McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Assessing the
Internal
Environment of the
Firm
Strategic
Management
(BA 491)
Internal AnalysisInternal Analysis
2Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hierarchy of Goals
Review: Strategic Direction
Company vision
• Massively inspiring
• Overarching
• Long-term
• Driven by and evokes passion
• Fundamental statement of the
organization’s
• Values
• Aspiration
• Goals
Company visionCompany vision
3Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hierarchy of Goals
Company visionCompany vision
Review: Strategic Direction
Mission statements
• Purpose of the company
• Basis of competition and
competitive advantages
• More specific than vision
• Focused on the means by
which the firm will compete
Mission statementsMission statements
4Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hierarchy of Goals
Company visionCompany vision
Mission statementsMission statements
Review: Strategic Direction
Strategic objectives
• Operationalize the mission
statement
• Measurable, specific,
appropriate, realistic, timely,
challenging, resolve conflicts
that arise, and yardstick for
rewards and incentives
Strategic objectivesStrategic objectives
5Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Value-Chain Analysis
• Sequential process of value-creating
activities
• The amount that buyers are willing to pay
for what a firm provides them
• Value is measured by total revenue
• Firm is profitable to the extent the value it
receives exceeds the total costs involved
in creating its product or service
6Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Value Chain
Source: Adapted from Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining
Superior Performance by Michael E. Porter.
General administration
Human resource management
Technology development
Procurement
Inbound
logistics
Operations
Outbound
logistics
Marketing
and sales
Service
7Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Interrelationships among Value-Chain
Activities within and across Organizations
• Importance of relationships among value
activities
• Interrelationships among activities within the
firm
• Relationships among activities within the
firm and with other organizations (e.g.,
customers and suppliers)
8Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Resource-Based View of the Firm
• Two perspectives
• The internal analysis of phenomena within a
company
• An external analysis of the industry and its
competitive environment
• Three key types of resources
• Tangible resources
• Intangible resources
• Organizational capabilities
9Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Resources
Relatively easy to identify, and
include physical and financial assets
used to create value for customers
• Financial resources
 Firm’s cash accounts
 Firm’s capacity to raise equity
 Firm’s borrowing capacity
• Physical resources
 Modern plant and facilities
 Favorable manufacturing locations
 State-of-the-art machinery and
equipment
Tangible
Resources
10Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
• Technological resources
 Trade secrets
 Innovative production processes
 Patents, copyrights, trademarks
• Organizational resources
 Effective strategic planning
processes
 Excellent evaluation and control
systems
Types of Resources
Tangible
Resources
Relatively easy to identify, and
include physical and financial assets
used to create value for customers
11Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Resources
Difficult for competitors (and the firm
itself) to account for or imitate,
typically embedded in unique
routines and practices that have
evolved over time
• Human
 Experience and capabilities of
employees
 Trust
 Managerial skills
 Firm-specific practices and
procedures
Tangible
Resources
Intangible
Resources
12Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Resources
• Innovation and creativity
 Technical and scientific skills
 Innovation capacities
• Reputation
 Effective strategic planning processes
 Excellent evaluation and control
systems
Tangible
Resources
Intangible
Resources
Difficult for competitors (and the firm
itself) to account for or imitate,
typically embedded in unique
routines and practices that have
evolved over time
13Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Resources
Competencies or skills that a firm
employs to transform inputs to
outputs, and capacity to combine
tangible and intangible resources to
attain desired end
• Outstanding customer service
• Excellent product development
capabilities
• Innovativeness of products and services
• Ability to hire, motivate, and retain
human capital
Tangible
Resources
Intangible
Resources
Organizational
Capabilities
14Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Resources and Capabilities Lead to
Advantages
Source: Adapted from “Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990’s” by D. J. Collis and C. Montgomery,
Harvard Business Review, 73, no. 4 (1995).
15Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Firm Resources and Sustainable
Competitive Advantages
Is the resource or
capability…
Valuable
Rare
Difficult to imitate
Difficult to substitute
Implications
• Neutralize threats and exploit
opportunities
• Not many firms possess
• Physically unique
• Path dependency
• Causal ambiguity
• Social complexity
• No equivalent strategic
resources or capabilities
16Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Is the Resource Valuable?
Organizational resources can be a source
of competitive advantage only when they
are valuable
• Enable a firm to formulate and implement
strategies that improve its efficiency or
effectiveness
17Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Is the Resource Rare?
Organizational resources also possessed
by competitors are not sources of
competitive advantage
• Common strategies based on similar resources
give no one firm an advantage
• Competitive advantages are gained only from
uncommon resources, resources that are rare
to other competitors
18Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Can the Resource be Imitated?
Difficulty in imitating resources is key to
value creation because it constrains
competition
• Profits generated from inimitable resources are
more likely to be sustainable
 Physical uniqueness
 Path dependency
 Causal ambiguity
 Social complexity
19Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Are Substitutes Readily Available?
There must be no strategically equivalent
valuable resources that are themselves not
rare or inimitable
• Substitutability may take at least two forms
 Competitor may be able to substitute a similar
resource that enables it to develop and
implement the same strategy
 Very different firm resources can become
strategic substitutes (such as e-business as a
substitute for physical retail facility)
20Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Criteria for Sustainable Competitive
Advantage and Strategic Implications
Valuable Rare Difficult Without Implications
to Imitate Substitutes for Competitiveness
No No No No Competitive disadvantage
Yes No No No Competitive parity
Yes Yes No No Temporary competitive
advantage
Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustainable competitive
advantage
Is a resource or capability…
Source; Adapted from J. Barney, “Firm Resources a Sustained Competitive Advantage, ‘ Journal of Management
17 (1991), pp. 99-120.
21Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Balanced Scorecard
• Provides a meaningful integration of many
issues that come into evaluating a firm’s
performance
• Four key perspectives
• How do customers see us? (customer perspective)
• What must we excel at? (internal perspective)
• Can we continue to improve and create value?
(innovation and learning perspective)
• How do we look to shareholders? (financial
perspective)
22Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Balanced Scorecard
• Time
• Quality
• Performance and service
• Cost
Customer
Perspective
23Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Balanced Scorecard
• Processes
• Cycle time
• Quality
• Employee skills
• productivity
• Decisions
• Actions
• Coordination
• Resources and capabilities
Customer
Perspective
Internal Business
Perspective
24Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Balanced Scorecard
• Introduction of new products
and services
• Greater value for customers
• Increased operating
efficiencies
• Leadership
Customer
Perspective
Internal Business
Perspective
Innovation and
Learning Perspective
25Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Balanced Scorecard
• Profitability
• Growth
• Shareholder value
• Increased market share
• Reduced operating expenses
• Higher asset turnover
Customer
Perspective
Internal Business
Perspective
Innovation and
Learning Perspective
Financial
Perspective
26Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Financial Ratio Analysis
• Five types of financial ratios
• Short-term solvency or liquidity
• Long-term solvency measures
• Asset management (or turnover)
• Profitability
• Market value
• Meaningful ratio analysis must include
• Analysis of how ratios change over time
• How ratios are interrelated
27Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Financial Ratio Analysis: Historical
Comparisons
Exhibit 3.8 Historical Trends: Return on Sales (ROS) for a Hypothetical Company
28Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Financial Ratio Analysis: Comparison with
Industry Norms
Exhibit 3.9 How Financial Ratios Differ across Industries
Source: Dun & Bradstreet, Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios, 1999-2000, Desktop Edition, SIC #0100-
8999
Grocery Skilled-Nursing
Financial Ratio Semiconductors Store Facilities
Quick Ratio (times) 1.5 0.5 1.1
Current ratio (times) 3.2 1.6 1.9
Total liabilities to net worth (%)34.8 114.0 93.0
Collection period (days) 54.8 2.9 40.2
Assets to sales (%) 98.1 21.2 108.7
Return on sales (%) 3.1 0.9 2.0
29Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Financial Ratio Analysis: Comparison with
Key Competitors
Source: R. Berner, “Procter & Gamble: Just Say No to Drugs,” Business Week, October 9, 2000, p. 128; data
courtesy of Lehman Brothers and Procter & Gamble.
Sales* R&D budget
Company (or division ($ billions) ($ billions)
P&G Drug Division $ 0.8 $ 0.38
Bristol-Myers Squibb 20.2 1.80
Pfizer 27.4 4.00
Merck 32.7 2.10
*Most recently completed fiscal year. Data: Lehman Brothers, Procter
& Gamble Co.

Internal

  • 1.
    McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright ©2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Assessing the Internal Environment of the Firm Strategic Management (BA 491) Internal AnalysisInternal Analysis
  • 2.
    2Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Hierarchy of Goals Review: Strategic Direction Company vision • Massively inspiring • Overarching • Long-term • Driven by and evokes passion • Fundamental statement of the organization’s • Values • Aspiration • Goals Company visionCompany vision
  • 3.
    3Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Hierarchy of Goals Company visionCompany vision Review: Strategic Direction Mission statements • Purpose of the company • Basis of competition and competitive advantages • More specific than vision • Focused on the means by which the firm will compete Mission statementsMission statements
  • 4.
    4Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Hierarchy of Goals Company visionCompany vision Mission statementsMission statements Review: Strategic Direction Strategic objectives • Operationalize the mission statement • Measurable, specific, appropriate, realistic, timely, challenging, resolve conflicts that arise, and yardstick for rewards and incentives Strategic objectivesStrategic objectives
  • 5.
    5Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Value-Chain Analysis • Sequential process of value-creating activities • The amount that buyers are willing to pay for what a firm provides them • Value is measured by total revenue • Firm is profitable to the extent the value it receives exceeds the total costs involved in creating its product or service
  • 6.
    6Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Value Chain Source: Adapted from Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance by Michael E. Porter. General administration Human resource management Technology development Procurement Inbound logistics Operations Outbound logistics Marketing and sales Service
  • 7.
    7Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Interrelationships among Value-Chain Activities within and across Organizations • Importance of relationships among value activities • Interrelationships among activities within the firm • Relationships among activities within the firm and with other organizations (e.g., customers and suppliers)
  • 8.
    8Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Resource-Based View of the Firm • Two perspectives • The internal analysis of phenomena within a company • An external analysis of the industry and its competitive environment • Three key types of resources • Tangible resources • Intangible resources • Organizational capabilities
  • 9.
    9Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Resources Relatively easy to identify, and include physical and financial assets used to create value for customers • Financial resources  Firm’s cash accounts  Firm’s capacity to raise equity  Firm’s borrowing capacity • Physical resources  Modern plant and facilities  Favorable manufacturing locations  State-of-the-art machinery and equipment Tangible Resources
  • 10.
    10Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. • Technological resources  Trade secrets  Innovative production processes  Patents, copyrights, trademarks • Organizational resources  Effective strategic planning processes  Excellent evaluation and control systems Types of Resources Tangible Resources Relatively easy to identify, and include physical and financial assets used to create value for customers
  • 11.
    11Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Resources Difficult for competitors (and the firm itself) to account for or imitate, typically embedded in unique routines and practices that have evolved over time • Human  Experience and capabilities of employees  Trust  Managerial skills  Firm-specific practices and procedures Tangible Resources Intangible Resources
  • 12.
    12Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Resources • Innovation and creativity  Technical and scientific skills  Innovation capacities • Reputation  Effective strategic planning processes  Excellent evaluation and control systems Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Difficult for competitors (and the firm itself) to account for or imitate, typically embedded in unique routines and practices that have evolved over time
  • 13.
    13Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Resources Competencies or skills that a firm employs to transform inputs to outputs, and capacity to combine tangible and intangible resources to attain desired end • Outstanding customer service • Excellent product development capabilities • Innovativeness of products and services • Ability to hire, motivate, and retain human capital Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Organizational Capabilities
  • 14.
    14Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. How Resources and Capabilities Lead to Advantages Source: Adapted from “Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990’s” by D. J. Collis and C. Montgomery, Harvard Business Review, 73, no. 4 (1995).
  • 15.
    15Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Firm Resources and Sustainable Competitive Advantages Is the resource or capability… Valuable Rare Difficult to imitate Difficult to substitute Implications • Neutralize threats and exploit opportunities • Not many firms possess • Physically unique • Path dependency • Causal ambiguity • Social complexity • No equivalent strategic resources or capabilities
  • 16.
    16Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Is the Resource Valuable? Organizational resources can be a source of competitive advantage only when they are valuable • Enable a firm to formulate and implement strategies that improve its efficiency or effectiveness
  • 17.
    17Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Is the Resource Rare? Organizational resources also possessed by competitors are not sources of competitive advantage • Common strategies based on similar resources give no one firm an advantage • Competitive advantages are gained only from uncommon resources, resources that are rare to other competitors
  • 18.
    18Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Can the Resource be Imitated? Difficulty in imitating resources is key to value creation because it constrains competition • Profits generated from inimitable resources are more likely to be sustainable  Physical uniqueness  Path dependency  Causal ambiguity  Social complexity
  • 19.
    19Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Are Substitutes Readily Available? There must be no strategically equivalent valuable resources that are themselves not rare or inimitable • Substitutability may take at least two forms  Competitor may be able to substitute a similar resource that enables it to develop and implement the same strategy  Very different firm resources can become strategic substitutes (such as e-business as a substitute for physical retail facility)
  • 20.
    20Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Criteria for Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Strategic Implications Valuable Rare Difficult Without Implications to Imitate Substitutes for Competitiveness No No No No Competitive disadvantage Yes No No No Competitive parity Yes Yes No No Temporary competitive advantage Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustainable competitive advantage Is a resource or capability… Source; Adapted from J. Barney, “Firm Resources a Sustained Competitive Advantage, ‘ Journal of Management 17 (1991), pp. 99-120.
  • 21.
    21Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Balanced Scorecard • Provides a meaningful integration of many issues that come into evaluating a firm’s performance • Four key perspectives • How do customers see us? (customer perspective) • What must we excel at? (internal perspective) • Can we continue to improve and create value? (innovation and learning perspective) • How do we look to shareholders? (financial perspective)
  • 22.
    22Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Balanced Scorecard • Time • Quality • Performance and service • Cost Customer Perspective
  • 23.
    23Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Balanced Scorecard • Processes • Cycle time • Quality • Employee skills • productivity • Decisions • Actions • Coordination • Resources and capabilities Customer Perspective Internal Business Perspective
  • 24.
    24Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Balanced Scorecard • Introduction of new products and services • Greater value for customers • Increased operating efficiencies • Leadership Customer Perspective Internal Business Perspective Innovation and Learning Perspective
  • 25.
    25Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Balanced Scorecard • Profitability • Growth • Shareholder value • Increased market share • Reduced operating expenses • Higher asset turnover Customer Perspective Internal Business Perspective Innovation and Learning Perspective Financial Perspective
  • 26.
    26Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Financial Ratio Analysis • Five types of financial ratios • Short-term solvency or liquidity • Long-term solvency measures • Asset management (or turnover) • Profitability • Market value • Meaningful ratio analysis must include • Analysis of how ratios change over time • How ratios are interrelated
  • 27.
    27Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Financial Ratio Analysis: Historical Comparisons Exhibit 3.8 Historical Trends: Return on Sales (ROS) for a Hypothetical Company
  • 28.
    28Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Financial Ratio Analysis: Comparison with Industry Norms Exhibit 3.9 How Financial Ratios Differ across Industries Source: Dun & Bradstreet, Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios, 1999-2000, Desktop Edition, SIC #0100- 8999 Grocery Skilled-Nursing Financial Ratio Semiconductors Store Facilities Quick Ratio (times) 1.5 0.5 1.1 Current ratio (times) 3.2 1.6 1.9 Total liabilities to net worth (%)34.8 114.0 93.0 Collection period (days) 54.8 2.9 40.2 Assets to sales (%) 98.1 21.2 108.7 Return on sales (%) 3.1 0.9 2.0
  • 29.
    29Copyright © 2005by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Financial Ratio Analysis: Comparison with Key Competitors Source: R. Berner, “Procter & Gamble: Just Say No to Drugs,” Business Week, October 9, 2000, p. 128; data courtesy of Lehman Brothers and Procter & Gamble. Sales* R&D budget Company (or division ($ billions) ($ billions) P&G Drug Division $ 0.8 $ 0.38 Bristol-Myers Squibb 20.2 1.80 Pfizer 27.4 4.00 Merck 32.7 2.10 *Most recently completed fiscal year. Data: Lehman Brothers, Procter & Gamble Co.