Strategic Management: Bang & Olufsen Case Study

Strategic
management

INTRODUCTION
The concept of strategic management is defined as the manage all organisational resource
in order to achieve determined goals and objectives. It involves all activities that are related to
the setting overall objectives, measure and analyse various aspects of competitive environment,
analyse internal as well as external organisational factors. It is about evaluating business
strategies and ensure that these strategies are rolls out across the organisation to achieve goals. In
this report the chosen organisation is Bang & Olufsen which is founded in the year of 1925 by
the Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen. Headquarter of organisation is situated in the Struer,
Denmark. The organisation is basically Danish high and consumers electronics company that
manufactures audio products such as televisions and telephones. There are 915 employees are
working in the organisation. Respective organisation focus on the particular market of segment
and ensure better positioning by providing better product and services in it. There are various
competitors such as Inkyo, Harman and TCL capital. In this report various strategies level
strategies are being discussed. There are pestle analysis, porters five force model, industry life
cycle and Swot analysis of respective organisation is being covered.
Strategies concept level:
Bang & Olufsen use business as well as corporate level strategies that affect the decision
making and activities of organisation. These strategies are depends upon the level and structure
of company. Business and corporate level strategies of Bang & Olufsen discussed below:
Business level strategies: Business unit level strategies are generally used in the various
areas and department of business. Bang & Olufsen take all business decisions according to the
type and structure of organisation(Andersen, and Andersson, 2017). It develops various
strategies for each unit of business, so growth and improvements can be measured. In the
business strategies, various strategies are built that differentiated the organisation from its
competitors and develop objectives and goals that support respective business to achieve overall
corporate goals.
Corporate level strategies: This the broad level of strategies of a business. These
strategies define the main objective of organisation for which it comes in existence. It is being
necessary for the organisation that is conducting its business in multiple lines. These strategies
affect the decision making process of Bang & Olufsen in effective manner (Anlesinya, Dartey-

Baah, and Amponsah-Tawiah,2019). In corporate level strategies whole organisational missions
and visions are formulated that should be quite different from the respective competitors. All
objectives are decided at corporate level and decisions are taken according situations.
External factors:
External factors the those factors that are exist outside the boundaries of organisation by
affect it in various manner. Some models to analyse external factors are following:
PESTLE analyse:
PESTLE analysis is referred as the framework to analyse and monitor macro
environmental factors that affect the organisational performance. It becomes important in the
situation of starting up the business and enter in to foreign market. All the factors of the model is
carefully examined and strategies are developed to overcome the all negative effects of these
factors on the Bang & Olufsen. Factors are discussed below:
Political factor: Bang & Olufsen has expanded its services to the various countries, so
political factors affect the business in various manner(Bell, Rochford, 2020). It depends upon
that who much government intervene in the respective economy and the in the specific industry.
It includes various government policies, rules, regulations, political stability or instability,
foreign trade policies, labour as well as employment laws and restrictions in trades. All these
factors and laws are varies according the country and also affect the working of respective
organisation, so these are properly examined.
Economic factors: Economic factors are determined the economic performance in
specific time period. It includes economic growth, inflation rates, exchange rates and
unemployment rates. These factors have direct as well as indirect and long term impact upon the
Bang & Olufsen. All the decisions are taken according the economic conditions(Boon, 2018).
The respective organisation have to fallow all rules and laws regarding the employment and
company to ensure the smooth running of the organisation.
Social factors: Social factors includes the demographic characteristics, norms and values
in which the organisation operates its business. There are various trends like distribution, safety
intensity, lifestyle, attitudes and several cultural barriers that have impact upon the Bang &
Olufsen functioning(West,2018). In the process of targeting specific customers the respective
organisation remind these factors to ensure the success of business.

Technological factors: Now these days there are various technological advancements
are take place that affect the operations of Bang & Olufsen and its market positioning. It includes
innovations, automations, technological changes and various research and development
activities(Boone, 2019). All these factors affects the decision making process of respective
organisation regarding it should enter in the industry or not and launching the new product in the
market. The organisation have enhance its technologies to survive in the competitive
environment.
Environmental factors: There are various environmental factors that affect Bang &
Olufsen working. The importance of environmental factors are increased because the scarcity of
raw materials and effectiveness of target population. It includes various factors such as weather,
climate and changes in it and environmental offsets. Organisation have aware about all
conditions of environment and analyse impacts of change in climate conditions in the business
activities(Bozhanova, and Kononova, 2018). It includes corporate social responsibilities in their
actions to ensure the sustainability.
Legal factors: To conduct business activities in a specific country, the organisation have
to follow legal laws that are being passed by the government and other parties. These factors are
customers protection law, employment law, patent as well as copyright laws and health and
safety laws. Bang & Olufsen have to know about the laws and apply them in the organisation in
order to become successful. The respective organisation conduct its business at global level so it
is important to follow them strictly.
Porter's five forces model:
Porter's five force of model includes all five competitive factors that determines all
strengths as well as weaknesses of specific organisation. It is basically a effective tool to
understand the factors of competitiveness of specific business and help in identifying potential
capabilities of it. Five forces of Bang & Olufsen discussed below:
Bargaining power of supplier: Power of suppliers is related that how easily the
organisation affect the prices of inputs(Broman, and Robèrt, 2017). It is being depends upon the
number of suppliers and uniqueness of imputes and the switching cost of the company. There are
various suppliers are available for the Bang & Olufsen that are able to provide inputs at