Reference no: EM13260203

Business Environment Analysis

Myra's 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 Myra's 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 Myra's 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

Document must include:

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 Myra's 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 Myra's 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 UMUC 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 Myra's 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:

Customer and Employee Scheduling

Supply Ordering and Management

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: