Strategic Management Applications: Internal and Competitive Analysis
Select a firm (Netflix) in the industry (and nation) studied by the student’s team and, using secondary sources of data such as information provided by the firm, required reports and filings, published articles etc. conduct an analysis of the firm and prepare a report showing:
Company highlights: mission, vision, current CEO (and other positions, if relevant) locations, annual profit, growth rates, number of employees, performance, their current objectives (the letter to investors is a good source of information for a publicly traded company), their current structure and culture, if you can get this information ,the CVF is a good tool to describe culture.
The main objective is to establish a baseline and foundation on which you will “build” recommended strategies as you develop your strategic plan for this firm throughout the semester.
Analysis of your firm’s historical performance including successes and problems and any competitive advantages or disadvantages it may have going forward. Include the following elements:
Analysis of your competitor’s key resources. This might include physical or intangible assets (equipment, patents) or resources (human resources) or special capabilities such as leadership and/or ethical decision making. Consider using the following VRIO and/or other tools provided in the text or in this course. You are the expert that decision is up to you. But, again, keep in mind that these are not the only models in strategic management, they are not sacrosanct and they do not replace common sense and judgment:
Use one or more of the tools in section 5.1 of the text to portray the position of your firm in the market.
A SWOT analysis for your competitor. The SWOT analysis bridges the external environmental scan completed by your team and your individual competitive internal analysis. You cannot understand strength, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats without understanding the larger environment.
Stakeholder Analysis
Competitive assessment (Chapter 5 shows several models to guide you).
TOW’s analysis showing strengths and weaknesses in relation to threats and opportunities. The type of thinking required for this “tool,” not the tool itself leads you into a consideration of the strategies you will recommend for your firm, The subject of the next module.
