Royal Bank of Scotland is a UK based banking and financial services provider with operations in UK and Ireland where it operates as Ulster Bank. In England, it operates as the NatWest brand while in Scotland, it is still RBS where it has been serving Scottish customers since 1727. RBS has operations in a diverse set of consumer and wholesale businesses including retail, credit cards and mortgages (operating as RBS, NatWest & Ulster), wealth management (operating as Coutts), commercial and corporate lending (operating as Lombard, Adam & Co. etc). It is part of the UK big four, referring to the four largest UK-based banking groups which also include HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays. Latest revenues for the year ending 31 December 2016 were approximately £12.590 billion on operating losses (before tax) of £4.080 billion (RBS Annual Report 2016).
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On August 13 2018, US president signed into law the FIRRMA bill, a piece of legislation that many see as an anti-China bill designed to stop Chinese firms acquiring sophisticated US technology via merger or acquisition of US technologies and thus hurt US national security. In return, Beijing has also put restrictions on Chinese outward investment. These are some of the political factors coming from the external environment which can impact Chinese firms either positively or negatively. Using pestle and Swot, this report will examine the external macro environment currently affecting Haier, China’s leading manufacturer and retailer of household appliances and consumer electronics. It will also examine both key drivers of change not only in China but also other key markets including the USA where trade tensions continue to threaten Chinese business interests.
Maruti Suzuki is the biggest vehicle manufacturer in India with a market share of over 50% meaning, one out of every two cars purchased in India is a Maruti Suzuki. In fact, such is the dominance of Maruti Suzuki that seven of its passenger vehicles were featured in a list of India’s best selling cars of 2017. Few companies in the world have such dominance of an industry but rivals are catching up. India’s car market is currently the 5th biggest in the world and poised to become the 3rd largest in the world by 2020. And with sales slowing in China and demand stagnant in the US, many of the world’s biggest auto companies are seeing opportunities in the Indian market. This may also explain why parent company Suzuki Japan is not only financing new capacity expansion in Gujarat, India but also purchasing land out rightly to lease to new potential dealer outlets and expand its network. Using Pestle and Swot, this report will examine the current macro environment in the Indian automobile industry to understand the key trends driving growth and competition.
Google has become the biggest search engine globally, commanding 86% of the search market, followed by Bing, Yahoo and Baidu with 6.55%, 3.27% and 1.08% respectively as of 2018. The US tech giant has created a near monopoly in the global search market commanding the biggest market share in UK, USA and across many European countries.
However, a macro environmental analysis of Google’s business environment using Pestel reveals several factors that may hinder future growth of the tech giant. One of the major political issues likely to further hinder Google is continued trade tensions between USA and China.
Using PESTLE, this report discusses how trade tensions between China and USA will impact the company. The report will also examines threats from economic, social, technological, legal and environmental issues while also identifying the available growth opportunities in Google’s business environment Using Google’s SWOT analysis, the report looks at the search giants key strengths and weaknesses and how it can use these strengths to mitigate threats and take advantage of arising external opportunities.
On 4th September 2018, Amazon became only the second company in history to reach a market capitalization of US$1 trillion, the other company being Apple. This capped off a tremendously successful last couple of years for the world’s biggest internet retailer. Amazon has been growing from strength to strength, purchasing Whole Foods for $13.7bn in 2017, diversifying into healthcare with the acquisition of PillPack in 2018 and making strategic investments in complimentary sectors such as online ads (hence taking on Google & Facebook) and its own logistics and delivery services.
Nevertheless, a Pestle analysis for Amazon globally shows emerging threats that could undermine the book retailers’ dominance in key markets such as the US as well as the UK. One such key issue that’s a potent threat is Trump’s antitrust threats and calls to increase the taxes Amazon pays in the US. Though Trump’s accusations against the e-commerce giant may be politically driven, according to political pundits, they do have legitimacy and could negatively impact Amazon if implemented via regulations.
Using Pestle and Swot analysis, this report examines Trump's political threat as well as other threats from economic, social, technological, legal and environmental sources while also identifying opportunities Amazon should capitalise on in order to mitigate threats.
The report also undertakes an Amazon Swot analysis to understand Amazons key strengths, as well as weaknesses, concluding with personal recommendations for ways the internet retailer can use its strengths to overcome its weaknesses, and ways to leverage new emergent opportunities to mitigate some of the arising threats from the external environment.
Apple is the second largest and most profitable mobile phone company in the world and together with Samsung have dominated the smartphone market, accounting for over 62% of this market in the last few years. Despite recording breaking profits and sales, the last two years’ results have relied on the incredible performance of the IPhone range which saw sales increase by 12% and 52% in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 period respectively. Using PESTLE, SWOT, Apples BCG matrix and Porters Five Forces framework, the report will examine how Apple can take advantage of its strengths, and opportunities in the market created by a competitive mobile phone and tablet environment and faltering rivals like Samsung to benefit.
WM Morrisons is fourth largest supermarket group in Britain with annual turnover of £16.1 billion for the year ending 2016, a 4.1% decline from the previous year (Annual Report 2016). Such financial figures are reflective of the general health of WM Morrisons which has over the last 3-4 years been losing market share to low-cost rivals especially Aldi and Lidl. In an effort to turn around the ailing supermarket, new CEO David Potts embarked on a turnaround plan, an ambitious recovery plan which aims to fix, rebuild and grow the company as it continues to battle with the hard discounters and other low cost rivals. Using Pestle, and Swot Framework, we examine external and internal factors behind WM Morrison’s poor performance, such as the rise of hard discounters Aldi and Lidl, who have benefited from a significant rise in consumer frugal shopping habits since 2009. Both Aldi and Lidl have doubled their market share in five years, at the expense of the Big Four supermarkets including WM Morrisons.
2016 was a very challenging year for most British based banks but not for Lloyds Banking Group. A sustainable and responsible business model characterised by a very low risk appetite enabled Lloyds bank to ride the turbulent macro climate faced by other banks. While rivals such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays continue to undergo mega restructurings and battle legacy conduct issues, Lloyds has relied on its simple low cost operating model to become currently the second largest banking group in the UK after HSBC.
With the UK government completing its divesture from bank on the 17th March 2017, Lloyds is no longer burdened with any conduct issues resulting from its involvement in the 2008 financial crisis. This has translated into strong financial performance. Nevertheless, given its UK focus, the banks performance is inextricably linked to the UK macro environment which was affected by factors such as Brexit, the low interest environment as well as a sluggish UK economy, among the key external macro factors that have impacted the operational environment of UK banks.
In the following report, we will identify the major drivers of change behind the banks external environment and banking industry in general to help us understand how Lloyds Banking Group can utilise internal core competencies so as to take advantage of macro environmental opportunities while neutralising inherent threats from the external environment.
Facebook Inc is an American online social media and social networking service company with over 2billion monthly users. The social media industry has been at the forefront of privacy and data safety throughout much of 2018.
Using Pestel, this report examines the various macro factors that are shaping the social networking industry and the growth of Facebook including data safety regulations, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, emergence of 5G network technology, and Beijing’s decision to block Facebook in China, all affecting the business environment of Facebook.
Some of these external factors such as the rise of 5G technologies are market opportunities while others like the Cambridge Analytica scandal are threats. For Facebook, the key is in identifying key drivers of change that are market opportunities while mitigating against those that present a serious threat to its business model as revealed in this Facebook external environment analysis.
By September 2018, Trump had imposed more than $250billion worth of tariffs on Chinese exports to America (or 50% of total exports to the US in 2017) with the threat of a further $267billion worth of tariffs in the near future. If implemented, total tariffs would cover 100% of all Chinese exports to America, which would put macroeconomic pressures on Chinese export-led firms such as Alibaba. Alibaba, in fact, had to cancel the creation of 1million US jobs by 2020 as a result of the tariffs, consequently shifting its revenue strategy to focus on the domestic economy and become less reliant on exports. After all, Alibaba generates approximately 80% of all online sales in China.
The consequences of Trump's tariffs on Chinese firms like Alibaba demonstrates perfectly how external actions, from political forces, in this case, can become emergent threats for firms. As will be demonstrated in this report using Alibaba pestle analysis, changes in the macro environment can present opportunities for expansion and market growth but they can also be fatal for organizations. A Swot analysis of Alibaba will tell you more clearly how Alibaba can take advantage of new opportunities in its domestic market such as the rising Chinese middle class, to mitigate against emergent threats such as Trumps Tariffs.
