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Introduction

Management in any business entity entails integration and coordination of available resources; human, financial, environmental, capital and infrastructural/ technological ones in a bid to efficiently and effectively accomplish intended goals. The process involves organizing, staffing planning and control, leading and organizing different initiatives meant to accomplish these goals; which can be viewed as the strategies of a particular entity and/ or a platform for achieving the predefined ends. Majority of firms/ enterprises approach and implement these strategies differently that is, strategy as goal articulation; strategy as an approach to a certain predefined goal and strategy as the entire strategic landscape for vision, goal, objective and initiative. These approaches primarily depend on the enterprises’ internal and external forces, infrastructural and capital base, competition and the industry in which it falls in; with which define the stakeholders responsible for the articulation process that is, the employees or the market forces. The five forces model as a framework for industry analysis and organization strategy that highlights the competitive intensity of a firm in the market can also be used as business strategy for growth and development of dominant media company, Time Warner, by understanding market’s attractiveness.

In my previous experience as a customer relationship manager, the firm applied the S.W.O.T analysis as growth and development strategy which it concentrated on business’ strength, weaknesses, opportunities and evaluation of possible threats within the industry. The articulation of the strategy was approached as the entire landscape of the firm; implemented greatly by the employees with basic organizational initiatives directly focused to customers, execution goals targeting on the competition in the market and the approach based on product and services’ innovations. In my opinion, the strategy was a great one at the time with respect to the firm’s market share and expansion objectives; greatly influence by the competition and the need to have a competitive advantage in the banking sector and the need for international expansion. The strategy greatly impacted on the way I look at firms in the service industry more so my former company’s expression and implementation of their strategy; improving on my work approach as customer relationship manager in designing and implementing customer care systems and organizing and directing different initiatives to meet and surpass customers’ needs. It seems that though the strategy worked for the banking field it might not necessarily work in other fields within the service industry such as media and thus the five forces model will be more appropriate in addressing the attractiveness of the market within the service industry.

Five forces model on the other hand comprehensively evaluates the microeconomic environment of a firm with respect to its ability to strengthen its market share and profitability or relevance in the market. The fact that firms are different in terms of scope, objectives and business models applied, attractiveness of the market does not imply profitability of these firms in the same ratio and these calls for individual application of different core competencies and respective business models by these firms for profitability. For instance, the Time Warner Company as the leading media firm needs to address their growth and development strategies in relation to the five force model so as to remain relevant in the media and service industry, amid competition and technological advancements which have greatly influenced the way business is currently conducted.

On the analysis of new entrants or substitutes that might threaten the dominance of the firm for instance, the Time Warner Company needs to evaluate their business presence with respect to the competitive products by other related firms such as Disney’s, Murdoch’s News Corp, Viacom and many more. In addition, the company needs to evaluate its relationship with its suppliers; correspondents in the field of sports, life, and holiday editorials in the magazines sections, producers of music, movies and television programs, and the support service providers on new media and on other technological aspects that keep the firm in business. Moreover, by giving a upper hand to the audience, who happen to be the buyers/ consumers, the firm need to focus on innovations within its network that will accelerate aggregate demand on their products and services to give them a competitive advantage over their rivals. This can be achieved by critically evaluating the competitors’ products in the market and devising new business approaches to counter their presence through innovations and other strategic management approaches. As a leader in terms of market share, the firm has a strong bargaining power with its financial and capital/ infrastructural base which puts it in a better position of expansion strategies such as mergers and acquisitions; counteracting measures against potential threats of new entrants and substitute products in the market (Magretta, 2012). For instance, having ventured in varying degrees within media operations with giant corporations such as HP, Viva, Home Store, American express and others, the firm stands out competitively for dominance in the industry with which articulating this strategy as the entire landscape is and will be the company’s appropriate.

Conclusion

As a business growth and expansion strategy, Five forces model calls for emotional intelligence; the ability to identify, assess and control one’s emotions and that of the group he/she is a member or leading it, a product of strong interpersonal skills I observed with their current customer management director. In my opinion, the director combines both the transactional and relational communication in addressing customer needs which has helped the management and the research and development team in innovations and resource allocation; prerequisites for the foundation and operations of the firms in this industry.

References

Magretta, J. (2012). Understanding Michael Porter: The essential guide to competition and strategy. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press.