You will need to thoroughly understand the environment into which you are considering expanding. One of the first tests of a companys strategy is, how well does it fit considering the companys situation? The companys situation is largely composed of its external environment (industry and competitive environment in which it operates) and internal environment (companys resources and organizational capabilities).

1. For the external portion of the assignment, you will conduct a PESTEL Analysis for an "Accounting firm" to evaluate the external environment

1. Political factors
2. Economic conditions
3. Technological factors
4. Sociocultural factors
5. Environmental forces
6. Legal and regulatory factors

2. Then list the major resources and capabilities of your Accounting company and identify whether your resources meet the VRIN criteria:

1. Is the resource or capability competitively valuable?
2. Is the resource or capability raresomething rivals lack?
3. Is the resource or capability inimitable or hard to copy?
4. Is the resource or capability vulnerable to substitution from different types of resources and capabilities?

3. Finally, you will conduct a SWOT analysis for your Accounting company identifying the key strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities.