Strategic Management: Executive Summary for Study Active

This case study report focuses on Study Active, a leading UK provider of Personal Training & Fitness Instructor qualifications. It begins by identifying potential strategies at both corporate and business levels, including product development, market penetration, investment, differentiation leadership, and cost focus. The report then critically evaluates these strategies using strategic models such as the Ansoff Matrix, McKinsey Matrix, and BCG Matrix, providing a detailed analysis of each model's application to Study Active's situation. The report recommends a forward route, explaining the chosen scenario and critically analyzing its implications. The evaluation considers factors like market attractiveness, business strength, and the potential for investment and expansion. Finally, the report provides a comprehensive overview of Study Active's strategic position and suggests actionable recommendations for future growth and competitive advantage.

Strategic Management

Executive Summary
The present report has been focuses on the setting objectives, evaluates strategies out
several strategies all over the firm and descriptive approach on how strategies must be put within
practice and report has been focuses on Study Active is one of the UK's leading providers of
Personal Training & Fitness Instructor qualifications. Report has been focuses on Identification
of the possible strategies, Critical evaluation of the different possible scenarios using strategic
models and recommended route forward: explanation of the scenario chosen and critical analysis
of the implications.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................4
Possible Strategies.......................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of the different possible.................................................................................7
Explanation of the scenario chosen and critical analysis of the implication.............................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management focuses on overall direction through developing polices and plan
that are designed to accomplish objectives and then providing resources in order to implement
plans. Basically it is for entity so that to gain competition edge over their rivalries. According to
this managements it includes setting objectives, evaluates strategies and assuring the
management rolls out several strategies all over the firm. It also needs reflection on the
procedures and process in the firm and several external factors that can influence how the firm
functions. Strategic management is also split into various school of thoughts. It is consider as a
prescriptive approach that can easily outlines that how strategies must be developed . It also
gives a descriptive approach on how strategies must be put within practice. These schools
different on strategies whether these are developed by an evaluation process, where all the
opportunities and threats are accounted for. Present report focuses on Study Active is one of the
UK's leading providers of Personal Training & Fitness Instructor qualifications. Report focuses
on Identification of the possible strategies at the corporate and at the business level including a
justification of those possible strategies, Critical evaluation of the different possible scenarios
using strategic models and recommended route forward: explanation of the scenario chosen and
critical analysis of the implications.
Main Body
Possible Strategies
Study active is leading organisation for providing personal training and fitness instructor
qualification and for the purpose of this they are using both online and offline mediums for
providing training. On the basis of present strategic position of Study Active there are several
strategic options available for Study Active. Some of the strategies that are available for Study
Active are as follows-
Product Development
This is one of the strategy in which Study Active requires to develop its products. This
means that Study Active needs to focus on developing its products. This involves developing

more places where it can provide its practical training (Cooper, 2019). Study Active provides
blend service in which they provide both online and offline training, however major portion of
training is completed online and later for practical training they use venues at Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire. This means that their practical training services are only available at two regions
and their online services are available in all over UK. This requires that Study Active develop
places and venues for practical training in other regions so that more people can join and learn
through Study Active.
Their present service is provided as blended, they can also provide services as offline only. This
is another product that they can develop in which they need to develop offline process. This is
important because not everyone willing to get personal training and become fitness instructor can
learn from online mediums. Offline medium is suitable and Study Active has created its image
and this is why product development can be good strategy at present strategic position of the
company.
Market Penetration
This is one of the possible strategies for Study Active, in this strategy in which it will
require to penetrate its existing market and products of the companies are existing products
(Alkasim, Abdullah and Bohari, 2017). Some of the strategies that Study Active will require in
this strategy are increasing and enhancing promotional efforts, these are aimed at increasing
customers from existing market and provide them existing products. This requires company to
make strong efforts on their promotion and advertisement. This will help company in increasing
customers from existing market and this strategy has least possible.
Investment
This is other strategy at corporate level that Study Active can utilise and execute. This is
concerned with investing in activities and development of Study Active. Investment at this
strategic position will enhance strength of Study Active. This will also allow it to get competitive
advantage. Investment is concerned with making financial investment to increase and enhance
services and product of the Study Active (Yang and Yang, 2019). In this present position making
investment in business of Study Active is suggestible because it has possibilities for attracting
higher returns of investment in terms of increased customers.

Differentiation Leadership
This strategy is based on the element that Study Active should focus on differentiation
strategy and make it strong and visible in order to get competitive advantage. This means that
Study Active should highlight and communicate about its differentiations which already are there
in services of Study Active. Study Active has considerable elements that differentiate it from its
competitors and using these differences wisely can lead to competitive advantage of Study
Active. This will also communicate and appeal to its customers about how it is superior to its
competitors.
Differentiation leadership can also play important role in attracting customers on the
basis of visible differentiation from its competitors. For example it provides blended services in
which it is different from its competitors who are only providing offline or those who are only
providing online personal training and instructor training (Suryanto and Anggraini, 2020). This
strategy and its application is also corporate level strategy.
Cost Focus Strategy
This strategy involves approach under which cost of the firm is least in the industry. This
allows for cost and profitability advantage. Study Active can utilise this strategy to attract price
sensitive customers. This is because for many customers cost is special consideration and in such
situation cost focus strategy will help Study Active in getting and increasing customers.
These strategies are some of the possible strategies that Study Active can apply to get
competitive advantage in its industry. All these strategies discussed have different benefit for
Study Active and has been discussed after identifying strategic position of the company. These
strategies are based on different elements such as product development involves expansion of
business through developing new product (Uluskan, Godfrey and Joines, 2017). Market
penetration is another strategy that is based on penetrating market and getting new customers
from existing market. Investment strategy is suggested because of good position of company and
attractiveness of market in which Study Active is operating. Investment will facilitate expansion
and product development of the company. Later differentiation was suggested, this is important
that organisations and their product are having different characteristics, in times of strong
competition it is important to have differentiation to stand ahead from competitors.

Critical evaluation of the different possible
These strategies discussed and suggested here can be evaluated on the basis of different strategic
models. This evaluation is as follows-
Ansoff Matrix and strategy of product development and market penetration
Model of Ansoff Matrix provide different options and strategies available for expansion
of the business. As per its present strategic position Study Active can undertake expansion and
this is Product Development is a suitable strategy for Study Active. This is model that provides
different strategies that organisation can utilise and strategies suggested in this model are based
on development of product and market (Loredana, 2017). Following figure outlines different
strategies and their related elements that organisation can adopt. This model emphasizes growth
of the business on the basis of development of product and development of market. On the basis
of this there are four possible strategy, among these product development was suggested in
above heading of possible strategies. Product development strategy is one in which product is
developed to cater requirements of existing market. Other than this market penetration is another
strategy in this organisation undertake efforts to increase sale and performance of organisation in
existing market with help of existing products.

Figure 1 Ansoff Matrix
From: Ansoff Matrix, 2020
Application of this strategy will allow company to attract new customers on the basis of its new
product. Products development strategy for Study Active will involve development of new
venues at different locations. This will reduce difficulty for people to travel from their
destination to destination of offline training. More number of training centres will reduce
difficulty of people as they will be able to find a nearby venue for their offline training. Other
than this developing offline training centre is also one of the products that Study Active can
develop (Cleberg, 2019). This will help company in attracting customers who are not interested
in getting training from online medium.
Market penetration strategy is also one of the strategies in this model. This strategy involves low
risk because market and product both are existing and company does not require developing
anything new in this. Market penetration strategy as per this model requires to identify
opportunity in existing market and then utilising opportunity by increasing visibility of Study
Active on different platforms. Presently online learning and training has become very popular

and this is why it has several opportunities for Study Active to attract customers. Online
advertisement and promotions can increase visibility to online users and this also possesses
possibility of attracting customers using online services and platforms.
McKinsey Matrix and Investment Strategy
Figure 2 McKinsey Matrix
From: GE Matrix for Product Portfolio analysis, 2020
This model involves different strategies that are based on attractiveness of the market and
strength of business. These are two dimensions for determination of strategies that organisation
can adopt. On the basis of these dimensions there are 9 possible strategies. These are Invest,
Protect, Harvest and Divest (Yang and Jiang, 2018). Invest strategy involves that organisation
can and should make investment in order to enhance overall performance and profitability of
organisation. This strategy is also important for growth of the organisation. Protect strategy
involves protecting business and maintaining is survival in the industry. Harvest is a position
where possibility of failure is comparatively high and this is why firm should not make
investment and in this situation organisation should take right step and strategy through which
this situation can be improved.
Strategy discussed above involved Invest this strategy was discussed and suggested. This
strategy is suitable for Study Active because this strategy involves business strength and

attractiveness of market. Study Active is in a situation and position in which business strength of
Study Active is good and favourable and market attractiveness is also high. In present times
market attractiveness of personal training and fitness training is increasing and position of Study
Active is also strong. This is why this strategy is suitable for Study Active and when they follow
other strategy for expansion also requires investment and this is why this is one of the strategy
that should be adopted and implemented by Study Active.
Investment is one of the most suitable strategy in which Study Active can allow it several
benefits, investment allows adding new dimensions and present situation and position of the
Study Active. Other than this, investment also is important for expanding activities of business.
This is not possible for Study Active to expand its activities and business without investment.
Investment strategies can also be evaluated with the Growth Share Matrix of BCG. This model is
as follows-
Figure 3 BCG Matrix
From: How to use the BCG Matrix model, 2020

This model outlines four positions that are Star, Question Mark, Cash Cows and Dogs (Filippov,
2017). These situations are based on market share and market growth rate. Study Active is
leading provider o personal training and Fitness instructor qualification and this suggests that
their market share is high and the market in which they are operating is also growing at high rate.
This means that in both elements market share and market growth rate is high and this makes it a
Star, this also suggests that company should make investment in order to further improve its
services and remain strong in competition.
Investment will help company to remain in position of Star for longer time. Hence on the
basis of evaluation of strategy in reference to both the strategy this strategy can be adopted and
implemented by Study Active.
Porter’s Generic strategies and differentiation leadership and cost focus
Figure 4 Porter's Generic Strategies
From: Porter's Generic Strategies, 2020

This is another strategic mode that is utilised by the organisation and this model involves
two dimensions that are cost and differentiation. These are later applied on the size of market and
these make strategies that are either cost leadership or differentiation leadership. Strategies when
are focused at narrow market these are known as cost focus and differentiation focus (Islami,
Mustafa and Latkovikj, 2020). Above suggested strategies were differentiation leadership and
cost focus. Differentiation strategy involves having different elements in the product that
differentiate one company from another. Differentiation strategies also allow companies to take
advantage over competition through distinctive nature of the product of the company.
There are several benefits of differentiation strategy in this strategy companies that charge higher
price as their product offers more value than those of competitors. For example- Study Active
provides offline training services along with online training and because of this advance element
it can charge higher price for training. Differentiation also adds value in quality of the product
and this also play important role in attracting customers towards the products.
Cost focus, this is another strategy that was suggested for Study Active, in this strategy,
organisations and companies follow a particular price that is applied for a limited number of
customers. This strategy is the one in which cost of the company is least in its industry and this is
why provides advantage in cost and profitability of the organisation. Study Active can also apply
this strategy for people who are price sensitive. In order to identify such customers and provide
them this strategy Study Active needs to provide different courses for them. Courses that provide
cost benefit to those people (Abdolshah, Moghimi and Khatibi, 2018). This can also be done that
customers only willing to attend online classes are charged on the basis of cost focus strategy.
Explanation of the scenario chosen and critical analysis of the implication
Strategies suggested under Heading 1 and evaluated under Heading 2 create different
scenarios for Study Active and their implications are as follows-
Product development
This strategy will create a scenario in which Study Active will be able to provide more
and different types of courses while providing personal training and fitness instructor
qualification. Product development will involve development of offline training and at the same
time increasing product in terms of offline training. This will attract those who are not able to

understand and train themselves through online mediums. This is because Study Active provides
training and this is not possible for everyone to learn through online channels and mediums
(Wilberg and et.al., 2017). Learning through offline mediums will enhance overall performance
of Study Active.
Implication of this will involve cost and investment for development of new product.
 This will attract new customers having different requirements, and will enable Study
Active to present new options of learning for its customers.
 Developing new venues and learning centre for practical classes will enable more
customers to find practical learning centres near them and this will enhance customer
satisfaction.
 One of the implications is in form of required cost and investment and failure of this will
cause negative implication on financial position of the company. However possibility of
Study Active is low in this scenario.
Market Penetration
This is another possible strategy that is available for Study Active. This strategy involves
penetrating existing market and in this focus of the company is selling in existing product and
services. Study Active in this strategy will also involve selling of existing product and service in
order to gain higher market share. This will require some of the activities to be carried out and
completed by Study Active. This means lowering and reducing price, acquiring competitor
(doing this will enhance position of Study Active), using promotions and advertisements to
increase customers (Chen and et.al., 2016). Implications of this strategy will-
Increasing customers from existing market
 Acquisition of competitor will lead to reduction in competitors within industry and will
also enhance power of Study Active
 Increasing promotional efforts will lead to increase visibility of Study Active and this
will also allow other benefit to company such as brand recognition and enhanced value of
Study Active

 Acquisition of competitor requires significant amount of investment and wrong
acquisition can also lead to wrong term negative implications
Investment
This is a corporate level strategy in which Study Active will require to make investment.
This investment is in product development or for market penetration activities. Investment
requires using monetary and financial assets of the company (Weber, Staub-Bisang and Alfen,
2016). Implications of this strategy will involve-
 Temporary impact on financial position of the company
 Financial investment is necessary for long term competitive advantage
 Financial investment in expansion of product and business will make positive impact on
the image of the company
 Expansion of the business also enhances its image and people are more likely to trust
business and services that are well expanded and have a positive image in market
 Study Active provides certification for fitness instructor qualification and this is why
success of the company highly depends on its goodwill and image and this requires
investment in right activity
 Investment is also required when company adopts expansion of practical training venues
in other region of UK
Differentiation Leadership
This strategy involves differentiation leadership in which products and service that is
offered by company have different elements and characteristics which differentiate their product
and service from their competitors and allow a competitive advantage. This scenario will involve
that services of providing personal training and fitness instructor qualification by Study Active
have different elements than its competitors. This may be the element that they provide online
and blended learning. This gives them advantage of both online trainer as well as those of offline
trainers and training providers. Support that is provided by Study Active is also a differentiating
element that differentiates Study Active from its competitors (Semuel, Siagian and Octavia,
2017). This is because it add vale in worth of getting qualification for becoming a fitness

instructor and add confidence of people in Study Active. Some of implication this strategy can
have are as follows-
 Enables Study Active to charge higher prices for its differentiating services
 Allow Study Active to have competitive advantage on the basis of quality and value
 Enhance customer satisfaction
 A negative implication of this is that Study Active may require proving its quality and
differentiation. For example- it is not always possible and easy to convince people to try
something that are different from usual. This can create difficulty in gaining trust and
confidence of people in services of Study Active.
Cost Focus Strategy
This is another strategy that is based on the element of cost. This strategy involves that
cost that Study Active occur in development and providing service is least in the industry. This
will allow Study Active to get higher margins on the cost and also enable it to provide its
services at less price compared to its competitors. Scenario in this will be that Study Active will
provide services at comparatively less prices but to a limited number of people. This is not
possible to identify a certain group because of online services but it can provide its cost benefit
to certain people (Uluskan, Godfrey and Joines, 2017). Study Active can implement this strategy
and allow limited benefit to those having services at less price. Implications of this-
 Price sensitive people will also utilise services of Study Active
 Limited services can negatively affect customer satisfaction.
Above discussion involved different scenario that can be created by implementing different
strategies by Study Active. This further discussed about positive and negative implications that
Study Active might have because of strategies.
CONCLUSION
From the above it had been concluded that Product Development that is one of the
strategy to focus on developing its products and provides blend service in which they provide
both online and offline training as it Developing new venues for practical classes and will
increase customer satisfaction. Market Penetration aimed at increasing customers from existing

market and provide them existing products. Market penetration strategy are based on
attractiveness of the market and also important for growth of the organisation and involves
protecting business and maintaining is survival in the industry. It also make strong efforts on
their and advertisement. Investment with making financial investment to increase and enhance
services and product as also needs when firm adopts expansion of practical training and
enhances its image and people are more likely to trust highly depends on its goodwill and image
and Differentiation Leadership highlight and communicate about its differentiations and lead to
competitive advantage, here products and service have different and characteristics which
differentiate their product and service from their competitors and Enhance customer satisfaction
charge higher prices for its differentiating services and Cost focus follow a particular price that is
applied for a limited number of customers provides advantage in cost and profitability and apply
for people who are price sensitive.

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