This is a Strategic Management subject. The assessment is Strategic Assignment

This is a Strategic Management subject. The assessment is Strategic Audit. The Assignnment brief, example and marking guide will - Assignment Example In addition the business level strategies and the entry strategy that Thales will be adopting in China is also explained. Thales’ Business Thales Group is a French business group engaged in defense, aerospace, transportation and security markets. A small portion of Thales’ investments also go into its electrical systems building unit. Thales Group is present in more than 50 countries of the world having workforce of around 70,000 employees. Thales’ business’ size can be gauged by the fact that the company makes billion of Euros in revenues and is considered 475th largest business group amongst Fortune500 and is the 11th largest defense contractor (Thales Group, 2011). Competitive Landscape of Railway Transportation Industry in France Major railway transport operators in France are: Thalys Lyria Eurostar Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais Resear Ferre de France (State Owned) Environmental Scan of Railway Transportation Industry in China To carry out the scanning of an external environment in China’s railway transportation industry, Porter’s Five Forces Model will be used. This model assists in scanning the external environment for: Identifying rivalry within the industry. ... In this paper, Porter’s Five Forces model will be used to examine the external environment of China’s Railway Transportation Industry. Threat of New Entrants In China’s railway transportation industry, the threat of new entrant is low due to the high entry barriers. Usually it requires a mammoth amount of money to acquire license and enter into a railway transportation business (Wan & Liu, 2006). Not everyone can start a railway transportation business because it is a capital extensive decision which includes capital investments in fixed assets like machinery, railway tracks, platforms, engines, rail-cars, and land and auto-mechanic shops. Although, there is still need for railway tracks and transportation services in China due to its huge geography and increased travelers’ pressure, but the acquisition of license and cost of starting this business in the country is still very expensive. Moreover, the railway transport industry largely operates on economie s of scale where the average cost of taking passengers from one station to another decreases as the incoming number of passengers increase (Today Online, 2013). Threat from Substitutes China is amongst those nations of the world who believes on working hard and saving money for the future. The saving trend compels people in China to spend less on luxuries. But in recent 4 to 5 years, it has been noticed that this trend is on shift and Chinese people are looking for quicker travelling options. But still, the traditional Chinese still believes on travelling with cheaper and less time consuming travelling means (Wan & Liu, 2006). Due to the rapid development and financial strength of the Chinese families, they tend to buy cars.