External Analysis
Strategic
Management
(BA 491)
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Analyzing the
External
Environment of the
Firm
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
SWOT Analysis
• Managers need to analyze
• The general environment
• The firm’s industry and competitive environment
• SWOT analysis
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
• Basic technique for analyzing firm and industry
conditions
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The General Environment
General
Environmen
t
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• General environmental
trends and events
• Little ability to predict them
• Even less ability to control
them
• Can vary across industries
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Demographic Segment
• Aging population
General
Environmen
t
• Rising affluence
• Changes in ethnic composition
• Geographic distribution of population
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Greater disparities in income levels
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
4
Sociocultural Segment
• More women in the workforce
General
Environmen
t
• Increase in temporary workers
• Greater concern for fitness
• Greater concern for environment
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Postponement of family formation
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Political/Legal Segment
• Tort reform
General
Environmen
t
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Repeal of Glass-Steagall Act in 1999
• Deregulation of utility and other
industries
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Increases in federally mandated
minimum wages
• Taxation at local, state, federal levels
• Legislation on corporate governance
reforms (Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
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Technological Segment
• Genetic engineering
General
Environmen
t
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Emergence of Internet technology
• Computer-aided design/computeraided manufacturing systems
(CAD/CAM)
• Research in synthetic and exotic
materials
• Pollution/global warming
• Miniaturization of computing
technologies
• Wireless technology
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Economic Segment
• Interest rates
General
Environmen
t
• Unemployment
• Consumer Price index
• Trends in GDP
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Changes in stock market valuations
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Global Segment
• Increasing global trade
General
Environmen
t
Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
• Currency exchange rates
• Emergence of the Indian and Chinese
economies
• Trade agreements among regional
blocs (NAFTA, EU, ASEAN)
• Creation of WTO (decreasing
tariffs/free trade in services)
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Competitive Environment
Competitive
Environmen
t
Competitors
Customers
Suppliers
• Sometimes called the task
or industry environment
• Includes
• Competitors (existing and
potential)
• Customers
• Suppliers
• Porter’s five-forces model
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Porter’s Five Forces Model of Industry
Competition
Threat of
new entrants
Bargaining power
of suppliers
Bargaining
power of buyers
Threat of
Substitute products
and services
Adapted from Porter’s Five Forces Model of Industry Competition
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The Threat of New Entrants
• Profits of established firms may be
eroded by new competitors
• High entry barriers lead to low
threat of new entries
• Economies of scale
• Product differentiation
• Capital requirements
• Cost disadvantages independent of size
• Access to distribution channels
• Government policy
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The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
• Suppliers can exert power by
threatening to raise prices or
reduce the quality of purchased
goods and services
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The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
• A supplier group will be powerful
when
• The supplier group is dominated
by a few companies and is more
concentrated than the industry
it sells to
• The supplier group’s products are differentiated or it
has built up switching costs for the buyer
• The supplier group is not obliged to contend with
substitute products for sale to the industry
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The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
• A supplier group will be powerful
when
• The supplier’s product is an
important input to the buyer’s
business
• The supplier group poses a credible threat of
forward integration
• The industry is not an important customer of the
supplier group
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The Bargaining Power of Buyers
• Buyers threaten an industry
• Force down prices
• Bargain for higher quality or more
services
• Play competitors against each
other
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The Bargaining Power of Buyers
• A buyer group is powerful when
• It is concentrated or purchases
large volumes relative to seller sales
• The products it purchases from the
industry are standard or undifferentiated
• The products its purchases from the industry form a
component of its product and represent a significant
fraction of its cost
• It earns low profits
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The Bargaining Power of Buyers
• A buyer group is powerful when
• The industry’s product is
unimportant to the quality of the
buyer’s products or services
• The industry’s product does not save
the buyer money
• The buyers pose a credible threat
of backward integration
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The Threat of Substitutes
• Substitutes limit the potential
returns of an industry
• Ceiling on the prices that firms
in that industry can profitably charge
• Price/performance ratio
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The Intensity of Rivalry
• Jockeying for position
• Price competition
• Advertising battles
• Product introductions
• Increased customer service or warranties
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The Intensity of Rivalry
• Interacting factors lead to
intense rivalry
• Numerous or equally balanced
competitors
• Slow industry growth
• Lack of differentiation or switching costs
• High fixed or storage costs
• Capacity augmented in large increments
• High exit barriers
• Diverse strategies or “personalities” of rivals
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Strategic Groups within Industries
• Two unassailable assumptions in industry
analysis
• No two firms are totally different
• No two firms are exactly the same
• Strategic groups
• Cluster of firms that share similar strategies




Breadth of product and geographic scope
Price/quality
Degree of vertical integration
Type of distribution system
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The World Automobile Industry: Strategic
Groups
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Strategic Groups within Industries
• Value of strategic groups as an analytical tool
• Identify barriers to mobility that protect a group from
attacks by other groups
• Identify groups whose competitive position may be
marginal or tenuous
• Chart the future direction of firms’ strategies
• Thinking through the implications of each industry
trend for the strategic group as a whole
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Implications of Five-Forces Analysis
• The stronger the five forces collectively,
the weaker the industry’s profit potential.
• Business-level strategic responses:
• Positioning the company (defensive)
• Influencing the balance of the forces (offensive)
• Exploiting industry change
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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