Pest - Assignment

CONTENT PAGE

1. Question Paper 2

2. Introduction 3

3. PEST Analysis 4

(3.1) Political Legal Environment 4

(3.2) Economic Environment 4

(3.3) Social Environment 5

(3.4) Technological Environment 5

4. Industry Analysis 5

5. The Michael Porter Five Forces 6

(5.1) Threat Of New Entrants 7

(5.2) Rivalry of existing firms 7

(5.3) Threats of substitutes 7

(5.4) Bargaining power of buyer 8

(5.5) Bargaining power of suppliers 9

6. Conclusion 9

7. Bibliography 10

8. References 10

EXECUTIVE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT (BA423)

APRIL 2004

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

QUESTION

The study of the external environment is a crucial step in the mapping of business strategy for an organization.

Discuss how the assessment of external forces can be performed with business examples to support your analysis.

[Total 100 marks]

- END OF PAPER -

Introduction

Business environment is an element that will affect all the activities of an organization. Beside, it will bring firms both opportunities and threats because of its uncertainties. Business environment is uncertain, complex & dynamics; organization should apply more flexibility & discontinuity ways to manage them. A firm cannot control the environment because it is unpredictable in its direction and speed of change, such as interest rates, rate of inflation and exchange rate.

Business environment can classifies in two categories that are internal environment and external environment. Internal factors close to the company that have a direct impact on the organizations strategy, these factors include employee, customer, suppliers, shareholder, banker etc. External environment comprises those factors and trends outside the organisation that might have an influence upon an organisation and its future. Many external factors can have an effect upon an organisation - from changes in government legislation to the entry of new competition into a market.

All businesses and organizations operate in a changing world and are subject to forces that are more powerful than they are, and which are beyond their control. Any business strategy needs to take account of all these forces so that opportunities and threats can be identified and the organization can navigate its way to success by matching its internal strengths to external opportunities.

There are many ways and techniques that a firm can adopt to assess the external environmental forces. The most common and popular techniques are the PEST analysis and Industry Analysis, and these are illustrated below in figure 1.

Figure 1: External environment analysis

Pest Analysis

It is useful to consider as a starting point, what environmental influences have been particularly important in the past, and the extent to which there are changes occurring, which may make any of these more or less significant in the future, for the organization and its competitors.

PEST analysis (a mnemonic for Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors) is the most frequently used tool to consider the impact of the general environment. It provides a broad framework for considering a wide range of potential factors in order to summarise the most important influences of the general environment. Beside, it can evaluate the potential impact of these influences, while the opportunities and threats to be faced. Is positive or negative.

Each of the four headings can be broken down further to suggest more detailed consideration of particular factors and changes that might influence the organisation both currently and in the future. Whilst varying dependent upon the particular context, the list of factors and changes may include:

1.) Political Legal Environment:

Political environment include factors that affect the confidence and sentiment of foreign investment and trade relation. Political and legal developments can expand a company's freedom of action; it will make the environment to be more supportive of its activities. Political factors can have a direct impact on the way business operates. Decisions made by government affect our every day lives and can come in the form of policy or legislation such as competition policy, trading standards, financial regulation, planning policies. The governments Organization today among will more consider to this factors such as greater deregulation, more lenient interpretation of antitrust laws, greater environmental protection legislation, growing power etc.

An example: Nike's international operations are subject to the usual risks of doing business abroad, such as possible revaluation of currencies, export duties, quotas, restrictions on the transfer of funds and, in certain parts of the world, political instability. Nike's products manufactured overseas and imported into