Case Study, Stage 1: Business Environment Analysis
Business Environment Analysis for Campus Haircuts
Campus Haircuts has been in business since 1995 and has seen an increase in competition from a variety of competitors, as described in the Case Study. With the news that a Hair Cuttery is likely to open only five miles away, Myra, the owner of Campus Haircuts, is concerned and has asked you to help her assess the impact on her business and how she can deal with it. worried and is looking to you to provide reassurance that the competition will not affect the business.In addition, Myra has asked you for assistance in developing a strategy for bringing Campus Haircuts into the 21st century and taking advantage of technology.
You know that Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is a useful tool for analyzing a business, understanding the importance of the five competitive forces and helping to develop a Generic Strategy. Porter’s Model is also used to aid organizations facing the challenging decisions of dealing with changes made by existing competitors, entering a new industry or industry segment, or developing a strategy for dealing with new competition. The Five Forces Model helps determine the relative importance of the forces affecting competitive position that could affect the future success of a business.
The Five Forces are:
• Buyer Power
• Supplier power
• Threat of substitute products or services
• Threat of new entrants
• Rivalry among existing competitors
The Five Forces and the Generic Strategy are fully described and discussed in the readings for Week 1, and the Business Model and Competitive Advantage are covered in Module 1. In order to analyze Campus Haircuts’ current competitive position and develop a Generic Strategic direction, you have decided to use the Five Forces Model to analyze Myra’s business.
Write a short paper 2-3 pages in length, not including References page and cover sheet, responding to the bulleted items below.
Remember to use the APA formatting rules and correctly cite and reference your sources with APA format. Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything. Submit your paper as a Microsoft Word document, or a document that can be read using Word, with your last name included in the filename.
Create a document that includes the following:
• Brief introduction providing the background of the case, why you are writing and what is to come in your paper. This should only be 3-5 sentences.
• Perform a Porter's Five Forces analysis for Campus Haircuts, addressing each force in one or two sentences and defining the force, its impact (Positive, Negative or Neutral) on the business and whether it should affect Myra’s strategy (Yes/No). Do not identify solutions or things that Myra should do that would affect the factor. (The idea is to identify how the different forces affect Campus Haircuts and how much.) This provides you with a view of the business that will allow you to select a Generic Strategy and a Strategic Business Area on which to focus your efforts.
• Determine which of Porter's Three Generic Strategies that you will use to improve Campus Haircuts for the 21st century and explain why you selected it, and tie it into the significant forces that you have identified.
• Using your analysis of Campus Haircuts Business Model (based on what you learned in Module 1), identify an important Strategic Business Area that needs to be improved.
The Strategic Business Area should be selected from the following:
o Customers
o Employees
o Suppliers
o Marketing
The Walmart Example demonstrates use of this concept, so you should review it and make sure that you are on the right track. Explain why you have selected that Strategic Business Area and how improving it will improve operation of the business, including how it relates to the Generic Strategy you selected.
• Within the selected Strategic Business Area, identify and select a single daily process that is within and supports the Strategic Business Area that needs improvement. Note: A process is a set of activities or steps that are used to accomplish a specific task. Some of the processes that Myra has identified for improvement are:
o Customer and Employee Scheduling
o Supply Ordering and Management
o Customer Information and Marketing (In Stage 2 you will model the AS IS process and the TO BE Process, and propose a technology solution to improve the process you identify here, so select a process that is appropriate for a technology solution.)
At the end of your report with your References enter the following headings and complete the information using one concise phrase for each. You will be starting each subsequent stage by including this information as a method to keep us focused on the objectives.
GENERIC STRATEGY:
STRATEGIC BUSINESS AREA:
PROCESS TO BE IMPROVED:
Attached is the case study to work off.