Strategic Management Report: Competitive Analysis and Implementation

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic management tools and their application in a competitive market environment. It begins with an introduction to the importance of business strategy for achieving organizational goals, followed by an in-depth examination of key tools such as PESTEL analysis, Porter's Five Forces model, and strategic mapping. The report applies these tools to analyze competitive data, focusing on a retail company, Primark, to understand its strategic approaches to target marketing and product marketing. The PESTEL analysis examines political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Primark's strategies. Porter's Five Forces model assesses supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, threats of substitution, and threats of new entry. Strategic mapping, including the balanced scorecard, is explored to evaluate financial and non-financial aspects, customer satisfaction, and internal growth. The report then discusses the application of relevant strategic models, specifically the red ocean and blue ocean strategies, and concludes with an overview of implementation challenges and recommendations for future strategic management. This report provides valuable insights into strategic decision-making and competitive analysis.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODCUTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Application of tools (PESTEL, five forces, strategic mapping) to analyse competitive data.....3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Application of relevant models and key conclusions..................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
Implementation Challenges.......................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODCUTION
In today competitive market environment, a business strategy is a tool to survive in the
business market. The business strategy helps the business organisation to achieve its goals and
objective of profit maximisation and revenue generation. For this, the management of the
strategy is needed to gain benefit from the market. There are many tools in strategic management
which plays a vital role in analysing competitive market data and in making fair profit for the
business organisation (Chandes and Paché, 2010). These tools of the strategic management
include PESTLE analysis in which various factors which affect the business organisation as well
as its strategies management in the long term like political, economic, social, technological, and
legal and environment. In the following report anther various important tools will be discussed as
porters five force model of strategic management and strategic mapping. These relevant models
of strategic management are applied and the key conclusion will be done to analyse the desired
and real result of the business organisation. There are many implementation challenges which
affect the business organisation and the strategic management of the company in future.
TASK 1
Application of tools (PESTEL, five forces, strategic mapping) to analyse competitive data
Strategic management is the process of identification and the description of the different
strategies for the business organisation .These strategies are implemented by the strategy
manager to gain maximum profit and revenue from the competitive business market. There are
many tools of strategic management by which the strategies can be identified for the company
which would be proved effective for Primark. Being as retail companies it must use some
following strategic management tools like PESTEL analysis, porters five force model and
strategic mapping.
PESTEL analysis-By using the PESTEL analysis , Primark can make an effective strategy and
attain the desired goals in the long term. The company has well organized strategic Target
marketing and Product marketing approaches as strategies. First current strategy is target market
in which the company tries to relate the attributes of its product with the need and requirement of
the customers. Second current strategy of Primark is product marketing approach in which the
company aims to introduce new products into existing markets. Before implementing the
strategies in the business organisation, Primark should consider various factors within market

and analyse them to see whether the strategy they will be suitable for the company in the long
term and helps it in accomplishing it objective and goals (CHUANG and Liao,2010).These
factors are called PESTEL in which political factors, economical factors, social factors,
technological factors, environmental factors and legal factors are analysed. They can be
described as followings.
1. Political factors- The political factors contain the rules which are implied on all business
organisation by the government authorities the government stability which is considered
in strategic management. In the country in which the government is stable affect the
strategy of the Primark in a positive way. The company make its strategy according to ten
rules and guidelines by the government authorities. The political environment is analysed
by the company before making strategy in future (Cinquini and Tenucci, 2010). If the
government does not provide the liberty in term of operating the business to the
companies then it might make it difficult for the company to identify an effective and
open strategy for its business.
2. Economical factors- In making the strategies and their management in an efficient way, it
is compulsory to consider the economic condition of the retail industry as well as the
Primark. The company has sufficient financial sources,so it provides more investment in
business related to new feature in the existing product. For example if the Primark has no
sufficient finance for its business then it cannot make an huge strategy which help it in
capturing a lion share of the food market. So the economic condition should also be
analysed to identify a strategy which within the budget of the company or the target
market.
3. Social factors- As every single business organisation operate its business in the society
and its target public also lives in the society. So the customs, values, culture and attitude
of the society affect the strategy of the company like Primark. If the society has the taste
of the boiled food then being a retail company , Primark should make and strategy so that
it can provide the boiled food at maximum .But if the company does not consider the
social choice then there will be difficult to operate the business in the long term.
4. Technological factors- The technology affects the businesses time to time in any industry.
Being in a food retail industry the Primark has to consider the latest technology top gain

profit from the advanced way of the production and services so that the target public
receives the best quality of the product and services by the company.
5. Environmental factor- The environment in which every business organisation and market
is existed plays vital role in making strategies for the company (Doz and Kosonen, 2010).
While making strategy the company must consider that it would help in protecting the
environment by using minimum use of the limited natural resources and recycling the
wastage so that there will be accuracy in achieving the desired goal. For example
decreasing use of plastic bag in food packaging in retail industry can benefit the primark
in its business.
6. Legal factors- The legal factors are the rules and regulations which are implied by the law
on every single company like Primark. For example if the rules by law sets a standars of
quality of food or fabric of cloth in the whole retail industry, then the company must
maintain these standard while production. There are many legal requirements which
primark must fulfil otherwise it cannot survive in market. These are the most important
factors as the company needs to obey to exist. The strategy for the business of the
company these factors must be considered to make a suitable strategy according to the
rules of law. Thus there are many factors which are considered while identifying the
strategy for the business organisation. So that it can help in achieving its goals and
motives form long terms well short term in future.
Porter five forces – The threat of new entrant in the retail market is the problem to the
Primark due to easy and low cost of entry in retail industry. The current position of the company
depends upon the uniqueness of its current product so that it can not be replace or substituted by
customers. Changes in the customer trends is an inseparable part of market which forces to make
customised product by the company. In current scenario, supplier of primark found involved in
child labour so the company is decreasing ties with some supplier. It leads to the fluctuation on
the availability of product. help in analysing the market situation in term of competitiveness. In
strategic management, porter five force models are used to measure that the new product or
service in food industry will be profitable or not for Primark (Eden and Ackermann, 2013).
There are five forces which would be considered by the business organisation which are supplier
power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, threats of substitution and threat of new entry. These
can be described as followings.

1. Supplier power- The suppliers have huge impact on the business market as they decide
the price at initial stage. If the supplier increases the price of the product and services the
end price for the company will also be increase which affects the business as well as the
customers. In supplier power number of supplier, cost of changing to another supplier,
strength and size of the supplier and differentiation of supplier product are included.
2. Buyer power- The power of the buyer affects the strategic management for the company
as he is the key root of the business market. If there is few number if the buyer then he is
the game changer for the companies. But if there are many buyers the primary can make
a strategy according to its term also.
3. Competitive rivalry- The identical competitors may harm the business and makes it
difficult for the Primark to make a unique strategy. The number and the capabilities of the
rival company affect the strategy making as it won’t attract the maximum customers for
the identical product .So these force is also considered in making strategy and its
management.
4. Threats of substitution- If there are substitute product in the market then it will force to
make a different product strategy for the company to raise its profit and revenue in the
future (Freeman, 2010). So Primark should make a strategy which can help it in
differentiating the product from other substitute product in the market to accomplish its
goals and management of strategy in an effective way.
5. Threat of new entry-The entry of the industry affects the new entry in the market. Being a
food industry, many new companies want to enter in the market and make profit .So
according to this scenario, the company should make its strategy so that its product would
be unique and the customers can be retained in long term.
Strategic mapping- This is also an important tool which can help in applying the
strategy to achieve the objective and purposes for the successful business. It includes the balance
scorecard in which the financial and non financial aspects (Gooner, Morgan and Perreault, 2011).
There are another term which are evaluated as balance score card like customer satisfaction,
financial, learning, growth and internal growth of the company. In the strategic mapping, the
company communicates with the employees and the stakeholders about the strategy to engage
them in strategic management process. So that strategy implementation can be made easy in
future.

Primark allotted the resources and validates the techniques in every single activity of
strategic management on the basis of balance score card of growth, customers and financial
growth of the business organisation. There should be issue of the guideline provided to every
department of the company so that they can operate according to the map to gain fair advantage
from competitive market environment. Among all aspect, the balance score card of customer
satisfaction is the most important as the customer is the main key for any industry to make profit
and capture the share of the businesses market.
In the strategic mapping the relationship between cause and effect is establish to
understand the real situation of the business organisation growth so that further improvement can
be done by an effective strategy. In the process of strategic mapping some steps are included like
collection of all required information, balance score card of four perspectives like customers,
financial, growth and learning, communicate the aspect with employees and shareholders,
improvement by quality, service and branding and final step is internal perspective and
relationship between all cause and its effect are included. Thus, these above application tools like
PESTEL analysis, strategic mapping and porter five force can be used to make an effective and
efficient strategy for the business organisation like primark (Greco,Cricelli and Grimaldi,2013).
It can contribute to analyse the real situation of the business organisation within the company as
well as outside the organisation .So that the most suitable strategy can be made and applied on
the product and service process in the long term in future.
TASK 2
Application of relevant models and key conclusions
The strategic model which are mostly used by the retail industry firm Primark are red
ocean strategy and blue ocean strategy. These both strategies can be explained as followings.
Red ocean strategy-This strategy focuses on current customers. It gives less
importance to attract new customers. It tries to increase the satisfaction level of existing
customers. Through this strategy , the Primark company competes in existing market or
with the customer who operate their business with you or other competitor companies. If
someone wins that existing customer then it is assumed that other looses in the
completive market. In this strategy , the company beats the competition by adding more
valuable features in its goods than the competitors in the market. The current demand of

the customers is exploited to win the competition. In this strategy , Primark makes the
value-cost trade-off in which whether the value is increased or the cost is decreased to satisfy the
existing customers. Through this strategy , Primark can change the whole system of a firm
activity with stratguc choice of product differentiation or low cost of the product.
Blue ocean strategy-The blue ocean strategy explore the market by attracting new
customer who have never been customer of Primark. The company tries to create uncontested
markets to serve by this strategy. According to this strategy not all the companies are successful
in the long time .For example many of the retail companies use child image on instant food
packet but not all survived in the market for long duration,there will be only few who retain in
the competition. The company try to crate irrelevant competition by differentiation in idea and
product. New demand is captured and created by the company through this strategy so
that new customers can be added. This strategy makes the company to break the value cost
trade-off through duplicating the same product by other competitors. The company can use this
strategy by changing the whole system of activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost of
the product.
The strategic management models are useful tools which are used to make an effective
and efficient strategy to gain profit from the competitive market environment. The models should
be long term and practical so that there will be no difficulty to apply these models or theories to
accomplish the objective of the business. These models help in growing of the company in future
with unique and useful tactics (Grewal, Janakiramanand Tolerico, 2010). Some of the most
important model of strategic management are McKinsey 7s model, basic strategic management
model, departmental management model,project management model, goal based model,issue
based model, alignment model, self organising or organic ,scenario model and joint venture
model. These strategic models can be described as followings.
(A)McKinsey 7s model-This model is the effective structure in which the internal organisational
environment can be analysed for strategic management in future. It is used by the many business
organisations like Primark to evaluate the suitable way of implementation of strategy by
applying these models. In these models seven important aspects are identified and analysed like
Structure, Strategy, Skills, Staff, Style, Systems, and Shared values. The first three factors are

called as hard S and the last three factors are called as soft S. These seven structure model can be
described as followings.
Structure-Structure is the presentation of the way in which divisions and units of company are
organised. This shows the hierarchy of the subordinates and superiors related to the
accountability for work. A well organised structure to understand the framework of the company
which helps in making strategy to gain profit and revenue in the long term.
Strategy- It is a plan to implement in such a way that it can benefit the business organisation to
achieve its objective from the market (Hill,Jones and Schilling,2014). This is the main factor for
which other factors are analysed to make an effective strategy. This model factor affects the way
the company operates it business in future.
System-This factor includes the procedures and process in which the company does its activities
and the way in decisions are made to make profit from the business market. The area which is
affected by the changes by strategy implementation.
Skills-The employees of the company also an factor which has to be considered when strategy is
implemented. It includes capabilities and competencies of the employees of the business
organisation. While the changes in the company are arisen , the capabilities of the employees is
affected.
Staff- After the strategy implemented , many changes are needed. So there will be need of many
different types of employees and the more number of employees which is done by new
recruitment and the training session for the employees.
Style- This factor includes different types of managerial style in which their decision taking and
symbolic values (Hitt,Ireland and Hoskisson,2012). The manager try to implement the strategies
in such a way that they can be adapted in an easy way in the long term.
Shared values-The shared value is the foundation of every organisation. It includes the standards
and norms which are used to guide the employee behaviour. Actions of the company are also
directed by these shared values to create healthy environment in the primark.
(B)The Thompson And Strickland Model- According to this strategic model the strategic
management is an ongoing process and nothing is final in business ,future modification are
based on the prior actions and decisions. There are five major steps in this model. First step
includes concept development and the vision, mission are formed for which the business
organisation operates its business. After the developing the goals and vision and mission is

converted into small objective for short time period. The third step is to cast an effective strategy
to accomplish the desired target performance in the future.
The fourth step is the most crucial part of this model process in which the made strategy
is implemented in effective and efficient way. In the final and fifth step , the comparison is made
between the desired and real achieved result (Hodg,kinson and Healey,2011). The performance
is evaluated at final stage to see whether any need of correction or adjustment in objectives or
mission to make it easy. The changes by the strategy is evaluated and appropriate actions are
taken to create friendly environment for implementation and after effects among employees of
the business organisation. Thus by this strategic model , the business organisation can implement
the strategy in new and innovative way for betterment of the business performance to gain
advantage from market competition.
(C) Departmental Management Model-This strategic model contain the changes are made in a
particular department for implementation of new strategy to gain more profit or revenue. To
implement the new change in the process of the business, it is necessary to make appropriate
adjustment in related department .For example,if primark implements a strategy to start new
way of sales of the product as online then the all concerned departments like marketing,
accounting and information technology will be aware and involved to take that step.
(D)Project Management Model- This model can be applied to implement the strategy with
success. In this model the project team handles the execution of the plan (Killen,Jugdev and
Petit,2012). In this, an outsider project manager to manage new process or changes if the current
manager is not expert in that particular task or activity. A project manager focuses on the single
purpose of the project which helps in achieving objective in time and accuracy.
(E)Join-Venture Model- The joint venture is the activity in which the two entities work together
to utilise their different expertise. By this strategic model the Primark can combine its forces
with its suppliers or vendors so that there can be more chances of better product quality and
consequently maximum profit can be achieved. To implement a new strategy top increase the
business this model also can be used by high level authorities of the company.
Application process of strategic management- The strategic management is the combination
of the step which has to be followed by every business organisation like primark which help in

achieving the objectives and goals in the future. The strategic management process includes
some major steps in which first step is to set the goal. In this initial stage the goals is decided to
clarify the mission of the company. So that there will be awareness among employees about
which way they should act. Every employee are given task for particular target through
customised process in which the fast and accurate work can be done.
Second step is to analyse the whole business scenario according to which the appropriate
strategy can be implemented in the business organisation. By analysing the current business need
and requirement ,it can ease the suitable strategy implementation which leads to maximum
benefit to the company like primark. The analysis of internal and external factors is done to make
sure that all aspects has been considered in the implementation stage to see whether it will
benefit the business or loss in the company.
Third stage of the strategic management application is formulation of strategy
(Parnell,2010). In this step the current resources are evaluated and identify the need of further
resources for business growth in the future. In fourth stage after forming strategy,the strategy is
implemented in the business organisation. In this action step all the people of the company
should be clear about their duties and responsibilities for the task to avoid vagueness in
achieving the target in time.
In this fourth step , if the current structure of the company is not suitable for new
strategic implementation then the new structure will be applied. After completing above steps,
finally all the after effects are evaluated (Poister,2010). If there is any gap between expected
result and the real after effect result then the higher authority take appropriate action so that the
real result can be achieved as expected at initial stage of the strategies management process.
TASK 3
Implementation Challenges
A strategy implementation is a game changer for every businesses organisation like
Primark. Thus, it provides maximum profit and revenue generation i the long term. On the other
hand, there are many challenges which an organisation faces in implementing strategy in
business process. These challenges can be related to the problem in regular communication
among people of Primark., Other challenges include insufficient partner buy in, insufficient data
for market analysis, insufficient leadership attention, ineffective leadership in subordinates,

inappropriate or weak strategy, resistance to change in the business organisation and insufficient
training to employees. These can understand as followings.
Communicate the strategy- Sometimes there are situations when the strategy manager
cannot communicate the strategy with other employee of the company. It leads to ineffective
efforts on the part of employees (PriemLi and Carr, 2012). It would weakens the process of
implementation of strategy in times as if the member of company do not have proper knowledge
about strategy made then they cannot implement it in an accurate way. So there is difficulty in
planning the sequence of process steps.
Insufficient partner buy in-If the partner and firm leader are not involved in the strategic
implementation process then there might be weak understanding of the strategy between them..
Consequently, it can hinder the process of implementation of strategy.
Insufficient data of analysis- The data of market analysis for making new strategy might
be insufficient which leads to the weak strategic implementation. It will not be beneficial for
company as it does not have sufficient data for estimating real current situation within and
outside of the company like Primark.
Ineffective leadership-Most of the failure of strategic implementation is because of the
weak leadership quality (Swayne,Duncan and Ginter,2012). Difficulty in decision making leads
to loss of the investment of company as well as the chance to gain advantage from competitive
situation.
Insufficient leadership attention- There are some situations when members as well as the
stakeholder lose their interest in the strategic implementation after preparing strategic plan. After
making plan to implement the strategy, it takes long time to give positive and energetic attention
for strategy implementation.
Inappropriate or weak strategy-A weak strategy or inappropriate strategy leads to
ineffective or useless result for the company. Weak strategy lacks real and honest content which
cause difficulty in achieving desired objectives and goals in the long term.
Resistance to change- If the employees as well as the stakeholders are not comfortable to
in adapting the new changes made by new strategic implementation in the future, then the
strategy manger cannot implement the strategy according to change in industry and market
(Wheelen and Hunger,2011). So to implement the strategy in easy way, the business organisation
must make sure that all member of company are ready to accept the changes. .