You are a strategy and finance consultant providing advice to senior leadership at a
publically traded company.
Prepare a written analysis using a combination of
finance and strategy following the guidelines below:
1. Select a publically traded company to analyze along with a direct competitor. Some sample
industries include:
Retail – Apparel
Retail – General Merchandise/Discount Store
Retail – Jewelry
Retail – Cosmetics
Retail – Supermarket/Grocery
Retail – Dollar Stores (or for a low price)
Retail – Pharmacy
Retail – Department Stores
Retail – warehouse
Retail – Online
Retail – Specialty
Restaurant – Quick Service
Restaurant – Casual Dining
Restaurant – Fast Casual
Restaurant – Fine Dining
Manufacturing – Automotive
Computer – hardware
Computer – Software
Consumer Good – Manufacturing
Heavy Equipment
Computer – networking
Oil/Gas
Handbag Retailer/Manufacturer
Entertainment or theme parks
Chemicals
Retail – Home Improvement Consumer Good – Manufacturing
Heavy Equipment
Computer – networking
Oil/Gas
Handbag Retailer/Manufacturer
Entertainment or theme parks
Chemicals
Retail – Home Improvement
Drug Manufacturers – Major
Food Manufacturer
Consumer Electronics Manufacturer
Delivery Company
Beverage
Internet/Cable Company
Please avoid the following industries:
Financial Services
Banking
Insurance
Calculate the DuPont Identity (Equation) for the past three years using VentureLine (or
equivalent) for:
Your chosen company
A close competitor
Industry averages
Using Crafting and Executing Strategy, which generic competitive strategy
does your chosen company employ? Justify your answer. The five strategies are:
Low-Cost Provider
Broad Differentiation
Focused Low-Cost Provider
Focused Differentiation
Best-Cost Provider
What does the DuPont Identity tell you about your chosen company’s overall
performance versus its competitor and industry benchmarks?
Using industry averages as a benchmark, what advice would you give your company in
order to improve their ROE? What strategic moves could the company make to improve
their competitive position? (Feel free to use other financial ratios to augment your
analysis).Crafting & Executing Strategy contains the following categories
of types of strategic moves the company can make to improve their competitive
position such as:
Offensive- Strategic Option –Improve market position
Defensive Strategy – Protect market position and competitive Advantage
Scope of Operations – Should they alter range of products or services offered?
Merger and Acquisition – Acquire or merge with another company either horizontal
or vertical
Outsource Strategy – Narrow scope of products/services. Outsource Strategy – Narrow scope of products/services
Sources for additional information
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/porter.asp
https://medium.com/@kolbeuk/an-overview-of-porters-generic-competitive-strategies-453342d1a6ae
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dupontidentity.asp
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dupontanalysis.asp
https://site.financialmodelingprep.com/education/what-are-the-three-components-of-the-dupont-Identity
https://www.academia.edu/35034931/CRAFTING_and_EXECUTING_STRATEGY_THE_QUEST_FOR_C01vlPETITIVE_ADVANTAGE_CONCEPTS_AND_CASES_2009_Custom_Ed_ition
