Analysis of Entrepreneurial Strategy Report for First Mile Company

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial strategy employed by First Mile Company, a business specializing in corporate waste recycling. The report begins with an executive summary, outlining the strategic framework used to achieve organizational goals. It then delves into various strategic tools and techniques such as the BCG matrix, Porter's Five Forces, and McKinsey's 7S model, along with SWOT and PESTLE analyses. The report assesses the company's strategic situation, capabilities, and position, including its objectives and implementation strategies. Specific recommendations are offered to guide the company toward achieving and sustaining success in its competitive market. The document covers the company's use of SMART goals and provides a comprehensive evaluation of its strategic approach within the context of an SME.

Strategy

Executive Summary:
From the report it has been summarises that entrepreneurial strategy is the framework
which is followed by the companies in order to decide the structure and planning the process to
achieve the organizational objectives and goals. There are so many strategic tools and techniques
which may help the management of SMEs such as BCG matrix, PIMS, Porter's Five Forces,
McKinsey's 7S model, Value chain model, Etc.
The directors of First Mile Company uses SWOT and PESTEL analysis tools in order to
understand and analyse the impacts of external and internal factors upon the organization. These
elements may affect the strategies of the organization adversely as well as favourably.
First Mile Company has set some goals in order to increase its brand name and
profitability as well for which it has used SMART technique. It has been felt that in order to
fulfil all its objectives it should follow the McKinsey's 7S model to built the structure of its
operations. The company is also advised that the specific steps should be followed to achieve and
sustain the success.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Entrepreneurial Strategy: ................................................................................................................1
BCG Matrix: ...............................................................................................................................1
Porter's Five Forces Model: ........................................................................................................2
McKinsey's 7S Model: ................................................................................................................3
Organisational strategic situation, capabilities and position analysis:.............................................5
SWOT Analysis:..........................................................................................................................5
PESTLE Analysis:.......................................................................................................................5
Set of Objectives for the Organization:...........................................................................................6
Implementation of Strategy:............................................................................................................8
RECOMMENDATION:..................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In today’s changing business environment, a businessperson may easily overpowered by
economical structural changes. Though, it is essential to stay centred on business goals for the
establishment. The framework is dignified from others that describe the word ‘entrepreneurial’ to
distinguish a long‐term concept of strategic demeanour. Entrepreneurial strategy will be
activated with some larger or lesser tendency by all enterprises, whether their long‐term action is
retrogressive or innovative.
This project or assessment covers various types of entrepreneurial strategies,
organization's situation, capabilities and position regarding strategies, company's objectives and
use of strategy to reach them in context with an SME, First Mile Company situated in London
and Birmingham and involved in a business of recycling process of corporates' waste and enliven
organizations to be more responsible for environment.
Entrepreneurial Strategy:
Entrepreneurial strategy can be defined as plan of action regarding widely spread
coincidental changes in the structure of decisions condemned by an establishment. It is a process
of innovating and developing new products and thoughts in competitive environment (Ardakan
and Hamadani, 2014). These entrepreneurial strategies suggest innovative techniques to drive the
business and taking risks regarding all aspects related to objectives and operations. The
following are common strategies that can be adopted by the First Mile Company in relation to
develop and consolidate its situations:
BCG Matrix:
The BCG matrix has been introduced by The Boston Consulting Group also known as
product portfolio matrix and Growth Share matrix is designed to assist the management
regarding long-term strategic planning, to help a business regarding growth opportunities by
reviewing its function of products, to decide the cease or development of the products, where to
invest (Brilha and et.al, 2017). This Matrix is divided into 4 quadrants that are based on an
analysis of market share and relative market growth which are presented below:
Stars: The products or units produced in the business that have the maximum market
share and create most of the cash within the organization are considered in stars quadrant.
However, stars consume huge amount of cash because of their high growth rate. Flexible plastic
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waste, batteries waste and grease oil waste are the star products for recycling process of First
Mile Company. The management of the company may follow star strategy as it will increase the
growth of organisational products rapidly in competitive market.
Question Marks: These type of products and services of a business contain high growth
potential but a low market share. They consume a lot of cash but bring little in return. In the end,
question marks, also known as problem children, lose money (Taniguchi and et.al, 2015). The
question marked products for the First Mile Company are mixed waste recycling, food waste
recycling and general commercial waste recycling. The selected company is advised to invest in
question marks only if the goods has the prospective for growth otherwise to sell it as it is.
Cash Cows: Products covered under cash cows quadrant are the lead products in the
marketplace because they return more cash than they consume. These are business units or
products that have a high market share but low growth prospects. Cash cows cover company's
administrative costs, fund research and development and service the corporate debt. First Mile
company's glass recycling, plastic and can recycling processes are the cash cows for it. The
managers of selected enterprise can apply cash Cow strategy as it will help in creating strong
market position and generates high demand for the organisational products.
Dogs: Dogs quadrant products are products or units that have both a low growth rate and
a low market share as well. They are often times break even units which neither consuming nor
earning a large dealing of cash. Dogs are generally considered cash traps because businesses
have money tied up in them, even though they are bringing back basically nothing in return.
Stationary waste, sharps waste, compostable packaging waste, etc. are the Dog products for First
Mile Company.
Porter's Five Forces Model:
This model is a framework that is introduced by Professor Michael Porter for analysing
the nature and condition of an organization in competitive economy or market. Porter's model of
competitive forces anticipates that there are five competitive elements or forces that determines
the competitive power of an organization in a market situation (Mathooko and Ogutu, 2015).
These five competitive forces can be defined in context of the First Mile Company as below:
Existing Competitors: This force is the main force of the Porter’s Five Forces model
which analyses what the situation of the competition is in the current marketplace which is
ascertained by the number of existing competitors and for what each competitor is able of doing.
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The threat of rivalry is high when a lot of competitors are there in the market that are equal in
power and size, when the sector is growing slowly and when customers may easily switch to a
competitors offering for little cost. Ashworth Leininger group, Wind river Environmental Aqua
Metals are some of the competitors of First Mile Company which renders consistent products or
services to attract customers towards them.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: This force analyses to what extent the customers are able
to put the company under pressure, which also affects the sensitivity of the customer to price
changes. The customers have a lot of power when there aren’t many of them and when the
customers have many alternatives to buy from the market. In context with the First Mile
Company, there are numerous moderate threat of the bargaining from customers side because the
competitions are few for the company.
Threat from Substitutes: The existence of products outside of the domain of the common
product boundaries increases the tendency of customers to switch to alternatives. In order to
discover these alternatives one should look beyond similar products that are branded differently
by competitors (Berkey, 2014). Although there are various alternative available for the recycling
of the corporate waste but the services provided by the First Mile company has a lot of varieties
hence the threat from substitutes for the company is moderate.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: This force analyses how much control and power a
supplier of the organization has over the potential to raise its prices or to reduce the quality of
purchased goods or services. The concentration of suppliers and the availability of substitute
suppliers are important factors in determining supplier power. There are few suppliers of
technology and professional staff available in recycling industry hence the bargaining power of
suppliers are very high for the respective firm.
Threat from New Entrants: New entrants in an industry bring new capacity and the
desire to gain market share. The earnestness of the threat relays on the obstacles to enter a certain
industry. The higher these barriers to entry, the smaller the threat for existing players. Since the
industry of recycling process of corporate waste is high profitable sector, the threat of new
entrants is high for the company.
McKinsey's 7S Model:
This model was formulated by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in the late 1970s who
were the former consultants at McKinsey & Company. They identified seven internal elements
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of an organization that need to align for it to be successful (Shaqrah, 2018). Within small
companies such as First Mile, the scope of everything that needs to get done, and all the people
who need to be managed, can overwhelm the most organized of managers. The seven elements
are divided into two parts which are mentioned below:
Soft Elements:
Skills: This element is related to staff and elaborate what the management can done with
the skills of personnels. It helps in having a strong understanding of the skills within
organizational staff is something that organization should prioritize.
Staff: This elements is all about the analyse and utilize the strengths and weaknesses of
the employees so that organizational goals and objectives can be achieved along with the growth
of the employees.
Style: There are many different leadership styles employed by managers depending on
the situation, so organizations will need to craft their own approach to the job as they see best fit
based on the circumstances around them.
Shared Values: This point is concern with the overall culture of the company and the
purpose behind everything that is done. The shared values of an organization should stretch to all
employees, to create a feeling of connection and comradeliness.
Hard Elements:
Strategy: Strategy is a high-level orientation on the organization and how it plan to
emerge above its competitors over the time. Business will be able to draw most of its strategy
from the business plan that should have been created when organization was first getting started.
Structure: The structure element is one that business have already handled. Structure is
often envisioned in the form of an organizational chart and could deal in terms of the whole
organization or a department within the company.
System: systems is where the firm spend the huge number of its time as a manager in
ensuring that all the employees are operating the right projects and getting them done in time.
Without systems that function properly, none of the rest of the model will work properly
(Savetpanuvong and Pankasem, 2014).
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Organisational strategic situation, capabilities and position analysis:
SWOT Analysis:
SWOT word is an abbreviation for strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. This
analysis is used to understand the competitive market situation of an organization (Niederwieser
and et.al, 2016). Analysis of the respective firm with the help of this tool is as under:
Strengths Weaknesses
 The establishment is operating most of
its business through the software and
applications.
 It covers all kind of business entities to
recycle all types of waste materials.
 The prices it costs from the customer
forms are bit high.
 Some waste that it collects is not
recyclable and company has to bare its
cost.
Opportunities Threats
 The company is in a business which has
a new concept and have good
opportunity of growth.
 The firm can expend its business
through out the world with the help of
internet and technology.
 The organization has niche impact in
the sector but has a threat from new
entrants.
 Corporate wastes are getting down due
to environmental laws and policies
which can affect the business.
PESTLE Analysis:
PESTLE is also an abbreviation for the words political, economical, social, technological,
legal and environmental analysis. In this model, all the external factors that can affect the
strategic situation of an organization are examined (Engert and Baumgartner, 2016). PESTLE
analysis for the respective firm is as under:
Political: Political factors are related with the governmental policies and impact of
political parties on the business such as corporate laws, corporate taxes, relation with political
personas, etc. The selected firm also get affected with these elements and it tries to maintain and
comply with all political terms and norms.
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Economical: The set of basic information that influences business or an investment's
value is known as economical factors. Various economic factors need to be taken into account
are labour costs, interest rates, government policy, taxes and management (Bradfield, Cairns and
Wright, 2015). The company is in such a business that is encouraged by the governance itself so
it has minimum factors to be affected with.
Social: The facts and information that influence individuals' thought process, personality,
lifestyle and attitudes are social factors. The marketing section of an enterprise needs to take into
consideration the various social characteristic of the consumer groups it is targeting (Huo and
et.al, 2014). Corporate world is much aware about the recycling of waste so the First Mile
company does not have to face much problems regarding social factors.
Technological: Technological factors are elements that are used for evaluating available
disjunctives with respect to technological ability. Technology trends affect businesses on many
aspects. When a business is more in touch with its present and potential customers, the more
chance it has to build a strong customer loyalty base.
Legal: Legal factors are the external factors which refer to how the law of relative region
affects the customers behave and businesses operation process. Profit margins, product
transportation and viability of certain markets are all examples of legal factors. The organization
has to follow so many rules, regulations, laws and legislations in order to operate its business.
Environmental: These factors are related with the climate, climate change, weather,
pollution, availability of non-renewable goods and many other physical and geographical terms
of the economy in which business is operating. Selected firm is also effected by these factors but
it is capable to manage its surroundings with the good governance.
Set of Objectives for the Organization:
All the entrepreneurs must set up goals that make them capable to function and grow a
prospering business. These goals must be short-term period as well as long-term period and these
contents should comprehensively consist all important features of business – production,
technology, marketing, finance, Information Technology, HR and among others. Both of these
long-term and short-term goals must be practical, measurable and specific so that the owner of
business can evaluate performance on a regular basis. Some specific examples are mentioned
below:
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To increase customer satisfaction: This business objective is concerned with the manner
of communication of an entrepreneur with the employees and ensure their gratification with
services and products of the business. The First Mile Company has Set an objective that
concentrates on increasing its customer satisfaction by 35% in the coming time period.
SMART Technique: Specific area for the above mentioned goal is existing market with
potential customers and measurements are set on an increase of at least 35%. this goal must be
achieved within 6 months by making its customer service cognition extraordinary, managing
customer queries and complaints more effectively.
Increase The Market Share: In today's business world, capturing a bigger part of the
market is a key element in increasing profitability and making business more competitive. The
selected firm has already fix its objective to enhance market share by 30% within 6 months.
SMART Technique: The marketing research management team is assigned to increase
the market share by 30% within 6 months by enhancing its branches and services offered by it.
One way that may help in increase market share and capture a larger part of the market is by
doing market research.
To build powerful brand name: It is never too late for a business to add new marketing
manoeuvres. The First Mile Company has planed the objective of building a strong and well
known brand name of the organization.
SMART Technique: For completion of this objective, the management has assigned the
marketing and technology department to to check and improve its financial health and external
audit to check the marketing activities to measured the level of success (Niu and Ho, 2014). The
company has also set an objective of increasing traffic on its business blog and website.
To increase sales volume: It is very important for an organization to change up its
product line in a while. It is the only way to provide a business new life by creating new product
or service idea to add in organizational offerings so that sale of the products and services can be
enhance by 30% within 6 months.
SMART Technique: In order to achieve this objective, the respective company is
following SMART technique for which specific area is new potential marketplace and indicators
set for at least 30% increase. Marketing and R&D departments are assigned to consider the
feedbacks receives from its potential customers and their purchasing actions. The enterprise also
believe in changing up the manner it market an existing services (Matzler and et.al, 2014).
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To increase profitability: This is an objective that is essential for all newly emerging
small and medium size businesses. Every business owner want to increase its profit for running
his or her business so that maximum revenue margin can be attained.
SMART Technique: As the entrepreneur set this objective for the financial year, the
management has decided to increase its profit by at least 15% within 6 months by reducing
business costs. These cost can be reduced by using more effective technology, changing up
operational procedures and reducing debt in order to fulfil the purpose.
Implementation of Strategy:
According to the requirements and needs of the First Mile Company, McKInsey's 7S
model strategy can be implemented within the organization as it is able to manage all internal as
well as external factors of an organization. The steps that can be followed to implement this
strategy are as under:
Step 1. Identify the areas that are not effectively aligned: The aim is to consider the 7S
aspects and determine if they are effectively utilised and integrated with each other. After that
the organization should look for the inconsistencies, variances and weaknesses among the
relationships of the elements (McKinsey's 7s model, 2018).
Step 2. Determine the optimal organization design: With the help from upper
management, the second step is to find out the impressive organizational design it want to attain.
By understanding the desired coalition entrepreneur can set his or her goals and make the plans
much easier.
Step 3. Decide where and what changes should be made: This is the plan of action, which
will point the areas business want to line up and the way it like to do that. If it find that the firm’s
cognition and administration style are not up to the mark with company’s values, organization
should decide how to reorganize the structure.
Step 4. Make the necessary changes: The execution is the most crucial stage in any
operation, analysis or and well-implemented changes have favourable effects.
Step 5. Continuously review the 7s: A change in one element always has effects on the
other elements and requires implementing new organizational design. Thus, continuous review
of each area is very important.
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RECOMMENDATION:
The McKinsey's 7S model has been widely used by strategic planners and professionals
and consider as one of the most popular strategic planning tool. The key function of the model is
that all the seven domains are interrelated and a change in one area requires change in the rest of
a firm for it to function accordingly (Miao and et.al, 2015). This model can be selected by the
First Mile Corporation in order to create an effective strategic plan for achieving all its fixed
goals and objectives because it covers all most every aspect related to the micro and macro
environmental factors.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned facts and information it can be concluded that entrepreneurial
strategies are the procedures and programs related to widely spread simultaneous changes in the
structure of an organization. These changes can be overpowered with the help of different
strategies such as research and development, marketing strategies, production and designing
strategies and planning & analysis tools such as BCG matrix, PESTLE analysis, SWOT
analysis, Porter's 5 forces, McKinsey's 7S model, etc. In case of small and medium size
enterprises such as First Mile Company whose objectives are all related to increase its
profitability, Mckinsey's framework is the best strategy to be followed because it covers all
micro and macro factors. Entrepreneurial strategies helps in developing and sustaining
organizations' optimum situation, capabilities and position.
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McKinsey's 7s model. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-
framework.html>
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