Using PESTLE/Porter's 5 Pushes / Circumstance Modelling or any other relevant identify the key strategic Macro troubles the Company faces.
Using Financial Analysis / Marketing Mixture / Primary Competencies / Balanced Scorecard or any other relevant tools, scan Network Rail's Internal / Micro Environment to inentify the main element Micro challenges the business faces.
Pull your conclusions regarding parts 1 and 2 mutually in the form of a SWOT analysis. You could also identify what options an ANSOFF matrix for Network Rail indicate will be the most practical.
Given your examination, what do you conclude about the relevance of the Key Goals above (to earn and sustain a mandate etc. ) and
What should be the strategy of Network Rail in the coming 2-5 years? And what could be the vital few methods which would help track improvement toward obtaining your suggested strategy.
Introduction
I have been used in the united kingdom Rail industry for over 30 years, and am currently founded at Saltley Delivery Unit in Central Birmingham. My role is Infrastructure Maintenance Engineer, gives me overall responsibility for all the maintenance completed by Netwrok Rail on its main infrastructure, which is the monitors and Signalling system connected to them. My geographic section of responsibility works from London Marylebone, through Banbury and Birmingham Snow Hill and onto Droitwich Spa. I have 300+ staff confirming to me through a team of Technical engineers (3) and Section Professionals (9), working out of two main depots, Saltley And Banbury, with smaller depots at Stourbridge, Whitacre, Leamington, Aylesbury, High Wycombe and London Marylebone.
Background
Network rail has been in existence since October 2002 when they overran the working of Britain's Rail infrastructure from Railtrack. They currently utilize over 35, 000 people in a variety of aspects of this work, from day to day maintenance to major renewal projects. In
Using PESTLE/Porter's 5 Forces / Scenario Modelling or any other relevant identify the key strategic Macro issues the Company faces
When you analyse the macro-environment, id of the factors that may affect lots of vital aspects that will impact the supply and demand and costs of the company is critically important. (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991; Johnson and Scholes, 1993)
Various checklists are used as means of cataloguing the vast number of possible conditions that might impact different market sectors. A PESTLE analysis is one of that is only a platform that categorises environmental affects as political, economic, social, scientific, legal and environmental. PESTLE examines the likely impact of each of these factors on the industry. The results are then used to take investigate and enable opportunities also to be aware of and also to make contingency programs for risks when building business strategy (Byars, 1991; Cooper, 2000).
In a recent research (1998), Kotler says that PESTLE is a proper tool that can be beneficial to help understand market development and drop alongside business position, to be able to select potential and future direction
The use of PESTLE research shows that the major exterior influences upon Network Rail are:
POLITICAL : The recent change in Authorities could still have a far reaching effect upon Britain's rail industry, the recent Comprehensive Spending Review has made sure that the industry must change and in a big way.
ECONOMIC : The existing economic local climate of the uk is such that a great deal of passengers will be thinking about alternative ways to visit, low cost coach and bus services will have their appeal increased, albeit the permanent potential clients for rail travel are good, given the existing lobby against highway transportation by the inexperienced parties. In order to remain a nice-looking alternate, the rail industry must be competitive economically with road transport.
SOCIAL : The major sociable concept in the UK Government's Sustainable Development Strategy (DEFRA, 2005) is mentioned as: "ensuring a strong, healthy and just contemporary society", but this can be put into six main aspects:
Accommodating the diverse needs of the population both now and in the foreseeable future;
promoting personal well-being;
encouraging public cohesion and addition;
maintaining identical opportunities for everybody;
promoting good governance; and
interesting the creativity, energy and variety of the people of Great Britain.
The Rail industry has a major part to experience in the satisfaction of the social
goals. Increasingly the industry will be judged on providing the services, and much more so on just how they are supplied. The UK Railways run alongside residences belonging to a massive array of the populace, and it must be observed to engage correctly with most of its lineside neighbours. The industry must also be seen to be an company that principles it's workforce and treats them correspondingly. Basic safety of the going public is a major social element in the business, both those traveling by coach and the road user that use any of the hundred of level crossings on the network every day. The key causes of mishaps on the railway infrastructure are trespass and the misuse of level crossings.
TECHNOLOGICAL : The outstanding quickness of technology improvements has a major influence on any transfer industry. The likes of faster plus more reliable broadband contacts will increase the amount of work done by teleconferences and reduce travel to meetings. Faster and more efficient trains will influence upon the type of Network Rails infrastructure, and compel the business to check out new ways to maintain the infrastructure, and new kinds of running the trains.
LEGAL : Legally Network Rail is governed by many bodies with an impact, like the Office Of Rail Regulators, MEDICAL & Safety Professional, UK Federal, Environment Company.
ENVIRONMENTAL : Network Rail has a responsibility to keep up it's infrastructure and the large numbers of wildlife habitats alongside the railway. The company also has to become as "green" as you possibly can, making sure timber that they use is from sustainable sources, and that all depots and office buildings are focused on reduce their carbon footprint as much as is possible.
Porters Five Forces
The Porter's Five Makes model is a simple tool that may be utilised to help strategic understanding where electricity lies in an enterprise situation. The tool can even be used to comprehend both the power of your company's current competitive position, alongside the effectiveness of a position the business may be seeking to move into. The Five makes framework focuses on business concerns alternatively than public insurance plan but additionally, it may emphasise long competition for value alternatively than simply competition among existing rivals. The simple its use has encouraged numerous companies as well as business institutions to adopt it. (Wheelen and Hunger, 1998).
If you have clear understanding of where your vitality currently lies, you are able to take benefit of a predicament of strength or act to improve a predicament of weakness.
Porters 5 Causes for Network Rail:
Supplier Power: For Network rail, it distributor ability can be reported to be relatively high, there's a very demanding approvals process to undergo before any item can be unveiled in to the infrastructure. This technique can be frustrating and expensive for new suppliers and so those that already have this acceptance have a big amount of capacity to wield. There are also very few suppliers that provide the dedicated technology that is utilized to provide modern signalling systems which again will provide significant amounts of supplier electricity.
Buyer Electricity: Buyer electric power with regard to Network Rail would be classed as low. The business is working in somewhat of an monopoly, giving buyers very little versatility to shop in other places for similar services. Network rail is therefore in an exceedingly strong position when it comes to dictating conditions.
Competitive Rivalry: Other than companies providing engineering competence with renewal of rail infrastructure, there are few companies who could provide the day to day expertise that Network Rail has in the safe performing of the railway network in the uk. The amount of staff employed by Network Rail (18, 000+) would also be a hurdle to the risk of substitution by smaller businesses, not willing to take on the huge responsibility that utilizing this variety of dedicated personnel would present.
Threat of Substitution: The risk of substitution may be classed as medium as there could be alternatives to a rail system within GB. Other than Road Transport, there is certainly very little realistic immediate competition for the assistance that Network Rail provide. Road transport does present a certain amount of competitive rivalry to Network Rail, but there would be few that might be able to be competitive immediate with leading the GB Rail network. Certainly this places Network Rail in a position of great durability.
Threat of New Entrance: The cost and time elements necessary for companies to be create to provide effective competition to Network Rail would be obstacles that could prevent this happening. For this reason the risk of New Entry is low.
Using Financial Analysis / Marketing Blend / Core Competencies / Balanced Scorecard or any other relevant tools, scan Network Rail's Internal / Micro Environment to inentify the key Micro challenges the business faces.
Using FiMO as talked about during the BES module of the Network Rail business market leaders programme to check out the inner or Macro Environment shows the following results:
FINANCE : Network Rails advantages are founded around it's huge property base and its own growing advantage value. Network Rail also owns a massive property portfolio you can use for diversification. The major weaknesses of Network Rail are established around possible Governmet spending slashes, the Recent Complete spending review and Lord McNulty's affordability report.
MARKET : Talents - The business is well thought of by relevant physiques like the Office WITH THE Rail Regulator, OFT and HSE (BES 2010)
Prime locations for retail advancements, Attaining Control Period 4 (CP4) focuses on currently. Weaknesses - Interior financial process that makes it extremely difficult to operate with other areas of the same company.
OPERATIONS - Strengths include an enviable basic safety record, both for it's own labor force and for the travelling public. Delivery of it's own guarantee "The Timetable is our Promise. When we Promise a teach can run, it will run - easily, punctually and reliably. And we Assure that more trains have the ability to run next season. " Network Rail (2010)
Weaknesses -. The industry is regarded as difficult to utilize, by others within the industry.
As part of the BES course a RECoiL exercise for Network Rail as a business was completed, the results have been reproduced below.
Network Rail
Resources
8
Experiences
7
Controls and Systems
6
Ideas & Innovation
7
Leadership
6
This would appear to highlight issues within two main areas, those being Controls & Systems and Authority.
Controls and Systems
There is a school of thought that its operations are far too bureaucratic and that any change can only just be effected over an extended period of time. This might well have a bearing on the apparent problems with leadership
Leadership
There appears to be a large amount of long offering railwaymen in supervisory and management positions. It has the effect of creating a resistance to change. There appears to be a feeling that the procedures and methods inflicted corporately are so rigid that they prevent innovation because of amount of bureaucracy in place.
Pull your conclusions regarding parts 1 and 2 collectively in the form of a SWOT analysis. You could also identify what options an ANSOFF matrix for Network Rail indicate are the most practical.
According to Barney (1995), a SWOT evaluation is a construction that factors to the relevance of exterior and internal forces to give a knowledge of the
sources of competitive advantages. SWOT analysis can help decide if the main problems facing a company revolve around a need to improve its strategy, a need to improve its current strategy and the implementation than it, or both of the above.
The tool helps go through the company's current performance (Talents and
Weaknesses) and its own future (Opportunities and Threats) by accounting
for the factors that exist in the exterior environment. The construction is a powerful and sometimes highly successful strategy that can be applied to individuals, groups, teams, or organisations (David, 1997).
