Environmental Analysis

MBA5708: Business Strategy

Report A

Environmental Analysis

Sabine Adriana de Boer

Student number: 943941

Table of Contents

Page

1.0 Introduction and Background 3

2.0 Macro-Environment – PESTEL Analysis

2.1 The purpose of the PESTEL analysis 5

2.2 PESTEL Analysis 6

2.3 Interconnectedness of the environmental influences and their overall impact on the industry 9

3.0 Industry Environment – Competitive Analysis (Porter's Five Forces Model)

3.1 The purpose of Porter's five forces model 11

3.2 Five Forces Analysis 13

3.3 Interconnectedness of competitive forces and their overall impact of the five forces on Pointstreak Solutions 15

4.0 Core Competences 18

5.0 Conclusion 21

6.0 References 22

1.0 Introduction and Background

Pointstreak Solutions is a small company with two offices in Canada; Vancouver, British Columbia and Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The company is an Integrated League Management specialist, specializing in ‘Real-time' scoring and official league statistics, Website and content Management and Online Registration and Payment Processing on a national and international level.

Since its March 2000 incorporation, the company has evolved significantly. Having a ‘first mover' advantage, to becoming the market leader, in the on-line sports statistics market, Pointstreak Solutions remains the market leader in its ‘Real-time' statistics whilst competitors struggle to match the quality product Pointstreak has come close to perfecting.

Currently in a ‘league' of their own, Pointstreak's primary ‘vertical' focus at integration was toward Hockey statistics only. Their mission was to create a viable product, particularly during the ".com" craze around 2000 in an ambiguous environment where the global economy and trends in technology were uncertain and unstable (creating a risky entrance into a volatile market), toward building the strategic capabilities to expand horizontally into the areas of; website content management and online registration processing as well as a variety of different sports, to include La Crosse, Baseball, Softball and Soccer at the professional and amateur levels. At almost ten years since conception, Pointstreak is consistently looking toward the future, striving to remain innovative; keeping up with technological trends and customer demands in alignment with sustaining a competitive advantage.

The driving concept that initiated the creation of Pointstreak Solutions, (quoted by one of the founder's and board members; A. Bishop), was based on the theory that "Every individual is interested in information about themselves". Based on this theory, the concluding assumption was that the fans and the players would drive the demand. As a result, customers became ‘addicted' to obtaining the information available through the Pointstreak Solutions resources which has lead to customer loyalty, making the availability of this information sustainable in itself. Only a very small percentage of clients have left Pointstreak and opted for the ‘cheaper, inferior' versions that their competitors offer.

Pointstreak Solutions' product range and service, is of a superior quality at a premium price (focused differentiation). Competitors have yet to ‘mimic' Pointstreak's standards and currently only offer ‘no frills' and low price alternatives.

In addition to the industry analysis on the macro environment for which