Strategy Playbook

The strategy playbook is based on situation analysis is a collection of methods that the managers are used to analyze the internal as well as external environment of the organization. It provides with determining the objectives and strategies to analyze the business.

Running head: STRATEGY PLAAYBOOK
Strategy Playbook
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Executive Summary
The strategy playbook is based on situation analysis is a collection of methods that the managers
are used to analyze the internal as well as external environment of the organization. There is
situation analysis of various companies so that its internal and external environment is analyzed
to understand capabilities, clients as well as business environment of the organizations. It
provides with determining the objectives and strategies to analyze the business. There is
identification of both internal as well as external forces which provide influence on the
performance of the organization plus choices of the strategies. There is assessment of the current
strengths plus weaknesses of the organization so that the current position of the organization is
developed. The strategies which are used to evaluate the context field of the organization are
evaluation of the organization’s mission, vision as well as values. There is internal and external
resources analysis of the organization based on the concepts of SWOT analysis and PESTLE
analysis. The stakeholder analysis is performed so that there is analysis of the possible persons
involved into the project and analysis its interest and power. As initiatives to become competitive
in the market, the organization performs five force analyses so that its external competitive
environment is identified. Based on the general force analysis, the competitive strategies are
combined with activities of organization for which the firm is seeking to achieve. There is
achievement of the business performance into the industry such as cost leadership, cost
differentiation as well as focus. The initiatives are used to understand the issues set to the
organizational context to better understand the strategy playbook. It is recommended to use of
other marketing strategies so that the business performance of the organizations are improved
such that 4 Ps of the marketing such as product, promotion, price as well as place and use of
marketing tactics to improve over the performance and make profitability.

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Strategy Map
StrategicalliancesFinancialCustomerloyaltyEvaluation of
Mission, Vision, &
Values
Core Skills,
Competencies, and
Capabilities
Stakeholder and
General Force
Analysis
Five-Forces and
Blue Ocean Strategy
Analysis
KSF Analysis &
Potential Strategic
Pathways
Strategy Evaluation
Analysis

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Strategy Map....................................................................................................................................2
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................4
Entry 1: Mission, Vision, and Values Analysis for Walmart......................................................4
Entry 2: Internal Analysis for Trader Joe....................................................................................5
Entry 3: Stakeholder Analyses for Tesla Motors.........................................................................6
Entry 4: Competitive Force Analysis for Apple Inc....................................................................7
Entry 5: Key Success Factor Analysis for Trader Joe.................................................................8
Entry 6: Strategy Evaluation Analysis for The Weather Company...........................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Appendix
Entry 1: Mission, Vision, and Values Analysis for Walmart
The mission of Walmart is save people money so that they can live better. This mission
statement can reflect on ideas of the founder of company. The strategic directions of the business
organization are towards direct manifestation of the mission statement of the business
organization. The slogan of the company is save money. The core values of Walmart is to
provide better services to their customers, respect to the individuals, strives for the excellence as
well as act with the business integrity. The vision statement of the organization is to be the
destination for the customers for saving money, no matter how they are wanted to shop. Based
on the stated mission, vision as well as business value the organization can provide stronger
foundation to clearly understand the soulful purpose of the business organization. The strength of
their mission, vision and values are that the organization has low price campaign. They are
devised marketing system which can follow setting of prices (Wolfe, 2011). The organization is
providing better services to their customers as during shopping, the customers looked for best
deal. The company is well known for its approach towards the customer orientation. The
weaknesses of their values are that the marketing of Walmart is blocked in many sites because of
its effect on the small stores. It is destroying the reputation of the organization as it forces
smaller scale operators out of the business.
The strategic goal of the company is to follow the mission as well as vision statement.
There is high strength of the company as it is followed vision as well as mission by keeping its
particular cost as well as prices as low. There is required to have revision in the company’s
statement so that they can improve its cost leadership along with strategy. The company can
continue to expand its business operations globally so that they can achieve better economics of
scale that can support its strategy related to cost leadership. There is high pressure from its
competitors which would address throughout growth along with expansion of the company.
There are no recommendations for the company to change its current stated mission, vision, and
values, while it is suggested that they should improve its cost leadership strategy and expect
resilience into its leadership positions throughout global growth as well as expansion. The goal
of the company is to keep the prices of their products down so that it is the key component for
their mission statement. In order to become more competitive into the market, the company is
expected using core competencies to turn into greater to the competitions. The company makes
its market development as secondary intensive strategy towards the business growth. It is
involved into entering new markets. It will able to sell to the customers so that they can achieve a
higher market rate as well as market profitability (Wolfe, 2011). Walmart is used product
development as it uses its development as intensive strategy for their business growth. It is
mainly focused on offering their customers with new products into the target market.
The business of Walmart is looking for those people who are desired to save money. It is
always providing value to their customers. The company is aimed to become at the top position
into the retail industry. The lessons which are learned from the business operations of the
company are to make sure about they are providing equitable environment to their employees so
that they can work perfectly to meet organizational goals. The strategy is to lead on the price,
invest into distinguish on access as well as deliver a greater experiences. The price of company is

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lead to design and earn trust of the customers by offering assortment of the quality merchandise
as well services at lower prices. Throughout innovation into the supermarket products, they are
strived to create customer centric experiences which can integrate e-commerce and offer saving
times for the customers. Through all this, the organization can generate total revenues so that the
customer can satisfy with the higher rate of productivity as well as profitability in their
organization. It raises higher level of the customer satisfaction so that they can again come to the
organization to meet with their needs.
Entry 2: Internal Analysis for Trader Joe
The Trader Joe designs their jobs for increasing job satisfaction as well as higher business
performance. The company provides their appreciation for the employees in order to increase
satisfaction of their employees. They are putting money where it is mouth. They can compensate
their workers well. The core of allegiance is wage as well as benefits package those are far
competitive as compared to the other companies into the supermarket industry. The company
requested their employees to become ambitious as well as adventurous. They are provided with
higher sense of values so that they can provide their customers with higher and best customer
services. The employees those are working in Trader Joe are being encouraged to taste as well as
learn about the products (Schulz, 2014). They are engaged the customers to share their own
experiences so that they can make improvement into the business internal organization. Most of
the customers come as the employees are helping them to meet with the customer’s needs as well
as demands.
There is a difference among the case example as well as selected organization that the
case organization value in each part of their business operations while the selected organization,
Walmart can provide value to their customers. In Trader Joe, first, the buyers can go over the
world to search greater quality of foods as well as beverages at lower prices. Second, they are
providing training to the employees so that they are provided their customers with best services.
Thirdly, there are getting quick responses from the customers through feedback. This
organization is at edge on the competition due to their competitors into the market. On the other
hand, Walmart is believed in providing structured training processes as well as creating an
approach into their work environment (Rawson, Duncan, & Jones, 2013). The employees
understand particular products as well as processes throughout the location.
The technological approaches of Trader Joe are different from the competitions. They are
not introducing self-checkout as well as not investing in front end display televisions. The
strategic advantages which are included into the supply chain of the organization are Trader
Joe’s purchase of the larger quantities of the products, drive the price down for the customers,
souring of new as well as innovative products worldwide as well as expect the vendors to be
secretive about the prices of products. With the inbound logistics, the company is continued to
create a higher competitive advantages. The marketing approaches as well as sales are different
when they are comparing it to the industry’s norms. Most of the customers are leader about the
organization throughout word of mouth. Trader Joe is paying higher rate, good business benefits
as well as utilizing generalist not the specialist approaches. The employee relational model can
create aligned as well as strategic experiences of the customer services. The organizations are
analyzing that it can provide impact on the customer services as well as employee loyalty. It is

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the main aim of the organization is to understand importance over the customer services as well
as live throughout core values of the business organization.
The essence of the effective strategies is to choose path which is unique to the
competitors. The organization can provide services as well as products which can differ from the
competitions. The strategy of Trader Joe is to make their business organization more
competitive. The buyers of Trader Joe can buy innovative products as well as services so that
they can know their customer base in well-organized manner. The organization is consisted loyal
customer as well as employer base so that it can increase into business productivity (Martin,
2014). Into this business organization, there is a potential to become a threat into their
competitive advantage due to e-commerce as well as social media which help to expand more
into the business organization. The opportunities are included continued growth in the market,
marketing of the social media, and presence of the e-commerce along with potential international
growth. As we had learned that imitating the business organization of Trader Joe is challenge and
it leads to failure of the business in United States while the organization has strong relations with
the suppliers as well as employees along with customer base.
Entry 3: Stakeholder Analyses for Tesla Motors
From the case analysis of Tesla Motors, it is analyzed that the organization has new
worldwide trade agreements to expand operations on the international based. The business
performance of the business organization is being benefited from lower cost of battery. There is
an decrease into the renewable energy cost which helps the automobile industry to be more
profitable as well as productive into the market. The economical issues threaten the financial
performance of the organization which has lower down the business organization of Tesla
Motors. The organization can rise into lower carbon; therefore there is an increase into the usage
of renewable sources. There is an improvement over the market demands of electric vehicles;
therefore the organization can lead to increase into usage of technological elements. Into this
business organization, there are technological changes which are higher rate as it can enhance the
automobile products. Based on the selected organization, Walmart they can gain business as well
as strategic value by meeting with the customer’s needs so that they are more attached towards
the business operations. It leads to gain higher level of customer satisfaction. Because of rise into
the interest rate of US, strategic implications of the organization can lead to reduce growth of the
automobile industry as well as increase into the production rate at end of the year.
Tesla Motors is applied generic strategy to gain a competitive advantage against the
organizations into the global automobile industry. Based on the Porter’s model, there is
achieving of generic competitive strategies which can represent company’s approach to compete
into the US market (Porter & Kramer, 2003). The competitive advantage of Tesla Motors are its
batteries which are key significant components of the electric vehicle as well as the technological
advantage of the organization can shine and make competitive advantage for the business
organization. The company obtains patents for its batteries that are energy efficient as well as
produced at lower price. The core competencies of the organization are inverter as well as
battery. The core competency of the organization is power train technology. They are contracted
with other organizations to get more experts in this field so that they can design innovative
vehicles as well as manufacturing work. The business model of this organization is based on

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three approaches such as selling, servicing along with charging of the electric vehicles. Tesla is
used direct sales in place of selling to the car manufactures throughout franchised dealership
(Verschoor,, 2003). For most of the business organizations, first most priority is to meet with the
level of customer satisfaction so that it can lead to increase its car selling as well as achieve
profitability as well as productivity into the market of US.
Tesla is different from the selected organization due to technology, power as well as
environmental friendly. The business strategy of the organization is user differentiation strategies
such that the company can get succeed into the market with the products that are distinct from
others. The company had advanced technology which can make positions in order to make
innovative electric cars. Tesla Motors are successful as they can able to rile the niche as well as
provide to them (Reeves & Deimler, 2011). The niche is higher end electric cars and it is
successful as it can convince people that they are required electric cars. It is better for the
business environment as they can made people those are worth of money. The market of electric
vehicles are growing and reasons behind this growth are included new regulations on safety as
well as emissions of vehicle, technological advancement as well as shift into the customer’s
requirements plus expectations. There is a mainstream acceptance as well as excitements for the
electric cars which are traced back to the Tesla Motors. The business model of Tesla is different
from the traditional automobile manufacturer (Schulz, 2014). Tesla motors are getting innovative
approaches to make its products competitive into the market such as building of cars that could
be mass produce as well as market. It is focused instead of implementing compelling electric
cars. The organization thought to build sports cars which are best chance to bring a competitive
advantage into the gasoline alternatives.
Entry 4: Competitive Force Analysis for Apple Inc.
Into the business organization of Apple Inc, there are competitive forces which are
threatening the business organization of Smartphone industry. The company has higher
competition into the market and its competitors are Samsung, HP, Google and others. The
company is making an expansion into the capital in research as well as development market so
that they can gain advantage among their identified competitors. The business functions of Apple
are become highly competitive due to its low switching cost (Cabrera, 2012). It is needed to
invest for the consumers so that they can make investment into their products such as iPad of
Apple. Due to its lower switching cost, it leads to provide strength into the bargaining power of
their buyers. Due to making capital investments into the research as well as development, there
are in a way to develop new as well as innovative products into the market so that they can gain
more customers towards their business operations. It helps Apple to build a higher competitive
advantage into the market and brand loyalty over their customers (Lawler et al., 2008).
Therefore, due to success in implementation of innovative products, there is larger customer base
for the market. As Apple is required capital to invest into research as well as development, it
becomes a challenge for the brand of Apple to expand into the international market as well as
gain of business profitability.
Apple is free to select among their suppliers for each parts of their products and the parts
of the products are consisted computer processors. It makes their business organization to
become competitive into the market. In case of the selected organization, Walmart the

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organization is providing value to their customers as well as quality of their products those are
delivered to the customers. Therefore, the organization is selected best and right suppliers so that
they can deliver quality products to the client organization and then Walmart can deliver quality
as well as best items to their target customers.
From the case study analysis of Apple, it is seen that threat of new entry into the market
of Apple is low due to two factors such as barriers of the cost which can establish new
technology as well as not to generate same brand image into the similar market. Better
recognition of the market of Apple leads the company to gain more profit as well as attach more
customers towards their Smartphone industry. It can lead to challenge the market share of Apple
Inc. As the products of Apple are innovative in the market based on its quality as well as brand
recognition, the prices of the products are premium (Barsh, Capozzi, & Davidson, 2008).
Therefore, it is difficult for other market to take position of Apple due to its innovated products
in the Smartphone market. As the brand loyalty of Apple is high, therefore it is difficult for other
industry to enter into the market.
Five force analyses are to be used as marketing tool to analyze the market situations of
Apple Inc. so that there is higher competitive advantage. The company is selling their existing
products such as Mac Computer and Mac Books into its current market so that they can achieve
a higher market share. It is performed throughout core competencies along with gaining of
experts those are familiar with the market position of the Smartphone industry. The company is
required designed team so that they can able to make more investment into research as well as
development to create new products for their loyal as well as target customers. The company is
in a way to make innovative products as compared to their competitors as well as gain a brand
loyalty into the products (Lawler et al., 2008). By innovation of iPhone, Apple is introduced into
the market of Smartphone. Apple is trying to make competitive advantage by giving non-
standardized products along with services at high perceived value so as to gain customers.
Apple’s business strategy is being analyzed by vertical integration in such a way that the
company can get advanced expertise’s into their Smartphone services. Vertical integration of
Apple is considered as main factor which can set value apart from the competitions.
Entry 5: Key Success Factor Analysis for Trader Joe
In order to perform a key success factor analysis of Trader Joe, the success of the
company is resulted from the business model which is providing innovative products. The
innovative products are offering with lower prices. Trader Joe is ranking as 12th into the market
of grocery sales. In this case, growth strategy is used for the organization which is offering
various shopping experiences into the market. The business organization is targeting the
customers those are college going so that they can present their products to them to make a
higher level of deal (Golovatchev, Budde, & Kellmereit, 2010). The business organization is
achieved of lower prices by core competency in sourcing as well as procurement of their food
items. Trader Joe as well as US food retaining company is purchased food items at higher
quantities so that it can help the business organization to keep the price of their products as low.
Outsourcing is required in this case so that it can add value to their business model as well as
customer base. Competency of the outsourcing can add to rare products into the company which

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offer in grocery market. Into the business organization, there is critical gap for managing the
manpower cost for the human resources.
The Trader Joe’s strategy is development of carrying out selective products, providing
private label products, providing extraordinary value to their customers as well as offering
attentive employees with best services from the company side. There are various ways that the
organization can make money into the US retail supermarket industry. The profits are coming
from the specialized products and some of them are making money throughout discount
products. It leads to increase in cutting the labor cost as well as selling higher volume of goods
into lower prices. The company is ranked as successful grocery stores in US in the year 2013.
In Trader Joe, the key value of the business organization is offering limited but compact
choices with the customers. It makes twice of the revenue of the company as compared to the
other selected company, Walmart. Walmart is offering higher quality of services at lower prices,
and they have managed products, but it keeps the volume higher. It will lead to gain bargaining
power of the negotiation with the business suppliers. The business model of Walmart is new in
the market (Hoever et al., 2012). Walmart is believed in providing structured training processes
as well as creating an approach into their work environment. The employees understand
particular products as well as processes throughout the location.
The company is able to gain a higher market positions because of its stronger brand
value. In case of Trader Joe, the organization keeps their employees as well as customer satisfied
by providing them an environmental friendly environment. In order to satisfy the employees,
Human Resource Management (HRM) System is used where all the employees’ requirements are
being met. The customer satisfaction is being meeting by providing them higher customer base,
greater priority as well as providing them innovative products. Trader Joe has implemented
marketing strategies so that they can make innovative products. Value chain analysis is
performed in this case and taken as a tool to analyze the success factors of the business
organization. The company is based on the environmental problems as well as niche products.
The company goes for information system so that they can make a unique position into the
market by means of providing electronic sales into the US market. The marketing approaches as
well as sales are different when they are comparing it to the industry’s norms. Most of the
customers are leader about the organization throughout word of mouth. Trader Joe is paying
higher rate, good business benefits as well as utilizing generalist not the specialist approaches.
In case of Trader Joe, the company has opportunity to grow in the market, marketing of
the social media, and presence of the e-commerce along with potential international growth. The
company is making money based on the food items those are delivering to the customers based
on their demands as well as requirements. The grocery store is making money based on the
volume. They are making a calculation by counting on the customers to buy the items per
shopping such that the store can add profit into their market revenue.

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Entry 6: Strategy Evaluation Analysis for The Weather Company
From the case study analysis of the weather company, it is seen that the company has
strategic plan to make growth into the business to about $600 million in the market revenue in
2012 to $1 billion or more in year 2016. The company is in a way to spend on the wearable
technologies, 3D printing for weather stations as well as applications of traffic. The company has
made a strategic plan for three years in order to make profit into their business organizations.
Implementation of strategic plan can lead to increase profit of the company. The case
organization is identified with the central issue to the weather company as well as the
stakeholders are being affected by the issue. The Weather Company can innovative by means of
leveraging the big data on the weather in order to create the customer products. Into the
organization, the problems of big data are identified (Drucker, 2004). The company can
capitalize on the data with engaging the coverage of IT on the weather channels. The company is
in a way to build weather applications so that it can target the outdoor enthusiasts. There are
quick changes into the technology; therefore there is expansion into the market (Covey, 2008).
By 2013, the company can make technological advancements then they can gain a competitive
market into the industry.
The weather company is different from the selected organization, Walmart. The weather
data are needed as well as it integrated the weather system for customers. The Weather Company
can poise to charge premium to the vendor advertisements which are placed into the applications.
In case of the selected organization, Walmart the organization is providing value to their
customers as well as quality of their products those are delivered to the customers (Lichtenstein,
2012). Therefore, the organization is selected best and right suppliers so that they can deliver
quality products to the client organization and then Walmart can deliver quality as well as best
items to their target customers. The business of Walmart is looking for those people who are
desired to save money. It is always providing value to their customers. The company is aimed to
become at the top position into the retail industry. The lessons which are learned from the
business operations of the company are to make sure about they are providing equitable
environment to their employees so that they can work perfectly to meet organizational goals.
The tools which are used in this case are SWOT analysis as well as value chain analysis.
The case of the company outlines the ideation process of the company where the case is
described composition of the mobile application developmental team. There is implementation of
the agile software development method so that there is usage of the modern big data technology.
With implementation of the mobile application to detect the weather, the company can able to
gain a higher rate of customer satisfaction level so that it helps them to become more competitive
into the market (Jeffrey, 2009). In order to analyze the internal as well as external market of the
selected organization, it is required to analyze the strength, weaknesses, threats as well as
opportunities of the business organization. The company has opportunity to grow in the market,
marketing of the social media, and presence of the e-commerce along with potential international
growth. The company is making money.
The company can able to become competitive into the market through which they can
attach more customers. It raises higher level of the customer satisfaction so that they can again
come to the organization to meet with their needs. By means of the tools, it is required for the

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organization to make an improvement into the business organization. The goal of the company is
to keep the prices of their products down so that it is the key component for their mission
statement. In order to become more competitive into the market, the company is expected using
core competencies to turn into greater to the competitions. The company makes its market
development as secondary intensive strategy towards the business growth. In order to make it, it
leads to increase and gain of profits.

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