International Business Environment

1. Perform a STEEP analysis to understand the general environment facing Great Lakes. How will Great Lakes be affected by external factors? 2. Use Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze the lead additives industry in the US. Given this analysis, is the industry attractive or unattractive? 3. Using the 3I’s framework determine Great Lakes’ immediate, impending and invisible competitors. How does Great Lakes measure up against these competitors? 4. What are the main capabilities of Great Lakes? Does Great Lakes have a core competence? 5. Create a SWOT analysis to understand Great Lakes’ strengths and weaknesses. Does Great Lakes have a sustainable competitive advantage in the additives industry? If so, what is the source? What about Great Lakes’ evolution and current business strategy may pose problems going forward? 6. After reviewing Exhibit 2 regarding Great Lakes’ goal, vision, mission, and values do you believe that TEL is misaligned with Great Lakes’ statements? Why or why not? 7. Evaluate the options that Ellie Shannon faces with regards to Great Lakes’ Tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) business. Discuss the pros and cons of each. What is your recommendation for Great Lakes (justify using information from the case and after having considered alternatives)?

Describe the main capabilities of Great Lakes.
The case study revealed three options for future course of action. First, the company may keep on producing the same materials despite the claims of environmentalists and other critics. So far, there have been no requirements to change or stop the production and current operations were to remain perfectly legal. The second option was to pay attention to the critics and start a reputation management policy in which the company will stop producing the controversial lead but to a high financial cost. Nonetheless, because of the big noise out there about the safety of the product and the negative impact it has on the environment, it