentially the
same. For example, automobile industry and
airline industry.
A market is a group of customers for specific
products or services that are essentially the same
(e.g. the market for luxury cars in Germany).
A sector is a broad industry group (or a group of
markets) especially in the public sector (e.g. the
health sector)
Slide 2.17
Porter’s five forces framework
Porter’s five forces framework helps identify the

attractiveness of an industry in terms of five
competitive forces:
• the threat of entry,
• the threat of substitutes,
• the bargaining power of buyers,
• the bargaining power of suppliers and
• the extent of rivalry between competitors.
The five forces constitute an industry’s ‘structure’.
Slide 2.18
The five forces framework (1)
Figure 2.2 The five forces framework

Source: Adapted with the permission of The Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, from Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors by Michael E. Porter. Copyright © 1980, 1998 by The Free Press. All rights reserved
Slide 2.19
The Threat of Entry & Barriers to Entry

• The threat of entry is low when the barriers to entry
are high and vice versa.
• The main barriers to entry are:
 Economies of scale/high fixed costs
 Experience and learning
 Access to supply and distribution channels
 Differentiation and market penetration costs
 Government restrictions (e.g. licensing)
• Entrants must also consider the expected retaliation
from organisations already in the market
Slide 2.20
Threat of Substitutes
Substitutes are products or services that offer a similar
benefit to an industry’s products or services, but by a
different process.
Customers will switch to alternatives (and thus the
threat increases) if:
• The price/performance ratio of the substitute is
superior (e.g. aluminium maybe more expensive than
steel but it is more cost efficient for some car parts)
• The substitute benefits from an innovation that
improves customer satisfaction (e.g. high speed trains
can be quicker than airlines from city centre to city
Slide 2.21
The bargaining power of buyers

Buyers are the organisation’s immediate customers,
not necessarily the ultimate consumers.
If buyers are powerful, then they can demand cheap
prices or product / service improvements to reduce
profits .
Buyer power is likely to be high when:
 Buyers are concentrated
 Buyers have low switching costs
 Buyers can supply their own inputs (backward vertical
integration) Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, Exploring Strategy, 9th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 2.22
The bargaining power of suppliers

Suppliers are those who supply what organisations
need to produce the product or service. Powerful
suppliers can eat into an organisation’s profits.
Supplier power is likely to be high when:
 The suppliers are concentrated (few of them).
 Suppliers provide a specialist or rare input.
 Switching costs are high (it is disruptive or expensive to
change suppliers).
 Suppliers can integrate forwards (e.g. low cost airlines
have cut out the use of travel agents).
Slide 2.23

Rivalry between competitors
Competitive rivals are organisations with similar
products and services aimed at the same customer
group and are direct competitors in the same
industry/market (they are distinct from substitutes).
The degree of rivalry is increased when :
 Competitors are of roughly equal size
 Competitors are aggressive in seeking leadership
 The market is mature or declining
 There are high fixed costs
 The exit barriers are high
 There is a low level of differentiation
Slide 2.24
Implications of five forces analysis
• Identifies the attractiveness of industries –

which industries/markets to enter or leave.
• Identifies strategies to influence the impact of
the forces, for example, building barriers to
entry by becoming more vertically integrated.
• The forces may have a different impact on
different organisations e.g. large firms can deal
with barriers to entry more easily than small
firms.
Slide 2.25
Issues in five forces analysis
• Apply at the most appropriate level – not

necessarily the whole industry. E.g. the European
low cost airline industry rather than airlines
globally.
• Note the convergence of industries – particularly in
the high tech sectors (e.g. digital industries -
mobile phones/cameras/mp3 players).
• Note the importance of complementary products
and services (e.g. Microsoft windows and McAfee
computer security systems are complements). This
can almost be considered as a sixth force.
Slide 2.26
The value net
Figure 2.3 The value net

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From ‘The Right Game’ by A. Brandenburger and B. Nalebuff, July–August 1996, pp. 57–64.
Copyright © 1996 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved
Slide 2.27
Comparative industry structure
analysis
Figure 2.5 Comparative industry structure analysis
Slide 2.28
Types of industry (1)
• Monopolistic industries - an industry with one firm and

therefore no competitive rivalry. A firm has ‘monopoly
power’ if it has a dominant position in the market. For
example, BT in the UK fixed line telephone market.
• Oligopolistic industries - an industry dominated by a
few firms with limited rivalry and in which firms have
power over buyers and suppliers.
• Perfectly competitive industries - where barriers to
entry are low, there are many equal rivals each with very
similar products, and information about competitors is
freely available. Few (if any) markets are ‘perfect’ but
may have features of highly competitive markets, for
example, mini-cabs in London.
Slide 2.29
Types of industry (2)
• Hypercompetitive industries - where the

frequency, boldness and aggression of competitor
interactions accelerate to create a condition of
constant disequilibrium and change.
• Hypercompetition often breaks out in otherwise
oligopolistic industries (e.g. mobile phones).
• Organisations interact in a series of competitive
moves in hypercompetition which often becomes
extremely rapid and aggressive as firms vie for
market leadership.
Slide 2.30
Cycles of competition
Figure 2.6 Cycles of competition

Source: Adapted with the permission of The Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from Hypercompetitive Rivalries: Competing in Highly Dynamic Environments by Richard A. D’Aveni with Robert
Gunther. Copyright © 1994, 1995 by Richard A. D’Aveni. All rights reserved
Slide 2.31
The industry life cycle
Figure 2.4 The industry life cycle
Slide 2.32
Strategic Groups
Strategic groups are organisations within an industry or

sector with similar strategic characteristics, following
similar strategies or competing on similar bases.
• These characteristics are different from those in other
strategic groups in the same industry or sector.
• There are many different characteristics that
distinguish between strategic groups.
• Strategic groups can be mapped on to two
dimensional charts – maps. These can be useful tools
of analysis.
Slide 2.33
Characteristics for identifying
strategic groups
Figure 2.7 Some characteristics for identifying strategic groups
Slide 2.34
Strategic groups in the Indian
pharmaceutical industry
Figure 2.8 Strategic groups in the Indian pharmaceutical industry

Source: Developed from R. Chittoor and S. Ray, ‘Internationalisation paths of Indian pharmaceutical firms: a strategic group analysis’, Journal of International Management, vol. 13 (2009),
pp. 338–55
Slide 2.35
Uses of strategic group analysis
• Understanding competition - enables focus on

direct competitors within a strategic group, rather
than the whole industry. (E.g. Tesco will focus on
Sainsburys and Asda)
• Analysis of strategic opportunities - helps identify
attractive ‘strategic spaces’ within an industry.
• Analysis of ‘mobility barriers’ i.e. obstacles to
movement from one strategic group to another.
These barriers can be overcome to enter more
attractive groups. Barriers can be built to defend an
attractive position in a strategic group.
Slide 2.36
Market segments
A market segment is a group of customers who have

similar needs that are different from customer needs in
other parts of the market.
• Where these customer groups are relatively small, such
market segments are called ‘niches’.
• Customer needs vary. Focusing on customer needs that
are highly distinctive is one means of building a secure
segment strategy.
• Customer needs vary for a variety of reasons -these
factors can be used to identify distinct market segments.
• Not all segments are attractive or viable market
opportunities – evaluation is essential.
Slide 2.37
Bases of market segmentation (1)
Table 2.1 Some bases of market segmentation
Slide 2.38
Who are the strategic customers?
A strategic customer is the person(s) at whom the

strategy is primarily addressed because they have the
most influence over which goods or services are
purchased.
Examples:
• For a food manufacturer it is the multiple retailers
(e.g. Tesco) that are the strategic customers not the
ultimate consumer.
• For a pharmaceutical manufacturer it is the health
authorities and hospitals not the final patient.
Slide 2.39
Critical success factors (CSFs)
• Critical success factors are those factors that are

either particularly valued by customers or which
provide a significant advantage in terms of cost.
• Critical success factors are likely to be an important
source of competitive advantage if an organisation
has them (or a disadvantage if an organisation lacks
them).
• Different industries and markets will have different
critical success factors (e.g. in low cost airlines the
CSFs will be punctuality and value for money
whereas in full service airlines it is all about quality of
service). Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, Exploring Strategy, 9th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 2.40
Blue ocean thinking
• ‘Blue oceans’ are new market spaces where

competition is minimised.
• ‘Red Oceans’ are where industries are already well
defined and rivalry is intense.
• Blue Ocean thinking encourages entrepreneurs and
managers to be different by finding or creating market
spaces that are not currently being served.
• A ‘strategy canvas’ compares competitors according to
their performance on key success factors in order to
develop strategies based on creating new market
spaces.
Slide 2.41
Strategy canvas
Figure 2.9 Strategy canvas for electrical components companies

Source: Developed from W.C. Kim and R. Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, Harvard Business School Press
Slide 2.42
Chapter summary (1)
• Environmental influences can be thought of as layers

around an organisation, with the outer layer making up
the macro-environment, the middle layer making up the
industry or sector and the inner layer strategic groups
and market segments.
• The macro-environment can be analysed in terms of the
PESTEL factors, from which key drivers of change can
be identified. Alternative scenarios about the future can
be constructed according to how the key drivers develop.
• Industries and sectors can be analysed in terms of
Porter’s five forces – barriers to entry, substitutes, buyer
power, supplier power and rivalry. Together, these
determine industry or sector attractiveness.
Slide 2.43
Chapter summary (2)
• Industries and sectors are dynamic, and their changes

can be analysed in terms of the industry life cycle,
comparative five forces radar plots and hypercompetitive
cycles of competition.
• In the inner layer of the environment, strategic group
analysis, market segment analysis and the strategy
canvas can help identify strategic gaps or opportunities.
• Blue Ocean strategies characterised by low rivalry are
likely to be better opportunities than Red Ocean
strategies with many rivals.
• The most important reason for environmental analysis is
to identify OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

Strategic Position The Environment

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What are some frameworks for analyzing the external environment?

What are some frameworks for analyzing the external environment?

What are Porter's five forces and how can they be used?

What are Porter's five forces and how can they be used?

Slide 2.

The Focus of part 1:

The Strategic Position

Learning outcomes (1)

• Analyse the broad macro-environment of

• Identify key drivers in this macro-environment

Learning outcomes (2)

• Use Porter’s five forces analysis in order to

Layers of the business environment

Figure 2.1 Layers of the business environment

The PESTEL framework (1)

The PESTEL framework categorises

Thus PESTEL provides a comprehensive list of

The PESTEL framework (2)

• Political Factors: For example, Government

• Economic Factors: For example, business

• Socio-cultural Factors: For example,

The PESTEL framework (3)

• Technological Factors: For example, new discoveries

• Environmental (‘Green’) Factors: For example,

• Legal Factors: For example, competition laws, health

Key drivers of change

Key drivers for change:

Using the PESTEL framework

• Apply selectively –identify specific factors which

Scenarios are detailed and plausible views of how

• Build on PESTEL analysis .

Carrying out scenario analysis (1)

• Identify the most relevant scope of the study – the

Carrying out scenario analysis (2)

• Develop scenario ‘stories’ - That is, coherent

Scenarios for the global financial

Industries, markets and sectors

An industry is a group of firms producing

Porter’s five forces framework

Porter’s five forces framework helps identify the

The five forces framework (1)

Figure 2.2 The five forces framework

The five forces framework (2)

The Threat of Entry & Barriers to Entry

The five forces framework (3)

The five forces framework (4)

The bargaining power of buyers

The five forces framework (5)

The bargaining power of suppliers

The five forces framework (6)

Implications of five forces analysis

• Identifies the attractiveness of industries –

Issues in five forces analysis

• Apply at the most appropriate level – not

The value net

Figure 2.3 The value net

Figure 2.5 Comparative industry structure analysis

Types of industry (1)

• Monopolistic industries - an industry with one firm and