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.)
