1. Macro-environment analysis
2. Industry market analysis
3. Competition analysis
4. Supply and demand analysis
5. Analysis of industry driving factors
6. Analysis of corporate resources and capabilities
(1) Macro-environment analysis
The macro-environment generally includes four types of factors , namely politics, economy, technology, social culture, abbreviated as PEST (political, economic, social, technological). As shown in Figure 5.2. There is also the natural environment, that is, the geography, climate, resource distribution, ecological environment and other factors of the region or market where an enterprise is located. Since the factors of the natural environment change slowly and are easier for enterprises to deal with, they are not a key research object.
1. Political environment. It refers to the political factors and legal systems that affect and restrict enterprises, as well as their operating status. Specifically, it includes factors such as the national political system, political and military situation, principles and policies, laws, regulations, and law enforcement systems. In a stable political environment, enterprises can obtain legitimate rights and interests through fair competition and survive and develop. National policies and regulations have a controlling and regulating effect on enterprise production and operation activities. The same policies and regulations may bring different opportunities or constraints to different enterprises.
2. Economic environment. It refers to the social and economic conditions and national economic policies that constitute the survival and development of enterprises. Specifically, it includes the social and economic system, economic structure, macroeconomic policies, economic development level and future economic trends. Among them, the key analysis content includes the macroeconomic situation, industry economic environment, market and its competition status. Indicators for measuring the economic environment include: gross national product, national income, employment level, price level, consumption expenditure distribution scale, international balance of payments, as well as national fiscal and monetary policies such as interest rates, currency supply, government expenditure, and exchange rate.
3. Technical environment. It refers to the current level, development trends and development speed of science and technology related to the enterprise, as well as the national science and technology system, science and technology policies, etc. Such as the field of scientific and technological research, the category distribution and advanced level of scientific and technological achievements, the strength of scientific and technological research and development, etc. With the rise of the knowledge economy and the rapid development of science and technology, the impact of the technological environment on enterprises may be creative or destructive. Enterprises must foresee the changes brought about by these new technologies and take corresponding measures to deal with them.
4. Social and cultural environment. It refers to the formation and changes of factors such as social structure, customs and habits, religious beliefs, values, behavioral norms, lifestyle, cultural level, population size and geographical distribution of the area where the enterprise is located. The social and cultural environment has a subtle impact on the production and operation of enterprises. For example, cultural level will affect the level of people's needs; customs and religious beliefs may resist or prohibit certain activities of the enterprise; population size and geographical distribution will affect the social demand for products. and consumption, etc.
(2) Micro-environment analysis
Micro-environment is the specific environment for the survival and development of enterprises. Compared with the macro-environment, micro-environmental factors can directly provide an enterprise with more useful information, and are also easier to be identified by the enterprise.
1. Micro-environmental factors. It mainly includes market demand, competition and resources, as well as directly related policies, laws, decrees and other aspects.
(1) Market demand. Under the conditions of commodity economy, the demands put forward by the environment to enterprises are mainly expressed as market demands. Market demand includes actual demand and potential demand. Actual demand refers to the demand that customers have the ability to pay, while potential demand refers to the demand that is in a latent state and cannot be realized immediately for some reasons. Actual demand determines the company's current market sales, while potential demand determines the company's future market.
(2) Competitive environment. Including the scale of competition, the strength and number of competitors, the intensity of competition, etc. Specific competition includes peer competition, substitute product industry competition, buyer competition, supplier competition, etc.
(3) Resources and environment. Resources refer to all resources that enterprises should invest in production and operation activities, including people, finance, materials, technology, information, etc. The resource environment includes the development and utilization status of various resources, the supply status of resources, the development and changes of resources, etc.
In addition, directly related policies, laws, decrees, requirements, etc. from governments and associations also have direct constraints and impacts on industries and enterprises.
2. Industry analysis
Enterprises carry out production and operation activities in certain industries. To study the external environment of enterprises, we must understand the characteristics of the industry. Industry analysis mainly includes industry overview analysis and industry competition structure analysis.
Industry overview analysis mainly grasps the development stage of the industry, its status in the social economy, and its product and technical characteristics.
Industry competition structure analysis mainly grasps the competitive situation of the industry. Any enterprise in this industry must face competitive pressure from the following five aspects: potential entrants, substitutes, buyers, suppliers, and existing competitors. See Figure 5.4:
(1) Threats from potential entrants. After potential competitors enter, they will divide the original market with existing enterprises and stimulate a new round of competition, posing a huge threat to existing enterprises. This threat of entry depends primarily on the attractiveness of the industry and the size of the barriers to entry. If the industry develops quickly, has high profits, and has low barriers to entry, the threat of potential competition will be great. Barriers to entry include: economies of scale, that is, it is difficult for new entrants to enter if there is no economy of scale; product differentiation advantages, new entrants compete with original companies for users, and must spend a lot of money to establish corporate image and product reputation. Once they fail, they will lose everything Investment; the control of key resources by existing enterprises, generally manifested in the accumulation and control of key resources such as capital, patented technology, raw material supply, distribution channels, etc., forming obstacles for new entrants; the degree of counterattack by existing enterprises, etc.
(2) Threat of substitutes. Substitutes refer to other products that have the same or similar functions as the products in this industry. For example, washing powder can partially replace soap. The fundamental reason for the threat of substitutes is often that it has advantages over the original product in some aspects, such as low price, high quality, good performance, new functions, etc. If the profitability of substitutes is strong, there will be greater pressure on existing products, which will put companies in the industry at a disadvantage in competition.
(3) Buyer’s pressure. Buyers' competitive pressure on the industry manifests itself in the form of increased purchasing requirements, such as low prices, high quality, excellent service, etc. It also manifests in buyers taking advantage of competition between existing enterprises to put pressure on manufacturers. The basic factors that affect buyers' bargaining include: the customer's purchase volume, dependence on the product, the cost of changing manufacturers, and the amount of information they have.
(4) Supply-side pressure. All kinds of resources required by enterprises for production and operation are generally obtained from suppliers. Suppliers generally start from aspects such as price, quality, service, etc. in order to make more profits, thus putting pressure on enterprises.
(5) Competition among existing enterprises in the industry. This is competition in the usual sense. The main competition methods are price competition, advertising wars, new product introduction, etc. The intensity of this competition depends on a variety of factors, such as the number of competitors and the comparison of their strength, the speed of industry development, the level of profit margins, the comparison between industry production capacity and demand, the size of industry entry or exit barriers, etc. Competition will be fierce when the industry develops slowly, has many competitors, has high product homogeneity, has excess production capacity, has low barriers to entry and high barriers to exit.