10122018Week 5 Required Reading and Supplementary Materials - .docx

10/12/2018
Week 5 Required Reading and Supplementary Materials -
MGMT 670 9042 Strategic Management Capstone (2188)
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/333174/viewContent/1340
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/2
Required Readings:
From the UMUC library: (Note: You must search for these
articles in the UMUC library. In the case of video links in the
UMUC library, exact directions are given on how to find the
video.)
Porter's Five-Forces model. (2009). In Encyclopedia of
management (6th Ed., pp. 714-717).
From Other websites:
Evaluating the industry. (2012). In Mastering strategic
management. Washington, DC: Saylor Academy. Retrieved from
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-
management/s07-03-evaluating-the-industry.html
The impact of external and internal factors on strategy. (2016,
31 May). In Boundless Management. Retrieved from
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
management/chapter/strategic-management/
Mapping strategic groups. (2012). In Mastering strategic

management/s07-04-mapping-strategic-groups.html
The PESTEL and SCP frameworks. (2016, 26 May). In
Boundless management. Retrieved from
management/chapter/external-inputs-to-strategy/
The relationship between an organization and its environment.
(2012). In Mastering strategic management. Washington, DC:
Saylor Academy. Retrieved from
management/s07-01-the-relationship-between-an- or.html
Strategic group mapping. (2010, October 5). MBA lectures.
Retrieved from http://mba-lectures.com/management/strategic-
management/1000/strategic-group-mapping.html
Supplementary Materials:
UMUC library, exact directions are given on how to find the
video.)
Anand, B. N. (2006). Crafting business strategy and
environmental scanning [Video]. Harvard Business School
Faculty Seminar Series.
Follow these steps to find this video:
Go to http://sites.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm
Type in the entire name of the article: "Crafting business
strategy and environmental scanning," into the search box and
click on "search."
Click on "multimedia" in the upper left hand corner of the
webpage (under "Ask a Librarian.)

strategy and environmental scanning," in the box at the top of
the page to the left of the word, "Search."
Make sure only "Business Videos" and "Find all my search
term" are the only boxes that are checked. Uncheck both "Image
Collection" and "Apply equivalent
subjects"
Click on "Search" at the bottom right hand corner of the
webpage. It is a small word in a box. The next page shows the
article. Click on the article.
Dahab, S. (2008). Five forces. In S. R. Clegg & J. R. Bailey
(Eds.), International encyclopedia of organization studies (Vol.
4, pp. 508- 509). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.
doi: 10.4135/9781412956246.n178.
Grundy, T. (2006). Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porter's
five forces model. Strategic Change, 15(5), 213-229.
doi:10.1002/jsc.764.
Harper, G. M. (2013). Porter's Five Forces. Salem Press
encyclopedia.
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape
strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.
Arline, K. (2015, February 18). Porter's Five Forces: Analyzing
the competition. Business News Daily. Retrieved from
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5446-porters-five-
forces.html#sthash.td8NsV4u.dpuf
Evaluating the general environment. (2012). In Mastering
strategic management. Washington, DC: Saylor Academy.
Retrieved from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-
strategic-management/s07-02-evaluating-the-general-
environ.html
MindTools. (n.d.). Porter’s five forces: assessing the balance of
power in a business situation. Retrieved from

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm
Mullerbeck, E. (2015). SWOT and PESTEL. New York:
UNICEF. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/knowledge-
exchange/files/SWOT_and_PESTEL_production.pdf
Porter, M. (2015). Michael Porter on competitive strategy.
[Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-
cFbTsY8U
Rachapila, T., & Jansirisak, S. (2013). Using Porter’s Five
Forces model for analysing the competitive environment of
Thailand’s sweet corn industry. International Journal of
Business and Social Research, 3(3). Retrieved from
http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/67
(case study)
Strategic group mapping: a mechanism for understanding the
other players that operate in your field. (2016). Business
Survival Toolkit. Retrieved from http://business-survival-
toolkit.co.uk/stage-three/strategy-and-planning/strategic-group-
mapping
SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats: tools. (2016). Community toolbox. Retrieved from
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-
community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/tools
10/12/2018 Week 6: External Environment Report (15%) -
Complete an analysis of the key external factors that have
implications for successful implementation of your
organization’s VMO, strategy and goals/objectives. You will
examine your organization’s industry and the competitive

conditions/positioning affecting it now or likely to do so in the
future. Submit your work in your assignment folder in the form
of an approximate 2,000-word double-spaced APA-formatted
paper. The title page, reference list, and any appendices are not
included in this suggested word count. You do not need to
include an abstract. Your paper should address these topics:
A brief explanation of the industry (or industries) in which your
organization operates as well as context for your organization’
current positioning.Analyze the current conditions in your
organization’s industry and in its relevant general environment
and their likely implications for successful implementation of
your organization’s strategic goals and related actions. Be sure
to address the PESTEL framework.Apply Porter’s Five-Forces
Model to enrich your understanding of the environment in
which your organization is now or may be operating. The Five
Forces model should stress that this model is used to evaluate
the industry, not your selected organization’s activities. The
model should be used to isolate the dominant force(s) in the
industry faced by all competitors and that produce the greatest
threat to your organization’s profits and/or strategy. You should
discuss how your firm can provide a defense against this threat
or threats.Describe your organization’s strategic group and
construct a map to show its relative market position. Add in a
discussion of your rationale for the grouping.Summarize the
threats and opportunities facing your organization gleaned from
your analysis. (SWOT analysis) Submit the SWOT format in
Table form and add in some narrative to discuss the threats and
opportunities in more detail. Explain in your discussion (not in
the table) why you selected them and how they relate to the
VMO and organization’s strategy.Evaluate the extent to which
your organization’s current strategy appears a good match for
the competitive conditions it confronts or any gaps that must be
addressed.Add in a strong conclusion that ensures the reader
leaves your paper with a clear recap of your key points.
IMPORTANT: Do not just use someone else's SWOT, Five
Forces, or other analysis. We want you to think for yourself.

Critically analyze your firm and write about your original
conclusions. Again, imagine you have been asked by the
organization’s CEO or top leader to offer an assessment of the
organization and how well it is positioned (or not) to deliver on
the VMO and strategy in the external environment. This is a
critical element, stand back and offer thoughtful criticism and
recommendations.

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10/12/2018 Week 5 Required Reading and Supplementary
Materials - MGMT 670 9042 Strategic Management Capstone
(2188)
6413/View 1/2
Required Readings:
UMUC
library, exact directions are given on how to find the video.)
management (6th Ed., pp. 714-717).

Boundless management. Retrieved from
Saylor
Academy. Retrieved from
management/s07-01-the-relationship-between-an-
or.html
Supplementary Materials:
UMUC
library, exact directions are given on how to find the video.)

Faculty Seminar
Series.
Follow these steps to find this video:
Go to http://sites.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm
strategy and environmental scanning," into the search box and
click on
"search."
Click on "multimedia" in the upper left hand corner of
the webpage (under "Ask a Librarian.)
strategy and environmental scanning," in the box at the top of
the page
to the left of the word, "Search."
Make sure only "Business Videos" and "Find all my
search term" are the only boxes that are checked. Uncheck both
"Image
Collection" and "Apply equivalent
subjects"
Click on "Search" at the bottom right hand corner of the
webpage. It is a small word in a box.
The next page shows the article. Click on the article.
Dahab, S. (2008). Five forces. In S. R. Clegg & J. R. Bailey
(Eds.), International encyclopedia of organization studies (Vol.
4, pp. 508-
509). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi:
10.4135/9781412956246.n178.
doi:10.1002/jsc.764.
encyclopedia.

strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.
management/s07-01-the-relationship-between-an-or.html
http://mba-lectures.com/management/strategic-
http://sites.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm
10/12/2018 Week 5 Required Reading and Supplementary
Materials - MGMT 670 9042 Strategic Management Capstone
(2188)
6413/View 2/2
the competition. Business News Daily. Retrieved from
Retrieved from
management/s07-02-evaluating-the-general-environ.html

Porter, M. (2015). Michael Porter on competitive strategy.
[Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-
cFbTsY8U
Rachapila, T., & Jansirisak, S. (2013). Using Porter’s Five
Forces model for analysing the competitive environment of
Thailand’s sweet
corn industry. International Journal of Business and Social
Research, 3(3). Retrieved from
(case study)
Survival
Toolkit. Retrieved from http://business-survival-
toolkit.co.uk/stage-three/strategy-and-planning/strategic-group-
mapping

http://www.unicef.org/knowledge-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-cFbTsY8U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-cFbTsY8U
http://business-survival-toolkit.co.uk/stage-three/strategy-and-
planning/strategic-group-mapping
planning/strategic-group-mapping.html
10/12/2018
Week 5 Lecture: External Factors - MGMT 670 9042 Strategic
Management Capstone (2188)
6435/View
/7
MGMT 670: Week 5 Lecture
Week 5: External Environment of a Business: The students will
study, in detail, the external environment of companies. They
will analyze the threats and the opportunities facing a business,
using a SWOT analysis. Then they will analyze the competition,
using the Five Forces Model and a Strategic Group Map.
Learning Objectives:Identify factors in a company’s macro
environment that may have strategic significance.Define and
apply the PESTEL framework.Use a SWOT analysis to examine
external factors of an organization.Apply the Five Forces Model
to an organization.Create a Strategic Group Map to analyze the

business and its competition.
Introduction
We’ve looked at internal factors; now it’s time to look at the
external factors that affect strategy. Anand (2006) contends that
there are two times at which a company should perform an
external analysis: (1) when entering a new market, and (2) when
trying to position the company to successfully compete in the
market in which it currently is.
The external environment is more complex than the internal
environment, and we use the PESTEL framework, the SWOT
analysis, the Five Forces model, and the Strategic Group Map to
analyze the external factors of a business (“The impact of
external and internal factors on strategy.” 2016). “The
environment consists of the set of external conditions and forces
that have the potential to influence the organization” (“The
relationship between an organization and its environment,”
2012). Environment is much broader than simply the industry in
which a company competes (Anand, 2006).
It is useful to break the concept of the environment down into
two components. The general environment (or
macroenvironment) includes overall trends and events in society
such as social trends, technological trends, demographics, and
economic conditions. The industry (or competitive environment)
consists of multiple organizations that collectively compete
with one another by providing similar goods, services, or both.
(“The relationship between an organization and its
environment,” 2012)
Although internal factors are many and varied depending on the
organization, management has some control over how these
various internal conditions interact (“The impact of external and
internal factors on strategy.” 2016). External factors are things

that management has no control over. The key to managing
external factors is to take advantage of external opportunities
and avoid external threats.
PESTEL Framework
We will begin this week with a discussion of the PESTEL
Framework (or PESTLE). The framework looks at the“six most
common macro-environmental factors (political, economic,
social, technological, environmental, and legal)” (“The PESTEL
and SCP
Frameworks,” 2016; “Evaluating the general environment,”
2012). “The basic premise behind this framework, from a
strategy perspective, is to identify opportunities and threats in
the market” (“The PESTEL and SCP Frameworks,” 2016).
Although PESTEL and SWOT are often used together, PESTEL
identifies specific significant relevant factors and SWOT then
classifies them as either Opportunities or Threats (Mullerbeck,
2015). Therefore, it is to your advantage to use the PESTEL
Framework before conducting a SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis
We have already talked about the S (strengths) and W
(weaknesses) in the SWOT analysis. Now, let’s turn our
attention to the Opportunities and Threats (O and T).
Opportunities are “events and trends that create chances to
improve an organization’s performance level” and threats are
“events and trends that may undermine an organization’s
performance” (“The relationship between an organization and
its environment,” 2012). Remember that opportunities and
threats are factors outside the company’s control. Opportunities
are positive, and threats are negative.
Source: “SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats: tools,” 2016.

Five Forces Model
Michael E. Porter (2008), of Harvard University, developed the
Five Forces Model, a “strategy framework that provides
corporations with clear analysis of their competitive strategies”
(“Porter’s Five-Forces model,” 2009, p. 714). The five forces
include suppliers, rivalry within an industry, substitute
products, customers or buyers, and new entrants. It is the most
popular business analytic tool (“Evaluating the industry,”
2012). “The purpose of five forces analysis is to identify how
much profit potential exists in an industry” (“Evaluating the
industry,” 2012).
The six factors identified by Porter can be narrowed down into
two major categories of barriers to entry; market barriers to
entry and mobility barriers to entry. Market barriers to entry are
the structural characteristics of a market, which favor
established firms to the disadvantage of new entrants in the
market in such a way that established firms enjoy the flexibility
of raising prices over costs without attracting new entrants.
Mobility barriers shield a firm operating in one segment of the
market from entry by other firms operating in different
segments of the same market. (“Porter’s Five-Forces model,”
2009, p. 716).

When performing a Five Forces analysis, it’s important to both
identify the threat, but also to rank that threat. For example, is
the threat of substitutes low, moderate, or high? MindTools
(n.d.) provides a worksheet and examples to walk you through
the process.
Some Caveats on the Five Forces
Some companies engage in more than one industry or
marketplace. The five forces analysis is only appropriate for the
analysis of an individual line of business, so when a business is
engaged in multiple ventures in different industries, a five
forces analysis should be done for each. A significant change to
any of the five forces should serve as an opportunity to pause
and consider the business’s strategy within that marketplace.
(Harper, 2013).
Students in the military or the public sector sometimes struggle
with the Five Forces analysis because they think they don’t

have any competition. Your firm does compete, though. For
example, if you are a police department, you compete for
funding (state, federal, and grant funding), employees (they
might choose the state police over your local department), and
equipment. Try to think about what customers get from your
firm and how else they might achieve the same results. For the
police department, substitutes could include things like personal
guns, security systems, and security personnel (all of those
things “substitute” for one aspect of the police: keeping citizens
and businesses
safe). Be sure to check out the “Strategy in Nonprofits”
resources in the Webliography. If you have trouble applying
this or any of the concepts in this course, please reach out to
your faculty member.
Although Porter’s model is taught extensively, and most
business managers are at least familiar with it, some find it hard
to implement. Grundy (2006) has critiqued and refined the
model, and his article is worth reading. Porter’s model has also
been criticized for failing to explain strategic alliances. “In the
1990s, Yale School of Management professors Adam
Brandenbuger and Bare Nalebuff created the idea of a sixth
force, "complementors," using the tools of game theory. In their
model, complementors sell products and services that are best
used in conjunction with a product or service from a
competitor” (Arline, 2015).
Strategic Group Map
The last tool we’ll be looking at to examine external forces is
the Strategic Group Map. A Strategic Group Map displays the
relative competitive positions of rival firms in the industry
(“Strategic group mapping,” 2010). “Strategic groups are sets of
firms that follow similar strategies to one another” (“Mapping
strategic groups,” 2012). There are several reasons to create a
Strategic Group Map: (1) These firms are usually the company’s

closest rivals, (2) the strategies pursued other by firms within
the strategic groups show alternative paths to success, and (3)
analysis of rivals can reveal gaps in the industry that are
untapped opportunities (“Mapping strategic groups,” 2012).
The map is constructed by choosing two variables and then
comparing the company with its rivals within that industry. It is
important to choose variables that are not correlated, are
discrete, and have a big difference (“Strategic group mapping,”
2010). The Business Survival Toolkit (“Strategic group
mapping: a mechanism for understanding the other players that
operate in your field,” 2016) includes a downloadable tool you
can use to help you construct a Strategic Group Map.
Source: Strategic group mapping. (2010, October 5). MBA
lectures. Retrieved from http://mba-
lectures.com/management/strategic-
Conclusion
An effective analysis of external factors will include all of these
tools. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but a manager
who uses all of them will have extensive knowledge of a firm’s
external environment.

References
Faculty Seminar Series. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=fsv&AN=8282c&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
the Competition. Business News Daily. Retrieved from
Retrieved from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-
strategic-management/s07-02-evaluating-the-general-
environ.html

doi:10.1002/jsc.764. Retrieved from
login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2006-21888-
001&site=eds-live&scope=site
Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers
&AN=89550628&site=eds-live&scope=site
Boundless Management. Retrieved
from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-

strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93. Retrieved
from
login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=28000138&site=eds-
live&scope=site
Management (6th Ed., pp. 714-717). Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?
url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ps/i.do?
id=GALE%7CCX3273100234&v=2.1&u=umd_umuc&it=r&p=G
VRL&sw=w&asid=15b293cb106b6939bb8da821591db412
Saylor Academy. Retrieved from
Survival Toolkit.
Retrieved from http://business-survival-toolkit.co.uk/stage-
three/strategy-and-planning/strategic-group-mapping

10/12/2018 Week 5 Lecture: External Factors - MGMT 670
9042 Strategic Management Capstone (2188)
6435/View 1/7
MGMT 670: Week 5 Lecture
Week 5: External Environment of a Business: The students will
study, in detail, the external environment of companies. They
will analyze
the threats and the opportunities facing a business, using a
SWOT analysis. Then they will analyze the competition, using
the Five Forces
Model and a Strategic Group Map.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify factors in a company’s macro environment that may
have strategic significance.
2. Define and apply the PESTEL framework.
3. Use a SWOT analysis to examine external factors of an
organization.
4. Apply the Five Forces Model to an organization.
5. Create a Strategic Group Map to analyze the business and its
competition.
Introduction
We’ve looked at internal factors; now it’s time to look at the
external factors that affect strategy. Anand (2006) contends that
there are two
times at which a company should perform an external analysis:
(1) when entering a new market, and (2) when trying to position
the company

to successfully compete in the market in which it currently is.
The external environment is more complex than the internal
environment, and we use the PESTEL framework, the SWOT
analysis, the Five
Forces model, and the Strategic Group Map to analyze the
external factors of a business (“The impact of external and
internal factors on
strategy.” 2016). “The environment consists of the set of
external conditions and forces that have the potential to
influence the organization”
(“The relationship between an organization and its
environment,” 2012). Environment is much broader than simply
the industry in which a
company competes (Anand, 2006).
It is useful to break the concept of the environment down into
two components. The general environment (or
macroenvironment) includes overall trends and events in society
such as social trends, technological trends, demographics, and
economic conditions. The industry (or competitive environment)
consists of multiple organizations that collectively compete
with one
another by providing similar goods, services, or both. (“The
relationship between an organization and its environment,”
2012)
Although internal factors are many and varied depending on the
organization, management has some control over how these
various internal
conditions interact (“The impact of external and internal factors
on strategy.” 2016). External factors are things that
management has no
control over. The key to managing external factors is to take
advantage of external opportunities and avoid external threats.

PESTEL Framework
We will begin this week with a discussion of the PESTEL
Framework (or PESTLE). The framework looks at the“six most
common
macro-environmental factors (political, economic, social,
technological, environmental, and legal)” (“The PESTEL and
SCP
Frameworks,” 2016; “Evaluating the general environment,”
2012). “The basic premise behind this framework, from a
strategy perspective, is
to identify opportunities and threats in the market” (“The
PESTEL and SCP Frameworks,” 2016). Although PESTEL and
SWOT are often
used together, PESTEL identifies specific significant relevant
factors and SWOT then classifies them as either Opportunities
or Threats
(Mullerbeck, 2015). Therefore, it is to your advantage to use the
PESTEL Framework before conducting a SWOT analysis.
6435/View 2/7
SWOT Analysis
We have already talked about the S (strengths) and W
(weaknesses) in the SWOT analysis. Now, let’s turn our
attention to the Opportunities
and Threats (O and T). Opportunities are “events and trends
that create chances to improve an organization’s performance
level” and

threats are “events and trends that may undermine an
organization’s performance” (“The relationship between an
organization and its
environment,” 2012). Remember that opportunities and threats
are factors outside the company’s control. Opportunities are
positive, and
threats are negative.
6435/View 3/7
Source: “SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats: tools,” 2016.
Five Forces Model
Michael E. Porter (2008), of Harvard University, developed the
Five Forces Model, a “strategy framework that provides
corporations with
clear analysis of their competitive strategies” (“Porter’s Five-
Forces model,” 2009, p. 714). The five forces include suppliers,
rivalry within
an industry, substitute products, customers or buyers, and new
entrants. It is the most popular business analytic tool
(“Evaluating the
industry,” 2012). “The purpose of five forces analysis is to
identify how much profit potential exists in an industry”
(“Evaluating the
industry,” 2012).

6435/View 4/7
The six factors identified by Porter can be narrowed down into
two major categories of barriers to entry; market barriers to
entry and
mobility barriers to entry. Market barriers to entry are the
structural characteristics of a market, which favor established
firms to the
disadvantage of new entrants in the market in such a way that
established firms enjoy the flexibility of raising prices over
costs without
attracting new entrants. Mobility barriers shield a firm
operating in one segment of the market from entry by other
firms operating in
different segments of the same market. (“Porter’s Five-Forces
model,” 2009, p. 716).
When performing a Five Forces analysis, it’s important to both
identify the threat, but also to rank that threat. For example, is
the threat of
substitutes low, moderate, or high? MindTools (n.d.) provides a
worksheet and examples to walk you through the process.
Some Caveats on the Five Forces
Some companies engage in more than one industry or
marketplace. The five forces analysis is only appropriate for the
analysis of an
individual line of business, so when a business is engaged in
multiple ventures in different industries, a five forces analysis

should be
done for each. A significant change to any of the five forces
should serve as an opportunity to pause and consider the
business’s strategy
within that marketplace. (Harper, 2013).
Students in the military or the public sector sometimes struggle
with the Five Forces analysis because they think they don’t
have any
competition. Your firm does compete, though. For example, if
you are a police department, you compete for funding (state,
federal, and grant
funding), employees (they might choose the state police over
your local department), and equipment. Try to think about what
customers get
from your firm and how else they might achieve the same
results. For the police department, substitutes could include
things like personal
guns, security systems, and security personnel (all of those
things “substitute” for one aspect of the police: keeping citizens
and businesses
6435/View 5/7
safe). Be sure to check out the “Strategy in Nonprofits”
resources in the Webliography. If you have trouble applying
this or any of the
concepts in this course, please reach out to your faculty
member.

Although Porter’s model is taught extensively, and most
business managers are at least familiar with it, some find it hard
to implement.
Grundy (2006) has critiqued and refined the model, and his
article is worth reading. Porter’s model has also been criticized
for failing to
explain strategic alliances. “In the 1990s, Yale School of
Management professors Adam Brandenbuger and Bare Nalebuff
created the idea of
a sixth force, "complementors," using the tools of game theory.
In their model, complementors sell products and services that
are best used in
conjunction with a product or service from a competitor”
(Arline, 2015).
Strategic Group Map
The last tool we’ll be looking at to examine external forces is
the Strategic Group Map. A Strategic Group Map displays the
relative
competitive positions of rival firms in the industry (“Strategic
group mapping,” 2010). “Strategic groups are sets of firms that
follow similar
strategies to one another” (“Mapping strategic groups,” 2012).
There are several reasons to create a Strategic Group Map: (1)
These firms are
usually the company’s closest rivals, (2) the strategies pursued
other by firms within the strategic groups show alternative paths
to success,
and (3) analysis of rivals can reveal gaps in the industry that are
untapped opportunities (“Mapping strategic groups,” 2012).
The map is constructed by choosing two variables and then
comparing the company with its rivals within that industry. It is
important to
choose variables that are not correlated, are discrete, and have a

big difference (“Strategic group mapping,” 2010). The Business
Survival
Toolkit (“Strategic group mapping: a mechanism for
understanding the other players that operate in your field,”
2016) includes a
downloadable tool you can use to help you construct a Strategic
Group Map.
Source: Strategic group mapping. (2010, October 5). MBA
lectures. Retrieved from http://mba-
lectures.com/management/strategic-
Conclusion
An effective analysis of external factors will include all of these
tools. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but a manager
who uses all of
them will have extensive knowledge of a firm’s external
environment.
6435/View 6/7
References

Faculty Seminar Series.
Retrieved from
live&scope=site
the Competition. Business News Daily. Retrieved from
Retrieved from
doi:10.1002/jsc.764.
Retrieved from
Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers
&AN=89550628&site=eds-live&scope=site

Boundless Management. Retrieved
from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93. Retrieved
from
live&scope=site
Management (6th Ed., pp. 714-717). Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?
url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ps/i.do?
id=GALE%7CCX3273100234&v=2.1&u=umd_umuc&it=r&p=G
VRL&sw=w&asid=15b293cb106b6939bb8da821591db412

Saylor
Academy. Retrieved from
live&scope=site
login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89550628&site=eds-
live&scope=site
http://www.unicef.org/knowledge-
live&scope=site
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezpr
oxy.umuc.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3273100234&v=2.1&u=

umd_umuc&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=15b293cb106b6939bb
8da821591db412
6435/View 7/7
Survival Toolkit.
Retrieved from http://business-survival-toolkit.co.uk/stage-
three/strategy-and-planning/strategic-group-mapping
planning/strategic-group-mapping

10/12/2018 Week 6: External Environment Report (15%) -
6436/View 1/1
Complete an analysis of the key external factors that have
implications for successful implementation of your
organization’s VMO, strategy
and goals/objectives. You will examine your organization’s
industry and the competitive conditions/positioning affecting it
now or likely to
do so in the future. Submit your work in your assignment folder
in the form of an approximate 2,000-word double-spaced APA-
formatted
paper. The title page, reference list, and any appendices are not
included in this suggested word count. You do not need to
include an abstract.
Your paper should address these topics:
1. A brief explanation of the industry (or industries) in which
your organization operates as well as context for your
organization’ current
positioning.
2. Analyze the current conditions in your organization’s
industry and in its relevant general environment and their likely
implications for
successful implementation of your organization’s strategic goals
and related actions. Be sure to address the PESTEL framework.
3. Apply Porter’s Five-Forces Model to enrich your
understanding of the environment in which your organization is
now or may be
operating. The Five Forces model should stress that this model
is used to evaluate the industry, not your selected organization’s

activities. The model should be used to isolate the dominant
force(s) in the industry faced by all competitors and that
produce the
greatest threat to your organization’s profits and/or strategy.
You should discuss how your firm can provide a defense against
this threat
or threats.
4. Describe your organization’s strategic group and construct a
map to show its relative market position. Add in a discussion of
your
rationale for the grouping.
5. Summarize the threats and opportunities facing your
organization gleaned from your analysis. (SWOT analysis)
Submit the SWOT
format in Table form and add in some narrative to discuss the
threats and opportunities in more detail. Explain in your
discussion (not
in the table) why you selected them and how they relate to the
VMO and organization’s strategy.
6. Evaluate the extent to which your organization’s current
strategy appears a good match for the competitive conditions it
confronts or
any gaps that must be addressed.
7. Add in a strong conclusion that ensures the reader leaves
your paper with a clear recap of your key points.
IMPORTANT: Do not just use someone else's SWOT, Five
Forces, or other analysis. We want you to think for yourself.
Critically analyze
your firm and write about your original conclusions. Again,
imagine you have been asked by the organization’s CEO or top
leader to offer an

assessment of the organization and how well it is positioned (or
not) to deliver on the VMO and strategy in the external
environment. This is
a critical element, stand back and offer thoughtful criticism and
recommendations.

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