Comprehensive Business Strategy Report: Goodman Masson Analysis

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of the business strategy employed by Goodman Masson, a recruitment firm specializing in finance and technology. Founded in 1933, the company has expanded from London to Dusseldorf and aims to establish a presence in New York. The report begins by outlining Goodman Masson's mission, vision, and objectives, followed by a PESTLE analysis to assess the impact of macro-environmental factors such as political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental influences. A SWOT analysis identifies the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The internal environment and strategic capabilities are evaluated using the VRIO model, focusing on value, rarity, imitability, and organization. Porter's Five Forces model is applied to assess the competitive forces within the recruitment market sector. Finally, the report interprets and devises a strategic plan for Goodman Masson, incorporating relevant theories and concepts to guide its future direction and improve profitability. The analysis highlights the importance of employee benefits, strategic resource planning, and adapting to market demands to maintain a competitive edge.

E174 RUMYANA BALEVSKA BUSINESS
STRATEGY

Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
LO1 Analyse the impact and influence which the macro environment has on organisation and
its business strategies.................................................................................................................2
You are required to analyse the capabilities of your chosen organisation applying PEST/LE
and SWOT frameworks highlighting macro environment and their impact on the organization
[P1].............................................................................................................................................2
LO2 Assess an organisation’s internal environment and capabilities........................................6
Consider that your chosen organization has to face competition with other companies of same
nature. Using appropriate frameworks you are required to analyse the internal environment
and capabilities of your chosen organization [P2].....................................................................6
LO3 Evaluate and apply the outcomes of an analysis using Porter’s Five Forces model to a
given market sector....................................................................................................................9
Evaluate the competitive forces applying Porter’s Five Forces model of a given market sector
for your chosen organization [P3]..............................................................................................9
LO4 Apply models, theories and concepts to assist with the understanding and interpretation
of strategic directions available to the chosen organization.....................................................11
Applying a range of theories, concepts and models, you are required to interpret and devise a
strategic plan for your chosen organization. (P4)....................................................................11
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................14
Reference List:.........................................................................................................................15

Introduction:
The business strategy followed by the recruitment firm Goodman Masson is going to be
discussed in the following assignment. The company was founded by Paul Goodman in 1933
and it started its first function in London. Now, the company has another branch in
Dusseldorf, Germany. The company is associated with finance and technology recruitment
with the annual revenue over 42 million Pounds. It has more than 160 employees who are
working under different teams that look after the recruitment in the front office management,
IT, business intelligence, tax, financial crime etc. the employee benefit programs are the most
unique features of the company. It has been awarded for the employee benefit programs it
follows through many years. Goodman Masson has some mentionable clients which includes
BBC, Eurostar, Burberry, Microsoft, Google, HSBC, Heineken, British Airways, Lego so on
and so forth. The assignment uses different frameworks and theories to explain the business
strategies that Goodman Masson can use to improve its profitability.
LO1 Analyse the impact and influence which the macro environment has on
organisation and its business strategies.
You are required to analyse the capabilities of your chosen organisation applying
PEST/LE and SWOT frameworks highlighting macro environment and their impact on
the organization [P1].
The mission, vision and the objectives of Goodman Masson have been described to
understand the core competency of the company. Besides, PESTLE analysis has been used to
analyse the impact and influence of the macro environment of Goodman Masson.
Mission: The mission of Goodman Masson is to recruit quality employees for its client
companies. The management of the company looks after the requirement of the clients and
deliver employees so that the needs are fulfilled properly (Lamas Leite et al. 2017).
Vision: The primary vision of Goodman Masson is to triumph as the recruitment company in
the international market. Therefore, the company is trying to establish its recruitment firm in
New York, USA. If Goodman Masson is able to get hold of the market in the USA, it will be
able to be known as one of the best recruitment firms in the world (Cairns and Wright, 2018).
Objectives: As Goodman Masson wants to achieve the vision that it has set, the company has
come up with some objectives that are as follows:

 Satisfaction of the clients as well as the applicants
 Encouraging the sales along with the range of the business
 Increasing the profitability to the optimum level with minimum investment
 Recognizing the company as a brand and gaining a competitive edge even in the
international market
 Maintaining the quality of the applicants to maintain the standard of the company
Core competencies:
The core competency of Goodman Masson includes supervising that the applicants are
offered job position as per their education and requirements. In continuation to that, the
employees of the company work hard so that the requirements of the client companies are
met regularly and appropriately (Thomas et al. 2016). It also includes planning the resources
efficiently so that the quality of the recruitment can be maintained.
Defining strategy in connection with the mission, vision and objectives of the company:
According to Alfred Chandler, "Strategy can be defined as the determination of the long-term
goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation
of resources necessary for carrying out these goals.”
As per Michael Porter, “It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a
unique mix of value."
Therefore, it can be said that business strategy helps a company to use its resources after
understand the market. The company can set its mission, vision and objectives based on the
market demand and it can make decisions, use the marketing resources, change the direction
if the business by implementing proper business strategy. Instead of focusing on the outer
aspects, Goodman Masson has improved its internal team by providing benefits to the
employees (Perchard et al. 2017). The company offers various advantages to its employees in
exchange of their devotion towards the company. Thus, it has been able to retain its mission
and achieve its vision. Besides, the company has established itself in London because of the
fact that London is one of the leading the cities that have great number of finance and
technology companies. Based on the similar reason Goodman Masson has expanded its
business in Dusseldorf, Germany and it’s trying to enter the market in New York, USA as
well.
PESTLE analysis:

PESTLE framework is helpful for the managers of a company in analysing the macro
environments and their impact (). The PESTLE analysis of Goodman Masson has been done
in order to understand the impact of the external business environment.
Political factors: Goodman Masson encounters two political environments in Germany and
in the UK. The governments in both the countries are stable, but there are major
diversifications as well. As Dusseldorf is the one of the most popular cities of Germany and
it’s the hub for international businesses, Goodman Masson has a strong substance there
(Frieden and Eichengreen, 2018). Besides, London is where the company started initially and
it’s well acquainted with its country’s political factors. However, in both the countries, the
company has to abide by the labour law followed by the respective government.
Economic factors: Some of the major economic factors that can affect the growth of the
company are the rate of interest, the inflation, the Pound to Euro or Pound to Dollar
conversion rate etc. In spite of the fact that many of the companies have been affected by the
global financial crisis, Goodman Masson has been able to made it through. It has not only
survived in the domestic market, but it has expanded its business in Germany as well and
now Goodman Masson is trying to get hold of the market in New York. Goodman Masson
have generated a pretty good revenue for the company from the global market (Castano,
Mendez and Galindo, 2015).
Social factors: Social environment is one of the most essential factors for a recruitment
company like Goodman Masson. As the company recruits employees on behalf of different
established and well-known companies, it must keep in mind the social structure of the place.
The requirements of the companies as well as the applicants may change based on the social
environment of a country.
Technological factors: Technology has become a part of every kind of business even be it
recruitment. Applicants visit the company website to know about the company before
enrolling their names. Similarly, the clients also check the record, the client base of the
company through its website. Goodman Masson surpasses its competitors not only because of
the client base it has, but also because it incorporates technological upgrades in its
recruitment firm effectively (Rahayu and Day, 2015).
Legal factors: Goodman Masson has to follow the legal factors like abiding by the
employment law, workforce management law etc. in both the UK and Germany. If the

company qualifies to establish itself in the USA market, it will have to follow the legal
factors in the country as well.
Environmental factors: The environmental factors are the factors related to physical
environment such as the change of the climate, health of the employees etc. While Britain is
fighting against air pollution by reducing the emission of greenhouse gas, Germany is still
contributing to air pollution with the industry that requires coal-burning. Thus, though
Goodman Masson recruits in financial and technological sectors, the company isn’t being
able to expand to other divisions of recruitment (Chen et al. 2014).
SWOT analysis: In order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Goodman
Masson, SWOT analysis can be followed:
SWOT analysis
Strengths:
 The company is working for over 25
years
 Goodman Masson has clients like
Microsoft, Google, HSBC, Amazon
etc.
 The company has a good marketing
team
 The company has a strong base in
comparison to its competitors
 It has been able to establish itself in
the global market
 It has a great employee benefit
schemes
Weakness:
 Lesser number of employees in
terms of a growing company
 The training process of the company
needs to focus on detailing and
structured
Opportunity:
 Chances of establishing itself in the
international market
 Expanding in financial stable market
Threats:
 Current economic condition of the
UK
 Targeting the already established
international market

LO2 Assess an organisation’s internal environment and capabilities.
Consider that your chosen organization has to face competition with other companies of
same nature. Using appropriate frameworks you are required to analyse the internal
environment and capabilities of your chosen organization [P2].
The uniqueness of the internal environment of Goodman Masson is the reason behind the
success of the company. The company believes in involving the employees in decision
making process. It also focuses on creating an environment where employees can meet the
requirements of the clients. The effectiveness and the efficiency of the company is improved
through identifying the interrelated processes and managing them properly.
Strategic capabilities and the primary elements of it:
Companies compete in order to gain more clients, better market share and increase the
profitability by applying some employing manoeuvres that make sure the supremacy of the
company in the market. There are multiple components of strategic capability and Goodman
Masson utilizes financial amounts, employee benefits and selecting the appropriate
candidates through proper screening (Cowling, 2016). The management actively takes part to
track the strategic capabilities in understanding the market in which the company is
operating. The recruitment market in the UK is quite competitive and challenging and thus,
it’s essential for Goodman Masson to incorporate operative strategies and techniques to gain
authority. The company reflects upon combining the requirements of the client companies as
well as the applicants while recruiting on the behalf of the clients. The employee competency
is one of the major advantage of Goodman Masson and the employees are trained to select
the appropriate candidate through proper screening. Even after the screening process, the
candidates are provided with training before they can join a company.
VRIO model in determining the strategic capabilities:
VRIO analysis helps in understanding and assessing the competitive advantage of a company
based on its resources (Demil et al. 2015). While conducting a business, the management has
to deal with a lot of resources and the activities of the management depends on these
resources. The capabilities that the companies require in order to accomplish supportable
advantages are Value, Rarity, Inimitable and Organised to exploit.

Figure: VRIO Model
Source: business-to-you.com
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized to
exploit
Yes No Yes Yes
The primary focus of
Goodman Masson is
to provide valuable
service to the clients
and thus, the
company is ahead of
its competitors.
It’s not rare for the
company to valuing
the customers. The
company practices
the method for the
applicants it recruits
on behalf of the
client companies as
well. Unlike its
competitors
Goodman Masson
offers proper
training to each of
the candidate before
the person could
face the interview
with the designated
Any recruitment
firm wishing to
follow the strategy
of Goodman Masson
can follow the same
as it’s not only cost-
effective, but it’s
also good from the
profitability
perspective of the
business.
As the company is
established for more
than 25 years, it has
a strong customer
base. Thus the
company is growing
rapidly even in the
international market.

company.
Applying Mckinsey 7s framework:
Robert Waterman and Tom Peters were two consultants working at the McKinsey &
Company. They established the McKinsey 7s model in the 1980s, which is the key to success
for any company. The 7 elements are discussed below:
Strategy: Other recruitment agencies have started making their way into the market.
Therefore, Goodman Masson has expanded itself in the international market and hoping to
expand more.
Structure: The structure followed in Goodman Masson involves each individual according to
their abilities. Besides, the company encourages leadership so that the employees unite and
direct the company towards grow (Shiri, Anvari and Soltani, 2015).
Shared values: The basic value of Goodman Masson is to value each of its clients be it small
or huge. Apart from that, the company select the applicants after screening and allocate them
at their preferred job role depending on their experience. The employee benefit programs
followed by Goodman Masson are truly helpful in retaining employees.
Systems: Goodman Masson has developed itself with technological improvements. Now the
company has website through which candidates get to know about the job vacancies in
different companies and they can apply.
Staff: Though Goodman Masson has only 160 employees, they are not only very well-
trained, but they are also passionate towards the improvement of the company along with
themselves. The employee benefit programs have helped Goodman Masson to achieve
various awards and the employee turnover rate has reduced significantly (Hourani, 2017).
Style: As Goodman Masson has a small team, the team members are friendly towards each
other. However, the leaders always make sure that the team members reach the target so that
the profitability of the company increases.
Skills: The employees are selected on the basis of their skills to understand the requirement
of a client as well as an applicant and selecting the perfect candidate for a job. However,
employees are trained on a regular basis to maximise the impact of the company on the client
companies.

Benchmarking:
Goodman Masson has been able to expand its business in the international market because
the number of applicants have increased by many times during the last few years (Whitehead,
2016). More and more candidates who wish to get a job in the finance or technology sector
are enrolling under the recruitment agencies and Goodman Masson is one of the established
agencies that has clients like Microsoft or Google. The experience that the company has in
the recruitment field is an added bonus for Goodman Masson as many of the well-known
companies trust it for their recruitment purpose. Clients can benchmark the services provided
by Goodman Masson and they can compare these with the services provided by other
companies. The applicants can visit the official website and easily track what kind of job
vacancies the company is offering as well (Nathan and Rosso, 2015).
Value Chain analysis:
Value chain analysis help in recognising the activities that the companies perform in order to
understand the competitive strength of the company (). Goodman Masson identifies its
competitive strategy, which is providing employee benefit, to ensure that the short-term as
well as long-term goals of the company is achieved. Besides, the company also arranges
employee training programs so that they can select and train the candidates thoroughly for
their interview as well as their job role. It’s important for Goodman Masson to analyse the
value of the training that it provides the applicants and the employees in order to understand
how the process is helping the company to grow (Darmawan, Putra and Wiguna, 2014).
Goodman Masson keeps implementing new strategies and plans for the betterment of the
company.
LO3 Evaluate and apply the outcomes of an analysis using Porter’s Five Forces model
to a given market sector.
Evaluate the competitive forces applying Porter’s Five Forces model of a given market
sector for your chosen organization [P3].
The Balanced Scorecard helps a company to align its mission as well as strategies:
The management of a company can provide a comprehensive opinion about the units of the
company by combining the measurement of the performance, which is a result of the
strategies implemented by the company with the help of Balanced Scorecard. Below is the
explanation of how Balanced Scorecard works:

Financial perspective: Goodman Masson is trying to increase the cash flow by reducing the
expenditure. The recession and the present political condition of the UK has heavily affected
the strategy that Goodman Masson has implemented earlier. It has increased the number of
clients including some local companies so that it can keep up with the market. Besides, the
company has to maintain the profitability in Germany as well.
Consumer perspective: The company offers trained applicants to the client companies,
which is why the clients trust Goodman Masson for their employment decisions. The
requirements of the applicants are also taken care of while recruiting them. Thus, the
candidates don’t feel that they have been assigned a wrong job.
Learning and growing perspective: In order to improve client satisfaction. Goodman
Masson organizes employee training programs on a regular basis. The company also
encourages leadership qualities in an individual and provide development programs for the
leaders as well (Hansen and Schaltegger, 2016). Thus, the employees feel connected with
Goodman Masson and they give their best for the growth of the company.
Business process perspective: Though Goodman Masson is one of the leading recruitment
firms in the UK, the management keeps incorporating new business perspectives. The
company started as a finance and technology recruitment firm, but then it expanded its range
to other sectors as well.
Porter’s Five Forces of Goodman Masson:
The recruitment agency is affected by the five factors described underneath:
Threat of emerging competitors: Along with the establishment of several companies in the
UK, various recruitment agencies are emerging in the market. Clients often choose the
companies which offer competitive price. Applicants also tend to go for the cost-effective
companies instead of choosing the one that has experience.
The power of suppliers: As there are some social media platforms that offer access to huge
database of job candidates, the recruitment agencies are utilizing this platform to increase
their database. The more the supply increases, the more Goodman Masson is going to face
challenges. Though the company specializes in recruiting in finance and technology sector
and it has some well-known clients, the supplier power can be alarming for the company
(Mathooko and Ogutu, 2015).

The buyer’s power: As the recruitment agencies have access to candidate database, the
candidates are also able to choose from multitude of options of recruitment firms. However,
given the fact that the company offers job in some of the highly respected companies, it still
enjoys a good number of applicants from different part of the country (Yunna and Yisheng,
2014).
Competitive rivalry: As mentioned earlier, the new recruitment firms pose a threat for
Goodman Masson and the company has to encounter continuous competitive rivalry in the
recruitment industry. The rivalry is primarily based on the cost of the service offered by the
recruitment firms.
Substitute’s threat: Many websites have come up in the last decade that offered job
vacancies. However, the websites couldn’t deliver as per the promise. On the other hand, the
recruiting firms like Goodman Masson offer the candidates consultation, training, advise and
they research before sending the applicant to a company (Huggins and Izushi, 2015). Thus, in
spite of the threat of substitution, Goodman Masson has been able to sustain in the
recruitment industry for years.
The stakeholder analysis:
Stakeholders are those who are connected with the company. in case of Goodman Masson,
the owners, the shareholders, the local community, the employees, the financers, the
applicants, the client companies etc. are the stakeholders. Each of the stakeholders has some
interest. The applicants are interested in getting the perfect job in a renowned company. the
client companies are interested in interviewing only the trained and knowledgeable and
skilled employees chosen by Goodman Masson (Ayuso et al. 2014). The interest of the
owners and the shareholders in the profitability of the company. They are also interested in
providing what the clients want to retain the client base. The employees look forward to the
growth of the company so that their remuneration increases along with their experiences. The
local community may have interest in the recruitment firm in the locality. Financers of
Goodman Masson are interested in the revenue earned by the company (Fombrun, Ponzi and
Newburry, 2015).
Ansoff Matrix to Goodman Masson recruitment strategy:
Existing products: New products:
Market penetration: Product development:

 Improving the quality of service.
 Reducing the time within which the
service is delivered.
 Trying out new industries for
earning profit.
 Expanding the brand levels.
 Expanding the company to a place
with lots of options.
Market development:
 Aiming at the international market.
Expanding in the USA.
 Improving the Germany branch.
Diversification:
 Aiming to enter new sectors like
online recruitment.
The table above shows the model that helps to analyse the chances that Goodman Masson can
follow in order to increase the growth rate of the business.
Product development: Goodman Masson can try out exploring new industries if it wants to
expand its brand level.
Market penetration: Goodman Masson can improve the quality of service and reduce the
timeframe that it takes to deliver the service to penetrate the market even more.
Market development: As Goodman Masson already has established its branch in Germany,
it’s now prepared to explore the USA for taking the business to one more step ahead.
Diversification: The company can try creating its own job portal and diverse the business to
online recruitment.
LO4 Apply models, theories and concepts to assist with the understanding and
interpretation of strategic directions available to the chosen organization.
Applying a range of theories, concepts and models, you are required to interpret and
devise a strategic plan for your chosen organization. (P4).
Porter’s Generic Strategy: Cost and Leadership Strategies:
Michael Porter introduced the theory in the year 1985. A company follows the strategy to get
the desired competitive edge so that the sale increases and the clients retain. Two ways can be
followed to achieve the desired result:
 Cost reduction to increase the profitability and modifying the average industry price

 Increasing the market share with the lowered price and making minimum revenue
because of the reduced cost.
The cost and price leadership strategy can help Goodman Masson in becoming the leading
recruitment firm in the UK in terms of cost in the recruitment industry (Tansey, Spillane and
Meng, 2014). As Goodman Masson will have to reduce the cost of its service to the lowest
possible level, the market competitors might beat the company. Goodman Masson can also
fail to gain the optimum profitability by choosing this strategy. However, given the fact that
the company has a huge number of clients including the renowned companies like BBC,
British Airways, HSBC etc, it can definitely reduce the price of its service without causing
any harm to the productivity and revenue of the company.
Differentiation strategy:
Reconstruction of the portfolio of the company is the main focus of Differentiation strategy.
It does so by offering lucrative services that competitors aren’t able to provide. The
implementation of the strategy depends on the factors like durability, support, functionality,
feature and the brand name (Barin Cruz, Boehe and Ogasavara, 2015). If Goodman Masson
wants to implement the differentiation strategy, it must follow some points:
 Delivering the best applicants to the client companies
 The research and development team constantly look for the best candidates
 The candidates should be educated, skilled and trained as per the requirement of the
company
 Building an efficient marketing team that will be effective to convey the differentiated
offering to the clients
Thus, if Goodman Masson wants to penetrate the market even more and improve its
profitability, it has to develop a strong marketing team to gather information regarding the
needs of the client companies. Next, the data is shared to the candidate selection team, so that
they can choose the applicants based on their knowledge and the company requirements.
However, Goodman Masson may find the process difficult to implement because it doesn’t
have the required employee strength. On the other hand, the number of employees can be
utilized properly by training them.
Bowman’s Strategy Clock for Goodman Masson:

The eight different positions in the Strategy Clock of Bowman reflects the different options
available for strategic positioning of a service in the market. The two dimensions that decide
the placement of the service in the market are Perceived value and Price (Panwar et al. 2016).
 Low price and low added value: Even if the service is not up to the market, the
clients will avail the service because of its low cost unless some other company offers
even lower price. It’s not required by Goodman Masson.
 Low price: A company can go for this strategy when it wants to lead the market by
offering lowest cost. If Goodman Masson wants to apply the strategy, it has to
increase the number of its clients and the number of the applicants that enrol in the
recruitment firm. It will ensure that the company isn’t facing any loss due to lowering
the price of its service.
 Hybrid: The most effective way of positioning is hybrid. Goodman Masson can add
value to its service within a competitive price. Thus, the profitability of the company
isn’t compromised and the clients also enjoy valued service (Qehaja, Kutllovci and
Pula, 2017).
 Differentiation: It’s about differentiating the service and providing maximum value
added service to the clients. The brand name plays a significant role in this case.
 Focused differentiation: the service is offered against a high range without adding
nay value to it. Goodman Masson can apply this positioning as the company is well-
established in the recruitment industry and it has some enviable clients.
 Risk high margins: This can be effective in increasing the profitability temporarily as
the price of the service is increased without offering any added value. Eventually, the
clients move on to some other company who offer competitive pricing (Ghemawat,
2016).
 High price, low value: If a company enjoys monopoly in the market, it can offer low
value service in turn of high price. However, Goodman Masson can’t opt for this
option as there are many companies in the recruitment industry currently.
 Low value, standard price: If a company has lost its market share, only then it can
go for this positioning. However, it can be disastrous as it’s impossible to retain
customers by applying this position.
It can be said that Goodman Masson can apply the hybrid position as the company always
improves its service and this will help in increasing the profitability along with the client
base.

The next step for Goodman Masson:
Goodman Masson has already targeted the international market when it opened its branch in
Germany. Now the company wants to target the companies in New York. Partnership may
seem a safe way to enter an international market. However, the recruitment industry in the
USA doesn’t have the tradition of partnering with any other company. on the contrary, if
Goodman Masson wants to get the hold of the USA recruitment market, it can grow
organically. The company may require some time to get established and renowned in the over
crowded recruitment industry in New York, but it will be able to sustain if it follows this
method (Kolk, 2016).
Hybrid strategy:
If Goodman Masson wants to fulfil the requirements of the clients as well as the applicants, it
has to incorporate multidimensional strategies. In order to do so, the company has to enhance
the quality of the service within a competitive price range (Bruton et al. 2015). Therefore,
Goodman Masson can follow the following two kinds of hybrid strategies:
 Outpacing strategy: Firstly, the company must introduce a high valued service
against a premium price. Next, it has to lower the price of the same service without
compromising with the value of it and that will push away the competitors. Thus,
Goodman Masson will be able to lead the market.
 Simultaneous strategy: Incorporating price and differentiation strategies
simultaneously can help Goodman Masson to target a huge number of clients.
If Goodman Masson wants to survive in the domestic as well as international market, it has to
come up with something that the other recruitment agencies aren’t offering. If it doesn’t want
to offer the lowest price for its service, the company has to improve the marketing so that the
clients get to know why Goodman Masson is different and better from the competitors.
Conclusion:
It can be said in the conclusion that Goodman Masson already has a good market base as it
has some of the renowned companies in its clientele. However, the company has to keep
integrating new business strategies so that it never loses the track in the competitive market.
Therefore, Goodman Masson has to include different frameworks, strategies, theories and
change the business perspective as per the changing market. The assignment is a reflection of

the strategies that could be helpful for Goodman Masson. It also makes sure that the company
has sustained in the market for as long as 25 years because of its effective business strategies.

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