Strategy evaluation

You should base your assignment on a company of your choice within the Travel and Tourism industry in Sultanate of Oman or the region (GCC or Middle East).
The company may be one that operates in the following areas:
Hotel (consider a chain rather than individual hotel)
Cruises
Adventure holidays
Family holidays
Travel agents
Conference and events

You should NOT study the airline industry as this is considered a separate industry although it serves the travel and tourism sector.

1.    Assignment title – Strategy evaluation
2.    The task:

You will be asked to carry out a strategic analysis of a specific firm

Individual Report (2000 words).
•    You must present an analysis and evaluation of the current strategy of the company. By analyzing  the business environment of the firm,  You should consider

the main competitors and their competitive position; market details (value; share etc.);current trends in the market; future trends in the market You should critically

analyse the current strategy and to discuss whether or not the company should change its strategy and why.
•    You must identify the current strategy and bring evidence from your analysis of the trends and capabilities discuss whether or not the current strategy should

change and why.
•    You should conduct an internal analysis of the firm giving details of its current strategic position and tactics.  You should also consider the resources and

capabilities of the firm and how they impact upon the success or otherwise of the firm.
•    You must bring in (and reference) evidence from a variety of quality sources and expert opinion to make your case.
•    You should not attempt to design a new strategy for the firm – the aim is to assess the future relevance of the strategy in the light of industry developments

including an assessment of the future usefulness and relevance of resources and capabilities.

3.    Remember to use the 5 forces properly. At the end of this document is a material  which explain how to use the 5 forces properly
4.    This assignment assesses your ability to critically analyse the external environment of a firm and assess the impact of trends upon the firm’s strategy. It

also assesses your ability to critically evaluate the usefulness and relevance of a firm’s internal resources and capabilities in the light of industry developments.

5.    Information on how the task can be completed successfully is given in the assessment criteria provided in the supplementary assessment grid (Excel)

6.    Word limit is 2000-2200 words.

Using the Five Forces Properly.

You should consider the following questions in order to understand the industry. DO NOT write out your analysis by just answering each question, use them to understand

what is going on and then write up your findings.
7.    THEN – think how these might change based on the trends that you have found out about. Are these likely to make the industry (or segment) harder or easier to

compete in for your company? Remember not all the elements below may be significant or changing in your segment so only write about the important ones.
8.    The questions you should think about are in bold – my comments are in red
9.    Assess the underlying drivers of each force:
10.    Which are strong? Which are weak? Why are they like this?  (Remember there may be some connection between the forces. In our session we decided that the buyer

power in the airline industry was quite strong due to the large number of competitors (competitive rivalry); the possibility of using substitutes (threat of

substitutes) ; low switching costs (you can fly with anyone as long as they go where you want); lots of easily accessible information about the various airlines and

there prices and services)
11.
12.    Can you identify the drivers behind the forces in the toy/games industry segment that you are looking at?
13.
14.    Bargaining power of suppliers
15.    Are inputs (materials and labour services) in this industry standard rather than differentiated? (the more standard they are they easier they are to get hold

of and the less power the suppliers have).
16.
17.     Can firms switch between suppliers quickly and easily?
18.    (If yes supplier power is low)
19.    Would suppliers find it difficult to enter this industry?
20.    (if supplier could easily become part of the industry their bargaining power increases as they  can become a genuine threat. Can and would suppliers of

material etc to the toy industry become manufacturers? The answer may depend on a variety of things like the distribution network; the ability of existing

manufacturers to retaliate; brand strength in the industry etc).
21.    Are there many current and potential suppliers in this industry?
22.    (the more there are the lower the power providing it is easy to switch between them)
23.    Is this business important to these suppliers? (Could they sell their products and services in another industry? If not then they have limited power as they

are dependent on the industry. Ask if your suppliers provide highly specialised products and services that cannot be sold to other industries).
24.    Threat of new entrants
25.    Are there proprietary products and services on offer in this industry? (this relates to trademarks and copyright)
26.    Is a lot of capital needed to enter the industry? (this may depend on many things including setting up supply and useful distribution networks as well as

direct cost of manufacture)
27.    Does the new comer to the industry faced difficulty in accessing distribution and supply channels? (you really want your products in the best known

stores/websites)
28.    Is any licensing or other qualifications required to enter the industry and are they hard to obtain? (unlikely but there are safety regulations)
29.    Can newcomers, expect strong retaliation? (oh yes!)
30.
31.    Are products unique to some degree? Do they have recognised branding? (this makes it harder to take away market share).
32.    If the answer is yes to the above it becomes a very hard industry to enter and an even harder one to compete in. This enable companies currently in the

industry to keep prices a little higher as they do not fear new entrants coming in. It is possible in the toy industry for large well known players to enter by making

use of their established brand name that they have created in other businesses (e.g Virgin could do it if they chose to).
33.    Threat of substitutes
34.    Will customers incur costs in switching to substitutes? (In the toy industry – not very likely. Games industry maybe as games may not be compatible across

platforms)
35.    Are there no real substitutes for the products or services available in this industry? (Other leisure pursuits?)
36.    The fewer substitutes there are and the harder it is to switch to them then the more powerful they are and vice versa)
37.    Rivalry among existing players
38.    Is the industry at or near capacity? (lots of companies doing similar things)
39.    Are fixed costs high compared to total costs? (Remember in the airline industry one of the key issues was costs. This makes price competition very unrewarding)
40.    Are there significant product or brand differences amongst competitors? (What do you think, is this the case in the toy industry?)
41.    Do firms find it hard to leave the industry due to long-term commitments? (Think about how the airlines are tied in to very long contracts (decades in some

cases). Is this likely to be the case in toys??)
42.    Is market share equally distributed amongst competitors? (Depends on the segment you are studying) Rivalry is affected by some of the other forces acting on

it.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT ??

CLICK BUTTON TO ORDER NOW