Business Culture and Strategy

19s08229
31A

Business Culture and Strategy

Outcome: 01

Student Name: M S A Sahashri

Index No: 19s08229
Batch: 31A

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Faculty of Management Studies  

Department of Business Administration  

SQA AD Academic Year: 2021

Assessor    : Ann Pintoe

Unit Code         : HP6R 48      
Title of the Unit         : Business Culture and Strategy
Outcome             : 01            Batch: 31 – A
 
Assignment Issued Date           : 06/03/2021    
Assignment Submission Date:  18.03.2021

Declaration of Academic Honesty  

Student’s Full Name    : M S A Sahashri      
Student ID number      : 19s08229
Declaration   
1. I confirm that this assignment is my own work:  
2. I confirm that where ever I have used someone else’s words, concepts, graphics or
data in my work, I have clearly indicated exactly where I have done so, using the
Harvard referencing system.  
3. I confirm that I have clearly indicated, by referencing, where I have used someone
else’s words, concepts, graphics or data, irrespective of whether I have quoted
verbatim or I have paraphrased in my own words.  
4. I have clearly indicated in my assignment any work that has been contributed by
another student.  
5. I have clearly indicated in my assignment any work that has been carried out
collaboratively with another student/s.  
  

Student Signature:       Date: 04/04/2021

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Assessment checklist

Unit assessment: candidate’s assessment record

HP6R 48 — Business Culture and Strategy

Class: 31A Candidate’s name: M S A Sahashri

Group: A Candidate ID: 19s08229

Outcome 1
Assessment task 1

Record of Performance

Evidence Requirements

 Using an established analytical framework, provide four examples on how forces for
change may impact on the organisation.
 Use a SWOT analysis to analyse the current relationship between a particular
organisation and its external environment.
 Advice on how to conduct a SWOT analysis of a given organisation

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Comments

Overall comments:

Assessor’s signature ----------------------------- Date -----------------------------------

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a. Describe how four forces for change may impact upon Alphabet Games.
In doing so, you must use a recognized analytical framework

The analytical framework I use is PEST. Pest stands for Political, Economic, Social and
Technological.
P - Political
E - Economic
S - Social
T - Technological
These are intellectual tools which are created in order to help a researcher to collect, sort,
prioritise and interpret a variety of existing data and information about the subject or
context that has to be analysed. It is used for the purpose of identifying business
opportunities and advance threat warning; in this case we will be referring to the changes
of Alphabet Games.
Political Factors

Change in Legislation and taxation, trend of regulations and deregulations and effects of
change in business regulations will effects on the company. The changes in the political
factor could affect Alphabet Games considerably as they would have to sell games or
consoles at a higher cost if the taxations in the gaming industry increased in order for the
company to earn a stable profit.

Economic Factors
Any change in the economy that impacts the supply or demand for a company's products
and services fits into this category. Sometimes they have a positive impact, like when a
country's gross domestic product (GDP) increases more than expected. Other times
economic forces can hurt a business, like when consumer confidence drops and potential
customers spend less and save more. Alphabet Games may need to pay more or less for
the resources they need depending on where they purchase these from. As more
companies are forming within the industry and all purchasing from the same supplier then
the costs may decrease as they will be taking in more money, and this could decrease the
price of games and consoles.

Social Factors
Social factors are those that reflect the preferences, fads, and trends in society. Media companies
are very sensitive to social trends as their business model is to produce content that reflects
society's interests. A social factor which relates to the case study is the force of change within
Alphabet Games. Alphabet Games will have to constantly keep up to date with upcoming and
new trends so that they can work towards these. By checking quantifiable statistics Alphabet

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Games will be able to see if the community offers a population with the demographic traits
necessary to support the business.

Technological Factors
Advancement in technology has had a dramatic impact on the business world over the last
two centuries, and especially over the last 30 years. Anticipating changes in technology
and capitalizing on those changes can become a competitive advantage and so Alphabet
Games could be affected by this. Alphabet games will have to be able to change their
patterns by creating new games, software and consoles in order to increase sales and
marketing.

b. Carry out a SWOT analysis to illustrate and analyze the relationship

that Alphabet Games has with its external environment.

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

 Close working  Competition between  Recent growth in  The challenge for

relationships that exist the small businesses demand for flash small companies like
between the partners and larger companies games Alphabet Games to
 Multi-million pound  Technological  Some of their recent stay in the market for
business at the cutting environment clients include NHS, long term and reap in
edge of the games Pepsi, Virgin Media potential benefits

development market and other small  Production costs have

businesses
 Extensive experience
 The software can draw
 Custom built facility
potential customers to
that houses research,
companies websites
development and
providing a
production Wide range competitive
of corporate and marketplace
individual customers  Due to their
 World known experience they are a
reputation for lot faster than most
tripled in recent years
with the introduction
of next generation
consoles
 Sales and revenues
have increased at a
fraction
 Technology costs have
risen which means
large investment in

excellence, quality and rivalry’s at developing staff and equipment

innovation new software

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 They offer software
solutions as well as
games
 Passion for software
within the company is
still as strong as when
it established

c. Provide the senior managers of Alphabet Games with a set of guidelines

to follow that would enable them to carry out an effective SWOT
analysis.

In order to carry out an effective SWOT Analysis all information used must be current
and relevant to the firm. A SWOT Analysis is a general technique which can be applied
across diverse functions and activities used by managers. Using a SWOT Analysis can
provide benefits such as a framework for identifying and analysing strengths, weaknesses,
opportunity’s and threats in relation to particular tasks or objectives or a stimulus
participation in a group experience as well as many others

Below are a set of guidelines to follow that will enable them to carry out an effective
SWOT Analysis.

Gather a team

The first step to take when conducting a SWOT analysis is to gather a team who have
experience when conducting a SWOT analysis. By gathering a team that have experience
they will be able to define the objectives which are relevant and accurate to the firm.

Participating in the swot analysis

For best results invite contributors to participate in the swot analysis but by giving them
enough time to prepare and conduct their own SWOT in advance. By providing a draft
SWOT with brief descriptions of what they think is being seen as strengths, weaknesses,
opportunity’s and threats.
Once the group has assembled the process and established ground rules should be
explained. The process of documenting strengths, weaknesses, opportunity’s and threats
should be explained prioritising these lists and using the information as part of the
strategic, business marketing plans.

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Explain that the SWOT process is a cooperative exercise aimed at organisational
improvement and not about allocating blame and assure all participations that their input
will be respected.
Ground rules include
Everyone’s ideas are important Every idea is a good one No-one’s idea is better than the
other Suggesting an idea does not mean that you will be expected to carry it out if it is
respected Except in the case of an emergency, participants commit to remaining on task
until completion

List strengths
The group assembled should list their lists of strengths identified before continuing to the
workshop. They should be invited to the form in pairs and develop one combined list.
The pairs then combine to form fours, and the process is repeated.
Set of four then combine to form eight, and then again the process is repeated, each sets
of eight then presents its list.
The list of strengths is developed incorporating all contributions. The list should then be
finalised by asking participants to reword any descriptions or include any additional
strengths that may have been considered during the process.

List weaknesses
In order to identify weaknesses a repeat process for strengths should be generated
reflecting on the participants contributions. The list will provide a useful indication of
growth over a period. When you review the list in a year’s time you may notice that most
of the identified weaknesses have disappeared. Even though other weaknesses will be
identified, the disappearance of previous ones is an indicator of successful progress.

List opportunities
In order to list the opportunities and threats the process for which was used for strengths
and weaknesses should be repeated. The focus now becomes external, as opposed to
internal for strengths and weaknesses. Make sure that opportunities and threats are not
absolute – one person’s threat can be another’s opportunity, however the same item won’t
appear on both lists.

Establish priorities
When the process has been completed there will be four lists developed from everyone’s
input. Ideally these lists should be displayed so that participants have an accurate and

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succinct picture of everyone’s views of the current situation. The list should then be
narrowed down showing top priorities. Clarity of objectives is the key to this process as
evaluation and elimination will be necessary to cull the wheat from the chaff. With the
lists compiled a clear picture should at this stage start to emerge in response to the
objectives.
Carry your findings
Make sure that the SWOT analysis is used in subsequent planning. Revisit your findings
at suitable time internals to check they are still valid and use lists to identify issues that
are crucial to achieving the stated purpose of the business in which the company is
involved. It is likely that you will be able to identify specific themes across all four lists.
Try to restrict the number of themes if possible.

References
Casequiz (2019) Alphabet Games Case Study Solution & Analysis,  (Online)
Available at: https://www.casequiz.com/alphabet-games-140616/ 
(Accessed: 1st April 2021).