Strategic Issues and Opportunities: Coursework 1, Healthcare Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic issues and opportunities within a healthcare company, SCH, operating in a competitive environment. The analysis begins by identifying key strategic issues such as capacity constraints and high costs, followed by an assessment of competitive pressures and an external environment analysis using the PESTLE framework. The report then delves into a SWOT analysis to evaluate the company's strategic position and strategic options. Challenges faced by SCH are highlighted, including capacity limitations and high operational costs, and strategic options are evaluated using the Ansoff matrix and Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington’s framework. The report concludes with recommendations for the company to improve its market position and address its challenges. The report also includes an analysis of a separate case study related to a gym wear company, HFL, including external environment analysis using PESTLE and recommendations.

0Running head: COURSEWORK 1
COURSEWORK 1
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Issues in the case..........................................................................................................................2
Competitive Pressure...................................................................................................................4
External Environment Analysis using PESTLE..........................................................................5
Recommendations........................................................................................................................7
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
Analyzing and evaluating the strategic position and strategic options........................................9
Challenges being faced by SCH................................................................................................11
Opportunity analysis using Ansoff strategic matrix..................................................................11
Evaluating them using Johnson, Scholes and Whittington’s Framework.................................13
Recommendations......................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Strategic Management is often considered to be an integral part of an organization as it
goes a long way in assisting the organization to ensure that it is on the right track and is being
able to successfully ensure that it gains competitive advantage in the long run (Williamson et
al.2013). The report is based on the strategic issues and opportunities being faced by one such
organization named the High Flyers Limited (“HFL”), the company is based in the United
Kingdom. The second scenario relates to a heath care company called SCH. In the business
environment today, it is very important for any business organization to ensure that it takes
adequate measures to ensure sustainability of the different business (Rothaermel 2015). The
report will be dealing the health care company SCH and will be discussing the different
components related to the future alternatives available to the given business organization
The strategic issues being faced by the organizations will be discussed and analyzed. The
report will be discussing the different issues being faced by the different companies in the two
scenarios followed by the competitive pressures and lastly the external environmental factors
having an impact on the company will also be discussed effectively.
Task 1
Issues in the case
As the business environment is very competitive, it has been facing different issues as to
the competition and changing norms regarding the taxes set by the government. The different
strategic issues being faced by the company have been given as follows:
1. Intense competition

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The gym wear industry in the United Kingdom is highly competitive in nature. This is
because there is an increase in the different initiatives as adopted by the government regarding
fitness. For this, there are various low cost competitors present in the industry which tend to
provide intense competition
(Rothaermel 2015).
2. Tax Rates
The government of the United Kingdom is planning to increase the tax rates on the
sporting goods to around 22% in order to gain additional receipts. For this purpose, it has been
estimated that the sportswear market will go down to by 5%. Hence, the increase in the tax rates
will have a negative impact on the company in the short run although it may contribute to the
welfare of the company in the long run. The government is thinking about the overall welfare of
the organization, however the immediate survival of the company will become increasingly
difficult.
3. Lack of skilled designers
The industry needs to rejuvenate by introducing new designs and new material
combination. However this is not being possible as there is a lack of skilled designers in the
given industry. Moreover, the company has been trying to introduce new technology and
automation, however the industry is highly labor incentive and thus the company has been facing
problems with respect to this. The lack of laborers is restricted the company to get into a more
innovative sphere and take out new designs for the welfare of the firm.

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Competitive Pressure
Figure 1: The Sports Brands in UK ranked. (Source: Statista.com. 2018).

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The given representation shows the most popular sports wear apparel as present in the
United Kingdom. There has been average purchase from Adidas from around 5.7 million people.
The Nike and Slazenger have been ranked consequently. The sales in the footwear has increased
considerably and the market is expected to reach to around 636.14 billion by the end of 2018.
Globally the given industry has been growing rapidly and has made over 150 billion US Dollars
in revenue. The given figure is expected to reach around 185 billion US dollars by the end of
2020 (Statista.com. 2018).
According to the given study, there are 6 ore companies who are involved in the same
industry as the company HFL. Furthermore, there are various companies who sell goods at a
quality lower than the HFL Company. On one hand HFL sells the different products at 65£ on an
average whereas the lower quality rivals tends to sell the products at £25 which the s serves as a
tough competition to the given business. Although the company has based this on a high quality
dimension, the consumers often prefer to buy such products for themselves. Hence, due to this
HFL is getting affected severely and needs to plan accordingly.
External Environment Analysis using PESTLE
In order to be able to successfully determine the strategy which needs to be adopted by
the organization, it is very important for the company to ensure it conducts an extensive analysis
of the external environment (Vogel and Güttel 2013). The PESTLE Analysis will be used to
make the analysis.
Political factors

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The political rules and procedures of any country needs to be followed when the business
functions. The different political forces helps in the determination of the success of the business
organization. These mainly refer to the taxation system and other related rules (Morschett,
Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015). The company tends ensure that all the rules and regulations
are carried on effectively. Furthermore, with the Brexit in 2016, the cost of the imported products
has increased considerably and this can have an impact on the overall operations of the company.
Furthermore, the company has to follow all labor laws and consumer safety regulations as well.
Economic factors
The sports industry is highly concentrated. The 50 companies contribute to 70% of the
firm’s revenue. The items created by the company are the leisure items and there are different
low quality products as well which provide tough competition to the company. The lack of
skilled labor tends to serve as a problem in the given sector. Furthermore the cost of labor is very
high in the given industry and therefore, this contributes to the higher costs of the company.
Furthermore, there are many counterfeit products which further tends to have an impact
on the operations of the company.
Social Factors
The designs of the different sports wear company’s needs to be changed regularly as they
need to be matched with the interest of the different consumers. The products need to be
available for the different age groups and genders along with lifestyles as well. The core target
market of the company shall be the health conscious customers who love engaging in sports
activities. Hence, keeping these social factors in mind the company needs to ensure that they are
keeping up with these trends effectively.

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Technological factors
With the advent of technology, new developments can be made in the field of
manufacturing and for this purpose, it becomes important that the organization in this field is
successfully able to manufacture products of new design and type. However, the requirement of
skilled labor doesn’t change and the incorporation of technology makes the entire procedure very
difficult.
Legal factors
There exists various intellectual properties and patents related to the manufacturing of the
products belonging to a unique design. The company needs to protect its patents so that it is able
to gain a sufficient share of the market. This way it will be able to protect itself from any
counterfeited business. This way the HFL Company will have to trademark its production and
ensure success in the long run.
Environmental factors
It lies the duty of any business enterprise in the sports wear sector to monitor the
hazardous substances and eliminate them. They are required to use natural materials in their
products. This way they will be able to contribute for the welfare of the society.
The company needs to engage in ethical practices in order to ensure that the supplies are
followed effectively.
Recommendations
Therefore, it has been recommended that the company takes up the given strategies to
assure that it performs well in the business environment:

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1. Explore into low price garments
The company, in order to compete with the low quality different suppliers needs to
ensure that it enters into the given segment to extend its market share in the given domain
(Wheelen et al. 2017).
2. Adopt better supply channel options
The company needs to see to it that better supply chain channels are adhered to so as to
be able to supply goods at the right price and at the right quantity.
3. Take in laborers from the emerging countries
As the company has also been facing labor problems, it can call in for laborers from
different parts of the world like the emerging markets so as to ensure t can achieve success.

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Task 2
Analyzing and evaluating the strategic position and strategic options
In order to analyze the strategic positioning of the company and to be able to predict the
strategic options available to the company a SWOT Analysis. A SWOT Analysis is an effective
tool in strategic management which can be analyzed to determine the strategic positioning of an
organization (Vogel and Güttel 2013).
Strength
The strength of a company can be described as an effective capability as possessed by an
organization to ensure the long term positioning of the company is ensured in the future. The
strengths of the company have been given as follows:
 It has a good brand name in the given industry
 It has a diverse employee base (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).
 It has a strong base of customers present
 Easy location of the different customers present.
Weakness
The weakness can be described as a shortcoming of the organization which tends to
restrain it from performing well in the business domain. The weaknesses of the company have
been given as follows:
 The capacity of the company is quite scarce in nature.
 The travelling costs which are being paid to the different employees add up to the rising
cost of the company.

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 The prices as charged by the SCH is quite high with respect to the price being charged by
the Local government.
 It does not have services which are short term in nature
Opportunities
The opportunities can be described as those options which are available to the external
which tend to help the company to become better or expand. The opportunities available to SCH
are as follows:
 The health care can formulate short terms plan systems which can allow care for the
patients for just 1 or two days in case of emergency. This shall allow to capture a larger
market than the usual.
 The company can also invest in portable medical equipment and training so that it can
give competition to the different companies present in the same field and this will allow
the different patients to receive services at their own surroundings.
Threats
The threats can be stated to be described as such circumstances present in the external
environment of the business which will lead to a loss for the firm. The different threats that are
faced by SCH are the competition it faces from the competitors of the business who tend to offer
cheaper services.
Analysis of Strategic Options:
 It can get into a single day care dimension
 It can purchase portable machine and equipment for medical tests

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 It can expand the location of the operations.
Challenges being faced by SCH
The different challenges which are being faced by the company are being given as
follows:
 The capacity of the company is quite scarce in nature. The company offers good services
to the different customers, however, the capacity with respect to the different resources is
very low.
 The travelling costs which are being paid to the different employees add up to the rising
cost of the company. As the location of the cities and the location of workers is far from
one another, the travelling costs which have to be paid up to the care keepers is bring the
costs up.
 The prices as charged by the SCH is quite high with respect to the price being charged by
the Local government. The local government charges a fees very low as compared to the
SCH.
 It does not have services which are short term in nature. The 24 hours services has
become increasingly popular among business professions.
 Furthermore there are different competitors present in the same field which prove to be a
tough competition to SCH. The new franchised home care serves as a competition.
Opportunity analysis using Ansoff strategic matrix
The Ansoff matrix is popularly used to analyze the different growth and strategic
opportunities which are largely available to the organization and assists them in determining the
best opportunity for the given firm. The four basic growth strategies are:

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Market penetration – The market penetration strategy is a simple strategy which means that the
company can sell similar but more in quantity products to the present customers. For this
method, SCH will be required to sell more of its services to different customers. For instance, it
can get into the short term care service which will be looking after the needs of the customers for
a shorter time period.
Market development – The market development strategy can be largely used to attract new
customers to the existing offerings. In this strategic option SCH, can extend its areas of
operations and get outside the South East region. However, SCH needs to analyze the untapped
demand for this.
Product development –The strategy is used to create new products for existing clients. Using this
strategy the company can get into the home care medical tests option which will provide the
medical tests to the customers at the convenience off their homes.
Diversification – The diversification strategy is a risky strategy which can be used by SCH in
order to sell new products to new markets. This cannot be adopted by SCH and thus cannot be
applied in the given scenario.

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Figure 2: The Ansoff Matrix (Source: Williamson et al. 2013).
Evaluating them using Johnson, Scholes and Whittington’s Framework
There are various strategic options as available to the company in the long run of the
organization but due to limited resources and time frame, all of them cannot be adopted. It is the
same for the SCH Company and thus, these can be evaluated using the framework as provided
by Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (Wheelen et al. 2017). They stated that the potential of any
strategy needs to be based on three primary criteria’s. These criteria’s are the follows:
Suitability

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The suitability aspect tends to deal with the overall rationale of the strategy by analyzing
its scope. A strategy which is suitable tends to fit into the organizations mission and capabilities.
It needs to drive competitive advantages.
Feasibility
The feasibility aspect deals with the fact whether the organization will be able to have the
adequate resources to deal with the strategy and implement them adequately.
Acceptability
The Acceptability aspect tends to look after the different expectations of the stakeholders
and the financial outcomes involved. It looks into the employee perception as well.
Strategy 1
S- The company already has a strong brand name and experience which can be utilized.
F- The travelling costs of the home care employees is already very high and this, can actually
increase the costs of the firm to a great extent.
A- The company would not earn much revenue out of it.
Strategy 2:
S- The company already has a strong brand name and experience and the given opportunity is
viable.
A-The alternatives available is very attractive and can be accepted by different stakeholders as it
is a profitable

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F- Being in the industry for long, the company can invest adequately and provide training to the
employees.
Strategy 3:
S: The Company has a good brand name
F: It does not have adequate resources
A; May not be accepted by the firm
Recommendations
Therefore from the given analysis it can be suggested that the second strategy looks the
most viable strategy. The second strategy is potential in terms of suitability, feasibility and
acceptability framework.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that, the company has been operating
in the UK Industry since a long time and produces high quality garments so that it can cater to
the needs of the target market and assure that they are successfully being able to gain their
market share. However the report highlighted various challenges being faced by the organization
at large and also made an analysis of the external environment in order to ensure that it will
successfully be able to attend to the changing needs of the business environment.
The trend in the home medical tests and related services have been increasing and SCH
can take advantage of the strategy and expand its operations to this option. It can provide
adequate training to the employees and ensure success in the long run.

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References
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. and Zentes, J., 2015. Strategic international management (pp.
978-3658078836). Springer.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Statista.com, 2018. • Statista - The Statistics Portal for Market Data, Market Research and
Market Studies. [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2018].
Vogel, R. and Güttel, W.H., 2013. The dynamic capability view in strategic management: A
bibliometric review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(4), pp.426-446.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management
and business policy. Pearson.
Williamson, D., Cooke, P., Jenkins, W. and Moreton, K.M., 2013. Strategic management and
business analysis. Routledge.