Corporate Strategic Analysis

CORPORATE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 1
Decisions, tools and concepts of corporate strategy
Course
Instructor’s name
Institutional affiliation
City and state
Date

CORPORATE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 2
Introduction
This paper aims to assess the corporate industry analysis. The paper specifically looks at the
external environment and the major influencing factors in a particular industry. In this analysis,
the focus is allocated towards the three major factors that are said to be the most influential
towards any business operations and activities. These three factors are chosen from two
particular concepts of external analysis. These include Michael porter’s five forces and the
PESTEL model. Therefore, for purposes of making a relevant industrial external environment,
three factors will be discussed form each of the two identified concepts. As one of the
requirements for writing this paper, the WalMart public listed company will be selected as the
firm of choice.
Discussion
Point 1: the three most influential PESTEL factors
According to the information obtained from the SEC, the three major factors that have a
significant influence on the industry include the economic factors, the legal and lastly the
technological. Among these factors, the economic factors are the most influential factors that
affect an industry at any one time. These economic factors are then followed by the technological
factors and lastly the political combined with the legal as such. Form the information provided,
the Walmart as a united states entity suffers mostly from the economic factors. This is so because
these factors are in a wide range. An entity, therefore, finds it extremely difficult to operate
without fulfilling requirements regarding the external economic demands (Birnleitner,2013).
Factors such as the constant changes in the market demand, changes in exchange rates,
inflationary tendencies, interest rates, unemployment among others have rendered it hard to for

CORPORATE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 3
different businesses to effectively carry out transactions. For instance in situations of economic
instabilities such as inflation, the purchasing power of consumers consequently becomes eroded.
With an eroded consumer, therefore, reduced demand and subsequently low consumption.
Supply becomes higher than demand and hence resulting in material wastage. In the long run,
therefore, unprofitability comes in due to the reduced market size. It is upon such concerns and
economic forces that these factors are identified as the most influential.
Besides the economic factors, the second influential PESTEL factors that have a significant
impact on the industry are technological (Bush, 2016). According to the Walmart presentation,
the current trend of conducting business and transacting has significantly changed. Today many
businesses are carrying out transactions over the internet and other online platforms. It is for such
reasons that there is the emergence of what is known as e-commerce. This type of conducting
business has been embraced due to its numerous benefits. For instance, the Walmart company
uses an e-commerce platform to save customers time and make their purchases even much
easier. The technological advancements have as well eased customer service and outreach on
both the global and domestic scale. therefore, the failure for a company to embrace and adapt to
these changes in an industry implies loss on market share and consequently unprofitability of
such an entity. With poor or low levels of technological advancement, then customer service and
satisfaction is under very high risk. This is so because technology plays a significant role in
improving the quality of output on the market.
Lastly, the other influential factor under the PESTEL that has a significant influence on the
industries within the United States is the political factor. This factor is in certain cases combined
with the legal factors. Therefore these two form a significant influence on industrial
performance. Among such factors includes the legal requirements of operation, tax duties