Integrative project analysis - Business Plan
aslesha1612
Templates.rtfMG 800 Winter 2021
8
Course Description
This is the capstone course of the MBA program. The course uses the case method approach to demonstrate the integration of core business disciplines with formal analysis of an organization's macro and industry environment; mission and goals; and strategy formulation, implementation, and control. The purpose of the course is to give students the opportunity to organize and integrate what they have learned in the MBA program about various business topics and to utilize this knowledge in the analysis of complex business problems. Students engage in a competition-based strategy simulation that is delivered online. Class members are divided into teams and assigned to run a company that competes head-to-head against companies run by other class members. The final project of the course allows students to demonstrate their proficiency of this integrated knowledge through submission and presentation of a business plan, a practicum, or a research project.
With a focus on strategic thinking, the course asks students to employ tactical skills learned throughout the program in achieving the strategic goal of the organization. Successful strategic management spans devising a strategic direction as well as implementing that strategy. Students will also review how to evaluate the organization’s progress and, if necessary, to adjust the strategic plan. The course may also include a general assessment (Peregrine) to identify how much practical knowledge the student has garnered during the MBA program.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What are the essential tools of strategic analysis, how are they used, and where to they fit into the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy?
What are the latest developments in the theory and practice of strategic management?
How does a manager successfully formulate, implement and execute business strategies in today’s market environments?
COURSE MATERIALS
- Text(s): Thompson, A.A. Jr.; Strickland, A.J.; and Gamble, J.E. (2012). Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage – Concepts and Cases. 20th edition. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York. ISBN: 978-0-077-72059-9
- The Wall Street Journal (available through the college library)
Learning Objectives
The course objective is to build the students’ proficiency in analyzing and evaluating business situations for their strategic implications and developing the students' ability to think creatively and engage others actively in discussions on strategic issues. In addition, students should develop an understanding of, and appreciation for the interrelations which exist in an organization as well as recognize current, and future, business strategies and policies. Based on these objectives, upon successfully completion of this course, students should be able to:
Analyze and develop business strategies and policies to solve business problems.
Demonstrate the ability to apply an analytical framework and approach for identifying, defining, and solving complex problems of the organization, which involves multiple aspects of its operations by conducting an organization audit of strategies and policies.
Demonstrate acquisition of a conceptual framework for studying, understanding, and evaluating the interrelationships of the functional activities and problems at various organizational levels.
Analyze an industry and its value chain.
Create a well-written case analysis which includes a defense of the student’s perspectives or recommendations to peers and instructors.
Apply acquired knowledge and tools of analysis to generate strategic recommendations (solutions) for varying problems within the organizational setting.
Analyze cases by carefully defining the central and secondary problems, evaluating alternative solutions, and choosing an alternative because of the systematic analysis.
Propose strategies and develop policies to implement the strategies chosen based on thorough analysis of problematic situations presented in case form.
Identify (diagnose and generate) potentially successful “offensive” and “defensive” strategic moves within the context of competitive forces and (internal and external) environmental factors.
Participating fully and cooperatively in team assignments by conducting an organization audit of strategies and policies to demonstrate an ability to perform effectively in a group setting.
FINAL GRADE
While the grading for each grading element will be done using a numerical scale from 0 to 100, the resulting final grade will be converted into the letter grading system using the following equivalence table:
COLLEGE GRADING SCALE
A
90-100
B+
87-89
B
80-86
C+
75-79
C
70-74
F
Less than 70
ASSESSMENT: The final grade will be based on the following:
GRADING ELEMENT
%
Explanation
Integrative Project: final document submission and presentation
30%
Integrative Project: final document submission and presentation of findings
SESSION NUMBERS, TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Session #
*Session Date
Topics
Chapter
1
What is Strategy and Why Is it Important?
1
2
What is Strategy and Why Is It Important? (Continued);
Charting A Company’s Direction: Vision and Mission, Objectives, and Strategy
1 & 2
3
Evaluating a Company’s External Environment
3
4
Evaluating a Company’s Resources
4
5
Generic Competitive Strategies
5
6
Strengthening a Company’s Competitive Position
6
7
Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets
7
8
Corporate Strategy
8
9
Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Sustainability, and Strategy
9
10
Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution
10
11
Managing Internal Operations
11
12
Corporate Culture and Leadership
12
13
Integrative Project Presentations begin
14
Integrative Project Presentations continue.
Course Wrap Up
*Assumes 14 meetings are scheduled. Changes may be made to accommodate the scheduler.
Description of Major Grading Elements
* Integrative Project: This is the central accomplishment of the course and of the entire MBA experience. Students employ all skills gained in the program to complete a sound MBA project. The current options for the course project are: a Business Plan, a Practicum, or a Research project. In all cases, students must employ sound analysis and strategic thinking. This counts for 30% of the total grade in the course.
Classroom Policies and Guidelines:
- Students are expected to act professionally. Professional behavior reflects basic expectations of employers. These include turning in work at the assigned time. Late papers will receive a lower grade. All work must show that the student has made a significant effort. This includes solving the business problem, a complete, well-written manuscript with a bibliography. Students working in teams must share the work assigned.
- Papers must apply concepts from the course and from the MBA program. This is a course on strategic management. Students are expected to take notes, keep up with assigned reading and apply ideas discussed in class. Papers that are not acceptable will be returned. Students must re-submit the paper in two weeks employing feedback provided by the Instructor.
- All papers must be typewritten, proofread, include page numbers and headers, show the student’s name, include a professional graduate-level bibliography and must show when a student is quoting from another source. Papers must exemplify MBA level work. Failure to do so prevents other students from discussing the case in class. Students who engage in plagiarism will receive an “F.”
- King Graduate School attendance policy: Students are expected to attend every class of every course in which they are registered. Each class meeting provides a unique opportunity for learning. While acknowledging the critical importance of class attendance, the College also recognizes that there are times when absence from class is unavoidable. More than two absences in a course will result in the reduction of the student’s final grade by a full letter (for example from A to B).
- Students are expected to refer to the Wall Street Journal every day and be prepared to participate in discussion and analysis. In addition, this is the first source to go to for information on case studies. Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference.
Class discussion – especially on Glo-bus and at the end of the course -- is very important. Keeping up with the assigned readings before class is essential.
Students who are advised to work with a Writing Tutor must do so and must provide a statement from the Tutor that they have worked with the student on the paper.
Classroom Etiquette: Students should act appropriately for a graduate business course, especially when making a presentation. When others are speaking, students are expected to show respect for the views of their colleagues. Do not text or check email during class. Since this course will begin online, students are expected to follow these guidelines, which are being applied in an online context.
The College’s Code of Academic and Scholarly Integrity and the Guidelines for Exemplary Practice which outlines our expectations for professional decorum.
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty Policy
“Plagiarism is the practice of claiming or implying original authorship of (or incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one's own without adequate acknowledgement. Plagiarism also includes:
- Copying from another student
- Copying from any source without showing that you are copying. If you wish to quote from a source, show that you are quoting.
- Failure to include your own (original) discussion and/or commentary with written or creative work from someone else even though you acknowledge the source(s).
If a student has committed plagiarism, s(he) will be assigned a grade of zero (or ‘F’) on the first such incident/assignment during the semester, and will be placed on probation, with written confirmation from the Dean. If a student commits plagiarism a second time, s(he) will immediately be assigned a final semester grade of ‘F’ for the course. Multiple occurrences of plagiarism may result in dismissal from the King Graduate School of Business.” Students must also avoid fabricating information, submitting the same work as other students, tampering with student records, gaining unauthorized access so as to gain unfair advantage and facilitating academic dishonesty.
If a student has been found to cheat on an exam, the student may be immediately dismissed from the King Graduate School.
Participation/Attendance Policy
Students are expected to attend class regularly and with punctuality.
***Once a student has exceeded two absences in this course, the final grade will be lowered by a full 10 points, i.e., by one letter grade. Students who are absent more than four times are encouraged to withdraw from the course. Late work will be accepted on or before the next class and will result in a drop of the grade by one level (A to B+).
Additional Resources
The college Library and the Research Center have various resources available for students. These include full access to the Wall St. Journal and Writing Tutors.
Tool(s): All the following documents can be found in ‘Course Tools’ in Blackboard.
Suggested Sources of Readings from the Popular Press: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fortune, Business Week, Forbes, Barron’s and local newspapers
Other Suggested Outside Reading from Business Related Journals/Magazines: Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company.
Internet Sources:
Small Business Administration:http://www.sba.gov/
Entrpreneur Magazine: http://www.entrepreneur.com
Inc. Magazine: http://www.inc.com/
FastCompany: http://www.fastcompany.com
THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN YOUR FINAL INTEGRATIVE PROJECT PAPER
Follow this template for Business Plan Project Option
Section #
Section
I
Executive Summary
II
Current Strategy
Vision Statement
Mission Statement
Value Proposition Statement
Company Description & Business model description
III
Industry Analysis and Trends (Incl. Five Forces, PESTEL, Strategic Mapping, Benchmarking, Driving Forces, etc.)
IV
Business Goals/Objectives [SMART goals and Balanced Score Card Approaches]
V
The Competition
VI
Marketing Plans and Strategies (Marketing Mix)
VII
Target Market [Profile(s) and Description(s)]
VIII
Strategic Position and Risk Assessment (incl. SWOT analysis; description of business risk and plan for reducing these risks)
IX
Recommendations for a Better Strategy; Keys to Success
X
Operations Plan
XI
Technology Plan
XII
Management and Organization
XIII
Community Involvement and Social Responsibility
XIV
Development, Milestones and Contingency/Exit Plan
XV
The Financials
- Financial Objectives
Sales and Expense Forecast
Break-even Analysis
Financial Control
Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis
- Income Statement: Annual
Income Statement: Three-Year Projection
Cash-Flow Projection: Monthly
Cash Flow: One-Year Projection
Balance Sheet: Annual
Balance Sheet: One-Year Projection
List and Sources of Funds
Assumptions Sheet
Follow this template for Practicum Project Option
Section #
Section
I
Executive Summary
II
Vision Statement
Mission Statement
Value Proposition Statement
Company Description & Business model description
III
Industry Analysis and Trends (Incl. Five Forces, PESTEL, Strategic Mapping, Benchmarking, Driving Forces, etc.)
IV
Business Goals/Objectives [SMART Goals and Balanced Score Card Approaches]
V
The Competition
VI
Marketing Plans and Strategies (Marketing Mix)
VII
Target Market [Profile(s) and Description(s)]
VIII
Situation Analysis: SWOT analysis; analysis and identification of issues or problems to be addressed in paper
IX
Strategic alternatives and recommendations on effectives solutions and strategies with supporting information
X
Operations Plan for strategy implementation
XI
Technology Plan for strategy implementation
XII
Management and Organization revisions for strategy execution
XIII
Community Involvement and Social Responsibility
XIV
Development, Milestones and Contingency/Exit Plan for Implementation of Recommendation(s)
XV
The Financials
- Overall Financial Objectives (and financial objectives related to proposed strategies
Sales and Expense Projections to support proposed recommendations
Financial Control
Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis
- Income Statement: Annual
Income Statement: Three-Year Projection
Cash-Flow Projection: Monthly
Cash Flow: One-Year Projection
Balance Sheet: Annual
Balance Sheet: One-Year Projection
List and Sources of Funds for strategy implementation
Assumptions Sheet
Follow this template for Academic Research Project Option
Section #
Section
I
Research Abstract
II
Introduction of Research Project: Background information and significance of research
III
Statement of research objectives including relevant questions or issues to be addressed; discussion of theoretical framework
IV
Literature Review and relevancy to research topic
V
Hypothesis discussion
VI
Methodology for Data Analysis
VI
Data Analysis and Interpretation
VII
Summary of major findings/results; generalizations based on systematic analysis of data
VIII
Summary of potential weaknesses and research findings
IX
Conclusions and suggestions for future research
X
References and Appendices
