Q2 - Discuss the topic of internal analysis. What is it? Where is it centred? How do you do it?

Q2 - Discuss the topic of internal analysis. What is it? Where is it centred? How do you do it?

1. SWOT \ TOWS analysis

   • TOWS

2. Value Chain

   • The value chain describes the categories of activities within an organisation which, together, create a product or service
   • Value Chain
   • Inbound logistics
   • Operations
   • Outbound Logistics
   • Marketing & Sales
   • Service
   • Infrastructure
   • HRM
   • Tech Development
   • Procurement

3. Strategic Capabilities

   • The capabilities of an organisation which contribute to it's long term survival or competitive advantage
   • Rescources
     • The assets an organisation can call on from partners or suppliers
   • Threshold
     • The minimum required resources needed by an organisation to operate in a market - these are important but will not give a competitive edge or allow for superior performance
   • Distinctive
     • The resources required to give competitive advantage
   • Competences
     • the way the assets are used or deployed effectively (there's no point having all the cool gear if you can't \ don't \ won't use it to it's fullest potential)
     • Core Competences
       • linked set of skills, activities and resources, that combined, give customer value, differentiate business and can be extended or developed
   • Dynamic Capabilities
     • The ability of an organisation to renew and re-create it's strategic capabilities to meet the needs of  a changing environment.
   • VRIN
     • Value
       • SC are of value if they provide potential competitive advantage in a market at a cost that allows the organisation to realise an acceptable level of returns
     • Rarity
       • Those possessed uniquely by one organisation or by few others; meets customer demands and be sustainable
     • Inimitability
       • something that competitors find difficult to imitate or obtain
     • Non-substitutability
       • capabilities that are not easily substituted - e.g. parcel delivery

4. Organisational knowledge

   • Organisational knowledge is the collective intelligence, specific to an organisation, accumulated through both formal systems and the shared experience of people in that organisation
   • Tacit knowledge
     • more personal, context-specific and hard to formalise and communicate – so it is difficult to imitate, for example, the knowledge and relationships in a top R&D team. 
   • Explicit knowledge
   • Communities of practice

5. Benchmarking

   • Benchmarking is a means of understanding how an organisation compares with others – typically competitors.
   • Industry \ Sector
     • comparing performance against other organisations in the same industry/sector against a set of performance indicators.
   • Best-In-Class
     • comparing an organisation’s performance or capabilities against ‘best-in-class’ performance – wherever that is found even in a very different industry.
   • Internal
   • Competitive

6. Activity Systems