Strategic Management Tools

Financial ratio analysis is a valuable tool that allows one to assess the success, potential failure or future prospects of the company (Bazley 2012). The ratios are helpful in spotting useful trends that can indicate the warning signs of

Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved August 20, 2011, fr

The paper illustrates that financial ratio analysis is an important tool for firm’s to evaluate their financial health in order to identify areas of weakness so as to institute corrective measures.

Ratio analysis will be used to measure the profitability, liquidity and efficiency of the named business and to analyse the performance of the business using ratio analysis.

The success of a business depends on its ability to remain profitable over the long term, while being able to pay all its financial obligations and earning above average returns for its shareholders. This is made possible if the business is able to maximize on available opportunities and very efficiently and effectively use the resources it has to create maximum value for all involved stakeholders. One way the performance of a company can be measured on critical areas such as profitability, its ability to stay solvent, the amount of debt exposure and the effectiveness in resource utilization, is performing financial analysis where a set of ratios provides a snapshot of company performance

We have identified three ongoing processes- analyses, decisions, and actions- that are central to strategic management. In practice, these three processes – often referred to as strategy analysis, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation – are highly interdependent and do not take place one after the other in a sequential fashion in most companies.

Ratio Analysis is a type of Financial Statement Analysis that is utilized to achieve a quick indication of a firm's financial performance in numerous key regions. Financial ratios aid in deciding the connection between two variables in the financial statements. The data necessary for the computation of the ratios is supplied by the financial statements of the firm. Areas where performance has improved or deteriorated over time can be recognized this way. Ratios are utilized methodically to deduce the strengths and weaknesses of a firm and also its historical performance and current financial conditions.

Three categories are used for ratio analysis’s, time series or trend analysis are used to evaluate a company’s performance over time, for example one year. (Melicher, R. W., & Norton, E. A. (2013) Cross -sectional analysis compares different firms at the same point in time. Industry comparative analysis compares an organizations ratio against average ratios of other companies in the organizations industry. Analyst can then evaluate the organizations performance relative to industry norms. (Melicher, R. W., & Norton, E. A.

Pearce and Robinson describe strategic management as the art of making complex, long-term, future-oriented decisions and taking actions that result in the formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve a company's objectives. The process focuses on the belief that a firm's mission can be best be achieved through a systematic and comprehensive assessment of both its internal capabilities and its external environment (Pearce & Robinson, 2005). In the article Strategic Management, the strategic management process is described as the implementation of the company's strategy by executive management considering its resources, circumstances, and environment to position the organization to complete is mission in a

Henry (2011) refers to Strategic Management as the process that analyses a given situation faced by a company or organisation, and on the basis of the findings of the analysis, formulating a strategy and then finally implement that strategy. Appendix A, a strategic management process model illustrates and underpins this theory. Henry (2011) continues by stating, “the end result is for the organisation or company to achieve competitive advantage over its rivals in industry”.

Examining financial ratios for a particular period of time can be used to identify unusual changes thus alerting the management on the progress of the business venture. Financial ratios are also helpful in carrying out financial analysis and forecasting. They also allow the owner of the business and the entire management to come up with business specific goals that can easily be traced to determine the company’s progress towards achieving them.

Financial ratio analysis is not a concrete science, disagreement amongst financial analyst is present throughout industry, and therefore, some consider the practice to be part art and part science. A sound financial analysis consists of an organization’s future income and growth potential as well as a financial statement analysis. The evaluation process in itself is complex, made even more difficult factoring in the ever changing market conditions, therefore, it cannot be evaluated just on its own

Financial ratios are calculation of numbers from the financial statements for a comparative analysis. A ratio in and of itself has little meaning but as a tool of comparison, internally, it reflects the company’s performance year to year, or externally comparing other organizations’ performance within the same industry. Ratios help to determine the company’s strengths, weakness, and risk. Credit analysis and investors also rely heavily on ratios (Baker & Baker, 2014).

There are many benchmarking techniques; for the purpose of this paper three will be discussed, financial, performance, and operational.

Ratio analysis is the fundamental indicator of company’s performances for so many years; it is also can be seen as the very first step to measure a company’s performance along with its financial position. Moreover, ratio analysis has been researched and developed for many years, Bliss had presented the first coherent system of ratios, and he also stated that ratios are “indicator of the status of fundamental relationship within the business” Horrigan (1968). However there are some arguments on whether the ratio analysis is useful or not since to conduct these analyses will be costly to the company, also there are several limitations on how these ratios work. Therefore, the usefulness and the limitation of ratio analysis will be discussed further in this essay, with the use of easyJet’s annual report as examples.