management project

Analysis Part: Company Strategy Project Due Date and Time: On or before 11:59 pm of Monday June 10 as discussed in class. Where and How: ONE Member to upload ONLY one pdf file on Canvas. Group or Individual: One pdf file submission per group. What to put in Analysis Part: There is NOT ONE perfect way to prepare this Analysis Part – which is also going to be the first half of the Full Report. In fact, each group must have their unique write-up at the end. The contents will largely depend on (1) the creativity of the group, and (2) the company that the group chose to analyze. To give you a hint, as has been done in the class too, I am providing a list of some guidelines (not exhaustive and inclusive of each minute detail) that might help you –

• Table of Contents with section and subsection names and page numbers. For this, use the “Table of Contents” feature in Microsoft Word (or similar program) which auto updates the page number and section headers without you having to literally go back and forth on each editing. Maximum points that can be earned: 3 points.

• Statement of purpose. A crisp description of why you are doing this project and what all do you wish to accomplish through this work. A promise about what the reader should hope to find in the report. Which company did you choose to fulfill the promise stated above. Why was that company chosen by your group and how will this choice help you accomplish what you set out to! The tone of this section is to be framed as that of the student of my class. Approximate page length will be about 1⁄2 to 1 page. Maximum points that can be earned: 4 points. Write as consultant from hereafter.

• You may want to put a brief history about the company here. The history MUST provide all big/strategic decisions/moves made by the company in the past and how all those decisions have led the company into its current situation. Remember, you are writing this section to demonstrate to the readers (board, top managers, shareholders, me) that you are aware and you understand where the company is coming from and its past. Approximate page length will be about 2 pages. Maximum points that can be earned: 8 points.

• Write a connecting para here that will tell why you want to “analyze the situation of the company” now at this juncture in the report; and which situation (general, or industry, or internal, or competitive) are you going to analyze first and why. Maximum points that can be earned: 5 points.

• Next you need to write an analysis - in an order of your choosing - of (1) General External Environment, (2) Competitor Environment, (3) Internal Environment, (4)

Industry Environment. For more details on what is expected on each of these analyses, please go over to the next page. Maximum points that can be earned on each analysis: 10 points. Total maximum points that can be earned on all four analyses: 4 X 15 = 60 points. Matrix names should NOT be named as the sections but appropriate matrices are to be inserted in appropriate sections for correct analyses. Maximum points shall be earned only by those groups who provide appropriate WRITTEN justifications for the analysis. Such justifications refer to entries in matrices whether in text or number form. The analyses mentioned above DO NOT have to be in the above order.

• Your ordering of the analysis of each of the above environments must be justified by a connecting para at the end of each analysis and before the beginning of the next one. These connecting paras must tell what has been done in the previous analysis that necessitates the need to analyze the next type of environment at that point in the draft. Since there are 4 different analyses, there will be three such connecting paras in between the first analysis and the fourth one. Maximum points that can be earned on each connecting para: 5 points. Total maximum points that can be earned on connecting paras: 3 X 5 = 15 points.

• The document should be professional – uniform layout with 1-inch margin all sides, single line spacing, and Times New Roman 12 font throughout. You should not write the word “I” in the draft or report. This is a group work that needs to have “we” at all times. Citations are to be put in any one standard style of your choice. All citations must be entered as footnote on the same page where you have cited a source. Not complying with these directions will mean failing to get full points. Maximum points that can be earned: 5 points.

Grading: Maximum points that can be earned on the file submitted for Analysis Part is 100 points (please add all points above in case of any confusion). In addition, you will be doing a peer-ratings for contributions on Analysis Part. Every student’s score shall be: % Rating X Score out of 100 on Analysis Part. A link for doing peer ratings shall be shared with you over Canvas ONLY and you need to rate your group members on a Google Form. For Analysis Part, you MUST complete these ratings before 11:59 pm of March 6. Those members who will not do these peer ratings within the given time frame will earn 80% of the Analysis Part score. Please note that Google Forms record time stamp that shall serve as a proof as the time of your completion of ratings. The total points out of 100 will then be converted into 5% to count towards your overall grade. Analysis Part is a good opportunity to get feedback and have a substantive part on Company Strategy Project report completed at this stage of the semester. The better job you do at this stage, the less work to do later J

Brief Details on Analyzing different parts of Business Environment General External Environment – You must, with justification, identify the trends from General External Environment that influence the industry of the focal company and thus influence the focal company too. You need to give an account of how and why these trends matter. This needs to be tied into the External Factor Evaluation Matrix. You must identify the Opportunities and Threats mapped to the trends from General External Environment and then construct the full EFE matrix. While you describe the EFE matrix, you must justify the weights and ratings that you have assigned to the O and T in the matrix. You must conclude the section by specifying what that EFE matrix brought to the table. Internal Environment – You need to do a value chain analysis along wherein you identify the core activities and support activities and relevant resources and capabilities. You want to also assess which of the resources and capabilities are Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non- Substitutable (VRIN Model). This will help you decide and state whether the advantage that the focal organization has is short term, or long term, or very long term. Also, you must give details on how Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix was constructed defending the weights and ratings clearly. You must state what the VRIN, and the IFE matrix brought to the analysis here. Industry Environment – For this analysis, you need to use Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. You have already scored all five forces in the industry in which the focal organization is. You not only need to insert that chart here in this part but also write a paragraph each for the five forces defending their extent. In the end, after writing about the five forces, you need to sum up with another paragraph wherein you describe with reasons why you think the industry is highly attractive, moderately attractive, attractive, unattractive. Competitive Environment – You must start by specifying the industry to which the focal organization belongs. Next, you must tell with proper reasons which other organizations do you deem to be three viable competitors of the focal firm. This part of the analysis must be completed by putting in the Competitor Profile Matrix with reasons and explanation about how you chose the CSFs within the CPM and why you assigned the ratings that you gave to each company. You must end this part by stating what learning (for the focal firm and its competitors) did you gain by doing this analysis. Please note that the order in which I have mentioned these environments is NOT necessarily the order in which you write them.