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.)
