Selecting strategies by linking the analytical outcomes in all the projects

Selecting strategies by linking the analytical outcomes in all the projects

You have gone through the process of external analysis with the Porter’s Five Forces analysis in the global industry and PESTLE analysis. Companies or organizations in the 21st global economy is operating in the business environment in the global industry with companies that produce similar products or services. The type of industry you have identified in the industry research in project 1 has some significant impact on the pool of alternative strategies in Project 3 for the internal analysis. Companies in different phases in their corporate life cycles in different economic phases (from the PESTLE analysis) are confronted with the different business factors that are not identical (or one-size-fits-all factors) for all companies in all industries.

In Project 4, you are asked to identify a pool of strategies. The pool of strategies would come from your external analysis in Projects 1 and 2, and internal analysis in Project 3.

When you are in the process of selecting a strategy (or strategies), you are expected to ask yourself and discuss/explain “How does the strategy that you select consistently satisfy the specific external environmental factors appropriate for the current/upcoming corporate life cycle in the “right economic phase” in the global industry (from Projects 1 and 2), and the internal factor analysis in Project 3?”.

Let’s consider the following scenario. If you intend to select “market expansion into foreign countries”, you will be expected to discuss or explain at least some of the following aspects:

· “How or why does the market expansion strategy” fit into the mission and vision statement of the company?”

· How does the international market expansion fit the current economic phase of the company in its corporate life cycle, given the financial analytical outcomes of the company?

· How does the international market expansion be feasible for that global industry?

· How does the financial standing of the company support or fail to support the international market expansion?

· How do the internal factors of the company support or reject that expansion strategy?

· How and why is the international expansion strategy preferred over the other strategies in the QSPM matrix?

Let’s assume that in your Project 1 of the industry analysis, you have analyzed that that focal company is in the “infancy (or introduction) stage” (that is the first stage in the corporate life cycle), you will need to discuss such as “How is the “right timing” for expanding its market domestically versus internationally?” given the current internal factors of the company?” If you plan to recommend “international market expansion”, the PESTLE analysis pointed out the “trade war” between China and the USA which may have far-reaching implications throughout the global industry. In that case, the “international market expansion strategy into the target international market” may need to be “discounted” to a certain extent if the trade war escalated to the global level.

On the other hand, in the “internal factor analysis”, you have gone through the various analytical tools such as financial analysis to analyze the current financial standing of the focal company and infer its financial prospects in the near future. You will need to use financial analytical outcome to support (if the available and abundant financial resources at its disposal come from retrained earnings, or additional stock issuance) or object (due to the high burdens of debt repayment, etc.) the “international market expansion”. Alternatively, you may use other analytical outcomes (such as Grand Strategy matrix, QSPM etc.) and discuss/explain your selection rationale.

In summary, when you discuss the rationale of selecting strategies in Project 4, you will need to resort to the various analyses that you have done in projects 1, 2 and 3, and connect the missing “dots” to support your own recommended strategies so that it is truly a good candidate for the “composite and consistent strategy analysis”. When you resort to your previous analyses, please cite the source by providing the page number and project number so that the readers know where you have previously analyzed these factors and where the analytical outcomes came from. Your alternative strategies would need to meet the specific industry factors, external environmental factors, internal factors, and analytical outcomes from your projects 1, 2, and 3 to make it a good candidate for selection process in Project 4.