Lsbm306 Strategy - Enterprise & Assessment Answers

Section 1 - Analysis of strategic capabilities and external environment

1. Critically analyse the internal resources and capabilities that give the organisation a competitive advantage
   
   
2. Identify the key drivers of change in the external environment and evaluate their impact on the entrepreneurial activities of the organisation
   
   
3. Evaluate the impact of the competitive forces that are influencing entrepreneurial activities of the organisation and profitability within the industry

Section 2 - Analysis of strategic choices for your selected organisation

1. Select and critically evaluate two strategic optionsthat could be pursued by your selected organisation, in order to increase its entrepreneurial opportunities in the market.
   
   
2. Justify the selection of each strategic choice using Suitability, Acceptability, Feasibility (SAFe) criteria.

Section 1

The analysis of strategic capabilities and the external environment is important for any organization in the country. The selected company is Nestle, which belong to the food and beverage industry.

a)

Nestle is the world's leading Nutrition, health, and wellness company. The company is the largest food and beverage company that have more than 2000 brands ranging, and the company is present in 191 countries around the world (Nestle, 2017). Resources and capabilities of the company are important and can lead to the competitive advantage for the company. The resources of the company are divided into tangible, intangible, financial and human resources and are discussed below:-  

• Production sites- The production sites of nestle consist of the coffee plants, the company is having approximately 27 nestle plants such as plants in Mainz (used for roast coffee) or Switzerland (Nespresso is produced). This becomes the strength of the company and in near future company will expand the plants (Hostut, and Hof, 2014).
• Research centres- The Company is having 28 research and development centres across the world, out of which 6 centres conduct research in an area of coffee. Nestle holds PTC that is product technology centres this centre focuses on particular businesses and R&D work closely with PTC (Lang, and Heasman, 2015).
• Culture- Company has a strong culture that focuses on stakeholder’s satisfaction and innovation. Innovation is important for the organization and this is becoming the competitive advantage for the company as the competitors in the same industry don't think to bring the innovation to the work (Ojo, 2012).  
• Reputation management- The objective of the company is to build up a responsible and sustainable supply chain. The nestle partnered as the main from the Big four with the forest belief to support to stop rainforest deforestation caused by palm oil and coffee production (Griffin, 2014).
• Innovation management- Nestle has the largest research base in the food industry. Bloomberg business week shows the list of 50 most innovative companies in the year 2010 and nestles captured the 36^th The last innovation of the company was Nescafe Dolce Gusto and Nescafé Green Blend. The investment done by the company was $1.7 billion on research and development in the year 2008.
• Financial resources- Nestle company has registered the growth over the five years consecutive. According to the overall review of 5 years, the company showed the growth from $78 billion to 92.1 billion. The financial resources are the competitive advantage of the company as the company is showing the growth in the market.

• Human resource- The staff of nestle company plays a vital role in growth and success of the company as well as it is strength of the company. The productivity and well-being of the company are influenced by the staff of the company. The employees of the company understand their responsibility and fulfill their responsibility every day that becomes the competitive advantage for the company. Employees are remunerated above the benchmark and also receive benefits along with salary which motivates the employees towards the work (Ahmad, 2015). The company provides promotion and appraisal to their existing employees because the company believes in forming the long-lasting relationships.

b)

The changes in the external environment can create an impact on the entrepreneurial activities of the organization.

Political- Nestle expand the business in different countries for that they have to follow the laws and regulations. Change in the government regulation related to the good an beverage industry may lead to the problems for the entrepreneurial activities as they won’t be able to find the market easily in which they can expand the business (Charles, 2014).

Economic- Changing customer budget and purchasing power of the customers, rise in the price of the raw material create an impact on the prices of the product. These changes create an impact on the decision related to the price of the products available in the market.

Social- Changing customer attribute of the customers and lifestyle brings the changes in the demands of the customers. The customers spend more time with their families because of promotion of the family time. The entrepreneur’s decision related to the development of the product will get affected.

Technology- Rise in the use of the social media by the customers is making the entrepreneurs to take the decision of marketing considering the social media role in the marketing of the product. The marketing activities are also included in the entrepreneurial activities (Morschett, Schramm-Klein, and Zentes, 2015).

c)

The analysis of the competitor’s forces can be done by the company with the use of Porter's five forces.  

• The threat of substitute goods- The food industry is growing industry, there are many products that can compete with Nestle company. Kraft goods and Groupe Danone produce similar products like Nestle Company, so the entrepreneur needs to think innovative so that they can grab the customers.
• The threat of new entrants- The food market is very vats, the new entrants can enter the market. The Nestle Company have to face the competition, for that the entrepreneurs can keep the low prices that might result in the loss of the company or might enhance the profit due to increase in the prices (Njambi, Lewa, and Katuse, 2015).
• Bargaining power of customers- The Bargaining power of the customer is high in the food industry, to maintain customers the entrepreneurs can produce or launch the new innovative product in the market through which they will be able to satisfy the needs and demands of the customers.
• Bargaining power of suppliers- The products of nestle company are made of agricultural and dairy material. The company wants those suppliers who can provide the best quality and then a company will provide the best products so that they can meet the expectations of the customers and can earn maximum of profit.
• Competition within the industry- The Company is trying to maintain the edge among the competitors that are Groupe Danone and Kraft Foods. The company is bringing innovation and providing the new products with quality that fulfills the customer needs. This is possible due to the decision was taken by the entrepreneurs in the organization (Akey, Jiang, Antwi, and Torku, 2016).

Section- 2

a)

The two strategic options that could be pursued by Nestle Company in order to enhance its entrepreneurial opportunities in the market are product development and diversification.

Product expansion- The Company should try to expand its product line or should add new features that help the company in enhancing the entrepreneur’s opportunity in the market. The new featured products are going to be demanded by the customer, this strategy is used by the company to bring the expansion to the market. Across the world, there are many places where the company offers its product (Nestle, 2013). The company expanded its product line in health and nutritional products. The customers are becoming aware of consumption of the healthy and the nutritional product.

Considering the demand of the customer, the company can bring new products to the market that helps in fulfilling the needs of the customers. The changes in the demand of the customers force the entrepreneurial of the company to bring the changes in the product or to launch a new product that can fulfill the needs of the customers. While bringing the product expansion the company need to make sure that they are using advanced technology with the help of which they can bring innovation in the product and grab the attention of the customers. The demands of the customers will be satisfied and will help in increasing the opportunities for the company in the market to maximize the profit.

Diversification- Nestle is famous for the coffee; the company should bring the diversification and should try to fulfill the demand of the customer according to their needs. The company earlier invested in the cosmetic company L’Oreal. The company should bring new products by doing investment in the products of the different brand (Saluja, and Mahajan, 2017). This leads to the growth opportunity of the company in the other industry than the food and beverage industry.

The diversification of the product will help the company to grow in the market by providing the wide range of product and services to the customers. The company can make the product available in the different markets which clearly show that it leads to the growth of the product in different markets.

b)

The SAFe criteria help the company to check the suitability, acceptability, and feasibility of the strategy adopted by the company. The SAFe of the two strategies is shown below:-

Product expansion 

Suitability- The strategy product expansion shows that the implementation of the strategy will enhance the growth opportunity of nestle. The introduction of the new product into different markets will lead to the growth of the opportunity of the nestle market. The company will be able to make the profit easily.

Acceptability- The strategy will fulfill the demand of the customers because the company will make changes in the product or will introduce the new product in the market. Through, this company will be able to meet the expectations of the customers. The risk of bringing the changes in the company is acceptable for the company because they know that they will manufacture the product considering the demand of the customers (Punt, Butterworth, Moor, De Oliveira, and Haddon, 2016). The return of the strategy is either failure or success, the return of the strategy will acceptable to the company. There is the possibility that the product provided by the company might be not liked by the customers and will not be able to make space in the market as compared to the competitors.

Feasibility- Company can make use of the funds for research and development of the new product that the company is planning to launch in the market. The nestle can make use of the existing resources for that the company need to integrate the resources depending on the demand of the customer, some customers demand for the healthy products for that the company needs to get in touch with the suppliers who can provide the resources that are used by the company to make the product.

Diversification

Suitability- There is a presence of the opportunity if a company will follow the diversification business strategy to expand the business. The company can expand the business in the new market with the use of the new diversified products (Api, et.al. 2015).

Acceptability- The expectation from the company is increasing because a company is becoming popular across the world and company is also maintain the reputation in the market. The customer and investors’ expectations can be met by the company. The risk of bringing the product which was not early produced by the company is high as compared to the other risk. The company can take the risk but after considering all the parameters that can affect the company. Though, this diversification opens new ways for the company.

Feasibility- Company is diversifying in the different fields and company can expand the amount in the business. To bring the diversification company needs to obtain and integrate the resources required to bring the diversification in the product. The company needs to perform the activity of research and development that helps the company in identifying which product is more in demand by the customers. As there are many products that are provided by the company currently. The staff of nestle company maintain those skills which help the company to expand the business.

References 

Ahmad, S., 2015. Green human resource management: policies and practices. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), p.1030817.

Akey, B.C.A., Jiang, X., Antwi, H.A. and Torku, E., 2016. Diversity Management and Competitive Advantage In Multinational Firms In Sub-Saharan Africa.

Api, A.M., Belsito, D., Bruze, M., Cadby, P., Calow, P., Dagli, M.L., Dekant, W., Ellis, G., Fryer, A.D., Fukayama, M. and Griem, P., 2015. Criteria for the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, Inc.(RIFM) safety evaluation process for fragrance ingredients. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 82, pp.S1-S19.

Charles, A., 2014. The Impact of Technological Innovation on Organizational Performance.

Griffin, A., 2014. Crisis, Issues and Reputation Management: A Handbook for PR and Communications Professionals. Kogan Page Publishers.

Hostut, S. and Hof, S.D.V.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility practices of transnational corporations: Examples from Turkey and Italy1. European Journal of Research on Education, 2(2), pp.202-213.

Lang, T. and Heasman, M., 2015. Food wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets. Routledge.

Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. and Zentes, J., 2015. Strategic international management. Springer.

Nestle, 2017, About us, viewed on 7^th November 2017, https://www.nestle.co.uk/aboutus

Nestle, M., 2013. Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health (Vol. 3). Univ of California Press.

Njambi, E., Lewa, P. and Katuse, P., 2015. Porter’s Five Forces Influence on Competitive Advantage in the Kenyan Beverage Industry: A Case of Large Multinationals.

Ojo, O., 2012. Influence of organizational culture on employee work behavior. International Journal of Contemporary Business Studies, 3(11), pp.46-57.

Punt, A.E., Butterworth, D.S., Moor, C.L., De Oliveira, J.A. and Haddon, M., 2016. Management strategy evaluation: best practices. Fish and Fisheries, 17(2), pp.303-334.

Saluja, N. and Mahajan, V., 2017. Profitability, Efficiency and Risk Analysis of Nestle India Limited. Choice, 6(1).