SP 4

Strategy in Practice Assignment #4

Chapter 6

Strengthening a Company’s Competitive Position: Strategic Moves, Timing, and Scope of Operations

Some of the topics covered in this week’s chapter include vertical integration, outsourcing, strategic alliances and partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions. For this week’s Strategy in Practice assignment, please find a contemporary news article, from a reliable source, that discusses one of these topics as relates to a current event. For example, you could select an article that discusses the merging of two firms or a story about a firm’s outsourcing production to another company, either domestically or internationally. Spend at least half a page summarizing the article and at least one page explaining how it ties into the material presented in Chapter 6. Provide, in the Works Cited section, the full citation for your selected article (including the URL, if applicable). The article that you select must be one that was published this calendar year.

Fully discuss your selected topic, and include as much pertinent information as necessary, both from the text and from your own research, to thoroughly describe the companies involved and to address both the advantages and disadvantages of the strategic choice discussed in the article.

Remember that your article must be current and your discussion must be comprehensive.