Studying the basics of Strategic management offers me a chance to see how things could be better organized and sorted into categories.
Before I learned it, I also know something about launching products, the more it satisfies the consumer\’s need and the more it brings profit to the company, the better. That seems easy to understand. But I never think of sorting those strategies into categories. That is, to make everything in the system more organized, could be adapted to most situations and could be evaluated with numbers.
I have been learning the Basics of Strategic Management on IBMI. And I learned everything about GAP analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter\’s Five forces, SWOT analysis, BCG Matrix, and Ansoff Matrix.
That\’s basically the titles of the topics covered and since it\’s been around a week since I finished the course, I am going to test what I still remembered. Things are going to be messy.
GAP analysis:
What I could recall:
It\’s about the gap between your current status and your ideal one. It\’s basically comparing and figuring out the thing you should work on. Set your direction towards it, and the end of the story.
Correction
I basically get it right. The approach is divided into four steps:
Define the desired future state. Assess the current state. Compare the current state to the desired future state. And develop a plan to close the gap.
PESTLE analysis:
What I could recall:
I know that each stands for an aspect. emmmm… I will try.
P: political. E: economical. S: social? T: //have no idea//. L: Legal. E: //another one??//
It is used at the very beginning of a business, that is when one is still considering your idea. One could use the PESTLE method to measure whether their idea could eventually develop as a product.
Correction
P: Political. E: Economic. S: Social. T: Technological. L: Legal. E: Environment.
It could be used in any stage of the business. To understand the external environment in which they operate and to make better future decisions.
Porter\’s Five forces:
What I could recall:
I think I could remember it well. I might not get the correct word but I definitely could recall their meanings.
The five forces are the threat of substitutes, the threat from existing market competitors, the threat from newcomers in the market, the bargain from customers, and the bargain from producers.
It could be applied at any stage of the business.
Correction
Technical terms: Threat of substitute products or services. Rivalry among existing competitors. Threat of new entrants. Bargaining power of buyers. Bargaining power of suppliers.
It could help companies to understand the competitive environment.
SWOT analysis:
What I could recall:
That\’s classic.
S: Strength. W: Weakness. O: Opportunity. T: Threats.
It could be applied at any stage of the business.
Correction
It\’s hard not to get it right.
BCG Matrix:
What I could recall:
Categorizing products in the ones that companies\’ market share and the potential of them to gain more? I really couldn\’t remember.
It is used when the company already entered the industry and has launched its product.
Correction
I totally get it wrong.
It is categorized based on the relative market share and the market growth rate. And help make future investment decisions.
| Relative market share | Market growth rate | |
| Stars | High(H) | H |
| Cash Cows | H | Low(L) |
| Question Marks | L | H |
| Dogs | L | L |
Ansoff Matrix:
What I could recall:
It has four categories, based on old products for existing customers, there\’s new products for existing customers, new products for new customers, and old products for new customers.
It\’s about the companies\’ further consideration of launching a new product based on what they have already launched in the market.
Correction
Technical terms: Market Penetration (More of its current products or services to its current market). Product Development (creates new products to sell to its current market). Diversification (sells new products or services to new markets). Market Development (sells its current products or services to a new market).