Strategic Management and Sustainability - Analysis of Astra Zeneca

Strategic management and sustainability

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Frameworks to analyse industry and sector.....................................................................................3
PESTLE Analysis........................................................................................................................3
Industry life cycle........................................................................................................................4
Evaluation of competitive environment of Astra Zeneca................................................................5
SWOT..........................................................................................................................................5
Porter’s five forces.......................................................................................................................6
Strategic group analysis...............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management refers to process which includes, setting goals, procedures and
objectives so that goals and objectives of company can be achieved and helps in gaining
competitive advantage (Makadok, Burton and Barney, 2018). Astra Zeneca is a public limited
company which was founded in the year 1999. Its headquarter is in Crick Avenue, Cambridge,
UK. The company is providing pharmaceutical products and it serves all over the world. The
report examines, pestle analysis, swot analysis, porter’s five forces, strategic group analysis and
industry life cycle is discussed.
MAIN BODY
Frameworks to analyse industry and sector
PESTLE Analysis
Pestle analysis refer to identify factors that can affect performance of an organisation. It
includes, political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factor. For
accomplishing target, it is essential to identify these factors and helps in gaining competitive
advantage in market.
Political factor- It includes factors like, tax policies, tariff barriers, trade restrictions and other
policies which is made by government (Perera, 2017). Managers of Astra Zeneca should analyse
some factors before entering into market like, intellectual property protection, compulsory
employee benefits, legal framework for contract enforcement, risk of military invasion, political
stability, product labelling. It is important to determine these factors so that better plans can be
made for accomplishing goals and objectives.
Economic factor- this factor means to analyse inflation rate, saving, interest rate, foreign
exchange rate and economic cycle in an economy. For entering into market it is important to
analyse economic factor like, unemployment rate, inflation rate, economic growth rate, labour
cost, skills level of workforce, exchange rate and government intervention. It is the responsibility
of manager to identify economic elements to gain competitive advantage in market. Economic
factor affects performance of company as well as of employees (Christodoulou and Cullinane,
2019).

Social factor – social factor refers to impact of culture in an organisation. Managers of Astra
Zeneca should identify elements like, demographics, class structure, hierarchy and power of
society. Before making any product, company must analyse gender roles, conventions, attitudes
and leisure interest. In different country, culture is different, rules and regulations also vary, so
managers are responsible for making strategies so that goals and objectives can be accomplished.
Technological factor – this factor means change in technology. Nowadays, competition is
increasing and organisation want to earn profit. So, for generating revenue new technology is
being applied to gain competitive advantage. Technology includes understanding different
impact like, rate of technological diffusion, impact on value chain, impact of technology on
product offering. Managers of Astra Zeneca company should identify needs of customers and
make plans accordingly (Shtal and et.al., 2018). It is important to purchase new technology and
make good quality products so that needs of customers can be satisfied. Technology plays a
crucial role in improving performance of workers and increasing overall productivity of
organisation.
Legal factor – it is important to apply rules and laws in an organisation to satisfy needs of
employees and it helps in gaining competitive advantage. Laws help in satisfying employees and
better plans can be made for achieving targets. In Astra Zeneca company rules and laws are
applied but managers should determine laws which is beneficial for growth of company.
Managers of company should apply some laws like, data protection, health and safety law,
employment law, discrimination law, anti- trust law etc. These are some laws which is applicable
in all organisation to satisfy needs of employees. It is important to make rules and laws so that
there will be no issue and employees can work efficiently.
Environmental factor – This factor means different markets have different environment and
standards. This may affect performance of organisation and profitability of company. Managers
of Astra Zeneca should identify weather, climate, recycling policy, waste management, laws
related to pollution. These are some things which should be analysed by managers before making
any plan or strategy so that better plans can be made which help in gaining competitive
advantage in market (Bismark and et.al., 2018).
Industry life cycle
The life cycle of an organisation goes through different phases or stages. Life cycle means
evolution of a company on the basis of characteristics. There are four phases of industry life