Strategic analysis of Billabong case study, which is provided

1) Critically analyse Billabong, its markets, and its competitors.

a) Billabong (internal analysis): What are the strengths and weaknesses of Billabong? What has caused Billabong’s revenue and profits to drop over recent years? What factors are constraining Billabong to grasp the opportunities the market offers? What sources of competitive advantage and/or disadvantage does Billabong have?

b) Market (external market analysis): What are the key factors that affect profitability in the Surfwear and Skatewear industry? What are the overall trends in and size of the market? Which segments are declining and which offer growth opportunities?

c) Competitors (external competitor analysis): Who are Billabong’s traditional and new competitors? What are they doing better than Billabong? What is Billabong doing better than its competitors?

2) Identify the key strategic issues we need to take into account when developing a strategy for
Billabong.

a) Use step 1 to create a list of key strategic issues that Billabong needs to address if it is to restore its revenue and profitability growth. Strategic issues are events, developments, trends or characteristics in either the internal or external environment that have the potential to affect organizational performance. Strategic issues may emanate from (a) the external environment (e.g. a large competitor enters a key market or there is an untapped opportunity in the Indian market) (b) the internal environment (e.g. production costs have been rising steeply or internal R&D has developed a new technology) or (c) an interaction between the external and internal environments (e.g. competitor’s new technology surpasses our internal R&D efforts). By implication strategic issues demand organization response to one or more of (i) mission, vision or mandate; (ii) mix of products and services; (iii) target customers; (iv) how products or services are positioned in the market; (v) internal factors such as cost, strategic resources, financing, organization, or management; or (vi) strategic partnerships or alliances.
3) Prioritise these issues.

a) It is impossible to address all strategic issues to the same extent. It is therefore critical that you prioritise the issues in terms of the impact that you believe their resolution will have on restoring growth and profitability. In your report, (briefly) elaborate on only the most important 2-3 issues.

4) Hand in a 1,000 word executive summary discussing the most important strategic issues.

a) Your boss is not interested in a full report. She argues that the issues you come up with are a very good indication to what extent you have researched and understood the situation facing Billabong.

b) As this is a lengthy executive summary, you are encouraged to use some headings to structure the major sections.

c) You are encouraged to use short paragraphs, concise language and dot point lists where appropriate to effectively communicate with sparse use of words.

d) You are encouraged to use key graphs or tables where appropriate to provide supporting evidence for the key points you are making.