Introduction

AstraZeneca is one of the biggest pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in UK. The firm is
operating within one of the most competitive environment which is characterized by multiple
operators dealing in similar products. The pharmaceutical industry is a conmpetitve business and
an organization needs to put forward suitable strategies which can aid improve the
competitiveness within the marketplace environments. Thus, it is essential to assess the market
environment through creating strategic analysis in order to establish the position of the company
in the market. Likewise, it is appropriate if effective strategies are developed by the company’s
management to make AstraZeneca gain competitive edge within the marketplace.

Business environment

Analysis of business environment can be employed in determining trends within a certain

industry. in order to assess the business environment of AstraZeneca, two approaches are used
and these incorporate Porter’s Five analysis and PESTLE analysis.

Porters Five analysis

This is an analytical tool which is used in assessing organizational competitiveness within the market. It
is used in evaluating firms competitiveness with regard to the five factors which the following as
described below:

Bargaining power of buyers- this is employed in assessing how it is more comfortable for buyers of
products to push up the organizational products’ prices. In the pharmaceutical industry, the bargaining
power of buyers is relatively higher. The firm is made up of larger pool of buyers who are able to switch
for products of others industries easily. The cost of switching to another firm’s product is lower.

Bargaining power of suppliers- determining the suppliers barging power can make managers to know
their competitiveness as well as assist in the process of decision marking. AstraZeneca suppliers
bargaining power can be evaluated in order to determine the flexibility of the company when it
comes to making major decisions like products prices. Also, the bargaining power of suppliers in
pharmaceutical firms is low because the industry is composed of multiple suppliers.

Threats of substitutes- within the pharmaceutical business, threats of substitute products assist in the
evaluation of the AstraZeneca profitability. Higher threat of product substitutes decreases
profitability and organizational competitiveness.

Threat of new entrant-In UK the pharmaceutical business is related with higher threats of new
entrants. This shows that the industry has low entry barrier thus making it easier for several firms
to enter the business.
Rivalry- the key competitor of AstraZeneca within the global market includes Abbott, Merck
&Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer as well as Novartis. These firms provide intense competition to
the products offered by AstraZeneca within the international marketing environments.

PESTEL Analysis

This is a tool which analyzes political, economic, technological, environmental and legal
environments of a business. An external environment can never be guided by a firm because they
are factors which are beyond its control. Analysis of PESTEL can be employed in evaluating
AstraZeneca’s external environment.

Political factors- these come as results of changes within government policies like taxation, trade
and fiscal policies within various states might have impacts on the activities of the business.
AstraZeneca operates in different states with diverse laws and regulations. What is more,
governments may have key influences on pharmaceutical industries because of the sensitivity
and significance of the products. Firms are subjected to changes as well as introduction of new
regulations from the European Union. This shows that legislations, government regulations,
administrations have direct impacts on AstraZeneca operations.

Economic factors-variations in the economic circumstances like rates of inflation, GDP, rates of
interests ad rates of foreign exchange have imperative impacts in the