Business Policy

Guidelines for Completing Individual Assignment Part-1 “Analysis of the Environment”

Due: 6:00 PM, June 9, 2014.

OVERVIEW

What important factors can you identify in the firm’s environment? That is, what are some of the broad and/or specific

issues in the environment that any firm (that operates in this industry) must take into account when considering its future

course of action? These “issues” fall into three broad categories:

1. Important things that all firm in this industry must address to survive and earn “industry-average” returns

(these are often called “key survival factors”)?

2. Major changes in the industry that can be expected to occur in the next five years. What are the major

forces driving these changes in the industry (these are often called “drivers of change”)?

3. How attractive is the industry (in terms of financial and market potential)?

Follow the technique articulated in Part 1-A(1) of the Strategic Business Integration (SBI) Process to undertake this

analysis. The template for Part 1-A(1) of the Strategic Business Integration (SBI) Process walks you through how the

analysis needs to be conducted. It suggests that you use different analytical tools to address the broad environment and

the competitive environment. That is, you need to use the PEST tool to analyze the broad environment and the 5-Forces

tool to analyze the competitive (industry) environment.

Your ability to collect appropriate data, and then organize and analyze the data using appropriate tools and techniques is

critical to arrive at robust and defendable conclusions. Hence, we expect you to spend a significant portion of you time

carefully addressing these issues. As noted in the template, to reach valid conclusions, you must (a) carefully research

and collect valid information on both the broad and the competitive environment, (b) organize the data, and analyze it,

using the tools provided in class, and (c) arrive at substantive and insightful conclusions and recommendations regarding

the key survival factors in the industry, and major changes that be expected to occur in the industry in the next five years.

Here is a suggested OUTLINE for your report:

I. Brief Introduction/Exec Summary a. What industry b. Summarize the most important conclusions about the KSFs, DOC, and implications for the firms c. Summarize your approach

i. What data did you collect and how ii. How did you organize it

iii. What tools/methods did you use – and how - for analysis/syntheses II. Key Survival factors (KSFs)

a. Describe the most important KSFs b. For each:

i. Why is it a KEY SURVIVAL factor? ii. Why is it a priority?

III. Drivers of Change (DOC) a. Describe the most important DOC b. For each:

i. Why is it a DRIVER of change? ii. Why is it a priority?

iii. What are the implications of this change for firms in the industry? IV. Overall Assessment

a. Describe the overall profitability and market attractiveness of the industry TODAY b. Describe how this attractiveness/profitability may evolve over the next five years