Business Strategy for Expansion: Analysis and Strategies for Competitive Advantage

This report addresses the internal environment analysis for expansion, analysis of Porter's five forces, and appropriate strategies for achieving competitive advantage for Adecco group.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Internal environment that affects the organization and its analysis for expansion......................3
Analysis of Porter's five forces for expansion and appropriate strategies for achieving
competitive advantage.................................................................................................................5
Strategic Plan...............................................................................................................................8
Evaluation of strategic plan for sustainable growth...................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
A business strategy is primarily the various actions as well as the decisions taken by the
organizations for achieving their long term goals as objectives. Adecco group is a renowned HR
provider as well as the staffing firm being placed in UK and having more than 5200 branches all
over the world. It was being established in 1996 due the merger of French and Swiss company.
This report basically addresses the Internal environment that affects the organization and
its analysis for expansion, Analysis of Porter's five forces for expansion and appropriate
strategies for achieving competitive advantage, company strategic plan and Evaluation of
strategic plan for sustainable growth.
MAIN BODY
Internal environment that affects the organization and its analysis for expansion
SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis is basically a framework which helps the organisations to have a deep
understanding of their strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats that are present within the
market.
Strength
The main strength of the Adecco group is that they gave the immense potential ans well as the
ability to hire the skilled, knowledgeable and qualified employees. Besides this, its another
strength which has enabled them to flourish is their powerful reputation within the market. Due
to its strong market position, they are able to attract the large number of candidates which are
highly qualified and experienced. Apart from this, their growing market share has enabled them
to achieve a great competitive advantage over their competitors (Scholes, 2015).
Weakness
The major weakness that has dominated the Adecco group is their decreased adaptation
to the changing trend of the labour market in UK which has resulted in the fluctuation of the job
market and has hindered their operations. Besides this, being a staffing agency, it has a weak
accounting software and lacks behind in some of the bookkeeping skills that has caused a huge
problem them as these are necessary for handling the payroll etc.
Opportunities
Due to its great market share and efficient workforce, they have the immense
opportunities for expanding their business across the entire world as the firm has made its

position in the market and has attained the competitive advantage at some level. Besides this,
they have the golden opportunity to attract the different kinds of candidates from different
culture that will increase their profitability ratio and helps in achieving their business goals.
There will be availability of more skilled labour force which the company can hire.
Threat
The major threat that might comes in their way for achieving their goals and objective ids
the different liability laws ad political situation of other countries. As Adecco group plans to
expand their business they would be exposed to changing laws and regulations of that place
which might hinder their operations. Besides this, another threat which might dominate them is
the strong presence of their competitors who are competent enough to give a tough fight to them
and this may make them lose their market share.
VRIO
VRIO analysis is used for accessing situation inside the company which is helpful for
company in accessing the potential improvement which is needed for company.
Value- The company can avails with the rent, lease and purchase expenses which will be being
paid by the company for marketing.
Rareness- The company can get that the resources that who are they are and they can find other
alternative for the company resources.
Imitability- The difficulty level can be accessed by the company so that they can get with the
resources easily.
Organization – It is the agreement which is used by the organization for proper functioning of
company.
Balance scorecard
This is basically the performance metrics and the tool which helps the organizations for
improving their internal functions and for generating favourable outcomes. It will help Adecco
group to analyse their capabilities by providing feedback to the employees regarding their
performance. It basically measures four essential aspects in business which are growth,
customers, business processes and finance. Thus, this will help Addecco to measure their
effectiveness and bring improvement in the areas where needed.
Pestle analysis

Political- Due to political effect of the government of UK has affected the performance of
Adecco group. With the implementation of Brexit there is a change in the profit and the earning
culture of Adecco group, introduction of various political change in the laws and legislation of
business and trade the financial growth of Adecco group has decreased. The import and export
has also affected the sales of the firm. The trade practices with the European countries has been a
tougher and costlier task.
Environmental- There is a substantial change in the environmental factor with the emergence of
Brexit the business has changed the marketing conditions of the market the trade practice is
reserved and economical sustainability are high. Working conditions for the people out of UK
has changed which affects both employees as well as organizations.
Social- Social culture has changed the working conditions of the organization. Social culture has
to built up and make the people and workers aware for the better performance of the
organization. Change in Lifestyle has a diverse effect on the economical status of the
organization there will be a shift which will lead to change in the social culture of the Adecco
group.
Technological- technological advancement needs to be changed which can change the diverse
working conditions of the organisation, technological advancement needs to be done in order to
develop a safer working conditions of Adecco group.
Economical- Economy of the Adecco group will be restricted with the growth and development
of the Adecco group, strategic changes needs to be changed for the better performance of the
Adecco group which will give rise to economy.
Legal- legal rights and services must be followed which can be used to improve the performance
of Adecco group. The rights imposed by the government of UK must be followed to aren the
legal benefits in terms of the salient working offered.
Analysis for expansion
As the company is planning to expand its business in South, London this SWOT analysis
will be highly effective for them as this will assist them in the attributes and factors which they
need to consider while expansion and which they needs to improve. There are mainly six aspects
upon which the company need to depend and give a thought for making their expanded business
flourish in the given location (Thompson, Strickland and Gamble, 2015).

The first aspect is the need to for a great expertise. While making a company success in
South, London, Adecco group would require the high level of expertise which can provide them
a proper guidance about the resources that would go in expansion, various strategies to adopt for
attracting the candidates and this will eventually assist them in maintaining their position and
attaining competitive advantage even at the new location.
The second aspect which becomes important for Adecco group while extending their
business in the areas of London is the ability to attract the people of different culture from
different countries which will present an opportunity fro them in future. Establishment of the
new company will bring an efficient workforce which will have different cultures, values, ethics
etc. As the new location will have people of varied mindset thus this will bring more innovative
ideas for the company from different types of employees (Akter and et.al.,2016).
A high competitive advantage and skilled employees will be the third aspect which will
be highly significant for their new company. The main USP of Adecco group is that they hire
highly skilled workforce which will ultimately help them in their new company. When the
company already have a good position in the home country and try to expand in the other one,
then their competitive advantage makes it easier for them to establish their unit more effectively.
Besides this, a highly efficient workforce brings a lot of innovative ideas with them related to the
expansion and opening of new company.
Along with the benefits, threats also becomes an important facet which the company
needs to consider while expanding their business. During the growth, a company usually
becomes the prey of various liability laws and political situation of the country where they wants
to expand. Thus having a well defined strategy for adapting to these fluctuation will be highly
astonishing for Adecco group as they would be exposed to different taxation laws, consumer
behaviour, interest rates etc. that prevails in South, London.
Fifth aspect which will be extremely essential for the organization during their
development in various areas is their large market share. As the company through their
sustainable growth has acquired a large market share, this will be helpful for them to maintain
their supply chain because they already have a established brand name thus it would not be that
much difficult for them to make their image. However, maintaining this profound image will be
somewhat complicated for them as they would have to adapt their operations accordingly
(Martinez-Simarro, Devece and Llopis-Albert, 2015).

The last aspect which the Adecco group needs to consider for their new company is the strong
presence of their competitors which might bring a hindrance in their operation and lower their
brand equity. This aspect is highly important for the company for their expansion.
Analysis of Porter's five forces for expansion and appropriate strategies for achieving
competitive advantage
In order to expand its business, Adecco group needs to analyse the intensity of
competition that would affect them as well as the profitability which they will gain from this
growth. Porter' s five forces is one of the most efficient model which assists the organisations to
determine the competitive environment and how they will survive in this environment.
Bargaining power of suppliers
It actually analyses the amount of control which the suppliers have in increasing the
prices of goods and decreasing their quality. This would affect the expansion of Adecco group in
a most imperative way. The firm would have to modify their entire chain of supplying the
employees in other sectors including education sector. Powerful suppliers generally use the
negotiating power in recruitment agency for charging high prices thus Adecco group would have
to take care of this aspect.
Bargaining power of buyers
It generally assesses the extent to which the customers are able to put pressure on the
company for changing prices. As the Adecco group supplies a range of employees thus during
their expansion this would affect them in a great way as the the customers to which they are
providing efficient employees would impose a great pressure for decreasing their commission
which they demand for offering the employees. Besides this, being a new company in the
market, they would have to be aware of the various customers that could impact their operations.
Threat of new entrants
When the barriers for the the entry in the industry are low then the new business can
easily enter the market and establish their position thus this threat of the entrance of competitors
would be extremely high for Adecco group during their expansion. They would have to analyse
the market in which they are planing to expand for understanding the attributes of competitors as
well as to adapt their strategies in such a way that this presence projects no impact on their
growth (Razak and et.al.,2016). This factor would be medium for the company as the company
already has established position.

Threat of substitutes
This would impact the this recruitment agency in great way and will be potentially high.
There are various substitutes like various job portals, websites, recruitment sites that can lessen
their market share and eventually their business. Various candidates and the customers may
switch to these websites for securing or offering jobs if the the company has ineffective
recruitment policy and inefficient supply chain. Thus while the expansion, they would have to
modify their recruitment policy accordingly so that the customers do not switch top these
substitutes.
Rivalry among competitors
This describes the intensity of the competition within the market and is the highly
influential factor that affect the recruitment agency. With the growth in various areas, the
company would come across various competitors who have attained the competitive advantage at
a great extent. Thus, this would be higher for Adecco group as they would have to compete with
strong agencies having established brand name.
Strategies for achieving competitive advantage
While planning its expansion, there are various strategies which Adecco can adopt in
order to achieve the competitive advantage in new market.
Corporate strategy
A corporate strategy is basically the actions taken by the firm for setting the long term
visions, developing the corporate value and achieving the goals and objectives. This strategy will
help the company implement their services in new market more effectively. The primary
corporate strategy which Adecco can adopt is the cost leadership where they can lower their
prices and hence the commission which they are charging from different firms for providing
them with the efficient employees. Lowering the price does not mean providing the bad quality
of workforce, instead this strategy will help the company to charge less price along with
supplying the qualified and skilled employees.
Business strategy
Just like the corporate strategy, business strategy is also the various activities performed
by the organizations for converting their vision and goals into some concrete strategies. Along
with the corporate strategy, this strategy will eventfully assist Adecco in taking various decision
regarding their services and products and thus will help them to survive in this cut-throat

competition. Under this, the most effective strategy is the differentiation strategy where the
company can differentiate their services in terms of the quality, prices, facilities from their other
competitors. Through this strategy, Adecco can distinguish themselves by providing the
customized services according to the need of customers of the place where they want to expand.
Operational strategy
Operational strategy is predominantly designed to increase the effectiveness of various
processes that will drive the overall strategy of the business. This strategy aids the company in
achieving competitive advantage by decreasing the entire cost and increasing the efficiency. To
enhance its operational process, the company can use technology based strategy where they can
optimize their search engine as well as modify their website so that the customers can easily
contact with the company and derive information. Besides this, with the help of this strategy,
Adecco can easily extract various information about the potent customers in the new place which
will help them to establish their position in new market as well as assist them in attracting the
skilled workforce for their agency (McAdam, Bititci and Galbraith, 2017).
Strategic Plan
Mission
Our mission is to help our consumer hiring and sourcing most qualified professionals
with highly skilled occupations, also help those individual in finding the best opportunities for
job in their related fields.
Vision
To be the primal players in every area we recruit in.
Core values
 We stand by honesty as we have best work policy. And always stand up with the name
what's right.
 We take into accountability to render the qualified and knowledgable individuals for an
organization.
Objectives
 To establish their market share in new market till the end of 2021.
 To increase the sales of firm by 30% till the end of year 2025.
 To enhance the profitability by 10% in upcoming 6 months.
Strategy

Ansoff Matrix :
It is very important model for the strategic market planning which can be applied by a
company for growth opportunities and revenues for business by developing new products and
services or expanding the business into new markets. So this is also known as 'Product-market
Matrix' (Strategy, 2017). This model mainly focuses on the growth so its the widely used
marketing model globally. It is helpful for allocating opportunities for the company for raising
their sales by showing various alternative combination for new market which are shown below-
Market Penetration –
In the market penetration firm uses its products in existing market. As the company aims
to raise its hare in the market with the help of market penetration strategy. Adecco group to
expand its business in the South London can use the market penetration strategy in different
ways. They can raise the promotion and distribution efforts so that they can easily avail through
the new market and reach to the wide number of people and easily attract the individuals to their
company (Buckley, Burton and Mirza, 2016).
Market Development –
The market development strategy is successful if Adecco group can own proprietary
technology which will be helpful for the agency to tap into new market. They can also
concentrate on the consumers and their behaviour so that this will render them with the
promotional activities and help them to set their strategies according to the South London
market, so they can easily reach through the customers.
Product Development -
The product development strategy is accountable when company have a strong
understanding about the current market and can easily avail through innovative solutions which
will help them to meet the needs of existing market. The Addeco group can invest in Research
and development for expanding into new market and availing through new promotional activities
so that they can easily attract the consumers in the new market.
Diversification – It is the risky strategy as product and market development is required, so the
risk can be mitigated through related diversification. Adecco group will use the related
diversification so that they can tap into new market with their related product and services which
will be provided to their customers.
Porter generic strategies

This is the framework which helps organizations to know the relative competitive
position in market and the various forces which impacts it.
Cost leadership
In this strategy, organizations captures the market share by lowering the prices of their
product and services and thus attain competitive advantage through cost advantage. Adecco
group can become the market leader by lowering its commission process for recruiting
candidates. This will help them to attract the large companies for outsourcing and will attain
economies of scale.
Differentiation
In this strategy, the organizations establish their position by differentiating their products
from that of competitors and thus gain the market share. This will help Addecco group where the
company can differentiate their services from other recruitment agency like talented workforce,
providing additional services which will help them to become unique within market. Besides
this, they can also charge premium prices for their unique and differentiating services.
Focus
This is the strategy wherein organization narrows their focus on the particular aspect and
thus gain competitive advantage by concentrating all efforts on that aspect. Addecco group can
adopt cost focus strategy by targeting niche group and offering products and services at low price
or it can adopt differentiation focus strategy where Addecco can seek differentiation by fulfilling
the special needs of clients.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is basically the process under which organizations measure their overall
performance by comparing it with some other successful companies operating within similar
industry. This eventually helps the companies to improve their overall performance and become
efficient. Benchmarking will help Addecco to evaluate their performance in comparison to other
recruitment agencies and will assist them to achieve the strategic advantage.
Marketing tactics
Marketing mix is also known as the 4P s of marketing. It is the set of tool for marketing
which can be used by firm to attain the marketing objective in the target market. Thus marketing
mix can be broadly classified into four level which are described below -

Product – Adecco group can select and modified their product and services according to the
needs and demands of the consumers which are present at the South London which is helpful for
the company to attract more and more consumers.
Price – The Adecco group can set low prices in South London so that they can avail through the
wide number of people easily. If company will provide high quality services at low prices
consumer will more relay on the company and prefer the company services for the high quality
level (Ghemawat, 2016).
Place – The Company Adecco group can immensely decide the place of promotion so that they
can get through the large number of people and their company message can go through each and
every individual.
Promotion – Adecco can use the social media marketing as the promotional tool as wide number
of people are available on the online platform all job seekers will easily get through their website
and thus the employers can also easily connect with the company and thus the company can
render their best services at South London (Soltanizadeh and et.al.,2016).
Evaluation of strategic plan for sustainable growth
For achieving the market growth, sustainability and tangible objectives Adecco have to
plan various strategies and concepts. By using those methods Adecco can achieve their target.
Such as by using the Ansoff matrix model, firm can expand and grow in the existing and same
market also with existing and new products. Such in Ansoff matrix, use various methods like
market penetration by suing this method Adecco can enhance their business in the existing
market with the same products (Higgins, Omer and Phillips, 2015). That will also help Adecco
firm for sustain in the market for long time duration and with the help of company can also
achieve their tangible objectives. Company can also grow in the new market by the using the
strategy of diversification. In this strategy firm can improve their market share in the new market
with the new and innovative products. For become successful in new market it is necessary that
Adecco focus upon their customer needs and wants. Also, be successful, sustainable and for
achieving their tangible objectives, Adecco can also user the technique of market tactics, because
market P's are very important in every business. By using those P's effectively a firm can achieve
sustain in market. Because customers are generally attracted towards the product by their price
and the promotion. If Adecco design the price and promotion strategies effective then they are
able to survive in long time duration in market. A company or firm success is scientifically

depended upon the product, if Adecco provide good quality product in market than it will fulfil
companies objectives such as market growth and the long time sustainability in market.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that the internal environment of the organization impacts them in
great way where they come to know about their strength, weaknesses and the various threats in
the market and helps them in assessing themselves. Besides this, any organization before
expansion need to analyse the market of that place by evaluating the various substitutes,
competitors, buyers etc through which they achieve competitive advantage at the given place.
Once they have assessed the market, ext they develop a strategic plan which incorporates the
various strategies that the company adopt for establishing their position in new market.
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