October 2013
Intermediate to advanced
336 pages
12h 33m
English
Content preview from Strategic Market Management, 10th EditionBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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CHAPTER TWO
External and Customer Analysis
The purpose of an enterprise is to create and keep a customer.
—Theodore Levitt
Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.
—Stanley Marcus
Before you build a better mousetrap, it helps to know if there are any mice out there.
—Mortimer B. Zuckerman
Developing or adapting strategy in a dynamic market logically starts with external analysis, an analysis of the factors external to a business that can affect strategy. The first four chapters of Part One present concepts and methods useful in conducting an external analysis. The final chapter of Part One turns to internal analysis: the analysis of the firm's performance, strengths, weaknesses, problems, liabilities, and constraints.
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
A successful external analysis needs to be directed and purposeful. There is always the danger that it will become an endless process resulting in an excessively descriptive report. In any business there is no end to the material that appears potentially relevant. Without discipline and direction, volumes of useless descriptive material can easily be generated.
Affecting Strategic Decisions
The external analysis process should not be an end in itself. Rather, it should be motivated throughout by a desire to affect strategy. As Figure 2.1 shows, an external analysis can impact strategy directly by suggesting strategic decision alternatives or influencing a choice among them. More specifically, it should address questions such as:
- Should existing ...
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