week 2 overview

This week you have three assignments: to select your client company and industry; to analyze the
industry opportunity and threats; and to describe your company and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
You are introduced to a standard MBA tool for industry analysis: Porter’s Five forces. Porter provides a
framework for ensuring that you consider all areas of the industry structure in assessing poten

al threats or

opportuni

es for your client. And you are introduced to two analy

cal frameworks for assessing areas of

poten
al company Strengths or Weaknesses: Value Chain process and Resource evalua

on. When you focus
on company processes (Value Chain), you want to understand how its internal processes may make it more
efficient or effec

ve than compe

tors. And when you focus on company assets (Resource View) , you want to

understand how its assets may give the company compe

ve advantage.

Types of Resources: In addi

on to unique characteris

cs of the company’s product/service, other Assets or

Resources that may provide compe

ve advantage can be human (competencies), financial (e.g., parent

company with deep pockets), geographic (e.g., many loca

ons that can offer more cost effec

ve supplier or

distribu
on support), contractual (e.g., supplier agreements or long term sales agreements), poli
cal (e.g.,

government contracts, tax advantages, favorable reputa

on with foreign governments); proprietary
intellectual property (trade marks, patents). You want to understand your client’s resources and processes so
you can later determine whether they are be

er than compe

tors in these areas.

One of the cri

ques of Porter’s FIVE forces is that it excludes two important industry forces that may affect the

profitability (opportunity or threat) in an en

re industry: government regula

on of the industry (e.g.,

requirements for long FDA approval of pharmaceu

cal products; automobile emissions standards set by

government); and technology trends in the industry (e.g., as e-commerce is affec

ng brick and mortar retailers

and mobile phone applica

ons are affec

ng cable television companies) . You will want to include these two

addi
onal forces when you use the Porter’s Five forces analy

cal tool—make it seven forces!

Next week you begin country level analysis--by assessing poten

al opportuni

es and threats to your client in
different countries. Keep in mind, for all three levels of analysis (industry, company, country), that you are
building your SWOT framework that you will use for developing corporate level strategy for your client. Next
week you will create the SWOT template to collect and organize the industry Opportunity and Threat factors
and company Strengths and Weaknesses you iden

fied this week. In Week 4, you will add country level O and
T; and in Week 6 you will refine and finalize your SWOT matrix. In weeks 7 % 8, you will use the SWOT to
develop corporate level strategy for your client's country expansion.
This week's reading includes an ar

cle on interna

onal strategy and how it intersects with both Corporate and
Business level strategy. You will see that when you select a country market and a product to take into that new
country, your entry strategy is a corporate level strategy. When you determine how to compete in the new
country market, your compe

ve strategy is a business level strategy; and when you develop a marke
ng plan

Week Two: Industry Analysis and Company profile
Required Readings and Multimedia resources:(Note if a link does not connect directly, copy paste the url
into a new browser or new window).
Evaluating the External Environment: Porter's five forces(industry level)

(1) https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s07-evaluating-the-external-
enviro.html OR

(2) http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n178.xm
Internal analysis (company level)

(1). Resource based view of the firm: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-
management/s08-managing-firm-resources.html

(2) Value Chains in company assessment:
http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n551.xml
Strategy at Corporate, Business and Operational/functional levels
Why go global:strategic

choices: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-
opportunities-in-international-business/s12-01-global-strategic-choices.html

Business and Corporate level

strategy: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-
opportunities-in-international-business/s14-01-business-and-corporate-strateg.html

Market segmenting and positioning:https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-
v2.0/s08-market-segmenting-targeting-an.html