Strategic Analysis of the External Environment: Identifying Opportunities and Sources of Risk

Due to the high dynamism and competitiveness of the business environment, it is becoming increasingly important to monitor changes in the external environment in a timely manner and respond quickly to these changes. Strategic analysis of the external environment allows you not only to track existing changes, but also to predict the appearance of future changes. In this paper, a strategic analysis of the external environment was carried out for the construction company «Mercury», which operates in the field of industrial construction for the oil and gas sector. The main problem of the research is the search for ways to improve the competitiveness of «Mercury». To solve this problem, a study of the company's external environment was conducted using such tools as industry analysis, PEST analysis, Porter's five forces model, and building a map of strategic groups of competitors. As a result of this analysis, the macro and microenvironment factors that have the greatest impact on the company's activities and are a threat or possibility of the external environment were identified. The strongest factors of the macro environment were the decline in oil production, the decline in investment of oil and gas companies in construction, and the growing concern for the environment. The main competitive forces were the threat of intra-industry competition and the threat of losing current customers. For each factor, recommendations were developed to minimize threats and use the opportunities of the external environment. Using these recommendations, the company can increase its competitiveness and improve its position in the market.