Strategic Analysis: Tools and Techniques

This report analyses Weetabix's strategic positioning, external and industry analysis, as well as analysing the stakeholders using tools such as Bowman's Strategy Clock, PEST analysis and Porter's Five Forces.

Strategic Analysis:
Tools and
Techniques

Introduction
 Weetabix Limited operates in the UK and it specializes in production
of cereals and breakfast rinks since 1932.
 Among the things included in their portfolio include Alpen, Weetabix
Crispy Minis, and Weetos among others.
 Weetabix Limited was purchased in 2017 by Post Holdings, a United
States’ firm at a price of $1.8 billion.
 Post Holding began to operate in 1895 and it is the third largest
cereal company in America.
 The report aims at analysing Weetabix’s strategic positioning,
external and industry analysis, as well as analysing the stakeholders.

Strategic Positioning
 For a company to gain a competitive advantage, it may consider
using strategic frameworks such as Bowman’s Strategy Clock or the
Porters Five Forces (Brenes, Montoya and Ciravegna, 2014, pp.849).
The Bowman’s Clock is used to traverse strategic positioning choices.
 Within the Bowman’s Clock strategy, Weetabix and Post Holdings fall
within the differentiation strategy because they focus on offering
their clients a high-perceived value at average prices.

Stakeholder Analysis
 Stakeholders are either affected or affect the attainment of
organizational goals. they are categorized as primary and secondary
stakeholders.
 The primary stakeholders that were involved during the acquisition of
Weetabix are the shareholders (Dobbs, 2014, pp.37). Their role is to
govern a company’s operations and activities and they posses a high
level of interest and power in a frim.
 Other primary stakeholders that were involved were the British
government, staff, and investors. The government ensured that the
acquisition process was done legally by adhering to all the rules.

External Analysis
 The PEST analysis is an effective tool in analysing the external
environment within which the Weetabix and the Post Holdings
operate.
 Post Holdings is an American company. Having acquired Weetabix, it
will have to abide to the UK’s employment laws such as income
taxes, labour laws, as well as minimum wages.
 To mitigate recession and booms in the economy, Post Holdings has
enhanced growth in other economies such as by acquiring Weetabix.
 As noted by Williams (2015), UK’s cereal breakfast market is
declining, making the US market as a better option of compensating
this decline since it is among the best markets.

Industry Analysis
 Post Holdings could use the Porter Five Forces to determine how the
five forces affect the company’s profitability.
 The cereal breakfast industry in very competitive because it is more
profitable (Foss, Lyngsie and Zahra, 2013, pp.1461). However, this
industry has a low entry barrier since most of these new entrants do
not posses the required expertise.
 There is possibility off reduced demand in cereal products form
Weetabix and Post Holdings due to presence of substitutes from
companies such as Tesco, Sainsbury, or even ASDA.

Conclusion
 Conducting this analysis has indicated that cereals industry is very
competitive mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States.
 The two firms use the differentiation strategy I their activities which
translate to high-medium products and medium prices.
 The acquisition of Weetabix shows that there is a positive outlook in
the diversification of products.

References
 Brenes, E.R., Montoya, D. and Ciravegna, L., 2014. Differentiation
strategies in emerging markets: The case of Latin American
agribusinesses. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.847-855.
 E. Dobbs, M., 2014. Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces
framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness
Review, 24(1), pp.32-45.
 Foss, N.J., Lyngsie, J. and Zahra, S.A., 2013. The role of external
knowledge sources and organizational design in the process of
opportunity exploitation. Strategic Management Journal, 34(12),
pp.1453-1471.