Business Analysis - Implementing the STAR strategic method

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An analysis by the Star Model of the following corporation "Johnson and Johnson"

One method that can be applied as a business strategy is the Strategy Star (See figure 1.1 below). This strategy is a globally competitive framework to follow to help determine the company's strategy for each country it is planning on entering to conduct business with. It's a 5 point system; therefore it's called the "Star" (Gould, 2008).

(SEE ATTACHMENT FOR GRAPH) Figure 1.1

For a global business such as Johnson and Johnson, one can easily see how the Star strategy could be beneficial to them as they distribute different products around the globe. The way the Star strategy works is that the Star Analysis "tells you how to gather and organize information from the markets that you'll be working in," says Spulber, an economist by training who joined Kellogg in 1990. "The international business manager begins with an overview of the marketplace" (Gould, 2008). Global business is where strategy meets geography," says Spulber.

However, following the Star strategy and reviewing the marketplaces of different countries is not as easy as it sounds. When you look at all the variables that are in play in these markets, it is a vast wealth of knowledge that has to be collected and analyzed.

When Johnson and Johnson first entered Brazil in the late 50's, their brand of consumer products thrived as a result of a closed economic system under military rule. There was very little competition and Johnson and Johnson had the market cornered on products such as sunscreen, band-aids, and cotton swabs were dominant. This begins to change for Johnson & Johnson in the 90's however, when Brazil begin taking steps to reduce its hyperinflation in the economy and opened up its boarders for more trade and more competition (Johnson, 2010).

This increase in competition took Johnson & Johnson off guard as they were not prepared for the influx of lower priced products that quickly became available to the consumer as demand for something different was high and the price was lower. Johnson & Johnson had a crisis on its hands and it had to take some drastic changes quickly if it wanted to survive in Brazil's ...