Strategic Management - First Solar - Case Study Example

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT-case report Introduction Harold Mc master in the year 1984 have founded the Glasstech solar with the aim of producing cost effective solar rays. First Solar is considered as the leader in the production of thin film cells in the solar energy sector. The company mainly emphasized on the production and the manufacture of photovoltaic modules that applies the semiconductor technology. This has provided a solution to First solar in lowering the cost of production that is relative to the crystalline solar manufacturers. The business in which First Solar is engaged can be divided into two segments that is the component segment which is engaged with designing, manufacturing and selling of the solar modules to the system integrators and the developers of the solar project and the system segment that mainly includes the engineering, development of the project, construction and procurement and operating and maintenance of services that is required for financing the project. In spite of the recent success of First Solar, the company is likely to face several obstacles and constraints in future and the company is also likely to face the constraints in anticipating the development of cheaper and efficient substitutes of low efficiency panels and the company also faced severe and extensive competition from its competitors as the number of producers were more in number and many of the producers have attempted to imitate the product. The company also faced the turnover in the management level within a short span of time. The company also faced problem of bankruptcy. Therefore First solar is required to invest in the research and development for manufacturing the products of the company. Analysis of the companys mission statement and objectives The main mission statement and objectives of the company is establishing and maintaining of the status as the global leader in the market and sustaining in the market by gaining competitive advantages and the objectives of the company is becoming competitive in the power market which is mainly influenced by the cost of energy on the basis of per watt and making the solar power most preferable for the future. The main mission of the company is associated with creation and enduring of value by making the world powered by affordable solar electricity and the objective of the company is mainly focused around reduction of cost of the solar electricity in order to compete with the conventional generation of energy. The company has focused on the level of commitment for maintaining a sustainable corporate responsibility and product life management cycle. First Solar is engaged in creating of value everyday environmentally, socially and economically. The various environmental issues are creating a problem for the company and therefore the company is required to reduce or minimize the environmental issues faced by the companies. The company considers themselves as the leader in the power solution technology and therefore the environmental mission of the company is surrounded by providing superior and better environmental benefit or advantages by improving the health and safety of the customers, associates and also the communities in which the company operates. The competitors of First solar that entered into the market mainly includes Yingli, Trina and Suntech from China and it also included some other competitors outside China which mainly includes Solyndra and Sun power and their mission and objective was to gain more market share in the market and become the power leader by removing First solar and therefore they imitated the product that is manufactured and produced by First Solar. First solar face severe competition from the national and the international market and the most important and direct competitor of the company is Suntech. The competitors have direct access to the increase in the financial, human, technical, purchasing and marketing which has enabled its competitors in emerging of the technologies and changing the requirement of the customers. Therefore First solar is required to overcome the failure for sustaining in the competitive environment. The Competitors of First Solar also focused on producing and manufacturing the same product that is manufactured by First Solar and therefore it is required that the company must focus on providing differentiated product in order to achieve its objectives and attain its mission in the long run operation of the company. The competition was faced by First Solar from those companies that were offering and developing renewable technologies that are used for the generation of power and burning of the conventional fossil fuels and it faced intense and severe competition on the products that is manufactured by its competitors which mainly includes the manufacture of silicon solar modules. External Analysis PORTER Buyer’s power: First Solar Inc deals in the energy sector. The company experiences strong bargaining power of buyers. There are many firms present in this industry which deals with same types of products. So the buyers get many options for purchasing solar energy products. Switching cost for the buyers is very low in this industry. The sale of solar panels highly depends on government subsidies. Therefore reduction of government subsidies hampers the sale of First Solar Inc. Therefore government and buyer have strong control over the business activities of the company. Supplier’s Power: Bargaining power of the supplier is strong in this industry. The company has is business operation in China, Germany and many other countries of the world. In each of these countries there are only few suppliers who are associated with First Solar Inc. Therefore the company has high dependency on its limited number of suppliers which facilitate the suppliers to impose their bargaining power. The firm makes contract with its suppliers for getting raw materials. The company also makes contracts with its customers for delivering them its solar products. If the suppliers could not provide the raw materials on time then the company faces huge loss. It can’t raise its products price as contract has already been made with the customers. So it has to sell the products by incurring loss. Therefore the company has to deal with strong bargaining power of its suppliers. Threat of substitute: First Solar Inc produces thin film solar cells which has many substitute products in the market. Different types of photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic cells based on silicon are the main substitute products of First Solar Inc. Many Chinese companies are manufacturing these substitute products at a low price which is hampering the sale of First Solar Inc’s products. Various renewable energies also act as the substitute of First Solar Inc’s products. Technological advancement in different countries has helped to develop solar water heating system. This system is linked with solar panel for generating energy. Therefore solar water heating system also acts as a substitute to First Solar Inc products. Threat to new entrance: New companies in solar power industry experience many barriers for entering into the industry. For establishing solar power company, huge amount of research needs to be done by the company. Therefore the companies have to invest lot of money for this purpose. It is always not possible for new firms to invest so much money at the initial time. Therefore new companies face strong threats in entering into the market. In the present scenario there are many large companies present in the global market of solar industry. First Solar Inc is one of the large players in this industry. The company performs its business functions in many countries of the world which act as strong barriers to new companies in solar industry. Rivalry: Solar power industry faces strong competition in different countries of the world. Many large and small companies are present all over the world and are involved in manufacturing solar energy products. First Solar Inc faced strong competition from American company SunPower, Chinese company SunTech and Solyndra Q-cell. But all of these companies were not been able to compete in this industry for a long time. But there are many other companies present in the global market which contributes a lot to increase the competition. PESTEL Political: First Solar Inc operates its business in different parts of the world. Therefore the political condition of various countries affects its business operations and strategies. The company has its business operation in China. The government of China and Europe has established many subsidy programs to help the companies of solar power industry. This facilitates the growth of First Solar Inc’s business operations in the market of China. As a result First Solar Inc also enjoys many facilities to improve its business process for these political factors. Economical: First Solar Inc operates its business operations in developed and developing countries of the world. So the company has to operate its business in different economic conditions. In the developed countries like UK, USA First Solar Inc gets strong support from their government (Magretta, 2012).The government of those countries provide huge amount of fund to First Solar Inc. But the developing country like China has started providing funds to solar power companies which help First Solar Inc in many ways. In the developed countries First Solar Inc experiences huge sale of its products for the strong economic condition of the countries. Social: Lifestyle of the people of UK, USA changes at a fast rate. For this reason the business process and products of First Solar Inc are continuously improved for satisfying the requirements of its customers in those markers. This influences the company to innovate new types of solar power cells. The social culture of China encourages production of energy from renewable sources. This influences First Solar Inc to focus more on renewable energy generation for operating its business in the market of China. Technological: Technological development is high in the developed countries like USA, UK. For this reason First Solar Inc has been able to implement advanced technological system in its power generation process. Legal: First Solar Inc uses some chemical for manufacturing its cells. These chemicals are not permitted in many countries of the world. So the company has to face many legal rules and regulations for using these materials in different countries. Environmental: In the present time people are very much concerned about environmental factors. The countries in which First Solar Inc operates its business have strong rules and regulations for protecting environment and benefiting people. Environmental rules and regulations of many countries influence the development of renewable energy. For this reason First Solar Inc is focusing more in innovating new source of renewable energy. In USA most of the companies follows the trend of sustainable development (Joshi, 2005). Therefore First Solar Inc has developed sustainable business operations in the market of USA. Competitive Profile Matrix     First Source Inc SunTech SunPower Critical Success Factor Weight Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS International Expansion 0.2 4 0.8 2 0.4 1 0.2 Technology advancement 0.2 3 0.6 1 0.2 2 0.4 Price Competitiveness 0.1 3 0.3 1 0.1 1 0.1 Innovation 0.2 2 0.4 1 0.2 1 0.2 Product/Service quality 0.2 3 0.6 1 0.2 2 0.4 Financial Position 0.1 4 0.4 2 0.2 1 0.1   1   3.1   1.3   1.4 total From this matrix it has been derived that First Source Inc is experiencing strong business position in the competitive market. Its business operational factors provide many benefits to the companies which have helped it to become successful than its competitors in different aspects. Internal Analysis Value chain The value chain analysis of First Solar inc can be analyzed with the help of the value chain analysis .The primary activities of the company is providing priorities towards the attainment of the short term profit maximization and long term generation of profit of the company in order to achieve the profit of the company through increasing the sale of the company, development of the business and conducting various manufacturing g activities of the company (Fill, 2006). Figure 1: Value Chain The above diagram reflects that the company is engaged in various primary as well as secondary activities in order to maximize its margin and compete with its competitors who are imitating the products that are produced by the company (Kotler, and Keller, 2012). The primary activities in which the company is engaged mainly includes providing of services that is adopting new technology for providing different and unique products to its customers as compared to what it used to provide previously. In terms of the marketing and sales the company is engaged in decreasing the manufacturing cost and increasing the sellable watt .The operation in which it is engaged is lowering the cost of production in order to gain the competitive advantages and the products which is dealt in the market is mainly driven by price. The logistics provides an opportunity to the company in realizing the economies of scale from the expansion of its product line. The company is required to increase its investment for research and development. The secondary activities that support the primary activities for maximizing its profit margin mainly include the application of most advanced technology for providing integrated power solutions and the development in the technology will result in improvement of cost and increasing its efficiency. First Solar have introduced the vertical integration for gaining competitive over others. First solar have been characterized with three important qualities for increasing its profit margin which includes the utilization of good solar resources, increasing the demand of the electrical supply (Lasserre, 2012). BCG Matrix The BCG matrix mainly deals with the market share of the product or the business. First Solar mainly captures the market share of the product or the business unit. The market growth perspective of the company is related to the fast growth and development of the market. The market growth of the company can be realized from the fact that the growth of the modern PV in the solar generating market has resulted in the creation of the government subsidies for encouraging the growth and development in the market. The growth in the market has facilitated there company in attracting more of its customer thus strengthening its customer base. The cash cow explains that the company is engaged in increasing its profitability and it requires very low investment for capturing the market. The question mark in the matrix signifies that the company is not successful in generating more cash. The star in the matrix resembles that the leaders operating in the market are highly successful in generation of cash and they utilizes the cash due to the growth and development in the market. The dog in the matrix signifies that the future operation of the company will run at a loss with very low market share. Figure 2: BCG matrix First Solar can be categorized under the category or segment of star in which the company is engaged in the investment in the research and development of the activities in order to reap the advantages of the availability of cash and reducing the cost of installation for the customers and the relative growth of business of the company is high since it has applied advanced technology fort gaining competitive advantages over its competitors (Proctor, 2014). Balance score card The balance score card is prepared for the measurement of various perspective of the company which mainly includes the financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth of the business for accessing the ultimate outcome for the success of the company. Figure 3: Balance Score card Considering the financial perspective of the company it can be analyzed that First Solar have been efficient in utilizing its return on equity and return on asset effectively and efficiently and the company is able to convert the investor’s money into net income. The asset turnover of the company is comparatively high and it is due to the subsidization of its asset. The objective of the company was strengthening its cash position in the market. The company maintained a sound financial position by strengthening its balance sheet structure (Wintzer, 2007). On the basis of the customer perspective of the company it can be analyzed that it main focus was to provide the customers with cost efficient product and therefore it have introduced the First Solar vertical integration into the business for gaining competitive advantages for providing direct access to its customers by allowing them better control over the delivery of the energy cost and provide unique and differentiated product as compared to its competitors in the market. Taking into consideration the learning and growth perspective of the company it has been observed that the company has focused on establishing corporate culture by providing adequate training to its employees and the management team. The company has faced various problems and short comings and therefore in order to mitigate those problems it has adopted new technology for the cost leadership strategy and the company is restored presently on the hands of the new management team who are responsible for facing and overcoming the new challenges (Menenberg, Lacy and Balayan, 2009). On the basis of the internal business process perspective of the company it can be explained that the company has introduced the PV model which included various perspective such as sustainability, development and financing, engineering and construction and also operation and maintenance for reducing the cost and the risk in introducing the product. The company has focused on its long term strategy for sustaining in the market and for its future growth and development. Ratio The financial position can be understood with reference to the following ratios:   2012 2011 Total assets 239250 2511229 Average total assets 1375239.5 1255614.5 Net total income 96338 39493 Return on Asset 14.3 31.8 Cost of goods sold 2515796.0 1794456.0 Gross profit ratio Operating expense ratio 0.25 0.35 revenue 3368545 2766207 Operating income/loss 37563 68664 net operating ratio 0.01 0.02 Asset Turnover 14.08 1.10 Alternative strategies Strategies of First Solar Inc are formed based on its various strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. The company needs to work on its weakness and threats for improving its business strategies. This will help the company to use its various strengths and opportunities for achieving success. SWOT Matrix \ Strengths: First Solar Inc is one of the largest companies of the world which produce thin film cells. The firm manufactures huge amounts of cells. As a result the company enjoys economies of scale. The company is operating its business operations in many countries of the world. In many countries the company holds the position of market leaders. First Solar Inc is financially very strong. It is the first company which has reduced the cost of thin film by $1/watt. For this reason the company experiences the advantage of cost per watt. This benefits the company to increase its revenue (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2014. To increase its strength the company can increase its product range for capturing more market shares. It should focus more on its developing new products and services Weakness: The Company gets its raw materials from few suppliers. So any problems from the sides of suppliers hamper the business activities of First Solar Inc. Therefore the firm must increase it numbers of suppliers. The firm has a strong dependency on Cadmium for manufacturing its products. But this raw material is highly toxic and not permitted in many countries. The company must reduce its dependency on that particular chemical and try to find out non toxic chemicals which will help in power generation. The management system of the company had experienced many changes. Many responsible persons of First Solar Inc left the company which had weaken its business process (Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011). The company needs to recruit more efficient people in its top managerial level for overcoming its problem in management system. Opportunities: The Company is operating its business in various countries of the world which provide opportunities to First Solar Inc to expand its business operations. The new management team of the firm facilitates it to implement effective business process and products for growing the company at a faster rate. The firm has the opportunity to use CdTe technology for getting the advantage of cost leadership. There is a huge market for PV solar. Therefore First Solar Inc needs to implement cost leadership strategies for satisfying the demand of PV Solar. The governments of Europe, China and many other nations provide subsidies to solar power company for encouraging them to innovate new things. UK government has also set up tariff system in such a way which provides many facilities to solar industry. Threat: The competitor of First Solar Inc produces same types of produced same types of products like First Solar Inc. The company is facing strong competition in the energy industry. The firm needs to enhance it products and marketing operations for getting more competitive advantages. Increase in public sector support facilitates the players of this industry to improve their business process which make the competition strong. Recommendation Question a First Solar has gained the advantages for gaining the opportunity of lobbying both the world government and the state governments for ensuring the benefit of the company for utilizing the renewable energy. The mission and the objective of the company is associated with reduction of cost and providing affordable electricity to its customers and it wants to maintain its position for being considered as the market leader in the generation of electricity. But it faces competition from its competitors since its competitors are also engaged in producing the same product in which First Solar is engaged. Therefore the company is required to focus and make investment in research and development for providing unique and differentiated product to its customers. Question b. The main issues that is faced by the companies are the threat of competition from its competitors in the manufacture and the production of the product that is similar to First Solar and there was a problem in the management as many of its chief executive have left the organization and the company faced the problem of bankruptcy due to its weak liquidity and solvency position of the company. Therefore it is expected that the company to implement new strategy for the increase and development of its gross profit margin by strengthening its asset base in order to increase the profitability position of the business. Question C. The company follows streamline process for manufacturing its products. For improving its product the company needs to enhance its streamline process. This will help the company to get competitive advantage. The firm needs to improve its recycling program for making its position strong against its competitors. Technology used in First Solar Inc benefits the company to develop and improve its products. To compete with its strong competitors the firm has to develop its technological processes. The company uses specialized technology pattern for generating profits. Other than technology the company can focus on important marketing activities like promotion, branding etc for attracting more customers. Demands of the customers are changing with time. The organization has to develop strong measures to estimate the demands of its products. The company can implement effective business process like providing its customers some more facilities alone with its products. This will facilitates it to generate more demand for its products. The company can establish long term contracts with its raw materials suppliers based on this recommended strategies which will strengthen its business activities. The company can improve its management system of for enhancing its strengths. Question d They are politically feasible as they received constant intervention and support from the government .The government recently has undertaken various steps and measures for increasing the energy efficiency and development of green energy by providing incentives to the businesses and residents. President Barrack Obama have expressed his desire and interest in introducing renewable source of energy in the short term and long term importance on the administration. But the organization is not feasible organizationally as many of the chief executives have left the organization which has lead to the situation of financial crisis since the company focused on its short term perspective rather than considering on the long term aspects. Therefore it is recommended that the company to focus on long term aspects increasing the sale of the company. Question e There are huge number of competitors of First Solar which includes Sun Power, solyndra and sun Tech and therefore in order to compete and gain competitive advantages over its competitors it is required that First solar is required to focus on the transformation of its production and manufacture from the solar cell of the second generation to the manufacture of the solar cells of the third generation. The solar cells of the second generation are mainly based on the technology of thin film and they are less efficient as compared to the technology of the third generation and therefore it has been advised or suggested that they are comparatively less efficient and effective as compared to the solar cells of the first and the third generation but the advantage or the benefit in manufacturing the solar cells of the second generation is that they are very cheap and less costly. The First Solar is required to implement three things which include expanding its business operation in the overseas market, growing and developing the business both in the domestic and in the international market and innovating and introducing new and advancement in the application of technologies. Plan Implementation Month May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April Determining the mission, goals and objectives of the company                         Identifying the issues                         dealing with the issues                         Identifying its competitors                         Gaining competitive advantages                         Feasiblity of the company                         Re constructing of the financial structure                         Implementation of the planning                         Categories Timing of the events Sources of finance forecasted events of finance Determining the mission, goals and objectives of the company This activity will be started from the month of may and June. The activity will start from the determination of the mission, goals and objective of the company and it in the first month that is on the month of may the company will determine its objectives and mission that the company is expected to achieve and in the month of June the company will establish its mission by determining various internal as well as external factors. The sources of finance will be available from the bank overdraft 10% of the bank overdraft will utilized for this categories Identifying the issues On the month of June the company will identify all the issues that the company is facing in terms of its financial structure, competitive advantage and management turnover and other external issues that the company might face. The source of finance for identifying the issues can also be available from the bank overdraft 50% of the overdraft will be utilized under this category dealing with the issues After the identification of all the issues and constraints of the company in the month of June, the company in the month of July is expected to find various measures for dealing with the issues. The company has decided to invest in the research and development sector. The source of finance of the company can be gathered from government subsidy. Since the company went bankrupt the government will provide subsidy 30% of government subsidy will be utilized in this category Identifying its competitors In the month of August the company will identify its relative competitors in the same industry and identify the products that they are manufacturing and the cost that is allocated for the product. The company will require less finance in identifying its competitors which it can gather from the overdraft 40% of the overdraft will be utilized under this category Gaining competitive advantages The company will require two months in determining its competitive advantages over its competitors. The company will plan its strategy that is manufacturing of differentiated product. The company will carry out this activity in the month of September and October. The source of finance is available from the management of the working capital of the company 40% of the working capital will be utilized for this activity Feasiblity of the company In order to maintain its feasibility both in terms of its organization and political base it requires three months. The company will identify the key issues and the reason behind the increase in the turnover of the management and the issues related to government interventions. The company will carry out this activity in the month of November, December and January. The working capital is utilized as source of finance for maintaining of feasibility 60% of the working capital will be utilized for this activity Reconstructing of the financial structure The company will require two months for reconsidering and restructuring its financial structure .the company in required to increase its asset and revenue in order to increase its net operating income. The company will carry out this activity in the month of February and April. The source of finance is the government subsidy that will be provided by the government 70% of government subsidy will be utilized in this category Implementation of the planning The company will implement in the last month that is on the month of April for implementing its plan. The source of finance is gaining is restructuring loan from the bank. 100% of the bank loan will be utilized References Fill, C., (2006). 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