Strategic Management Decisions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Strategic Management Decisions - Assignment Example The rapid sociological changes also contribute to the changing business environments, especially with respect to the entertainment market. Governmental policies and laws also affect where and how firms choose to compete. All these factors affect not only the general competitive environment in which the firm is operating but also the strategic decisions made by companies to combat the competition within the industry. In general the business strategies are based on the firm's ability to capture and convert the external and internal forces into desired outcomes. Thus "an integrated understanding of the external and internal environments in which the firm is operating is essential for the firm to understand the present and predict the future."(S.A. Zahra & Geroge 2002) A firm's external environment can be broadly divided into general, industry and competitor environments. "The general environment is composed of dimensions in the broader society that influence an industry and the firms within it" (L.Fahey 1999). These dimensions can be grouped under the following environmental segments: For formulating strategies to steer the firm through the challenges being posed by these environmental forces, a careful evaluation of the firm's strengths in these areas need to be analysed and for that purpose the 'PESTLE' analysis comes handy. An in-depth analysis of the firm's competitive ability is one ... PESTLE analysis like the PEST analysis involves identifying the political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, legal and environmental influences on an organization. PESTLE analysis is simple, quick and uses the basis key perspectives of an organization. The advantage of this tool can be found in encouraging the management to adopt proactive and structured thinking in its decision making process. 1.3 PESTLE Analysis with respect to Live Entertainment Market in UK: Mintel reports that in spite of the stiff competition from other form of entertainments, live entertainment still holds the centre-spot with 48 percent of the UK adults are in favour of live entertainment and 54 percent of them have attended a live music, a play, a stand-up comedy or karaoke in the past six moths. Even among these the live music is proved to be the most popular type of event. Political: Any changes in the governments would affect the policies relating to rates and taxes on the entertainment business may affect the general growth of the business as being a leisure sector usually subjected to additional tax burden. There may be changes in monetary policies due to political reasons that may result in exchange fluctuations to have an impact on the profitability of Live Nation as Live Nation is basically a non-UK origin entity, Economical: The predictions for the UK economy till the year 2010 are that there will be a continuous growth of 2-3 percent annually in the consumer expenditure despite a slowing down of the economy and the personal disposable income is also expected to increase by 3-4 percent. These two variables have a definite positive impact on the consumers' willingness to spend on leisure activities including live music. The other economic factor that may