Strategy Audit M/S Empire Tube Mills Lahore

Sample Interview Questions

1. Understanding the external environment at a macro
level
1. What is the long-term viability of the industry as a whole, and how do capital
markets react to new developments?
2. What trends could change the rules of the game?
3. Who are the industry leaders? What are they doing? Why?
4. What are the key success factors in the industry?
5. What developments could allow a company to change the rules of the game?
6. Five years from now, how will winners in the industry look and act?
7. What is the reward (and/or cost) of being a winner/loser within the industry?
8. Where has the industry come from?

2. Understanding the industry/sector components in

detail
BUSINESS REVIEW
Strategy Issues:
1. What is the strategy of each competitor? Where do they appear to be
heading?
2. What is their business emphasis?
3. Do they compete on quality, cost, speed or service?
4. Are they niche or global players?
Capabilities:
1. What do they do better than anyone else?
2. Where are they weaker than others?
3. Where are they the same as others?
Business Objectives:
1. Who are their primary customers?
2. What types of business do they not do or say no to?
3. Who are their major partners? Why are they partnering? What do they gain
from it?
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Financial Strength - Internal:
1. How much cash does each competitor generate annually?
2. What are the drivers behind their financial success (from a cash
perspective)?
3. How do they allocate resources (funds)?
4. How fast are they growing and in what areas?
Strength as Perceived by Capital Markets:
1. Are competitors resource constrained or do they have strong financial
backing?
2. Is this perception consistent with the internal analysis? Why or why not?

3. How has the company performed in the financial markets? Why?

4. What constraints/opportunities do they have with respect to financial
markets? Why? What are they doing that is new or interesting?
ORGANISATION REVIEW
Top Management:
1. Has management kept the company at the forefront of the industry? Why or
why not?
2. Are the key players seen to be moving the company forward?
Organisation:
1. Is the company centralised or decentralised?
2. Does the corporate parent act as a holding company or as an active
manager?
3. Is the organisation perceived as being lean and able to get things done?
People:
1. How many people are employed? Is the company over-or under-staffed?
2. Are people managed to achieve mainly business objectives, human objectives
or some of both? How does this affect the company?
3. What skills are emphasised during recruitment?
Culture:
1. Is the culture results-oriented?
2. Bureaucratic?
3. Flexible?

3. Integrating the components into an environmental

picture
1. Do our capabilities match our customer requirements?
2. Do we offer something required by our customers that is better than the
offerings of our competitors?
3. How are customer demands changing?
4. How are competitors changing?
5. How are our internal capabilities evolving to keep pace with those changes?