What is Broad Factors Analysis? Broad Factors Analysis, commonly called the PEST Analysis, is a key component of external analysis. A Broad Factors Analysis assesses and summarizes the four macro-environmental factors — political, economic, socio-demographic (social), and technological. The factors exert a significant effect on a business’s operating environment, posing opportunities and threats to the…
What is the Industry Life Cycle? Industries, like products and businesses, emerge and eventually decline at specific points in history; the time period between inception and eventual extinction (if applicable) is the industry’s life cycle. Understanding where an industry is in its life cycle is important for financial analysts, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders when seeking…
What is the Beachhead Strategy? The beachhead strategy comes from the military strategy of winning a small border area that becomes a stronghold, and from which you can advance to the rest of the territory. The small border area is referred to as a beachhead. In business, the idea is to focus your resources on…
What is Passive Ownership? Passive ownership refers to any shareholder in a business who is not involved in the day-to-day decision making of the company’s operations. The shareholders may be involved in some high-level corporate decisions that require shareholder votes, but not in daily operating decisions. Passive ownership mostly occurs when the owners have built…
What is a Vision Statement? A vision statement describes what a company desires to achieve in the long-run, generally in a time frame of five to ten years, or sometimes even longer. It depicts a vision of what the company will look like in the future and sets a defined direction for the planning and…
What is a Supply Chain? A supply chain is an entire system of producing and delivering a product or service, from the very beginning stage of sourcing the raw materials to the final delivery of the product or service to end-users. The supply chain lays out all aspects of the production process, including the activities…
What is the Competitive Forces Model? The Competitive Forces Model is an important tool used in strategic analysis to analyze the competitiveness in an industry. The model is more commonly referred to as the Porter’s Five Forces Model, which includes the following five forces: intensity of rivalry, threat of potential new entrants, bargaining power of…
What is Market Planning? Market planning is the process of organizing and defining the marketing aims of a company and gathering strategies and tactics to achieve them. A solid marketing plan should consist of the company’s value proposition, information regarding its target market or customers, a comparative positioning of its competitors in the market, promotion…
What is a Macro Environment? A macro environment refers to the overall, broader economy and the forces affecting it versus a microenvironment, which focuses on a specific sector or region’s economy. There are macroeconomic conditions or factors that affect how all businesses operate, which, in turn, affect the economy as a whole. In general, macroeconomics deals…
What is Mortgage Recast? Mortgage recast (also known as loan recast or re-amortization) is a strategy by which homeowners can reduce their monthly mortgage payments and save on the interest paid over the life of the loan. It allows borrowers to pay a large, lump-sum amount toward their principal in order to reduce their monthly…
