The External Environmental
Think in terms of Opportunities and Threats the O and T of TOWS
Relate Strategic Objectives to O and T
increased sales and/or market share (Cereal) new product offerings (Toys) processing technology innovation (Semiconductors) decreased environmental impact (Chemicals)
Continually scan to identify Os and Ts
The External Environmental
The Company should achieve Strategic Fit
What is needed to respond to changes in the external environment and what does the company possess to respond to these changes? What does the company need and what does the external environment possess to provide to the company?
The External Environmental
The General Environment Demographic: age, ethnicity, household size, occupation Economic: income distribution, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, urbanization Political/Legal: consumer and environmental protection, unions
The External Environmental
The General Environment Social and Cultural: conservatism/ liberalism, nesting, materialism Technological: e-tailing, intranets, diffusion rates Global: nationalism, transnational corporations, cultural differences
The External Environmental
Age of Functionality (Osborn, 2002)
Strategic Perspective What risk do you take?
Hondas
Element Chryslers PT Cruiser Pontiac Vibe Toyota Matrix
- To what degree does a company try to meet the needs of a increasingly fragmented market?
The External Environmental
What changes are going on in the General Environment that you think businesses need to pay attention to?
Are these changes only short term? Are they cyclical? Are they more long term and lasting?
The External Environmental
The Industry Environment
The following factors in an Industry Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining Power of Suppliers Threat of New Entrants Threat of Substitute Products ...Determine Intensity of Competitive Rivalry
The External Environmental
The Industry Environment
Threat of New Entrants
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Competitive Rivalry
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Threat of Substitute Products
The External Environmental
Threats of New Entrants decreases if barriers to entry are high...
Threat Economies of Scale are high of Product Differentiation is high New Capital Requirements are high Entrants Switching Costs are high Access to Distribution Channels is limited Cost Disadvantages Independent of Scale are high Government Policy is restrictive
Expected Retaliation is high
The External Environmental
Suppliers are likely to be powerful if:
Supplier industry dominated by a few firms Suppliers products have few substitutes Bargaining Power of Buyer is not important customer Suppliers Suppliers product is an important input Suppliers products are differentiated Suppliers products have high switching costs Supplier poses credible threat to forward integration
The External Environmental
Buyers are likely to be powerful if:
They are concentrated or purchases are large relative to sellers sales Purchase accounts for a significant fraction of suppliers sales Product unimportant to quality Bargaining Power Products are undifferentiated of Buyers face few switching costs Buyers Buyers industry earns low profits Buyer has full information Buyer presents a credible threat to backward integration
The External Environmental
The keys to evaluating Substitute Products are:
Products with improving price/performance tradeoffs relative to present industry products
Threat of Substitute Products
For example: Electronic security systems in place of security guards
Email and fax machines in place of overnight mail delivery
The External Environmental
Fresh & Co. (Yugoslavian fruit juice company)
Supply of packaging only one supplier in country with limited styles. Supply of raw material (fruits) large number of small suppliers located throughout the country for most fruits, imports tropical Limited, but increasing domestic incomes Brand conscious younger generation Health conscious parents
The External Environmental
Forecasting perhaps the most challenging issue for business success directly impacts financial planning and internal resource allocation
Based on a mix of hard data and luck/intuition Use brainstorming, statistical modeling, and scenario planning.
The External Environmental
Forecasting
For the simulation, consider
What is existing industry demand in each segment? What market share of each segment does your company possess? How much will the segment grow? What will be the change (+ or -) in your market share of each segment?
Lets take a look under Tutorials for an excellent description of doing Sales Forecasts in the Simulation!
The External Environmental
Understanding Competitors
Future objectives: goals and risks, ability to achieve Current strategy: competitive advantages Retaliation: How will competitor(s) respond to your actions?
Assumptions: Can competitor(s) adapt to changing environment? Capabilities: relative strengths and weaknesses?
The External Environmental
Cutthroat Competition:
numerous and/or equally balanced competitors slow growth industry high fixed costs high storage costs lack of differentiation
capacity added in large increments diverse competitors high strategic stakes high exit barriers
The External Environmental
High Exit Barriers:
Economic, strategic, and emotional factors that cause companies to remain in an industry even when future profitability is questionable. Include: specialized assets, fixed cost to exit (labor agreements), strategic relationships & networks, emotional links &/or history, government & social restrictions.
External Factor Analysis Summary
External Factors Weight Rating Weighted (from 1 Score poor to 5 (weight very multiplied good) by rating) Comments
Opportunities What are the most important opportunities for your firm? Threats What are the most important threats to your company Total
What is the How well relative is your importance company of each of able to the respond opportunities to the and threats? opportunit ies and threats? 1.00 ????
(Describe how you derived the weighted score for each line)
External Factor Analysis Summary
External Factors: List the 8 to 10 most important opportunities and threats (developments in the General and Industry environments) facing the company. Weight: Assign a weight to each External Factor from 1.0 (most important) to 0.0 (not important) based on the factors probable impact on the companys current strategic position. All weights must sum to 1.00. Rating: Assign a rating to each factor from 5.0 (Outstanding) to 1.00 (Poor) based on the companys current response to that particular factor.
External Factor Analysis Summary
Weighted Score: Multiply the weight times the rating to get the weighted score for each factor. Comments: Describe (1) why you selected each External Factor and (2) how you estimated the weight and rating. Total Weighted Score: Add the Weighted Scores for the External Factors to get the Total Weighted Score. The Total Weighted Score is useful as a comparison to other companies in the industry group. See pages 73 and 74 in the text for more information.
