I would recommend that you start with an introduction to your organisation “GREGGS UK”; it may be useful to state the type of organisation and the sector of the economy in which your organisation operates, you may include your organisation’s Vision or Mission.  It would also be useful to provide succinct.  Please do not use a lot of words on this section.

Portfolio section 1

You are asked to compile a SWOT based on an analysis of the strategic position of the organisation, in order to do this you should conduct an external and internal analysis, ie

External analysis

– PESTEL  (PESTEL                       )           please remember these models feed

– Porter’s 5 Forces (P5F)                )           directly in to Opportunities and Threats

within this analysis you should include citations to the source material you have used.

Internal analysis

– Strategic Capabilities, (SC)                                             )           please remember

identifying threshold and distinctive                              )           these models

– Value Chain (VC)                                                              )           feed directly

– Stakeholder Mapping (SM)                                              )           into Strengths

– Stakeholder Grid (power/interest) (PIM                         )           and Weakness

– Cultural Web (CW)                                                            )

within this analysis you may include citations to the source material you have used.

When completing the models, pay particular attention to the Issue arising and its’ Impact on the organisation.  Please try to be as comprehensive as possible.

You should then produce a SWOT, which should identify Key Issues and the impact of the issue on the organisation, you could do this by completing the sentence “… which means …” or similar.  Also, within your SWOT, it would be useful for me if you include in brackets at the end of the sentence which model the SWOT has been derived from, for example (CW – Cultural Web), this will also form a check for you that you are using internal and external models in the correct way.

I would recommend that you have 4 or 5 key issues in each area of your SWOT.

Your SWOT should contain appropriate citations to demonstrate the research you have undertaken which informs your view.

You should then discuss, using the 750 words given, the key issues arising from your SWOT, clearly identifying key issues and the impact of these issues on the organisation.

Please include your SWOT as an appendix, no other appendices are required, those it is helpful to the reader to show these.

Portfolio Item 2

This the finance aspect.

• Obtain the latest financial accounts of your organisation
• Using ratio analysis, review the position and performance of the organisation over the last 5 years and explain how you calculated any figures that you have included in your answer
• Using an appropriate financial data base (e.g. FAME, AMADEUS) undertake a peer analysis of your major competitors
• Using your analysis critically evaluate the strategic position of the organization

Guide word count:  750 words

Finance may be regarded as a capability and also needs to be referenced in your SAF evaluation of strategic options.

Portfolio content 3

Before starting content 3, I would strongly recommend you complete a TOWS and taking the key issues from the SWOT.

Within the body of the TOWS take care to refer to the S, O, W, T which the point you are making refers to, for example (S1, O2) and to complete the statement with a “for example …” or “by undertaking …”, as this will make your following analysis much easier and enables you to identify Strategic Options.

Once the Strategy Option has been identified you should use Ansoff’s Matrix to identify whether this means market penetration, market development, product development or diversification for the organisation.

The next stage in the process is to decide how the organisation will pursue this option, will it be through Organic Development, Joint Venture/Alliance or Merger/Acquisition, you should be able to justify this, ie explain why this is best.

The next stage is to conduct the SAFe analysis.  At a basic level, you could do this by using a grid format, using a tick or cross, but at a more advanced level, you should seek to answer the questions posed:

Suitability

– Does the strategy make sense?  (consider fit with organisation Vision/Mission)

– Does it fit with future trends & changes in the environment?  (PEST)

– Does it exploit the opportunities in the environment and avoid the threats? (PEST/SWOT)

– Does it capitalise on the organisation’s strengths and avoid or remedy the weaknesses? (Strategic Capabilities)

Acceptability

– Does the proposed strategy meet the expectations of stakeholders? (Stakeholder Mapping and Stakeholder grid)

– Is the level of risk acceptable?  (Financial analysis)

– Is the likely return acceptable?  (Financial analysis)

– Will the stakeholders accept the strategy? (Stakeholder Mapping and Stakeholder grid)

Feasibility

– Would a proposed strategy work in practice? (Strategic Capability)

– Can the strategy be financed?  (Financial analysis)

– Do people and their skills exist or can they be obtained? (Strategic Capability)

– Can the required resources be obtained and integrated? (Strategic Capability/Value Chain)

Your answer should be a written discussion, providing details of the preferred options and why as well as why other options should be discarded.

It would be useful to include TOWS/ANSOFF, and if you complete one, a SAFe model as appendices.