Answer Happy

The ‘go to market’ strategy represents the generic direction acompany should follow in order to accomplish a specific businessobjective. It shows the “road map” to achieving greater results,such as sales growth, worldwide brand recognition, and highermarket penetration. Many business owners, however, fail to see thebenefits of incorporating business strategy in the overallstrategic business process in a bid to attain a competitiveadvantage. It is the backbone within a well-crafted strategic plan,which provides the business with focus and direction by identifyingthe best opportunities worth pursuing as well as the threats to beavoided. Thus, well before formulation of such strategies, thecompany has to situate itself on the market and may conduct what iscalled a “situational analysis”, “environmental scanning” or simplya “marketing audit”. (Inspired from Michael Baicoianu,Contributor,brandUNIQ: Your Guide to Strategic Management:http://branduniq.com/about-this-brand-management-blog/ [Accessed on18 February 2019]) Based on the extract above, answer thefollowing: (a) From the extract, it could be inferred thatstrategies are imperative within any business plan but they arecrafted only after conducting the environmental scanning. Define“environmental scanning” and briefly discuss the different layersof the environment that is required to be scanned beforeformulation of the strategies. (15 marks) (b) Strategies aredevised within the perspective of Strategic Management, whichnormally follows a three-stage process. Discuss the three stages ofStrategic Management that the firm has to follow to complete theabove process. (15 marks) (c) Define and provide an understandingof the term ‘competitive advantage’. (5 marks) (d) To win acompetitive advantage, the firm may formulate its strategies onthree generic orientations. Using relevant examples, discuss thegeneric strategies proposed by Michael Porter, which could helpachieve a competitive advantage. (15 marks)