a) What type of strategies is the organization following? At the corporate level? At the Business level?
b) What are the key success factors in this industry? (a key success factor KSF is a requirement or a constraint imposed by the industry to be successful. It is often customer-related, but not always).
c) What are the fundamental trends of the industry that could potentially reshape the business game?
d) How could you assess pertinently performance in the industry and for this specific organization? Which indicators and metrics would you use?

e) Before starting the data collection, brainstorm on a team basis about what could be the main competences and core competences first, in that industry –as a response to the industry KSF- and, secondly, in the organization.

The team must explore various sources of information (internet, website, articles, webinars, conferences, organization’s external communication, etc.) to capture the R&C systems that the organization possesses or use.
Because external sources of information do not obligatorily share the terminology we use for resources and capabilities, the team can focus on the existing information that relates to terms such as competitive advantage, success, competition and rivals, trends in the environment affecting the organization, strengths and weaknesses of the organization, strategic vision, bases of future strategies, etc. These concepts and facts are close to the R&C system.