Read carefully

d. Identify the analysis methods that will provide insights into the strategic and technical context required for long-term success of the project.

e. Establish the goals for the analysis work that needs to be done.

f. Determine the questions that, when answered, would provide you the insights you believe you need to know in order to solve the problem or capitalize on the opportunity at the heart of your project.

g. Deduce the measures you would use to assess the results of your analysis and decide the answers to your questions.

h. Perform the analysis, iteratively refining your work, until you have answered your questions.

i. Write the report based on your results.

j. Reflect on what you have produced. Does the deliverable you have produced truly demonstrate your capabilities? If you are not proud of this work, take more time and refine/polish it.

Submit the deliverable. (Remember, you can refine the proposal, but you need to engage and gain the approval of your stakeholders.)

Contextual Analysis Report

Name:

Date:

Project Title:

Faculty Advisor:

A. Select one of the project options below, answer its questions, and remove the other(s).

Option 1: Project relating to Problem Solving in an Existing Organization

Targeting this portion of the deliverable to 600 to 900 words in size (two to three pages), develop an analytical framework that you propose to use for conducting your internal organizational analysis.

Respond to the following questions:

1. What are some of the key areas of internal organizational functioning that are most relevant to my project? How do I define each of these areas and why have I chosen them?

2. What strategy am I going to use for my root cause analysis?

3. What kinds of data do I need to collect and from whom? (I.e., use of interviews, customer metrics, other business metrics, organizational documentation, focus groups etc.)

4. What kinds of data analysis techniques will be applied? (e.g., statistics, financial analysis, qualitative analysis etc.)

Option 2: Entrepreneurial Projects

If you intend to work on an entrepreneurial plan, your analysis should respond to the following questions with answers in the 600 to 900-word range (two to three pages):

1. What specific kinds of organizational capabilities will be needed to launch my business and take it to an operational capacity? This would include an analysis of core competencies, staffing requirements, leadership, processes for testing your product, IP resources, systems and policies and partnerships agreements with key stakeholders etc. Note that the 7S model is useful in terms of this kind of organizational analysis.

2. What are my initial assumptions about my financial needs in the startup and growth acceleration stages of my business? (Note that you will perfect this analysis of your financial status in the coming weeks but here you are trying to establish an initial benchmark and identify important questions for further research).

3. What kind of personal leadership capacities will be needed to launch and sustain your entrepreneurial vision?

B. Place the report based on your contextual analysis here.

This portion of your deliverable should be 1,200 to 1,500 words (four to five pages) in length.

Key Stakeholders

Customer Demographics

Customer analysis can be vast and complicated. Some of the important areas that a company

analyzes includes: [5]

•Demographics

•Advertising most suitable for the demographic

•Market size and potential growth

•Customer wants and needs

•Motivation to buy the product

•Distribution channels (online, retail, wholesale, etc.)

•Quantity and frequency of purchase

•Income level of customer Collaborators

Collaborators are useful for businesses as they allow for an increase in the creation of ideas, as well as an increase in the likelihood of gaining more business opportunities. Common collaborators:

Agencies: Agencies are the middlemen of the business world. When businesses need a specific

worker who specializes in the trade, they go to a recruitment agency.

Suppliers: Suppliers provide raw materials that are required to build products. There are 7 different types of Suppliers: Manufacturers, wholesalers, merchants, franchisors, importers and exporters, independent crafts people and drop shippers. Each category of suppliers can bring a different skill and experience to the company.

Distributors: Distributors are important as they are the 'holding areas for inventory'. Distributors can help manage manufacturer relationships as well as handle vendor relationships.

Partnerships: Business partners would share assets and liabilities, allowing for a new

source of capital and skills.

Businesses must be able to identify whether the collaborator has the capabilities needed to help run the business as well as an analysis on the level of commitment needed for a collaborator-business relationship.

Key Suppliers

Identify these key stakeholders.

Then analyze the ways in which this stakeholder influences the competitive performance of the industry or firm in question. How do they help or hinder performance? Force Field Analysis can be useful tool to organize your analytical conclusions.

Simply set up two lists: (1) Factors helping the organization to be competitive and (2) factors that hinder their performance.

Key Distributors

Identify these key stakeholders.

Then analyze the ways in which this stakeholder influences the competitive performance of the industry or firm in question. How do they help or hinder performance? Force Field Analysis can be useful tool to organize your analytical conclusions.

Simply set up two lists: (1) Factors helping the organization to be competitive and (2) factors that hinder their performance.

Key Partners

Identify these key stakeholders.

Then analyze the ways in which this stakeholder influences the competitive performance of the industry or firm in question. How do they help or hinder performance? Force Field Analysis can be useful tool to organize your analytical conclusions.