Strategic Audit
In our introduction to business strategy, we emphasised the role of the "business environment" in shaping strategic thinking and decision-making.
The external environment in which a business operates can create opportunities which a business can exploit, as well as threats which could damage a business. However, to be in a position to exploit opportunities or respond to threats, a business needs to have the right resources and capabilities in place.
An important part of business strategy is concerned with ensuring that these resources and competencies are understood and evaluated - a process that is often known as a "Strategic Audit".
The process of conducting a strategic audit can be summarised into the following stages:
(1) Resource Audit:
The resource audit identifies the resources available to a business. Some of these can be owned (e.g. plant and machinery, trademarks, retail outlets) whereas other resources can be obtained through partnerships, joint ventures or simply supplier arrangements with other businesses. You can read more about resources here.
(2) Value Chain Analysis:
Value Chain Analysis describes the activities that take place in a business and relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the business. Influential work by Michael Porter suggested that the activities of a business could be grouped under two headings:
(1) Primary Activities - those that are directly concerned with creating and delivering a product (e.g. component assembly);
(2) Support Activities, which whilst they are not directly involved in production, may increase effectiveness or efficiency (e.g. human resource management). It is rare for a business to undertake all primary and support activities.
Value Chain Analysis is one way of identifying which activities are best undertaken by a business and which are best provided by others ("outsourced"). You can read more about Value Chain Analysis here.
(3) Core Competence Analysis:
The external environment in which a business operates can create opportunities which a business can exploit, as well as threats which could damage a business. However, to be in a position to exploit opportunities or respond to threats, a business needs to have the right resources and capabilities in place.
An important part of business strategy is concerned with ensuring that these resources and competencies are understood and evaluated - a process that is often known as a "Strategic Audit".
The process of conducting a strategic audit can be summarised into the following stages:
(1) Resource Audit:
The resource audit identifies the resources available to a business. Some of these can be owned (e.g. plant and machinery, trademarks, retail outlets) whereas other resources can be obtained through partnerships, joint ventures or simply supplier arrangements with other businesses. You can read more about resources here.
(2) Value Chain Analysis:
Value Chain Analysis describes the activities that take place in a business and relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the business. Influential work by Michael Porter suggested that the activities of a business could be grouped under two headings:
(1) Primary Activities - those that are directly concerned with creating and delivering a product (e.g. component assembly);
(2) Support Activities, which whilst they are not directly involved in production, may increase effectiveness or efficiency (e.g. human resource management). It is rare for a business to undertake all primary and support activities.
Value Chain Analysis is one way of identifying which activities are best undertaken by a business and which are best provided by others ("outsourced"). You can read more about Value Chain Analysis here.
(3) Core Competence Analysis: