Capstone Strategy Playbook for Exceptional Results: Description of the Playbook

· What is your winning aspiration?  (What to you stand for and believe deeply in?)

· Where will you play?  (Who will you serve, and who will either help or compete against you?)

· How will you win? (How will you create unique value?)

· Which capabilities must be in place (to win)?  (What skills, competencies and capabilities do you need now, and in the future?)

· What management systems are required?  (Do you have a supporting culture, structure, systems, and appropriate measures to implement a strategy?)

The final compilation of your “Strategy Playbook for Exceptional Results” will be tangible evidence that you can put your MBA education to use and it will provide you a template for how you can help your current organization, or one you hope to work with in the future, achieve exceptional results.

How will I Develop the Playbook?

Your playbook will be written and developed throughout the entire course—not all in one week!  The process for building your playbook is the same each week, although the content of analysis will vary week-to-week.  Each week you will examine and analyze a given case study, and you will then identify key insights from your analysis, and apply lessons from the case study, the week’s required readings, and readings you identify from the MBA Program Capstone Bibliography, into your Playbook entry for the week.

The table below provides an overview of what you will be analyzing each week:

Strategy Playbook Elements

What Will be in the Final Draft of the Playbook?

In week eight you will put together all of the week-by-week analysis elements into a single appendix.  Then you will extract out the core – most important and interesting elements and recommendations from those analyses. From that core, you will write an Executive Summary and develop a Strategy Playbook diagram.  These will be the two primary components of the Playbook, followed by the analysis appendix and all your references.

So, the Playbook will consist of:

· A cover page. This should include a title for your strategy (which becomes the title of your playbook), your name, the date, and the course number and section and name of the faculty member.

· A written Executive Summary that Provides Key Highlights of your Playbook.

· A Strategy Map or other Playbook Summary Diagram.

· An Analysis Appendix: This will be comprised of your synthesized, integrated work from your previous Playbook entries.

What Purpose Does the Executive Summary for the Playbook Serve?

The Executive Summary for your Playbook is where you, in a single page (of single-spaced writing), explain to your audience (senior executives at the company you are studying) what you have found in your analysis that is most interesting, and what it means in terms of what the future goals, strategies and initiatives for the company should be.  This is very difficult writing, and it should relate directly to both your appendix information, and your Strategy Playbook Diagram or Table.

Do I just Re-use or Cut/Paste my Prior Playbook Entries into the Final Playbook?

No, the appendix should be an integrated, improved version of all the entries you have made during the course.  Since strategic thinking is an iterative (it repeats itself), non-linear way of thinking (what you do at the end might mean you re-evaluate and revise, analyses you made earlier), your playbook entries in the appendix should all align with one another and reflect all improvements you have made based on peer and faculty feedback. It would not be good to just do simple cut and paste from your original drafts, as then the appendix would not flow as if it was all written as one piece of analysis—which it should be.

What will the Format of the Final Playbook be? GENERAL FORMAT: all sections should be single spaced.  Start with a cover page and then start page numbering with the Executive Summary. Continue page numbering through the very end, including the appendix.  References should be included after the appendix and follow APA 6th format. Note: Your paper should have a cover page with a title for the recommended strategy that describes the strategy, like "Maru-C" ("Encircle Caterpillar"), which was a large scale strategy that Komatsu strove for in the 1980's.