Business Strategy 1

Business Strategies
Student’s Name
Institutional affiliation
Course
Date
 Business Strategy 2

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................4
3.0 Analysis.....................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Step 1 – Situation Mapping....................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Rich Picture and Key Issues............................................................................................5
3.1.2 Stakeholder Analysis.......................................................................................................6
3.2 Step 2: Formal review of the environment.............................................................................6
PESTEL Analysis.....................................................................................................................6
Threats and opportunities.........................................................................................................7
Porter’s Five Forces..................................................................................................................7
3.3 STEP 3 Internal Review of the Business...............................................................................8
Strengths and Weaknesses........................................................................................................8
Business Model Canvas............................................................................................................8
3.4 STEP 4 Assessment of Competitive Performance.................................................................9
4.0 Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................14
 Business Strategy 3

Executive Summary
This report aimed to provides a strategic analysis on the factors that are likely to affect the
operation and performance of Dog Pool (DP) Company. The report has shown that some of the
key issues that emerge from the operation of the company is the use of Facebook, no method of
payment indicated by the company, possible legal issues, lack of strong value proposition for the
business, low efficiency of operations, inability of the company to develop a consistent and
active user base as well as lack of formal form of advertisement among others. The DP comprise
of three stakeholders who has a great influence to the operation and performance of the
company. These are Natalia, Chris and Giles. Natalia is improving the “sharing ideas” where
people without dogs gets the opportunity to enjoy benefits of owning a dog while also allowing
the busy allowing busy dog owners to share upkeep and care of their dogs.

To ensure effective and strategic operation of the company, this report showed that the company
can adopt the use of a mobile-based IT platform. This will to ensure that the company reduce
chances of closure of the company as well as ensuring effective connection, engagement and
interaction with the customers. The company has not developed a method of payment method
and hence there is need for the company to have a clear and concise method of payment that can
be effective to the customers. The company can also expand its operational scope by having a
distinct method of marketing. The adoption of social media marketing can be an essential
method of connecting with the customers while also reaching out to many potential customers.
This can help the company to maximize its competitive advantage over its competitors.
 Business Strategy 4

Introduction
This report provides a strategic analysis on the factors that are likely to affect the operation and
performance of Dog Pool (DP). Perhaps, Dog Pool is a popular dog sharing service that has been
experiencing a rapid growth over the last few years due to the positive response from the clients
and customers. Through DP services, the owner of the company, Natalia has commercialized the
innovative idea of sharing dog. This implies that dog sharing allows people without dogs to
enjoy some of the benefits of owning dogs and at the same time, the service allows busy dog
owners to share the upkeep and also the care of their dogs. In this case, both set of customers
gets a great value from the service and the dog love it too.
The report is divided into six distinct parts. These includes inception, situation mapping, external
environmental review, internal business review, overall assessment of DP’s competitive
performance as well as developing recommendations on how to improve performance of the
company. Throughout the report, various analysis model and concepts are applied which helps to
provide a detailed and wide range of understanding about the DP’s current situation. The report
concludes by offering recommendation for the short term and long term strategic business
decisions.

Methodology
The methodology in this report comprise of four significant stems and approaches that intents to
inform Natalia with a thorough understanding into Dog Pool competitive environment. The
following figure shows the methods utilized in this project

Figure 1: Dog Pool steps of analysis

Step one provides a broad understanding about the DP’s current situation. The use of rich picture
in this case is useful to explore and acknowledge DP activities in the visual approach. This stage
also incorporate the stakeholder analysis and identify all the individuals and third parties that are
involved in the company’s activities s by focusing on their interests and ability to influence the
operation of the company.
Step two provides a review of external environmental that are likely to influence the operation
and performance of DP. These includes the PESTLE analysis and porter’s five forces
 Business Strategy 5

framework. The PESTLE shows the external factors that influence the company while the
porter’s five forces shows the competitiveness of the DP’s external environment.
Step three explores the internal environment that affects the DP operations. This is enhanced by
the use of business model analysis and also using reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the
company. This analysis will also identify where value is added while also exploring
opportunities which can enhance the competitive advantage for the company.

3.0 Analysis
3.1 Step 1 – Situation Mapping
Stage one of this analysis provides a review of the Dog Pool current situation from the holistic
point of view. This includes the review of the rich picture, the stakeholder analysis as well as
providing a summary of the key issues that are facing the DP.
3.1.1 Rich Picture and Key Issues
Berg & Pooley (2013) asserted that rich picture can be tailored to form a visual representation of
the Dog Pool complex business issues and environment as shown in the figure below

Figure 2: Rich picture for the dog Pool

Based on the above rich picture, the DP comprise of various entities that constitutes its
operations. Natalia is the main aspect here since she is the owner of the company. Her role is to
ensure management of the Facebook page and inspecting the people before they join the group.
 Business Strategy 6

She is also responsible for the provision of pet food. Dog owners also form part of the rich
picture who get the opportunity to share the upkeep and also the care of their dogs. On the other
hand, non-dog owners get the opportunity to enjoy some of the benefits of owning.
The key issues that emerge from the operation of the company is the use of Facebook, no method
of payment indicated by the company, possible legal issues, lack of strong value proposition for
the business, low efficiency of operations, inability of the company to develop a consistent and
active user base as well as lack of formal form of advertisement among others.
3.1.2 Stakeholder Analysis
The stakeholder analysis is used to identify and prioritize any individual or third parties who has
the interest in the DP’s operations. The DP comprise of three stakeholders who has a great
influence to the operation and performance of the company. These are Natalia, Chris and Giles.
Natalia is improving the “sharing ideas” where people without dogs gets the opportunity to enjoy
benefits of owning a dog while also allowing the busy allowing busy dog owners to share upkeep
and care of their dogs. Her passionate for the dogs is what is driving her to develop a platform
that allows people to enjoy the benefits of dogs as well as ensuring well-being of dogs.
Chris advocates for the use of rigorous and technical method of running the business and he
proposes the use of a mobile-based IT platform.
3.2 Step 2: Formal review of the environment
PESTEL Analysis
Factor Description
Political  Interference of trading due to the BREXIT factors [ CITATION
Rau19 \l 1033 ]
 Legal inspection of ownership of the dog business and the
security of people
Economic  Demand for dogs among the house holds has been raising
significantly
 Lack of enough funds to undertake different initiatives such as
adopting mobile-based IT platform.
 Consumer confidence has gone down due to the financial crisis
which has been caused by covid19
Social  Different perceptions among the consumers about the
ownership of dogs may affect the purchasing power
 Relationship with the customers may be affected by the high
prices charged by the company
Technological  Reliance of Facebook alone may limit the penetration of the
company due to the regulations enforced by Facebook
 The adoption of mobile-based IT platform can enhance
effective management of the company
Environmental  Increasing concern of environmental protection mechanisms
among the companies may affect the operation of the company
 Failure of the company to indicate how it will address

Legal  It is possible Facebook can change its service arrangement,
Threats and opportunities
Threats
Opportunities
Porter’s Five Forces
Competitive rivalry
Threat of new entrants
Power of suppliers
Power of buyers
Threat of substitutes
Business Strategy 7
environmental issues
close down the company’s group or change some kind of fee
 Competitors are moving into the market with the use of
website and mobile app
 It is possible Facebook can change its service arrangement,
close down the company’s group or change some kind of fee
 Communities develop their own groups which may impact the
operation of the company
 Free local services are becoming available for sharing dogs
which in turn may threat the operation and profitability of the
company
 There has been long term trend towards the ownership of dogs
and capitalizing this can be a great opportunity for DP
 The use of advanced technology enhance better monetization
which can be achieved by the use of mobile app or
subscription model
 Dealing with dog food brands and other companies can be an
opportunity for the company to increase its investment which
in turn improve its performance.
 Increased number of companies such as Borrowmydoggy and
other communities that offer dog services
 There is
 Due to low penetration of doggy market and legal restrictions
which hinders entry of new companies. This may be
beneficial to the DP
 There has been increased demand and supply of dogs. Due to
this, the owners of dogs has little ability to dictate the prices
of dogs since Natalia can shift from one provider to another
easily
 There has been increased demand for the dogs which implies
that the numbers of buyers are high and hence reducing the
buyers power to dictate price of the services
 Increased demand for other pets
 Community dog services
 Business Strategy 8

3.3 STEP 3 Internal Review of the Business

Strengths and Weaknesses
The following table shows the strength and weaknesses
Strengths
 There has been established, engaged
and growing user base who believed
in Natalia and her company
 Natalia has been passionate and
credible which gives the company an
advantage of growing up
 The current IT platform-Facebook has
been helpful to the company in
ensuring effective connection with the
customers and clients.
 There are limited competitors at the
present since there are few companies
offering the same services which in
turn it’s a great opportunity for the
company to grow
Weaknesses
 The current IT platform used
(Facebook) has no control over its
management which in turn may
impact the operation of the company.
 There is no control over the dog
sharing activities which has a negative
impact on the operations of the
company.
 Inability of the company to develop a
consistent and active user base as well
as lack of formal form of
advertisement among others
 lack of strong value proposition for
the business may limit the scope of the
company and minimizing the
competitive advantage

Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas is a strategic management tool helps to define the business idea or
concepts of DP as shown in the table below
Key partners Key activities Value Customer Customer segments
proposition relationship
Current partners Current activities Current value Current customer Current customer
 Facebook  Connect proposition relationship segment
with the  The  Social  Dog owners
dog lovers harmon media  Dog
y  Private borrowers
between
people
Key resources and the Channels
 Dog lover animals Facebook
community
 Natalia’s
credibility
and
passion
 Chris and
Giles
Current Cost Revenue streams
 Business Strategy 9

structure  Dog
 Natalia poolers
salary pay regular
fees to the
company

3.4 STEP 4 Assessment of Competitive Performance

The Dog Pool internal strengths and capabilities make the company highly competitive as
compared to the industry average. This is owing to the highly passionate and commitment from
Natalia and use of Facebook which has helped the company to grow significant. The passionate
and commitment of Natalia has helped the company to grow significantly due to strategic
management of the company.
The porter’s three generic strategies tool [ CITATION Des16 \l 1033 ] can be helpful to understand
the strategic position for the company as shown in the figure below

The information analyzed from the operation of the company shows that the Dog Pool serves
tow distinct customers who are the dog owners and dog borrowers. The company also uses only
Facebook as the only method of marketing and contact with the customers. This implies that the
competitive scope for DP is narrow and hence there is need for the company to improve its
operational scope.

4.0 Recommendations
This report has shown that the Dog Pool Company has been facing various strategic issues that
need to be addressed. The key issues that emerge from the operation of the company is the use of
Facebook, no method of payment indicated by the company, possible legal issues, lack of strong
value proposition for the business, low efficiency of operations, inability of the company to
develop a consistent and active user base as well as lack of formal form of advertisement among
others.
 Business Strategy 10

However, to ensure effective and strategic operation of the company, the company can adopt the
use of a mobile-based IT platform. This will to ensure that the company reduce chances of
closure of the company as well as ensuring effective connection, engagement and interaction
with the customers. The company has not developed a method of payment method and hence
there is need for the company to have a clear and concise method of payment that can be
effective to the customers.
The company can also expand its operational scope by having a distinct method of marketing.
The adoption of social media marketing can be an essential method of connecting with the
customers while also reaching out to many potential customers. This can help the company to
maximize its competitive advantage over its competitors.

Assignment Task Part B: Academic Essay

Effect of social media on strategy making
It is prudent to note that social media has become one of the most effect and robust media
channels which enhance promotion of organizational products and services and hence enhancing
effective strategy making. Although social media is widely known as an emerging and
developing issue, the percentage of customers using them as one of the marketing channel is very
low. This implies that companies can adopt the use of social media as a tool of interacting with
the customers as well as reaching out to the large number of potential customers [CITATION
Kwa18 \l 1033 ]. The research has shown that the usage of social media is likely to experience a
tremendous increase in the coming years and so its impact and hence influencing the strategy
making. One of the great influence of social media is choosing the type of customers to be served
as well as pooling the customers together. Therefore, this essay argues that increased use of
social media affects the practice of strategy making by making the relationship between the
customers and the company more intimate, dynamic as well as turbulent.
Social media has a great influence strategic decision making among the companies due to its
increased usage among the customers. It is prudent to note that due to the increased internet
usage, there has been increased number of social media users which in turn provides a great
opportunity for the company target social media users as a part of customer base. The following
figure shows the distribution of social media users over the years.
 Business Strategy 11

Figure 3: Number of people using social media platforms by 2018 [ CITATION Est19 \l 1033 ]
Based on the above figure, it can be noted that there is huge population using social media
platforms with Facebook taking the first slot followed by YouTube, Instagram and WeChat
among others. One of the ways in which social media affect strategy making is making decision
on the target market to be served by the products and services offered by any given company.
Choosing social media users as the target customers can be one of the best and appropriate
strategic decisions that can help any company to grow significantly. Perhaps, selecting the target
customers is one of the most important aspect in decision making when setting up a business and
hence organizations has the obligation to identify the customers to be served and how to acquire
the customers. This is a strategic planning that should be considered with much diligence since it
influence the profit margin of the company as well as sustainability of the company [ CITATION
Ele16 \l 1033 ]. Due to the increased number of social media users as shown in the figure above,
targeting social media users as the main customers has a positive impact on the sales volume of
the company and hence improving the performance of the company. This implies that the
companies has the obligation to adopt the use of social media as a method of advertisement to
reach out to many people and hence increasing its sales volume.
Social media platforms has been considered as one of the best platforms that enhance
engagement with the customers as compared to other forms of advertisement such as radio
stations, TV stations and billboards among others. Perhaps, the use of social media platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provides a platform for the customers to engage with
the customers. Notably, customer engagement is one of the main factors that companies should
consider when making a strategic decisions on the customer base to be served. Engaging with the
customers helps to bring rapport with the company while also bridging the gap between the
 Business Strategy 12

company and the customers[ CITATION Tut18 \l 1033 ]. Social media platforms allows the staffs of
the company to engage with the customers and the customers can make inquiries where is need
for the clarifications such as the price of the products, quality and ingredients among others. The
staffs also has the opportunity to respond to the questions raised by the customers and can also
engage in a conversation. This helps to maintain a good relationship between the company and
the customers and hence companies has the obligation to make an effective strategic decisions
based on the engagement with the customers. Social media creates customer dynamics and
rapport since the staffs of the company can demonstrate the usage of products and other essential
issues[ CITATION Ber15 \l 1033 ]. This can be enhanced through the use of various platforms such
as Facebook and YouTube which helps to maintain a good relationship with the company. This
in turn influence the strategy making in terms of the engagement with the customers and hence
selecting the use of social media as a medium of engagement and interaction with the customers.
One of the strategic decision making is how to build customer loyalty among the companies. The
company has the obligation to have a clear strategy on how it can build the customer loyalty
which is one of the effective method of enhancing effective performance and increased sales
revenue among the customers. The companies which has not yet relied on online methods of
communication with their customers are likely to be find that customer loyalty can be a great
task for the company to achieve[ CITATION Hol14 \l 1033 ]. Social media is one of the best online
platform which enhances customer loyalty due to its interactive nature. This can be attributed by
the type of posts made by the company, the times and frequency of posting as well as the
reaction of customers about the posts made by the company. Social media is perceived to be
chock-a-block with the content posted which implies that if you don’t post regularly in the
platform you are likely to be missed and even forgotten. On the other hand, posting too much
regularly and frequently can come across spam which can lead the followers to un-follow your
page. Posting on the social media when mostly of the people are online is likely to increase
customer engagement and hence building customer loyalty[ CITATION Zha19 \l 1033 ]. This implies
that companies should make strategic decisions on which best approach to build customer loyalty
and hence enhancing effective performance among the companies.
Customer service is another aspect of consideration when making strategic decisions among the
companies. When setting up companies, the management should consider the aspect of customer
service which determines the response of the customers as well as the relationship between the
company and the customers. Customer services has been perceived as the core element which
helps to build the brand and relationship management for the B2C. Social media platforms are
useful in addressing customer issues either though text messages or oral
communications[ CITATION Gun18 \l 1033 ] . The use of social media chatbots can be useful since
they provide communication services 24 hours in a day and hence customers get responses all
the time they need. This in turn help to ensure customer engagement and hence promoting a
good relationship with the companies.
In conclusion, this essay has shown that the use of social media can greatly affect the practice of
strategy making by making the relationship between the customers and the company more
intimate, dynamic as well as turbulent. Perhaps, Social media platforms allows the staffs of the
 Business Strategy 13

company to engage with the customers and the customers can make inquiries where is need for
the clarifications such as the price of the products, quality and ingredients among others. Social
media is one of the best online platform which enhances customer loyalty due to its interactive
nature and hence using them can help to enhance a good relationship between the company and
the customers.
 Business Strategy 14

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