Critically analyse the external environment of a firm and assess the impact of trends upon the firm’s strategy

Critically analyse the external environment of a firm

Assessment Task 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. This task 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. You are expected to produce a report of 3,500 – 4,000 (+/-10%) words that uses appropriate tools, frameworks and concepts in order to identify the key development in the operating environment of an organisation. Your analysis should make use of quality and up to date data and opinion from a wide range of reliable sources. It is not necessary to recommend specific alternative strategic directions.

You should base your assignment on a company of your choice within the pharmaceutical industry. This could be:
?Drugs and pharmaceuticals production
?Medical devices
?Research and development
?Distribution
?Marketing
?Pharmacies
?(others)

The reports are individual but you may work as small teams to conduct your research and to debate the effective selection of strategy tools, concepts and frameworks and the resultant analysis and evaluation

Group preparation – this task is your research and is not graded. However without the research you will not be able to successfully complete the individual task:

?An analysis of 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 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.

The Individual Report – This submission only will be graded.

?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 must bring in (and reference) evidence from a variety of quality sources and expert opinion to make your case.
?You do not need to repeat all the analysis from your research but you should present the key findings in your report.
?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.