Business Environment and Strategic Management

Introduction3

Discussion4

Analysis of the Current Business Environment4

PEST Analysis5

Political & Legal5

Socio-cultural6

Technological7

Porter's Five Forces8

Rivalry8

Entrants9

Buyers9

Substitutes9

Suppliers10

Analysis of Porter's Five Forces10

External Factors10

Opportunities10

Threats11

Additional Framework11

Value Chain Analysis11

Inbound Logistics12

Operation12

Outbound Logistics12

Marketing and Sales12

Services13

Analysis of the company's strategic capabilities13

Internal Analysis13

Strategic Change Framework13

Value14

Rarity14

Unique Historical Condition15

Casual Ambiguity15

Social Complexity15

Competitive Advantage15

Better customer service16

Strengths16

Weakness17

Strategic Issues18

Recommendation18

Conclusion19

References20

Business Environment and Strategic Management

Introduction

The aim of this report is to analyze the Hewlett-Packard Company strategic business unit along with focusing on its geographical factors. The major products and services being offered by the company include technological products, solutions and services to consumers, software, large enterprises and small to medium sized businesses. The company generates most of its revenue from windows desktops and laptops, personal systems, printing and imagining. The company has its significant existence in the industry of mobile phones as well. However, this report would be particularly focusing on strategic business unit of laptops being produced and sold be HP. The geographic areas of United Kingdom would be particularly highlighted throughout this report.

The financial analysis of the company shows that the company has strong cash flows and profitability position. The company has been successful in distributing sufficient returns to the share holders of the company. It has also maintained a strong position of balance sheet as the company is highly invested by shareholders rather than from liabilities. The ratio analysis of the company indicates that it is running effectively and efficiently.

Hp is running in 60 different countries around the globe with approximately 140, 000 employees. The largest geographical regions of HP include United States, United Kingdom and India. Strategic business units of HP are personal systems, tablets, laptops and note books, mobile phones, scanners and printers, communication infrastructure, web servers and business process outsourcing.

Discussion

The Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is one of America's leading multinational organizations in the industry of information technology. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California; U.S. HP is the second largest company in the computer industry around the globe. It was founded by David Packard and Bill Hewlett in the year 1939 (Dean, 2010, 25-75).

The company is known for being highly innovative in the market. The major competitors of HP's laptop include Apple Inc., Dell, Toshiba, Samsung Electronics and IBM. All the competitors of the company are large in size and give tough competition to HP (Carbaugh, 2010, pp.90).

Analysis of the Current Business Environment

Hp's laptops are currently being sold in the market where competition is very high and it includes most of the biggest and leading organizations of the world. There are many factors that have significant influence on the ongoing processes of the company. The industry of laptop is highly dependent on the elements of innovation and creativity. The organizations in the industry need to continuously cope with the changing technology in order to attract and retain customers and run profitability (Sengupta, 2006, pp.2).

There are many macro environment and micro environmental factors that have large extend influence on the industry of laptops. The two major micro environmental factors include the competitors and ...