Industry Analysis Topics
The Products and their History
History
● How old is the industry?
● How did it originate?
● What’s the history from that start point to now?
● Industry life cycle
Products
● Product ranges of competitors
● Product lifecycle of key products
● New products being introduced
● R&D - spending, trends
Production, Supply and Distribution
Production/Operations
● Methods
● Technology used - new technologies
● Inventory - methods, processes (e.g. JIT), problems or issues
● Skills needed of staff
Suppliers
● What are the key supplies to this industry?
● Who are the key suppliers?
● Do any suppliers have ‘supplier power’ (Porter’s 5 forces)? If so which ones?
● How important is supplier management?
Transport and Distribution of Products
● Methods used by competitors
● Issues
● Improvements providing competitive edge in terms of quality or reduced
transportation damage
● Environmental legislation regarding vehicles/emissions
● Outsourcing vs inhouse
Technological Issues
● What technology is necessary?
● What new technology are companies using?
● What types of internal systems are in use (e.g. Enterprise resource planning,
finance, production, inventory management etc etc)
● Online issues - importance of website etc
● Social media - relevant to this industry?
Supply Chain
● Security
● Impact of technology e.g. use of internet
● Current trends
Key Stakeholders and CSR
Staff - HR
● Skills needed
● Any areas of staff shortage
● Health and safety issues
● What training schemes are necessary for working in the industry?
● Employee power (i.e. trade unions) - any impacts?
● Union issues? Are staff unionised? What action has there been in the industry
recently?
Ethical Issues
● Recent ethical issues that have arisen in the industry
○ Bribery?
○ Staff treatment?
○ Integrity?
○ Confidentiality?
○ Pollution?
○ Wastage?
○ Social responsibility (e.g. for local community)?
○ CIMA ethics
Environmental Issues
● Key environmental issues
● What do competitors in the industry do in relation to the environment?
● How important is the environment to this industry?
● How important is the company’s approach to environmental issues for its
consumers in terms of sales trends?
● Recent media exposure of environmental issues linked to the industry.
Who are the other key stakeholders in the industry?
● Shareholders/stock market?
● Local communities?
● Governments?
● Environmental groups?
Competitors and Marketing
Marketing/Customers
● Changing demands
● Importance of branding to industry
● Key methods of reaching the market in this industry (e.g. TV, sponsorship, radio,
website, social media)
● Who are the key customers
● Where are the customers?
● Changing customer trends
Competitors
● Main competitors e.g. top 10 in industry
● Or focus on one country (e.g. UK) as an example - top 3 in one country
● New competitors
● Recent mergers or acquisitions?
● How are they trying to compete? What is their competitive strength?
● Recent failures? why?
Industry Issues
Political and Legal Issues
● Key laws to be abided by
● Industry regulations
● Industry bodies and their role
● Political importance of industry (e.g. Oil very important)
● New/changing legislation
Economic Issues
● Effects/impact of recession on product and market
● Impact of EU - other trading groups
● Changes in tax laws e.g. VAT
● Impact of interest rates
● Exchange rate issues
● Market prices (e.g. oil price, other commodity prices)
Finance
● How to companies raise finance?
● What opportunities are there to raise funding internally (e.g. selling assets)
Industry trends/statistics
● E.g. graphs on changing demand
● Effects of emerging markets on market share
● Future trends
○ What are people saying will change in the future and how?
Analysis of one Real Life Industry Company
Analysis of one Competitor as an Example
● Who are they?
● History
● Strategy
● Basis of competitive strength
● Operations (what? where? how?)
● Marketing (how they reach the market, how successful are they?)
● Financial performance
● P&L
● Balance sheet
● Analysis of the P&L and balance sheet
● Key problems or issues faced by them
● Recent news - what have they been doing recently?
Industry Examples
● 25 industry examples
○ Focused around the top 10 issues list so they are directly relevant to use
in the exam
○ Include some industry statistics as these are very easy ones to
incorporate into a variety of exam answers
○ Consider also:
■ What industry competitors have been doing to compete
■ Industry trends that would be relevant to the preseen company
■ Ethics, CSR, Environment (very commonly useful in the exam)
■ Major issues in the news in that industry over the last year or two
(relevant and often used as inspiration by examiners for exam
questions)
○ Focused around what is useable in an exam question (think about what
exam questions could arise and what industry example would be relevant
to that question).
○ It is okay to repeat examples that have appeared elsewhere in the text
● Include exam paragraph which students can learn to use on exam day
● Include focus on the pre-seen so people know where it is relevant
