Edward Jones As One Of The Famous Organization In The Brokerage Case Study

Edward Jones As One Of The Famous Organization In The Brokerage Industry - Case Study Example The firm deals in individual bonds and stocks and mainly targeted the rural and sub urban areas. But wit time as the firms succeed, it decided to enter the fast growing economies but to its shock it faced difficulty in entering the urban areas with its concept. Thus the paper deals with the strategy that the firm adopted in order to stay competitive and competitive advantage over its competitors. The brokerage industry suffered a huge threat from the financial analysis such as the banks which also started to provide similar kind of offerings as the brokerage firms. To overcome this threat and make a place in the minds of the customers the firm decided to adopt the differentiation and expansion strategy offering the customers services which they look forward for and ensure high savings. The report deals with internal and external assessment of the industry and the firm by implementing the tools such as PEST analysis, Porters five force and VIRO Analysis. The current strategies have be en discussed along with the current issues and each of the alternatives is evaluated and finally recommendation has been provided to Edward Jones to adapt to the expansion strategy. Contents Executive Summary 2 External Assessment 4 Internal Assessment 5 Current Strategies 6 Key Issues 7 Implementable Strategic Alternatives 8 Criteria and Evaluation of Alternatives by Criteria 9 Recommendation and its Implementation 10 Limitations and Critique of Recommendation 10 Reference 12 Exhibits 13 Exhibit 1: External Assessment 13 Exhibit 2: Internal Analysis 15 Exhibit 3: Structure of strategic Alternatives 17 Exhibit 4: Assumption and Justification 19 Exhibit 5: NPV of Expansion Strategy 20 Exhibit 6: Action plan 21 External Assessment The retail brokerage industry enabled the individual consumers to invest in financial assets such as bonds and stocks. The industry has grown in the second half of the 20 century which has increased the individual ownership of financial assets and also incre ased the demand for brokerage services. A fundamental shift in the income level has also increased the responsibility of individuals for retirement’s assets. The brokerage business also grew with the rise in value of stock market. This increase made the stock much more attractive. With the baby boomer generation reaching the phase of retirement their financial concern has shifted from the accumulation of savings for retirement to the distribution of the assets. The retail brokerage industry showed growth opportunity in the field on technology and social factors. With an increased in the pension plans, people started to invest more giving rise to retail brokerage. Also with low substitute, the retail brokerage industry has the opportunity to grow and regain its place which it had made few years back. Opportunity lies with the adoption of new and latest technology along with moderate price, the retail brokerage industry has a wide opportunity to flourish in the world of online investment. This factor can also lead to threat because the number of online users has increased, missing out the attention by individual broker (Exhibit 1) However threat lies with the risk of entry of potential competitors which tends to increase the number of competitors and diversity of the products. Another weakness lies with the firm’s brand value which still stands behind in terms of brand awareness in the urban areas and with more of the clients using off the online services poses a huge threat for Edward Jones. Internal Assessment Edward Jones is a brokerage firm and serves only individual consumers and has segmented customers based on three criteria, retires preretirees and the small business owners. Edward Jones became the fourth largest broker