Fluent Essays

Work #1: Consider a company you have worked for or one that you know well. What are the strategically relevant factors for the industry and your company within this macro-environment? What strategic moves are rivals likely to make and why? What factors are driving changes in this industry and why? Keeping in mind the role that interpreting environmental factors will play in analyzing a case, what do you see as the most important external data you would want this organization to have in any strategic planning process, and why?  How does this discussion board relate to our coursework this week?  Be specific. NOTE: Make sure you choose a company that has not been selected by one of your classmates. Your initial response to the discussion question should be 250-300 words. You must have at least our course text and one non-course scholarly/peer reviewed source in your initial posting.  Sources require in-text citations and must be incorporated into the body of the post in addition to a full APA citation at the end of the post. Work #2:  Read Chapter 3 and view the required videos on PESTEL Analysis and the Five Forces Framework.Select one of the cases from Part 2 of the Thompson (2022) textbook to analyze the six components of the Macro-Environment and the Five Forces Model.For this assignment: Prepare a brief PESTEL Analysis for your selected case from Part 2 of our Thompson (2022) text.  You must address all six elements. Prepare a brief Five Force Analysis as presented in our Thompson (2022) text for your selected case. Address all five forces. NOTE this Requirement:  The Standard & Poor NetAdvantage Database provided in the NEC Online Library is a required source (and will be extremely helpful). The Standard & Poor Database is located under the general Library database listing. Once you have accessed the Standard & Poor site, the tabs at the top allow you to click on companies or industries. If you choose industries, it then provides a box and drop-down menu showing the various industrial reports which are available. Access the relevant report, and then review the details in the report to support this assignment. The information is incredible relevant and provides a detailed analysis of the entire industry including a listing of the key companies in the industry.  See Course Content tab for a 2020 document noting how to find this database.                                                  Submission Details:  Your analysis must be driven by facts, research, and data. Your analysis should be between 1000 and 1500 words. Incorporate at least our course text and one non-course scholarly/peer reviewed source in your paper. Create Leve1, 2 and Level 3 APA headings for each portion of the analysis.   All written assignments must include a coverage page, introductory and concluding paragraphs, reference page, double-spaced and proper in-text citations using APA guidelines. Video Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYn4CyL3r5w&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfp23xSqpdk&t=9s Chapter 3 PPT attached (useful to both works) Find attachment for work #2 our college to find and use the S&P NetAdvantage search engine  Textbook: Thompson Jr. A. A, Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., and Strickland III, A. J. (2022). Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. 23rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-1-260-07510-6  978-1-260-73517-8 Chapter 3 chapter 3 Evaluating a Company’s External Environment © 2022 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill. Copyright Image Source/Getty Images Chapter 3 presents the concepts and analytical tools for assessing a company’s external environment. Attention centers on the competitive arena in which a company operates, together with the technological, societal, regulatory, or demographic influences in the macro-environment that are acting to reshape the company’s future market arena. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–1 Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Recognize the factors in a company’s broad macro-environment that may have strategic significance. Use analytic tools to diagnose the competitive conditions in a company’s industry. Map the market positions of key groups of industry rivals. Determine whether an industry’s outlook presents a company with sufficiently attractive opportunities for growth and profitability. © McGraw Hill This chapter presents the concepts and analytical tools for zeroing in on a single-business company’s external environment. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–2 FIGURE 3.1 From Analyzing the Company’s Situation to Choosing a Strategy Chapter 3 discussed the External Environment, and Chapter 4 discusses the Internal Environment. Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill As depicted in Figure 3.1, strategic thinking begins with an appraisal of the company’s external and internal environments (as a basis for deciding on a long-term direction and developing a strategic vision), moves toward an evaluation of the most promising alternative strategies and business models, and culminates in choosing a specific strategy. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–3 Analyzing the Company's Macro-Environment PESTEL Analysis. Focuses on principal components of strategic significance in the macro-environment: Political factors. Economic conditions (local to worldwide). Sociocultural forces. Technological factors. Environmental factors (the natural environment). Legal and regulatory conditions. © McGraw Hill The macro-environment encompasses the broad environmental context in which a company’s industry is situated that includes strategically relevant components over which the firm has no direct control. Analysis of the impact of these factors is often referred to as PESTEL analysis, an acronym that serves as a reminder of the six components involved (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal/Regulatory). © McGraw-Hill Education 3–4 Assessing the Company’s Industry and Competitive Environment Thinking strategically about the competitive environment requires managers to use some well validated concepts and analytical tools. Five forces framework. The value net. Driving forces. Strategic groups. Competitor analysis. Key success factors. © McGraw Hill Thinking strategically about a company’s industry and competitive environment entails using some well-validated concepts and analytic tools. These include the five forces framework, the value net, driving forces, strategic groups, competitor analysis, and key success factors. Proper use of these analytic tools can provide managers with the understanding needed to craft a strategy that fits the company’s situation within their industry environment. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to describing how managers can use these tools to inform and improve their strategic choices. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–5 FIGURE 3.2 The Components of a Company’s Macro-Environment Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.2, The Components of a Company’s Macro-environment identifies the arenas within an organization’s macro-environment. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–6 The Five Forces Framework The five competitive forces: Competition from rival sellers. Competition from potential new entrants. Competition from producers of substitute products. Supplier bargaining power. Customer bargaining power. © McGraw Hill The character and strength of the competitive forces operating in an industry are never the same from one industry to another. The most powerful and widely used tool for diagnosing the principal competitive pressures in a market is the five forces framework. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–7 FIGURE 3.3 The Five Forces Model of Competition: A Key Analytical Tool Sources: Adapted from M.E. Porter, “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 57, no. 2 (1979), pp.137-145; M.E. Porter, “The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 86, no 1 (2008), pp. 80-86. Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill This five forces framework, depicted in Figure 3.3, holds that competitive pressures on companies within an industry come from five sources. These include (1) competition from rival sellers, (2) competition from competition from producers of substitute products, (3) potential new entrants, (4) supplier bargaining power, and (5) customer bargaining power. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–8 Using the Five-forces Model of Competition STEP 1: For each of the five forces, identify the different parties involved, along with the specific factors that bring about competitive pressures. STEP 2: Evaluate how strong the pressures stemming from each of the five forces are (strong, moderate, or weak). STEP 3: Determine whether the five forces, overall, are supportive of high industry profitability. © McGraw Hill Using the five forces model to determine the nature and strength of competitive pressures in a given industry involves three steps: ∙ Step 1: For each of the five forces, identify the different parties involved, along with the specific factors that bring about competitive pressures. ∙ Step 2: Evaluate how strong the pressures stemming from each of the five forces are (strong, moderate, or weak). ∙ Step 3: Determine whether the five forces, overall, are supportive of high industry profitability. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–9 Competitive Pressures Created by the Rivalry among Competing Sellers Buyer demand is growing slowly or declining. It is becoming less costly for buyers to switch brands. Industry products are becoming less strongly differentiated. There is excess inventory, idle production capacity, or products have high fixed costs or high storage costs. The number of competitors is increasing, and are becoming more equal in size and competitive capability. The strategic and geographic diversity of competitors is increasing. High exit barriers keep weak firms from exiting the industry. © McGraw Hill The strongest of the five competitive forces is often the rivalry for buyer patronage among competing sellers of a product or service. The intensity of rivalry among competing sellers within an industry depends on several identifiable factors. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–10 FIGURE 3.4 Factors Affecting the Strength of Rivalry Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.4 summarizes these factors affecting rivalry in the industry, identifying those that intensify or weaken rivalry among direct competitors in an industry. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–11 Competitive Pressures Associated with the Threat of New Entrants Entry threat considerations: Strength of barriers to entry. Expected defensive reactions of incumbent firms. Attractiveness of a particular market’s growth in demand and profit potential. Capabilities and resources of potential entrants. Entry of existing competitors into market segments in which they have no current presence. © McGraw Hill New entrants into an industry threaten the position of rival firms since they will compete fiercely for market share, add to the number of industry rivals, and add to the industry’s production capacity in the process. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–12 Market Entry Barriers Facing New Entrants There are sizable economies of scale in production, distribution, advertising, or other activities. Incumbents have hard-to-replicate learning curve and industry relationship cost advantages over new entrants. Customers have strong brand preferences and high degrees of loyalty to seller. Patents and other intellectual property protections are in place. There are strong “network effects” in customer demand. Capital investment requirements are high. There are difficulties in building a network of distributors/dealers or in securing adequate space on retailers’ shelves. There are restrictive regulatory and trade policies. © McGraw Hill The strength of the threat of entry is governed to a large degree by the height of the industry's entry barriers. High barriers reduce the threat of potential entry, whereas low barriers enable easier entry. Whether an industry’s entry barriers ought to be considered high or low depends on the resources and capabilities possessed by the pool of potential entrants. High entry barriers and weak entry threats today do not always translate into high entry barriers and weak entry threats tomorrow. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–13 FIGURE 3.5 Factors Affecting the Threat of Entry Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.5 summarizes the factors that cause the overall competitive pressure from potential entrants to be strong or weak. An analysis of these factors can help managers determine whether the threat of entry into their industry is high or low. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–14 Competitive Pressures from the Sellers of Substitute Products Substitute products considerations: Readily available and attractively priced? Comparable or better in terms of quality, performance, and other relevant attributes? Offer lower switching costs to buyers? Indicators of substitutes’ competitive strength: Increasing rate of growth in sales of substitutes. Substitute producers adding new output capacity. Increasing profitability of substitute producers. © McGraw Hill Companies in one industry are vulnerable to competitive pressure from the actions of companies in a closely adjoining industry whenever buyers view the products of the two industries as good substitutes. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–15 FIGURE 3.6 Factors Affecting Competition from Substitute Products Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.6 depicts three factors that determine whether the competitive pressures from substitute products are strong or weak. Competitive pressures are stronger when: Good substitutes are readily available and attractively priced. Buyers view the substitutes as comparable or better in terms of quality. performance, and other relevant attributes. The costs that buyers incur in switching to the substitutes are low. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–16 Competitive Pressures Stemming from Supplier Bargaining Power Supplier bargaining power depends on: Strength of demand for and availability of suppliers’ products. Whether suppliers provide a differentiated input that enhances the performance of the industry’s product. Industry members’ costs for switching among suppliers. Size and number of suppliers relative to industry members. Possibility of backward integration into suppliers’ industry. Fraction of the cost of the supplier’s product relative to the total cost of the industry’s product. Availability of good substitutes for suppliers’ products. Whether industry members are major customers of suppliers. © McGraw Hill Whether the suppliers of industry members represent a weak or strong competitive force depends on the degree to which suppliers have sufficient bargaining power to influence the terms and conditions of supply in their favor. Suppliers with strong bargaining power are a source of competitive pressure because of their ability to charge industry members higher prices, pass costs on to them, and limit their opportunities to find better deals. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–17 FIGURE 3.7 Factors Affecting the Bargaining Power of Suppliers Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.7 shows a variety of factors that determine the strength of suppliers’ bargaining power. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–18 Competitive Pressures Stemming from Buyer Bargaining Power and Price Sensitivity Buyer bargaining power considerations: Strength of buyers’ demand for sellers’ products. Degree to which industry goods are differentiated. Buyers’ costs for switching to competing sellers or substitutes. Number and size of buyers relative to number of sellers. Threat of buyers’ integration into sellers’ industry. Buyers’ knowledge of products, costs and pricing. Buyers’ discretion in delaying purchases. Buyers’ price sensitivity due to low profits, relative size of purchase, and consequences of purchase. Product quality not at issue price is primary concern. © McGraw Hill Whether buyers can exert strong competitive pressures on industry members depends on (1) the degree to which buyers have bargaining power, and (2) the extent to which buyers are price-sensitive. Buyers with strong bargaining power can limit industry profitability by demanding price concessions, better payment terms, or additional features and services that increase industry members’ costs. Buyer price sensitivity limits the profit potential of industry members by restricting the ability of sellers to raise prices without losing revenue due to lost sales. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–19 FIGURE 3.8 Factors Affecting the Bargaining Power of Buyers Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Figure 3.8 summarizes the factors determining the strength of buyer power in an industry. Note that the first five factors are the mirror image of those determining the bargaining power of suppliers. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–20 Is the Collective Strength of the Five Competitive Forces Conducive to Good Profitability? Answers to three questions are needed: Is the state of industry competition stronger than normal? Can industry firms expect to earn decent profits given prevailing competitive forces? Are some of the competitive forces sufficiently powerful to undermine industry profitability? Even one powerful competitive force may be enough to make the industry unattractive in terms of its profit potential. © McGraw Hill Assessing whether each of the five competitive forces gives rise to strong, moderate, or weak competitive pressures sets the stage for evaluating whether, overall, the strength of the five forces is conducive to good profitability. Are any of the competitive forces sufficiently powerful to undermine industry profitability? Can industry firms reasonably expect to earn decent profits considering the prevailing competitive forces? The strongest of the five forces determines the extent of the downward pressure on an industry’s profitability. Having more than one strong force means that an industry has multiple competitive challenges with which to cope. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–21 Matching Company Strategy to Competitive Conditions Effectively matching a firm’s business strategy to prevailing competitive conditions has two aspects: Pursuing avenues that shield the firm from as many competitive pressures as possible. Initiating actions calculated to shift competitive forces in the firm’s favor by altering underlying factors driving the five forces. © McGraw Hill Working through the five forces model step by step aids strategy-makers in assessing whether the intensity of competition allows good profitability and promotes sound strategic thinking about how to better match company strategy to the specific competitive character of the marketplace. A company’s strategy is strengthened when it provides some insulation from competitive pressures, shifts the competitive battle in the company’s favor, and positions firms to take advantage of attractive growth opportunities. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–22 Complementors and the Value Net How the value net differs from the five forces: Focuses on the interactions of industry participants with a particular (focal) company. Defines the category of competitors to include the focal firm’s direct competitors, industry rivals, the sellers of substitute products, and potential entrants. Introduces a new category of industry participant—complementors—producers of products that enhance the value of the focal firm’s products when they are used together. © McGraw Hill Not all interactions among industry participants are necessarily competitive in nature. Some have the potential to be cooperative, as the value net framework demonstrates. Like the five forces framework, the value net includes an analysis of buyers, suppliers, and substitutors. But it differs from the five forces framework in several important ways. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–23 FIGURE 3.9 The Value Net Access the text alternative for slide images © McGraw Hill Figure 3.9 depicts the value net used in an analysis of buyers, suppliers, and substitutors. Complementors are the producers of complementary products, which are products that enhance the value of the focal firm’s products when they are used together. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–24 Industry Dynamics and the Forces Driving Change Driving forces analysis has three steps. Identifying what the driving forces are. Assessing whether the drivers of change are acting to make the industry more or less attractive. Determining what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impact of the driving forces. © McGraw Hill Driving forces are the major underlying causes of change in industry and competitive conditions. Driving forces analysis has three steps: (1) identifying what the driving forces are; (2) assessing whether the drivers of change are acting to make the industry more or less attractive; and (3) determining what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impact of the driving forces. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–25 Identifying the Forces Driving Industry Change Changes in an industry’s long-term growth rate. Increasing globalization. Emerging new Internet capabilities and applications. Shifts in who buys industry products and how the products are used. Technological change and manufacturing process innovation. Product and marketing innovation. Entry or exit of major firms. Diffusion of technical know-how across firms and countries. Changes in costs and efficiencies. Reductions in uncertainty and business risk. Regulatory influences and government policy changes. Changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles © McGraw Hill The most important part of driving forces analysis is to determine whether the collective impact of the driving forces will increase or decrease market demand, make competition more or less intense, and lead to higher or lower industry profitability. The real payoff of driving-forces analysis is to help managers understand what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impacts of the driving forces © McGraw-Hill Education 3–26 Assessing the Impact of the Factors Driving Industry Change Are the driving forces, on balance, acting to cause demand for the industry’s product to increase or decrease? Is the collective impact of the driving forces making competition more or less intense? Will the combined impacts of the driving forces lead to higher or lower industry profitability? © McGraw Hill The second step in driving forces analysis is to determine whether the prevailing change drivers are acting to make the industry environment more or less attractive. Three questions need to be answered: Are the driving forces, on balance, acting to cause demand for the industry’s product to increase or decrease? Is the collective impact of the driving forces making competition more or less intense? Will the combined impacts of the driving forces lead to higher or lower industry profitability? Getting a handle on the collective impact of the driving forces requires looking at the likely effects of each factor separately, since the driving forces may not all be pushing change in the same direction. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–27 Adjusting Strategy to Prepare for the Impacts of Driving Forces What strategy adjustments will be needed to deal with the impacts of the driving forces? What immediate adjustments must be made? What actions currently being taken should be halted or abandoned? What can we do now to prepare for adjustments we anticipate making in the future? © McGraw Hill The third step in the strategic analysis of industry dynamics—where the real payoff for strategy making comes—is for managers to draw some conclusions about what strategy adjustments will be needed to deal with the impacts of the driving forces. But taking the “right” kinds of actions to prepare for the industry and competitive changes being wrought by the driving forces first requires accurate diagnosis of the forces driving industry change and the impacts these forces will have on both the industry environment and the company’s business. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–28 Strategic Group Analysis Strategic group. Consists of those industry members with similar competitive approaches and positions in the market. Having comparable product-line breadth. Employing the same distribution channels. Depending on identical technological approaches. Competing in the same geographic areas Offering the same product attributes to buyers. Offering similar services and technical assistance. © McGraw Hill Within an industry, companies commonly sell in different price/quality ranges, appeal to different types of buyers, have different geographic coverage, and so on. Some are more attractively positioned than others. Understanding which companies are strongly positioned and which are weakly positioned is an integral part of analyzing an industry’s competitive structure. The best technique for revealing the market positions of industry competitors is strategic group mapping. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–29 Using Strategic Group Maps to Assess the Market Positions of Key Competitors Constructing a strategic group map: Identify the competitive characteristics that delineate strategic approaches used in the industry. Plot the firms on a two-variable map using pairs of competitive characteristics. Assign firms occupying about the same map location to the same strategic group. Draw circles around each strategic group, making the circles proportional to the size of the group’s share of total industry sales revenues. © McGraw Hill A strategic group is a cluster of industry rivals that have similar competitive approaches and market positions. Strategic group mapping is a technique for displaying the different market or competitive positions that rival firms occupy in the industry. Evaluating strategy options entails examining what strategic groups exist, identifying the companies within each group, and determining if a competitive “white space” exists where industry competitors can create and capture new demand. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–30 Typical Variables Used in Creating Group Maps Price and quality range (high, medium, low). Geographic coverage (local, regional, national, global). Product-line breadth (wide, narrow). Degree of service offered (no frills, limited, full). Distribution channels (retail, wholesale, Internet, multiple). Degree of vertical integration (none, partial, full). Degree of diversification into other industries (none, some, considerable). © McGraw Hill © McGraw-Hill Education 3–31 Guidelines for Creating Group Maps Variables selected as map axes should not be highly correlated. Variables should reflect important (sizable) differences among rival approaches. Variables may be quantitative, continuous, discrete, or defined in terms of distinct classes and combinations. Drawing group circles proportional to the combined sales of firms in each group will reflect the relative sizes of each strategic group. Drawing maps using different pairs of variables will show the different competitive positioning relationships present in the industry’s structure. © McGraw Hill Two variables selected as axes for the map should not be highly correlated; if they are, the circles on the map will fall along a diagonal and reveal nothing more about the relative positions of competitors than would be revealed by comparing the rivals on just one of the variables. Strategic group maps reveal which firms are close competitors and which are distant competitors. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–32 Illustration Capsule 3.2 Comparative Market Positions of Selected Companies in the Pizza Chain Industry: A Strategic Group Map Example Access the text alternative for these images. © McGraw Hill Illustration Capsule 3.2 shows a two-dimensional group mapping diagram for pizza chain industry. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–33 Examining the Comparative Market Positions of Strategic Groups in the Pizza Chain Industry Which strategic group is located in the least favorable market position? Which group is in the most favorable position? Which strategic group is likely to experience increased intragroup competition? Which groups are most threatened by the likely strategic moves of members of nearby strategic groups? © McGraw Hill Strategic group maps using different pairs of variable can be drawn to give different exposures to the competitive positioning relationships present in the industry’s structure—there is not necessarily one best map for portraying how competing firms are positioned. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–34 The Value of Strategic Group Maps Maps are useful in identifying groups of close and distant rivals in an industry. Not all map positions are equally attractive. Prevailing competitive pressures from the industry’s five forces may cause the profit potential of different strategic groups to vary. Industry driving forces may favor some strategic groups and hurt others. © McGraw Hill Some strategic groups are more favorably positioned than others because they confront weaker competitive forces or because they are more favorably impacted by industry driving forces. Part of strategic group map analysis always entails drawing conclusions about where on the map is the “best” place to be and why. Which firms/strategic groups are destined to prosper because of their positions? Which firms/strategic groups seem destined to struggle? What accounts for why some parts of the map are better than others? © McGraw-Hill Education 3–35 Competitor Analysis Competitive intelligence. Information about rivals that is useful in anticipating their next strategic moves. Signals of the likelihood of strategic moves: Rivals under pressure to improve financial performance. Rivals seeking to increase market standing. Public statements of rivals’ intentions. Profiles developed by competitive intelligence units. © McGraw Hill Studying competitors’ past behavior and preferences provides a valuable assist in anticipating what moves rivals are likely to make next and in outmaneuvering them in the marketplace. The question is where to look for such information since rivals rarely reveal their strategic intentions openly. If information is not directly available, what are the best indicators? © McGraw-Hill Education 3–36 FIGURE 3.10 The SOAR Framework for Competitor Analysis Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill Michael Porter’s SOAR Framework for Competitor Analysis points to four indicators of a rival’s likely strategic moves and countermoves. These include a rival’s current strategy, objectives, resources and capabilities, and assumptions about itself and the industry, as shown in Figure 3.10. A strategic profile of a rival that provides good clues to its behavioral proclivities can be constructed by characterizing the rival along these four dimensions. © McGraw-Hill Education 3–37 SOAR Framework for Competitor Analysis Indicators of a rival firm’s likely strategic moves and countermoves: The rival firm’s current strategy. The rival firm’s objectives. The rival firm’s resources and capabilities. The rival firm’s assumptions about itself and its industry. © McGraw Hill Current Strategy: To succeed in predicting a competitor’s next moves, company strategists need to understand each rival’s current strategy. Objectives: An appraisal of a rival’s objectives should include not only its financial performance objectives but strategic ones as well (such as those concerning … 2020 To find and use the S&P NetAdvantage search engine, first go to NEC website and click on the Danforth Library. Then Click on the Find Articles tab Next select the database Alphabetical Listing A-Z. Now click on the letter S Finally, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you’ll see the Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage. Of note, just under that one is the Statista search, which also is a great tool to find information regarding your company. You’ll next need to log in with your NEC library access info. You should then land on the below page. You will be using this tool for a couple of different assignments. The first is for the week two assignment. Follow the below to search your company. Type in your company’s name…..and search. As an example, I looked up Apple. You’ll need to select which one to search. Private firms will have very little info. Notice the tabs on the left. Your search will first open with the Tearsheet. This is a good one for info on your company. Try some of the others. For example, I have the Quick Comps selected below. To find PESTEL supporting information for the Industry of your company, go back to the following page within the S&P NetAdvantage This time, you’ll want to click on the tab called “ Industry Survey”. Next, use the pull down on the screen to select your industry. Unfortunately, a report is not available for all industries. Then select search. A listing of available reports will come up. Select one from the right hand side. A little extra information. How to find a peer reviewed source through the NEC Library search feature. Click on the peer reviewed option as below. Note that the NEC library is a full source library, so it does include non-scholarly/peer reviewed sources, for example newspapers.