Research Report: Smart Communications External Forces Analysis

This research report investigates the impact of external business forces on the strategic capabilities of Smart Communications in the Philippines. The report begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that outlines the overview, background of the firm, research aim, questions, objectives, and rationale. A comprehensive literature review explores strategic capabilities, the international market, and critical competencies. The research methodology details the research outline, philosophy, design, approach, strategy, and data collection/analysis methods. The findings and analysis section presents insights from both the literature review and primary data collection, followed by implications for the firm. The report concludes with recommendations for Smart Communications. The report also includes references and an appendix with an interview script.

Running head: RESEARCH REPORT
RESEARCH REPORT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This report is based on the research which is collected in regard to the analysis of the numerous
external forces which tend to have a very solid influence on the business situation. The business
situation can be taken to be very complex and various factors influence the performance of the
firm. Hence, the firm which has been selected for the purpose of the analysis is the Smart
Communications in Philippines. The report provides an Introduction, Review of Literature, and
Research Methodology, Findings and analysis and the Conclusion. Certain suggestions have also
been given.

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Table of Contents
Research Topic................................................................................................................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Overview......................................................................................................................................4
About the Firm.............................................................................................................................4
Research aim................................................................................................................................5
Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................5
Research Rationale.......................................................................................................................6
Review of Literature........................................................................................................................7
Strategic Capabilities...................................................................................................................7
Thriving in the International Market............................................................................................7
Identification of Critical Competencies.......................................................................................7
Strategic Value Analysis..............................................................................................................8
Aspects of the Strategic Capability..............................................................................................8
External forces.............................................................................................................................8
Economic Influences....................................................................................................................9
Political and Legal Influences....................................................................................................10
Demographic Factors.................................................................................................................10
Social Factors.............................................................................................................................10
Technology.................................................................................................................................11
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................12
Research Outline........................................................................................................................12
Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................12
Research Design.........................................................................................................................12
Research Approach....................................................................................................................13
Research Strategy.......................................................................................................................13
Data collection...........................................................................................................................13
Data analysis..............................................................................................................................13

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Ethical considerations................................................................................................................14
Findings and Analysis....................................................................................................................15
Findings from the Literature Review.........................................................................................15
Findings from the Primary data collection.................................................................................15
Implications for the firm............................................................................................................17
Conclusions and Recommendations..............................................................................................18
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19
Appendix........................................................................................................................................21
Interview Script..........................................................................................................................21

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Research Topic: The Impact of External Business forces on the strategic capabilities of the
business: A case study of Smart in Philippines
Introduction
Overview
The external business environment is considerably dynamic in nature and in relation to
this, there are various external forces which have an influence on the performance of the firm
and affect the overall strategic capabilities of the business. These forces may comprise of the
Political forces, the Economic forces, the Social forces, the Technological forces, the Legal
forces and the Environmental forces. These forces although performing externally, can have a
sound impact on the internal capabilities of the organization. The primary reason why these
aspects are being considered is because they tend to affect the operations of the business and
sometimes either limit or support the overall capability of the business.
About the Firm
The SMART Communications can be ideally defined as the wholly owned wireless
communications and digital service subsidiary of the PLDT which is a telecommunications as
well as digital service provider which is based in Philippines. The company has a total of 58.3
million mobile subscribers and has a total of 3.8 million users under the Smart Bro and the Sun
wireless broadband. Additionally, the firm tends to offer a large collection of the wireless
services with the help of which, it is successfully able to deploy its services in various key areas
of Philippines. The company has also undertaken a research phase for the development and

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research of the 5G services (Morden 2016). The company is being supported by the satellite
communication which as the tendency to serve the global maritime industry.
Research aim
The primary aim of the research is to be to find the impact of the various External
business forces on the strategic capabilities of the Smart Communications in Philippines.
Research Questions
The research questions have been selected as follows:
1. What is the concept of External business forces in the context of Philippines?
2. What are the strategic capabilities of Smart Communications in Philippines?
3. What is the impact of the external business forces on the strategic capabilities of the
firm?
4. What is the relationship between the external business forces and the internal capabilities
of the firm?
5. What recommendations can be provided to the organization which would assist them in
understanding the manner in which the firm can perform well in the long run?
Research Objectives
The research objectives have been stated to be as follows:
 To understand the concept of External business forces in the context of Philippines.
 To examine the strategic capabilities of Smart Communications in Philippines
 To analyze the impact of the external business forces on the strategic capabilities of the
firm.

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 To find the relationship between the external business forces and the internal capabilities
of the firm.
 To provide recommendations to the organization which would assist those in
understanding the manner in which the firm can perform well in the long run.
Research Rationale
The primary reason for which this research has been adopted can be largely contributed
to the fact that, the external environment of the business can be assumed to be very active in
nature and it is with respect to this fact that it often becomes very difficult for the business to
ensure that it will effectively be able to carry out the research on a comprehensive manner which
would assist in finding the means in which the external forces either support or limit the strategic
capabilities of the organization (Hitt and Duane Ireland 2017).

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Review of Literature
Strategic Capabilities
Strategies are deployed by the different organizations in order to be successfully being
able to compete in the business environment for various returns which comprise of aspects like
the market share, the revenue, the customers and various related tactics (Bryce 2017). Hence, it
is the duty of the leader to ensure that he is effectively able to shape various strategies for the
organization and be able to assure that the organization is being able to come up with various
advantages which would benefit the organization in the long run. Hence, according to Hitt,
Ireland and Hoskisson (2016), strategic capabilities can be rightfully referred to as the strengths
of the company, the people, the skills as well as capacities which provide a competitive edge to
the firm and are able to perceive that the firm is being able to perform very well.
Thriving in the International Market
As discussed earlier, the strategic capability of an organization may assist it in growing
financially and help the firm in prospering well irrespective of the various strategic limitations
which exist in the market regarding aspects like competition and the various legislations and
regulations.
Identification of Critical Competencies
There are a large number of critical competencies which can contribute towards ensuring
that the strategic competency and capability of a business can be enhanced (Steiss 2019). The
aspects like cash, patents and related property also contributes towards ensuring that a firm is
able to deploy the right kind of strategies and is being able to perform well in the long run.

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Strategic Value Analysis
Just having the strategic capability is not enough and any association which objects to
perform better would be obligated to have an assessment of the strategic capabilities which is
indeed a complex procedure. The procedure of evaluating the overall business strategic
capability can be defined as the strategic value analysis.
Aspects of the Strategic Capability
The strategic capability may comprise of a number of factors involved in the business and
may comprise of factors like the Manufacturing of the product or the service delivery which
assists in ensuring that a firm is being able to manufacture in the right manner and engage in
adequate service delivery as well. The strategic capability of the business also lies in its supply
chain management whereby the firm would be obligated to see to it that it is being able to have a
good control over its supplies (Ansoff et al. 2018). The other strategic capabilities of a business
are often focused on the Research and Development along with the skills of the employees and
managers. With respect to this, it can be rightfully mentioned that, all the employees of a firm
are required to be skilled adequately which will help in seeing to it that the firm is being able to
have a good standing in the market (Zhao et al. 2017).
External forces
The businesses do not operate in a vacuum but they rather govern in a dynamic
environment which has a great impact on the manner in which the firm tends to operate and also
acts as a deciding factor of whether the organization will be able to achieve long term success or
not. The various factors which generally govern the exterior environment can be contributed to

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have various factors like the Party-political, Social, Economic, Legal, Technological and
demographic factors. Each of these factors has been known to have a very strong effect on the
various procedures of the firm (Hitt and Duane Ireland 2017).
Figure 1: The external environment of the business
(Source: Lasserre 2017)

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Economic Influences
These influences are one of the most integral influences whereby a business is generally
able to be affected by the business cycles and the various individuals. The interest rates and the
inflation rates are other areas which tend to affect the economic activity of the business. The
government attempts to be able to control the overall economic activities of the business so that
it is able to set various aspects like taxes and other interest rates which will ensure that, the flow
of supply and demand can be managed well.
Political and Legal Influences
The political environment of a country where the firm functions also has an impact on the
daily business operations (Quinlan et al. 2019). The laws of the country, the various aspects like
the laws of the firm and other such associations also have an impact on the way in which the firm
tends to perform in the long run. Hence, it is vital to understand that a politically stable
environment calls for a comprehensive political climate and better business operations.
Demographic Factors
According to Trigeorgis and Reuer (2017), the demographic factors which affect the
operations of the business can be understood to be the factors like the location of the individual,
the market, and the vital statistics regarding their age and related aspects like location as well.
Social Factors
Another set of factors which affect firm can be understood to be the social factors
whereby the attitudes, values and the ethics as well as the lifestyle have a strong impact on the
manner in which the firm can be understood to have a broad range of interests which comprise of
various aspects like the changing roles of the business, the development of the family incomes,

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the renewed emphasis, the ethical behavior of the different participants which will assist in
ensuring that the renewed emphasis can be maintained on the ethical behavior within all levels of
the organization (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).
Technology
The technological factors can be considered to be another set of factors which generally
has a critical impact on the business operations. This technology has the capability to impact the
application of science as well as the engineering problems which have a very strong impact on
the productivity. The productivity can be considered to have a very strong impact on the
organizational performance and has the overall ability to maintain the performance of the
company at large (Frynas and Mellahi 2015).