1. Part one: Post an executive summary of your Comprehensive Project in the body of a post in this Discussion Board (do not use attachments). An executive summary is a 10% synopsis of a larger document that outlines the purpose, planned processes, actual processes, findings, and recommendations for the project. Chief executive officers (CEOs) often read and assess executive summaries before deciding to read entire reports. Consequently, the summary must be a high-quality narrative that demonstrates the significance of the work, addresses all the important issues being undertaken – the seven GP questions are important issues - shows, the objectivity of research and analysis underpinning the report, and establishes the credibility of the resulting conclusions. 250 to 300 words About your company: Your abilities in international management have been recognized, and your consulting assistance has been requested. The company Quasimoto Enterprises has been approached by a reputed Chinese firm that wants exclusive production and selling rights for one of its new high-tech products. The company has been looking for a strategic partner for the production of this product to reduce costs. Hence, Quasimoto Enterprises is very interested in exploring the possibility of developing relationships with this Chinese firm. This deal is very critical to growth of Quasimoto in the international market. Both parties are anxious and preparing for their first meeting in a month’s time to move this deal forward. This is the first time Quasimoto is doing business with China, and this is also the case with the Chinese firm. 2. Part Two: Please review the executive summaries of other students, and provide an objective assessment and constructive feedback that will help strengthen the effectiveness of their efforts and the quality of their finished reports. Classmates executive summary #1 Q1 Executive Summary John Leander Malloy Toolscorps™ Corporation will be established as a C Corporation home based in Memphis Tennessee. Its known for production of home improvements products such as microwaves, kitchen appliances, exterior furniture and power tools. Toolscorp™ is a United States Manufacturer that has sold retail and wholesale. ToolsCorp™ aims to be expand inside of the global market. ToolsCorp™ is a manufacturing company that provides interior and exterior home improvement solutions, electronical products that follow the state laws of Tennessee as well as laws in accordance with the department of revenue services. Toolscorp™ business mission is to manufacturer products locally and sale through major retailers such as Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot and 54 Lumber with the target market focused on the global region with the high demand for power tools and exterior home improvement equipment. With obtaining success inside of the United States, Canada and Mexico, Toolscorp plans on expanding to Asia, Africa and Europe. Research shows that several African a.

1. 1. Part one: Post an executive summary of your Comprehensive
Project in the body of a post in this Discussion Board (do not
use attachments). An executive summary is a 10% synopsis of a
larger document that outlines the purpose, planned processes,
actual processes, findings, and recommendations for the project.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) often read and assess executive
summaries before deciding to read entire reports. Consequently,
the summary must be a high-quality narrative that demonstrates
the significance of the work, addresses all the important issues
being undertaken – the seven GP questions are important issues
- shows, the objectivity of research and analysis underpinning
the report, and establishes the credibility of the resulting
conclusions. 250 to 300 words
About your company:
Your abilities in international management have been
recognized, and your consulting assistance has been requested.
The company Quasimoto Enterprises has been approached by a
reputed Chinese firm that wants exclusive production and
selling rights for one of its new high-tech products. The
company has been looking for a strategic partner for the
production of this product to reduce costs. Hence, Quasimoto
Enterprises is very interested in exploring the possibility of
developing relationships with this Chinese firm. This deal is
very critical to growth of Quasimoto in the international market.
Both parties are anxious and preparing for their first meeting in
a month’s time to move this deal forward. This is the first time
Quasimoto is doing business with China, and this is also the
case with the Chinese firm.
2. Part Two: Please review the executive summaries of other
students, and provide an objective assessment and constructive

2. feedback that will help strengthen the effectiveness of their
efforts and the quality of their finished reports.
Classmates executive summary #1
Q1
Executive Summary
John Leander Malloy
Toolscorps™ Corporation will be established as a C
Corporation home based in Memphis Tennessee. Its known for
production of home improvements products such as microwaves,
kitchen appliances, exterior furniture and power tools.
Toolscorp™ is a United States Manufacturer that has sold retail
and wholesale. ToolsCorp™ aims to be expand inside of the
global market.
ToolsCorp™ is a manufacturing company that provides interior
and exterior home improvement solutions, electronical products
that follow the state laws of Tennessee as well as laws in
accordance with the department of revenue services.
Toolscorp™ business mission is to manufacturer products
locally and sale through major retailers such as Walmart,
Lowes, Home Depot and 54 Lumber with the target market
focused on the global region with the high demand for power
tools and exterior home improvement equipment.
With obtaining success inside of the United States, Canada and
Mexico, Toolscorp plans on expanding to Asia, Africa and
Europe. Research shows that several African and Asian
countries are growing. Africa in 2015 Business-to-business
spending reached $201.28 Billion in spending and is projected
to reach $666.3 Billion by 2030 (Signé, L., & Signé, L. 2018).
With Asia, South Korea has been a manufacturing and
developing country. However, with china being the only country
in the world with the largest industrial Output they also import
$431.6 Billion dollars’ worth electronical equipment (Pines, L.
2019). With these numbers, Toolscorp would be able to obtain
business deals with these two locations as well as key locations

3. within Europe.
References
Pines, L. (2019, April 08). China's Top Commodity Imports &
Exports. Retrieved from https://commodity.com/china/
Signé, L., & Signé, L. (2018, September 21). The potential of
manufacturing and industrialization in Africa. Retrieved from
https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-potential-of-
manufacturing-and-industrialization-in-africa/
Classmates executive summary #2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Post an executive summary of your Comprehensive Project
in the body of a post in this Discussion Board (do not use
attachments). An executive summary is a 10% synopsis of a
larger document that outlines the purpose, planned processes,
actual processes, findings, and recommendations for the project.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) often read and assess executive
summaries before deciding to read entire reports. Consequently,
the summary must be a high-quality narrative that demonstrates
the significance of the work, addresses all the important issues
being undertaken – the seven GP questions are important issues
- shows, the objectivity of research and analysis underpinning
the report, and establishes the credibility of the resulting
conclusions.
Toolscorp company is affiliated with different products based
out of Tennessee. They produce their products through larger
retailers once they reached the amount or goal that they need.
The purpose of this project is to identify the purpose of the
company and to prepare a plan for the business that will profit.
The process is to gain as much of knowledge from research on
the company. Comparing different companies that’s similar will
allow the competition to be compatible and sufficient. Once the
team gets each individual part down we come together to agree

4. on the final paper. We had to sort out what part was being done
and researched by who. Everyone has an equal apart in this
project. As the team tried as much as possible to have the best
commination in the group text it is getting done. Discovering
what the professor intends for us to and that is going back
proofreading, making sure each point is discussed and that we
have enough research for the paper.
The team decided to expand to China. We believe china has the
best economy in the world. This provide much more reasons on
why we decided to expand with china as well as the SWOT
analysis, mission statement, plan of the business. It will also
provide the necessary charts, diagrams, whatever it takes to
explain the tools corporation company and expansion of china.
1. Please review the executive summaries of other students and
provide an objective assessment and constructive feedback that
will help strengthen the effectiveness of their efforts and the
quality of their finished reports.
I will provide feedback and ways to make this project
successful. I will motivate everyone to do their best and I don’t
mind heping in any way way possible. I will look out for every
member in the group and if I find some info beneficial I will
forward them as well. Open communication is key to making
this work.
Learning Material:
The first way to fund a new idea is to do so yourself with
savings or other investments. Many entrepreneurs just starting
out are not wealthy and find it possible to only fund a limited
amount of their new business. Often, savings, a home equity
loan, and credit cards provide the entrepreneur with capital to
get the product off the ground. This is risky for sure, but a new
venture does not succeed without a champion that believes
strongly in the venture.
Bootstrapping is what some entrepreneurs do to get off the

5. ground. Bootstrapping is putting in funds as you can, selling
some product and putting that money back into the company,
and doing this over and over until it grows large enough to fund
itself. The advantage to bootstrapping is that the entrepreneur
retains 100% ownership of the venture, complete control, and
the ability to retain complete profits (or loss).
The disadvantage to bootstrapping a business is that it takes
much longer to grow a company this way. If considering a
large-scale business or research-intense technology, it may not
be possible to bootstrap it to market. If serious research is
needed, the entrepreneur will not have a product to sell to
provide some income to keep going. In this case, options other
than bootstrapping will need to be considered.
Before others will invest, the entrepreneur will need to show he
or she has created something of value. The more value already
created, the more likely the entrepreneur is to receive
investment, and the more ownership she will be able to retain.
So, once all one's own resources are exhausted, the entrepreneur
will look to friends, family, and other contacts for additional
money. An attorney can help set up an interest loan or stock
ownership for this type of investment in the new enterprise.
The next phase of funding to seek is from angel investors.
These are wealthy individuals looking for a large return who
often pool funds to invest in early stage companies. They are
often genuinely interested in your idea and believe in what you
are doing. They assume a higher degree of risk in investing in
your company in hopes for a higher return.
After angel funding, comes venture capital. Make no mistake,
venture capitalists are in business to make money and are
looking for high returns. They bring value to the table in the
ability to invest large amounts of capital in the entrepreneur's
operation, often multiple times. But, the entrepreneur may be
called upon to pay for this by giving the venture capitalist half
his company or more just for the first round of funding. A
typical startup will need to come back for 3–4 rounds of funding
before the company can support itself. Each time, the venture

6. capitalist takes a larger ownership in the business. When the
venture capitalist has over 50%, he or she will be able to put in
his or her own business leadership team. This can be a blessing
or a curse, depending on the situation. If the entrepreneur is not
a business person, but rather the engineer or scientist who came
up with a great new technology, he or she may not care to run
the business end of things, preferring to pursue the science. If
experienced start-up people run the company, it should raise the
likelihood of success. On the flip side, if you do not bring
enough value to the table and watch what you sign, you may
find your company becoming successful and very little of the
ownership still in your hands, sometimes less than 1%. The
most important people to consult and keep at your side through
this process is an attorney who is well-known and respected
(especially in the venture capitalist community) for start-up
activities and a good CPA who works with start-up activities.
Question 1: What is a comprehensive strategic-management
model?
Answer 1: Three major phases to the strategic-management
model are strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation.
The strategy formulation phase involves developing vision and
mission statements; performing external and internal audits;
establishing long-term objectives; and generating, evaluating,
and selecting strategies. The strategy implementation stage
involves the implementation of the strategy management,
marketing, finance, accounting, R&D, and MIS issues. The
strategy evaluation stage involves the measurement and
evaluation of strategy performance.
Question 2: What is strategy evaluation?
Answer 2: It is important that when a strategy is implemented
its effectiveness is closely evaluated. It is important to see how
well the plan met its goals and objectives. Any assessment of
strategies should address the following key questions and
determine the actions to take as a result of the answers. The
three major questions that should be considered when evaluating
a strategy implementation are as follows (David, 2003):

7. · “Have major changes occurred in the firm’s internal strategic
position?” (“Yes” or “No”)
· “Have major changes occurred in the firm’s external strategic
position?” (“Yes” or “No”)
· “Has the firm progressed satisfactorily toward achieving its
stated objectives?” (“Yes” or “No”)
Question 3: What are the characteristics of an effective
evaluation system?
Answer 3: The effective evaluation system must be simple,
economical, meaningful, timely, accurate, realistic, foster
understanding, and not dominate any decisions. Furthermore,
managers need not receive all reports, only the ones appropriate
to their needs. Also, questions and answers should be handled
effectively, so as not to foster any ill-gotten feelings. Not only
are the results important, but also the recipients of the results.
Timely dissemination of the information is as important as the
results themselves. An organization is comprised of a culture,
and it is important to gauge the effect the information may have
on it so as not to have negative affects, but foster growth and
productivity.
Question 4: How important are ethics in strategy evaluation?
Answer 4: Ethical considerations may become a factor while
evaluating the effectiveness of a strategy. There sometimes can
be a tendency to look the other way when improprieties are
exposed when it is evident that a strategy exceeded goals or
expectations, the rationale being that the goals or objectives
were successfully met, and the improprieties may be only
temporary or short-lived. Consequently, ethical considerations
are sometimes placed on the back burner, and only considered
again during the initial stages of strategy planning. This is very
dangerous, because the more they are overlooked, the more
easily they are ignored when strategies are implemented.
Establishing an organizational-wide ethics statement is crucial,
and remembering that it exists is also most crucial when
successful strategy implementations are evaluated.
Question 5: What are contingency plans?

8. Answer 5: Contingency plans can be defined as alternate plans
that can take effect in case key events that may interfere with
the implementation of the strategy do or do not occur.
Regardless of how carefully strategies are formulated,
implemented, or evaluated, unforeseen events may occur that
can make a strategy plan obsolete. Management should have
contingency plans to deal with them. Some commonly
established contingency plans are as follows (David, 2003):
· “If a major competitor withdraws from particular markets as
intelligence exports indicate, what actions should our firm
take?”
· “If our sales objectives are not reached, what actions should
our firm take to avoid losses?”
· “If demand for our new product exceeds plans, what actions
should our firm take to meet the higher demand?”
· “If certain disasters occur – such as loss of computer
capabilities; a hostile takeover attempt; loss of patent
protection; or destruction of manufacturing facilities because of
earthquakes, tornados, or hurricanes – what actions should our
firm take?”
· “If a new technological advancement makes our product
obsolete sooner than expected, what actions should our firm
take?"
Question 6: What is an executive summary?
Answer 6: The executive summary--sometime known as a
synopsis--is a comprehensive, brief account of the report. It is
usually three or fewer pages, and contains a brief account of all
the sections in the report. It is crucial that it is well written,
because at times this is the only part of the report that some
management may read. Informational and analytical reports
should always contain an overall summary of the findings. A
summary of the discussion of the findings should be included at
the end of each section when the analysis is lengthy and
complex. In an informative report written inductively, the
summary marks the conclusion of the report. In an analytical

9. report, the summary may be in a separate section, or may be
included in the section with the conclusions and
recommendations.
Question 7: How should the recommendations and
implementations of a research project be presented?
Answer 7: The final section of the report is the conclusions;
these are drawn from the findings and usually include a list of
recommendations for implementation. Any assumptions,
margins of error, or problems encountered will be included here
as well. Depending upon the type of report and the writer, the
recommendations and conclusions may also appear at the
beginning of a report. The recommendations and conclusions
are at the end of the report when analytical reports are
inductive. The recommendations and conclusions may appear at
the beginning of the report when the analytical are deductive in
nature.
Question 8: How should conclusions be presented?
Answer 8: Conclusions must be logical inferences of the
findings supported by the data analysis. All information that
support the conclusions should be included in the data analysis
section and not here. New data that support the conclusions
should never be included here for a dramatic ending. The
conclusions should indicate a completion of the analysis. In
some circumstances, however, supplemental material may be
included for additional support to the conclusions and
recommendations.
Reference
David, F. D. (2003). Strategic management, concepts and cases.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
A Small Business is one that is independently owned, operated,
and financed, has fewer than 100 employees, doesn't engage in
any new marketing or innovative practices, and has relatively
little impact on its industry.
An Entrepreneurial Venture is characterized by innovative
strategic practices, has profitability and growth as its main

10. goals, is more innovative and seeks out new opportunities, and
is willing to take risks.
Small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures are important to
every industry sector in the U.S. and global economy. They tend
to respond more quickly to changing conditions than larger,
less-flexible, organizations. They also create the most new jobs
in today's economy.
Developing and exploiting a sustainable competitive advantage
is an important task for strategic managers in small businesses
and entrepreneurial ventures, just as it is for larger
organizations. What's different or unique about the way that
strategic managers in small businesses and entrepreneurial
ventures do this? Let's look more closely at the process.
Strategy research on the value of general planning in these
types of organizations and on the value of pre-start-up planning
in particular has shown mixed results. Several studies have
shown positive linkages between planning and business
performance. Others have not uncovered any such relationship
between planning and performance or have shown that the
relationship depends on the industry.
The strategic planning process in small organizations should be
far less formal than in large organizations to encourage
flexibility. The value of strategic planning lies more in the
"doing" than the outcome. Most of the value comes from its
emphasis on analyzing and evaluating the external and internal
environments.
A not-for-profit organization, or NFP, is an organization whose
purpose is to provide some service or good with no intention or
goal of earning a profit. The many different types of NFPs
include Charitable, Religious, Social service, Public Sector,
Professional membership associations, Health service, Cultural
and recreational, Cause-related, Foundations, and Educational.
A public-sector organization is an NFP created, funded, and
regulated by the public sector or government. It provides those
public services that a society needs to be able to exist and
operate.

11. Types of public-sector organizations include governmental
units, police protection, paved roads and other transportation
needs, recreation facilities, care and help for needy and disabled
citizens, and laws and regulations to protect and enhance life.
NFPs are competing for resources and customers, which makes
strategic management a necessity. The strategic management
process for these types of organizations involves external and
internal environmental analysis, strategy choices, and strategy
evaluation and control.
NFPs are facing increasingly dynamic environments just as
business organizations are. An External analysis provides an
assessment of the positive and negative environmental trends
and changes that might impact the NFP's strategic decisions and
actions, just as it does for the for-profit organizations. An
Internal analysis provides an assessment of the NFP's resources
and capabilities and its strengths and weaknesses in specific
areas. Knowing the resources and capabilities and which ones
are inadequate or absent, lets strategic managers see what
distinctive capabilities, core competencies, and competitive
advantage(s) the NFP might have or might need to develop.
Go ahead and check your knowledge. Click on Continue when
you are ready to move on.
An NFP's strategic managers must make some decisions about
strategies to fulfill its vision and mission. The strategic options
that an NFP or a public sector organization has are similar in
many respects to those available to businesses.
Remember that functional strategies allow the company to do
what it's set up to do. Competitive strategies allow NFPs to
compete for resources and customers to ensure their existence.
And, corporate strategies allow companies to decide whether or
not to grow, stabilize, or renew.
Like for-profit organizations, NFPs need to evaluate whether or
not the implemented strategy has had the intended effect. This
is probably the most difficult part of the strategic management
process for NFP and public sector organizations because clearly
stated performance standards are not easy to develop for these

12. types of organizations. Without clearly stated goals, strategy
evaluation and control become more difficult.
In these types of organizations there's not one simple measure
of performance like the profit standard used for business
organizations. Instead, strategic managers may have to look at
several different measures of strategic performance.
Often it's easier for strategic managers of not-for-profit
organizations to measure the resources coming into the
organization than the services or goods being provided or how
these resources are being used.
Some specific strategic issues facing NFPs include the
misperception about the Usefulness of Strategic Management,
Multiple Stakeholders, and some Unique Strategies used by
NFPs in response to the variable and unpredictable revenue
sources.
Because NFPs often rely on variable and unpredictable revenue
sources, many have developed some unique strategies to cope
with the changing environmental conditions-both external and
internal. Three of these unique strategies include:
· Cause-related marketing, a strategic practice in which for-
profit businesses link up with a social cause that fits in well
with the company's product or service.
· Not-for-profit marketing alliances, which are strategic
partnerships between a not-for-profit organization and one or
more corporate partners in which the corporate partners agrees
to undertake a series of marketing actions that will benefit all
parties.
· And Strategic piggybacking, which is the development of a
new activity that would generate revenue for the NFP
organization
Let’s examine some important characteristics of the business
environment. What forces are driving it? What are the
implications? And what will it take to be successful?
Three major drivers of the new business environment include:
· The information revolution

13. · Technological advances and breakthroughs
· And globalization
Information is now readily available to practically anyone from
anywhere on the globe at any hour of the day and pretty much in
any format. The almost instant availability of information has
radically changed the nature of the business environment.
Information is now seen as the essential resource of production.
Organizations can no longer simply rely on the traditional
factors of production to provide a sustainable competitive
advantage. They must now look to how information and
knowledge can be exploited.
Technology is the use of equipment, materials, knowledge, and
experience to perform tasks. Four major technological trends
include:
1. The increasing rate of change and diffusion. Not only are
technological advances happening more frequently, they’re also
being more rapidly adopted by organizations.
2. Increasing commercialization of innovations. Innovation is
the process of taking a creative idea and turning it into a
product or process that can be used or sold.
3. Increasing knowledge intensity. As the use of technology
increases, so does the need for knowledge. And
4. The Advent of increasing returns.
The third driving force of the new business environment is
globalization. Globalization is the international linkage of
economies and cultures that foster a business and competitive
situation in which organizations have no national boundaries.
Global factors impact:
1. The global marketplace, which provides significant
opportunities for organizations to market their goods and
services. Creating sustainable competitive advantage may
require looking globally for customers. The global marketplace
shouldn't just be viewed as an outlet for products, but also a
critical source of resources. And,
2. Global competitors, which can come from anywhere. They,
too, will be looking for a sustainable competitive advantage.

14. Global competitors don't always have to be a negative threat to
each other. They might find they can achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage is by partnering in some type of an
arrangement to make or market products.
There are four major implications of these driving forces:
· Continual Turbulence and Change. All organizations must deal
with change on an increasingly frequent basis.
· Reduced Need for Physical Assets. Traditionally,
accumulating physical assets led to power. However, in the new
economy, value can be found in intangible factors such as
information, people, ideas, and knowledge.
· Vanishing Distance. Geography and political boundaries no
longer determine customers and competitors.
· And Compressed Time. Electronic mail and interactive Web
sites give us instantaneous delivery of information.
There are three critical success factors for succeeding in the
new business environment:
1. The Ability to Embrace Change. Being successful in a
turbulent environment means seeking out change and embracing
it.
2. Creativity and Innovation Capabilities. Create and innovate,
or lose! Creativity is the ability to combine ideas in a unique
way or to make unusual associations between ideas. An
innovative organization is characterized by its ability to channel
creativity into useful outcomes. And,
3. Being a World-Class Organization. A world-class
organization is an organization that continually acquires and
utilizes knowledge in its strategic decisions and actions in order
to be the best in the world at what it does.
Organizational vision is a broad comprehensive picture of what
a leader wants an organization to become. It's a statement of
what the organization stands for, what it believes in, and why it
exists. Four components have been identified as important to
organizational vision:
1. The vision should be built on a foundation of the
organization's core values and beliefs.

15. 2. The vision should elaborate a purpose for the organization.
3. It should include a brief summary of what the organization
does. And,
4. It should specify broad goals.
A mission is a statement of what the various organizational
units do and what they hope to accomplish. A mission statement
should be in alignment with the organizational vision.
Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is the obligation of
organizational decision makers to make decisions and act in
ways that recognize the interrelatedness of business and society.
CSR recognizes the existence of various stakeholders and how
organizations deal with them.
Ethics involves the rules and principles that define right and
wrong decisions and behavior. As we live our lives, there are
decisions and behaviors that are ethically "right" and there are
decisions and behaviors that are ethically "wrong." But these
interpretations of right and wrong can vary.
Organizational learning is the intentional and ongoing actions
of an organization to continuously transform itself by acquiring
information and knowledge and incorporating these into
organizational decisions and actions. A learning organization
can either create or acquire new ideas and information and then
use these to make decisions and take action.
An organization learns by:
· competence acquisition: cultivating new capabilities in teams
or individuals
· experimentation: continuously trying new ideas and
approaches
· continuous improvement: mastering each step in a process
before moving on
· and boundary spanning: continuously scanning what others are
doing.
Definition of Strategy
Although strategy is commonly associated with the business
world, it is actually a term borrowed from the military.
Originating back to the 18th century, strategy is derived from

16. the Greek strategiareferring to the art of arranging military
troops when going to battle (Matloff, 1996). While military
strategy thus pertains to the planning and coordination of troops
to deceive the enemy and fulfill the intended policy, a firm's
strategy similarly entails planning and coordination of its
business activities in lieu of competition to reach its end goal of
higher performance.
The definition of strategy has evolved over the years. In his
well-renowned book Strategy and Structure (1962), Alfred
Chandler defines strategy as “the determination of the long-run
goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of
courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for
carrying out these goals.” Michael Porter (1996) stresses the
fact that strategy is distinctly different from operational
effectiveness and rests upon being different or unique.
Levels of Strategy
There are two basic levels of strategy that together help define
the way in which a firm will achieve its goals. A business
strategy is essentially how the firm competes while the
corporate strategy defines where the firm competes. Also
referred to as competitive strategy, a firm's business strategy
details how it will develop a competitive advantage over its
rivals. The firm’s corporate strategy is somewhat broader and
determines what industries and markets to enter, and more
specifically, through what methods to do so, such as the choice
of acquisitions, diversification, new ventures, and so forth.
External Environment
Strategy is critical because it links the firm with its
environment and therefore, determines the ultimate survival and
success of the firm. When planning which strategic direction a
firm should go, it is first necessary to obtain an in-depth
understanding of its external environment. This requires
researching and analyzing not only the competition, but other
factors within its industry relating to the interaction of buyers,
suppliers, substitutes, and barriers to entry. The external
environment is very dynamic and constantly changing as new

17. firms enter into the industry while others exit. Other macrolevel
factors also impact the nature of the industry and must be
understood. The external environment is important because it is
the context in which a firm will implement its strategy.
Internal Strengths and Weaknesses
Second, in addition to its external environment, a firm must
attain a good understanding of its internal strengths and
weaknesses. To do so, the firm must assess its resources and
capabilities including its best strategic tools for leveraging
itself against the competition. These key resources and
capabilities may include size and buying power, reputation,
network relationships, and innovation capabilities. It is the
unique combination or set of firm resources and capabilities that
matters most.
Third, a firm must determine its goals and where it wants to be.
Many times, this involves setting specific financial performance
goals to compensate its owners and be able to continue in
business; however, in addition to its owners, a firm has many
different stakeholders, including its employees, lenders,
suppliers, community, and the government. A firm can also
simultaneously set other goals to meet its stakeholder needs.
For instance, a firm might set environmental goals to satisfy its
community or quality goals to ensure that government
requirements are easily met.
In summary, strategy is important because it links the firm to its
environment. Detailed analyses of both the external
environment along with the internal resources and capabilities
of the firm allow development of a strategy that is a good fit
and thus has a greater likelihood of success. Any strategy will
also need performance diagnostic tools set up to monitor how
effective the strategy truly is and if the goals are being met.
References
Chandler, A. (1962). Strategy and structure. Cambridge, MA:
MIT.
Matloff, M. (1996). American military history: 1775–1902,
volume 1. Boston, MA: Da Capo.

18. Porter, M. E. (1996). On competition. Boston, MA: Harvard
Business School.