Business Strategic Management Assessment Answer

Product and Service Portfolio 
Moreover, Vinayak (2017) defined the product and service portfolio as a process of collection of products and services offered by an organization. The Reliance Industries product and service portfolio is a combination of different product and service lines. For example, the product and service portfolio of Reliance Industries contains; hydrocarbon production and exploration, retail and telecommunications, marketing and petroleum refining, and petrochemicals (Nseindia.com, 2017). This can easily understand with the help of below-mentioned table: 
 

Product and Service Segments	Product 1	Product 2	Product 3
Energy and Materials Businesses	Petrochemicals	Oil and Gas Exploration	Refining and Marketing
Consumer Businesses	Retail	Digital Services	Media and Entertainment

Business Unit Research 

Business Unit Identification 
Saeidi (2015) explained the strategic business unit as a fully-functional unit of a business that has its separate vision and mission statement. The strategic business unit mainly operates as a different unit. But, it is also considered the important part of the parent or main business Unit Company. The “Reliance Industries” operates a wide range of strategic business units. The Reliance Communications is one of its famous strategic business units. The Headquarter of the Reliance Communications is in Mumbai (Referenceforbusiness.com, 2017). The company is engaged in the providing GSM telephony and integrated services to its customers. It is operated with sole vision and mission statement. Apart from this, it can be said that the digital network of Reliance Communications covers more than 21,000 cities and towns. Therefore, it can be said that the “Reliance Industries” is a famous and integrated business unit with different strategic business units. 
Identification of Product and Service Lines
The product line is explained as a group of different products under a single brand sold by a particular company. In the similar context, the service line is defined as a grouping of all services related to a particular division (Slack, 2015). For example, Jeevan Labh and Shubh Labh are two same services of a single company named as “Life Insurance.” The product and service line of “Reliance Industries” can understand with the help of the below-mentioned table: 

Product line	Range of Products
Refining	Reliance Gas and GAPCO
Petroleum Retail	Reliance Petroleum retail, reliance aviation, Auto LPG, A1 Plaza, R-Care and various others.
Petrochemicals	Polymers like Repol, Relene, Reon, Repipe, and Chemicals such as Relab
Polyester & Fibre Intermediates	Recorn, Recron IDY, Recron SHT, Recron Fancyy, etc. (Referenceforbusiness.com, 2017).
Oil and Gas Exploration and Production	Crude oil and natural gas
Retail	Reliance Fresh, Reliance Retail, Reliance Super, Reliance Mart, Reliance Market, Reliance Digital, iStore etc.
Textiles	Vimal, Vimal Gifting, V2 etc.
Media and Entertainment	CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC Bajar, IBN 7 etc.
TV Channels	ETV News Bangla, ETV News Kannada, Colors, Rishtey, and ETV Haryana Himachal Pradesh (Referenceforbusiness.com, 2017)

Business Unit Revenue 

Rothaermel (2015) explained the revenue as an income generated from the sale of goods and services, or any other use of assets and capital, linked with the main and subsidiary operations of an organization before any expenses and costs are deducted. Moreover, it can also describe as an amount of money that an organization receives during a particular period, including deductions and discounts for returned merchandise. The Reliance Communication business unit created big revenue in favor of its corporation which is "Reliance Industries." The Reliance Communication offered the biggest revenue during March 2013. At that time, Reliance communication provided the total income of approximate 12,820 billion dollars (Moneycontrol.com, 2017). This is the combination of sales turnover, net sales, and other income. The sales turnover during 2013 was 11,267 billion dollar. On the other hand, the net sales and other incomes were 11,267 and 1,553 billion dollar. After 2013, the company offered the less amount of total revenue to its Main Business Unit. The recent revenue generated by Reliance Communication is $9,154 billion. It includes sales turnover of 8,823 billion dollars, Net sales of 8,823 billion dollars, and other income of $331 billion (Moneycontrol.com, 2017). Therefore, it can be said that the Reliance Communication is contributed a big part of “Reliance Industries” total revenue.

External Environment Analysis 

PESTEL Analysis of Reliance Communication 
The PESTEL analysis is defined as an important tool to conduct external environment analysis. With the help of this tool, the organizations measure their macro-environmental factors that have a significant influence on their functioning's (Moutinho, 2018). In a similar manner, Reliance Communication is an important business unit of "Reliance Industries." The External environment of Reliance Communication does not only influence the working of Reliance Communication but also its corporate house which is Reliance Industries. Therefore, the PESTEL Analysis will give a significant understanding of its political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental, and legal environment of India where the company operates. The PESTEL Analysis of Reliance Communication is following: 
 
Political: The first and foremost element of PESTEL analysis is a political evaluation. The political environment depicts the political circumstances of a nation where the company operates. The political environment of India is a combination of different factors. These factors are; skilled government, reduced costs, experienced political environment, assistance provided, and positive tax policy.
Economical: Another element is the economic environment. The economic environment discloses the factors that define how an organization becomes profitable and how it performs different functions. The economic environment of India is very sound than others (Krishnaswamy, 2017). The government has developed different policies regarding public investments in research and development. Therefore, this develops the economic condition of the country as well as the operating organization.
Social: The third element is the socio-cultural environment. It is an area that contains the shared attitudes and beliefs. The social and cultural environment of India is based on different factors. This factor includes; workforce diversity, cultural diversity, education level, growing demand, and stable social structures.  
Legal: The fourth environment is the legal environment. The legal environment is a combination of different factors like advertising standards, equal opportunities and various others (Hill, 2014). The legal environment of India is a combination of different legal laws and regulations. For example; The Workforce act 1948, Companies Act, 156. All these acts collaboratively determine the legal environment of Reliance communications.
Environmental
The environmental factors have become important due to the growing scarcity of pollution targets, raw materials, and doing business as a sustainable and ethical company. In India, the natural variables are considered the important part of the capital business (Huang, 2015). The Reliance communication is engaged in different environmental initiatives like water conservation, tree plantation, and various others. All this is performed with the sole purpose of becoming environment-friendly.
Technological 
The technological environment represents the technological landscape of a nation. In India, the new technological innovations are at peak. It is because of effective government support and well-developed skills and mindsets of individuals. Due to the high technological innovation, Reliance Communication took a great place among the eyes of its customers. 

Definition of Operating Environment 

Ginter (2018) defined the operating environment as an alternative term for external environment. It represents the functioning structure and working scenario of an organization. Moreover, () explained the operating environment as a surrounding in which a business organization operates successfully. 
Source of Sustainable Competitive Advantage 
The sustainable competitive advantage is defined as a process of evaluating the significant capabilities and competencies of an organization. The sustainable competitive advantage is a combination of four different factors (Ethiraj, 2016). These factors are; valuable resources, rare resources, imperfectly imitable resources and non-substitution able resources. The sustainable competitive advantage of Reliance Communication can understand with the help of below-mentioned table:
 

Valuable Resources	Rare Resources	Imperfectly imitable resources	Non-Substitution Resources
Infrastructure, wide range of products and services, innovative and latest technology	Talented workforce, Competitive business strategies, efficient mobile and internet towers	Comprehensive portfolio offered by Global Cloud Exchange a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (Referenceforbusiness.com, 2017)	Network coverage with a 4G and 5G speed

Strategic Direction 

Bettis (2016) explained the strategic direction as a central force that moves a business organization towards its intended objectives and business goals. The mission, vision, tactics, core values, and strategies of an organization contribute to the establishment of a strategic direction. Therefore, it can be recommended to the Reliance communication to focus more towards the development of competitive business strategies and sustainable resources. The presence of both will help the company to satisfy its target customers as well as win their confidence for a long time. Moreover, it is also recommended to Reliance communication to perform allocation of resources and ongoing evaluation of progress effective and on a timely basis (Della Corte, 2016). The use of these initiatives will ensure the significant progress of company towards its ultimate business objectives. Apart from this, it is also recommended to the organization to award its employees with right equipment, training, and tools to carry out their assigned roles and responsibilities. These initiatives will create a path of success in favor of Reliance Communication. So, it can be said that the Reliance Communication needs to adopt these recommended strategies and establish a strategic direction to succeed in a particular market and country.
Conclusion 
After studying all this, it can be concluded that Reliance Communication contributed enough towards the success of “Reliance Industries.” The Reliance communication does not only create the reliable customers for the “Reliance Industries” but also improve its existing revenue and profitability. The external environment in which the Reliance Communication operates is sound as per it’s working. So, it can be said that the company will perform a significant growth in its near future and win the confidence of different customers. 
 

References

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