Explore internal analysis in a business strategy context

How does internal analysis play a pivotal role in the success of a business?

This short two-week course will show you how internal analysis tools can have a positive impact on a company’s strategy and decision-making.

Unlock the strategic direction and capabilities of your company

In this course, you’ll look at the value chain and explore how value is created or lost, and learn why strategic capabilities are so important. You’ll have the opportunity to consider why some organisations outperform others and you’ll explore what internal resources and competencies can be implemented to establish a solid base for building a powerful business strategy.

Build your understanding of intangible and tangible assets (also commonly called physical assets) and resources, and look at the industry life cycle of a business – from start-up and growth to maturity and decline.

Explore how to do a SWOT analysis

Micro analysis can hold the key to revealing an organisation’s internal potential in terms of competency, cost position and competitive viability in the marketplace.

Conducting an internal analysis often incorporates measures that provide useful information about a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – a SWOT analysis. It’s a simple yet widely used tool to help give a company the edge over its rivals.

You’ll also be introduced to the concept of frameworks, including the industry life cycle, and explore organisational goals and how they can be implemented.

Syllabus

Week 1
Micro Analysis
- Welcome back to the course
  We introduce globalisation and competitive business with Plato's Allegory of the Cave. We then explore Porter's 5 Forces, industry life cycle and strategic group analysis. Finally we will reflect on what we have learned this week.
- Introduction to the frameworks
  The 5 Forces framework was first advocated by Michael Porter, later extended and further developed by other scholars. The framework is the fundamental tool to evaluate the competiveness of an industry.
- Industry life cycle
  Industry life cycle analysis is part of a fundamental analysis of a company, involving the examination of the stage an industry is in at a given point in time.
- Strategic group analysis
  Explore strategic group analysis as the characteristics that businesses compete against within a similar business type. Carry out an analysis of the market share within the scope of the hotel business market.
- Summary activities
  The Micro analysis frameworks introduced above allow us to understand an industry’s profit potential. But how can a firm gain competitiveness advantages in a highly attractive industry?
Week 2
Organisational Goals and Value
- Welcome back to Week 2
  This week you will explore the following themes in more depth: resource, competencies, competitive advantages, sustainable, value chain and outsourcing. We start by looking at one of the fastest growing fashion brands, Zara.
- Strategic capabilities
  Explore Strategic Capability in the following topics: value chain analysis, non-imitable resources. We explore the themes around competencies and competitive advantages between different firms competing against each other.
- Value chain
  You will learn how to diagnose strategic capability by measuring the values worth and understand how value is created or lost in terms of the activities undertaken.
- Summary activities
  Check your understanding by participating in the quiz and reflecting on your learning so far. Here you will be able to share your reflections and thoughts as you progress through the module.

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Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Discuss the nature and importance of internal analysis
Explain how tangible and intangible resources impact an organisation’s strategy

Who is the course for?

This ExpertTrack is designed for intermediate-level business managers and students to gain more knowledge about strategy and globalisation. This course aims to equip you with the concepts, framework and techniques needed for better environmental scanning.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured gold in the UK Government’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and is University of the Year for Student Experience in The Times & The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019.

Established
1992
Location
Coventry

About this ExpertTrack

Discover the fundamentals of business strategy, business models and strategic management, and work on your decision-making skills.

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