Assignment 1: External Environment Analysis
Purpose: This
assignment is the first of three assignments.
You will use the tools and apply concepts learned in this and previous
business courses to demonstrate an understanding of how organizations develop
and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a
competitive market.
Monitoring competitors’ performance is a key aspect of
performing an external environment analysis.
This assignment provides you with the opportunity to evaluate the
competitive position of one of the organizations listed below and integrate
that information in an External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix and Competitive
Profile Matrices (CPM).
Instructions:
NOTE: All submitted
work is to be your original work (only your work). You may not use any work from
another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to
learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper
citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (You
are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list
only).
Step 1: Preparation
for the Assignment
Before you begin to create the PowerPoint, read the
following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA
requirements. Not reading this
information will lead to a lower grade.
Use the grading rubric while completing the assignment. Refer back to the rubric to ensure you have
met the requirements.
Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use
them in this assignment.
You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct
quotes. To learn how to paraphrase,
review this link:
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.
In completing this assignment, you are required to support
reasoning or conclusions using in-text citations using page or paragraph
numbers and a reference list. Note that
that both in-text citation and reference list are required.
No books are allowed other than the course eBook.
Step 2: How to Set Up
the PowerPoint Presentation
Create a PowerPoint Presentation. The final product will be no longer than 20
slides including the title page and reference page. You will use the note section of the
PowerPoint to discuss, explain and support the reasoning and conclusions for
the information presented in each slide.
The expectation is that what is presented is more than a few sentences.
Step 3: External
Analysis
After reading the course material in the first three weeks,
you will perform an external analysis on an industry where a company from the
list below operates and competes. You
will select one of these companies to complete the analysis.
BYD Co. Ltd (HKSE:1211.HK]
Pacific Ethanol Rg (PEIX)
Sun Power [SPWR]
Graphene 3D Lab Inc (TVX:GGG]
Focus on factors related to the company’s industry and the
environment that it and its competitors make. The factors to measure are those
identified in a SWOT, five Forces, PESTEL, EFE, and CPM.
In completing the assignment, you will perform research on a
selected company, its industry, and its competitors.
Step 4: Complete an External Environmental Analysis:
Use tools, concepts and information from your own research
to perform an external analysis of the company’s environment. Include the following:
Company overview
Industry analysis
Competitive analysis:
[Use the company’s closest competitors plus the selected company.]
Techniques Analysis:
PESTEL, Five Forces, OT from SWOT, EFE, and CPM.
Trends: Discuss trends significant to the industry and
company and discuss key areas of uncertainty related to trends or events that
potentially could impact the company’s strategy.
Utilize the Notes section to support each slide
Step 5: Using the
grading rubric, ensure all required elements are represented in the
presentation.
Step 6: Proofread for organization, spelling, and grammar
and completeness.
Use the spell check in MS PowerPoint as a first measure;
Read through the PowerPoint aloud;
Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the
presentation.
Step 7: Submit the
presentation in the Assignment Folder
(The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a
student’s final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify
the assignment is the correct submission.
No exceptions will be considered by the instructor.)
Assignment 2: Internal Environmental Analysis/Strategy Analysis
and Strategy Selection (Week 6)
Purpose: This
assignment is the second of three assignments.
Students will use the tools and concepts learned in the course and in
previous business courses to develop an understanding of how organizations develop
and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a
competitive market.
Students also have the opportunity to review an
organization’s objectives and goals and the key functional areas within the
organization. Performing an internal
environment analysis helps assess a firm’s internal resources and capabilities
and plays a critical role in formulating strategy by identifying a firm’s
strengths to overcome weaknesses.
Students will then 1) assess long-term objectives, 2) identify and
evaluate alternative strategies and 3) recommend strategies for a company to
pursue.
Instructions:
In completing the report, students will use the chapters in
the eBook as a guide and perform research on the company from Assignment 1,
answer the required elements below in narrative form following the steps.
NOTE: All submitted
work is to be your original work (and only yours). You may not use any work
from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to
learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper
citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed.
(Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated
reference list only).
Step 1: Preparation
for the Assignment
Before you begin writing the report, you will read the
following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.
Read the grading
rubric for the assignment. Use the
grading rubric while writing the report to ensure all requirements are met that
will lead to the highest possible grade.
In writing this assignment, you will read and following:
Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words
such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you
or your” (second person writing). If
uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are
NOT to use contraction in writing this assignment.
You are expected to paraphrase and are NOT to use direct
quotes. You are expected to paraphrase,
which can be learned by reviewing this link:
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.
You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a
reference list. Cite the page or
paragraph number.
In writing the analysis, writing in the third person. What this means is that there are no words
such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you
or your” (second person writing). If
uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person
In writing this assignment, students are asked to support
the reasoning using in-text citations with page or paragraph number and a
reference list. If information is taken
from a source document, it has to be cited and referenced with a page or
paragraph number. A reference within a
reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice
versa. No books other than course
eBook. View the sample APA paper under
Week 4 content and How to Cite and Reference, also under Week 4 content. There are also resources located under Course
Content>>Student Toolbox.
In writing this assignment, students are expected to
paraphrase and not use direct quotes unless citing the mission statement of a
company. Learn to paraphrase by
reviewing this link:
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html
Read all course material for weeks 1 through 6 and perform
independent research to provide a comprehensive internal environmental
analysis, strategy analysis and selection.
Jot down key facts about the company. Consider making an outline to capture key
points in the paper.
Step 2: How to Set Up
the Plan
Create a double-spaced, 12-point font Word or Rich Text
Format (RTF) document. The final product
cannot be longer than 16 pages in length, which includes all tables and
matrices but excludes the title page and reference page. Those items identified in the technical
analysis should appear under the appropriate heading in the paper. Do no use an Appendix.
Review assignment grading rubric and periodically throughout
completing the report, review.
Follow the following
format using these topics as headings:
Title page with title, your name, the course, the
instructor’s name;
Company Background/Information
Internal Environmental Analysis
Strategic Analysis & Strategy Selection
Reference page
Under the
appropriate heading, include the following:
Background analysis including vision and mission statements
and objectives
Internal Environmental Analysis
Corporate Level Strategy
Business Unit Level Strategy
Functional Level Strategy
Explain how these strategies align with the company’s vision
and mission statements;
Assess the company’s interactions with its stakeholders, the
organizational structure, the organizational culture, and
communication/decision making among managers within human resources, marketing
production, operations, finance and accounting, R&D, and computer
information systems, which can be accomplished by viewing the company’s
website, interviews, and surveys.
Financial analysis for the last reported fiscal year:
Use the company’s income statement and balance sheet to
calculate key, but no less than 10 key financial ratios to the business. There must be a mix of the different ratios
so that the ratios do not all come from
the same category. Show the
calculations.
Using Excel or a Word table, record key financial ratios in
the first column;
Research the industry average financial ratios for the same
ratios above and record in a second column.
If you cannot find an industry average, then select another ratio;
[Ratios presented should not all come from the same category]
In the third column, indicate whether the financial ratio is
a strength, a weakness or a neutral factor.
Explain the results and compare and contrast the company
financials to the industry.
Technique Analysis: develop and explain an IFE, BCG matrix,
Grand Strategy Matrix, and QSPM. The
expectation is not to copy from the Internet but to develop one’s own. The various tools are to appear in the
appropriate area of the paper and not in one section of the paper.
Strategy Analysis:
Identify and explain company strengths and weaknesses. Discuss
success factors and what the company must do to perform successfully in the
industry? Discuss what strategies would
allow the company to capitalize on its major strengths. Discuss strategies that would allow the
company to improve upon its major weaknesses
Generate a minimum of three possible alternative strategies
for the company;
Identify and discuss cultural factors that should be
considered in analyzing and choosing among the alternative strategies;
Prioritize and explain the selection of alternative
strategies
Recommend the best one or two strategies among the
alternative strategies and explain why these strategies are the best;
Step 3: Create an
introductory paragraph. The Introduction
should clearly and concisely convey the main points of the assignment’s
requirements. Review the following website to learn how to write an
introductory paragraph:
http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html
Step 4: Write a
summary paragraph. A summary paragraph
restates the main idea(s) of the essay.
Make sure to leave a reader with a sense that the essay is
complete. The summary paragraph is the
last paragraph of a paper.
Step 5: Using the
grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required
elements are presented.
Step 6: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues,
and third person writing.
Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;
Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the
paper;
Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing
Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6
areas that may need improvement.
Step 7: Submit the
report in the Assignment Folder (The
assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a student’s
final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify
the assignment is the correct submission.
No exceptions will be considered by the instructor.)
Assignment 3:
Strategic Plan (Group Assignment) (Week 8)
Phase 1: Assignment
Instructions:
NOTE: All submitted
work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another
student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to
learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper
citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed.
(Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated
reference list only).
This assignment is the last of three assignments. Students will use the tools and concepts
learned in the course and in previous business courses to develop an
understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish,
safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market.
This assignment is a group project. You will be placed into
groups consisting of no more than four students each. Groups will be assigned early, and the expectation
is that the groups will work on the various parts of the assignment as relevant
content is covered throughout the course.
The group will act as a self-directed team, and will therefore determine
its own leadership, timetable, task list, guidelines for communication, goals,
and so forth. As an individual, you are expected to participate fully in the
project.
You will actively participate in completing the assignment
and group members will receive the same group grade. However, free-riders who contribute little
will receive a different grade than the group grade at the discretion of the
instructor. If you fail to contribute to
the project, a zero for the assignment
will be assigned.
Throughout the course, you have learned about the strategic
management and have practiced the various stages through the completion of
assignments and learning activities. In
phase 1 of this final project, you will work in a group to create a strategic
plan and present the plan in a professional manner. The plan requires a paper submitted to the
Assignment Folder.
You will perform a strategic plan on a company, from the
list provided below. However,
instructors may elect to assign a company on the list or of his or her choosing
or one of their own as long as previous companies provided in the course are
not used. Starbucks, Walmart, Amazon and
Apple may not be used.
ABB LTD (NYSE: ABB)
Intervac, Inc. (IVAC)
Progressive Gaming International (PGIC)
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN)
Patrick Industries, Inc. (PATK)
The Chemours (CC)
Duke Energy Corp (DUK)
Altra Industrial Motion Corp (AIMC)
In completing the assignment, you will perform research on
the company provided, answer the questions below in narrative form and follow
the steps provided below.
Step 1: Preparation
for the Assignment
In writing this assignment, you will read and do the
following:
Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the plan
to ensure all requirements are met.
Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words
such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you
or your” (second person writing). If
uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are
NOT to use contraction in writing this assignment.
You are expected to paraphrase and are NOT use direct
quotes. You are expected to paraphrase,
which can be learned by reviewing this link:
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.
You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a
reference list. Cite the page or
paragraph number.
You may use the resources from the course and from your
research. You may not use books and page
and paragraph numbers must be used.
Read all course material and perform independent research to
provide a comprehensive strategic plan.
Step 2: How to Set Up
the Plan
Create a double-spaced, 12-point font Word or Rich Text
Format (RTF) document. The final product
will be no more than 20 pages in length excluding the title page and reference
page. Write clearly and concisely.
Follow this format for the comprehensive strategic plan:
Title page with title, your name, the course, the
instructor’s name;
introduction
vision and mission
background organization
industry
analysis
competitive analysis
financial analysis – not copied data from internet
technique analysis – IFE, EFE, CPM, BCG matrix, Grand Strategy Matrix, and QSPM
alternative strategy generation
SWOT analysis
strategy and prioritization selection
action plan for implementation
evaluative plan
Reference page
Step 3: Create an
introductory
Step 4: Develop the plan:
Identify strategies;
Discuss strategies used at corporate, business and function
levels using the concepts learned in the course;
Recommend specific strategies and long-term objectives;
Recommend procedures for strategy review and evaluation;
Use frameworks and tools discussed throughout the course.
Step 5: Identify
strategy recommendations using the following format for the formulation of
strategies.
View Strategy Content Guidelines.
Goal (The desired outcomes to be achieved)
Objective (Measurable milestone toward accomplishing the
Goal)
Strategy (The approach used to achieve the Goal)
Tactic (A specific activity undertaken to implement the
Strategy)
Review this resource to differentiate between strategic
planning and operational planning: strategy versus tactics
Step 6: Using the
grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required
elements are presented.
Step 7: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues,
and third person writing.
Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;
Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the
paper;
Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing
Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6
areas that may need improvement.
Step 8: Submit the
paper in the Assignment Folder (The
assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a student’s
final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify
the assignment is the correct submission.
No exceptions will be considered by the instructor.)
Assignment 3 Phase 2
Peer Assessment
This semester you worked with other students on preparing
and presenting a comprehensive case analysis. Please rate your team members on
the relative contributions made by each person in preparing Phase 1. Your
ratings are confidential and anonymous. Be honest on this assessment. The
faculty member does not have input into the evaluation. Failure to submit the peer evaluation will result
in a zero for the student.
The form for this exercise will be posted in the classroom
as an excel document. You will submit the completed form in your Assignment
Folder. The grade for the Peer Assessment derives from the members of the group
and not the faculty member.
Look for the form that can be downloaded under Week 8.
Using the downloaded form, list all the members of your
group excluding yourself. Then grade the performance of each group member using
scale provided:
Enter your name :
Enter your team members’ names in the spaces provided below,
one name at the top of each column
Team Members
Input Name
Input Name
Input Name
Input Name
Input Name
Ratings (Rate each factor below on a 1-3 scale)
Present and on time for all online meetings
Demonstrated a spirit of team work and cooperation
Contributed useful ideas
QUANTITY of work performed
QUALITY of work performed
Met all commitments to the team
TOTAL SCORE
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
Scale
3
Consistently and frequently added a high level of value
2.4
Often added value
1.8
A marginal performer who did not consistently participate or
add value
1.2
A poor performer who rarely added value
0.6
Did not participate
