can you do strategic analysis

Team (list out all team members here)

Last Name, Fist Name, email

[Describe the client’s business model. Refer to Chapter 5 of our textbook as well as the e-book of “Business Model Generation” in which different business models are discussed. You can also refer to the Business Model Canvas tool as part of the description]

[Analyze the current status of the client business. You can refer to the various performance metrics discussed in Chapter 5 to assess the performance of client business. But you don’t need to go to details in the financial performance aspect, as we are going to do this in more detail in our Financial analysis]

Summary Statement

[Analyze the value creation process of client business. You can use the Value-Chain model in Chapter 4 as the basis to develop your analysis but you should customize the generic model and cater to the client business]

Summary Statement

[Discuss the model that you use to analyze the general environment. You should discuss why this model is used and explain the model itself to the client. You also need to summarize the main conclusions]

Factors

[Here you should discuss each of the factors that you analyze. For instance, if you use the PESTEL framework to analyze the general external environment of the client’s business and you believe “technology” may have some influence, you need to discuss why technology matters to the client. You should use data to support your statement and preferably perform some statistical analysis. Think about where to collect the needed data and the time frame for data collection as well as data analysis.]

Summary Statement

[Discuss Porter’s Five-Forces framework used to analyze the industrial environment. You should discuss why this framework is used and explain the framework itself to the client. You also need to summarize the main conclusions]

Factors

[Here you should discuss each of the factors that you analyze. For instance, if you believe “buyers” may influence the client’s business, you need to discuss in which way the buyers constitute a threat or opportunity. You should use data to support what you say and preferably perform some statistical analysis. Think about where to collect the needed data and the time frame for data collection as well as data analysis.]

In this section we will analyze the major competitors of [client name].

In Table 1, we list the major competitors of [client name]. In this table, we compare their locations, their websites if any, and their brand pillars (Important notes: the dimensions of comparison can be different for different types of client project. The table here is only for illustration purpose.)

Table 1

Summary Statement

[Discuss the frameworks (refer to the video lecture) that you use to analyze the core competence of the client. The VRIO framework is a useful tool here. You may use the following table to examine each internal factor (i.e., resource or capability) of the client business and conclude which factors should be considered as part of the core competence. More importantly, for our client project, you may identify those factors that you deem necessary and important for your client but are currently lacking. This would be the gap that your team’s work is aimed to fill, or your strategic recommendations are supposed to tackle.]

VRIO Model

[Note: When you assess whether a factor is part of core competencies, you should make the assessment from left to right. If one of the criteria is not satisfied, there is no need to assess the rest of the criteria. For example, when Factor 1 is assessed, it is found that this factor is not “costly to imitate,” thus, there is no need to examine whether it is “organized to capture value.”

After you have examined every internal factor that you consider relevant to competitive advantage, then you can make some conclusions. Factors that satisfy ALL four criteria (Factor 2 & 4) can be considered to lead to competitive advantage.]

A few thoughts:

You can perhaps add a Google Map in which all competitors are marked, if available. This will visually tell us where the competitors are located.

You can also improve the “Brand Pillar” section. Some statement in this section is vague and we can make them clearer. Also, we can perhaps further breakdown this section into three things: (1) the type of business (family owned local retail, warehouse, national chain, etc.); (2) price range (low price cost leader, or high price differentiator); (3) product quality (average quality versus luxury). This type of information will be useful as it has implications for the type of customers. Based on this, we can further think who are the key competitors of the client.

In Table 2, we compare the major competitors of [client name] in terms of their (1) physical space, (2) product selection, (3) staff, and (4) branding.

Table 2

What conclusions can we draw from Table 2?

In Table 3, we compare the main strengths and weaknesses of the competitors

What conclusions can we draw from Table 3?

Here you will bring together your external analysis, competitor analysis, and focal firm’s core competency analysis, and integrate them into a SWOT analysis. The primary takeaway of your SWOT analysis should be the strategic alternatives your team has developed for your client. These strategic alternatives will later be built into your final report for your client.

[Note on Strategic Analysis Presentation: there will be no fixed format for your presentation, as I would encourage you to be creative. One general flow of your presentation can be: client business recap (problems, challenges, etc.)  external analysis of your client business (PESTEL, Porter’s five-force, or other market analysis you deem important, and competitor analysis)  internal analysis of your client business (key resources, core competencies, or resource gaps; and strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors)  SWOT matrix (mainly your strategic alternatives)]