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Course Project Strategic Management

© 2015. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without express written permission. Students are expected to maintain the integrity of the assignment by refraining from reproducing or posting the assignment or their completed work where it can be viewed by current or future students.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Use strategic management tools to evaluate an organization’s strategic position 2. Evaluate the role strategic management plays in organizational performance 3. Assess the elements of the strategic management process including formation,

implementation, and evaluation

BACKGROUND INFORM ATION

You are employed by Strategic Management Consultants (SMC), an international firm that specializes in conducting analyses for public, private, non-profit, and entrepreneurial ventures (recent start-ups). SMC has been hired to initiate a review of each of the organizations noted below. This review will include a full analysis of the organization along with recommendations for how to proceed, presented in a report and presentation for the clients.

Your manager has offered you the opportunity to choose which of these organizations you wish to work with. When your analysis is completed, SMC has promised the client that you will present your findings and offer recommendations for future direction that the organization may wish to consider to help achieve growth and other strategic goals.

PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

Report Select one of the organizations from the list below. The organization you analyze can be a publicly traded company or an entrepreneurial venture (start-up).

Public

Entrepreneurial Ventures

• Google • Amazon • Zappos

• GoPro HD Cameras (portable sports and activity camera systems)

• Jambox (wifi speakers) • Tesla Motors (electric cars)

After selecting your organization, write a 20-page company analysis that includes all of the following sections:

Course Project Strategic Management

© 2015. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without express written permission. Students are expected to maintain the integrity of the assignment by refraining from reproducing or posting the assignment or their completed work where it can be viewed by current or future students.

1. Company History and Current Overview In this section, include the background of the organization based on your research. This will include basic information such as product, organization size, years in existence, and any other foundational information a person would need to know to understand your analysis of the organization.

2. Evaluation of the Mission, Vision, and Value Statements Include the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements along with your evaluation of them. If the organization is missing any of these statements, then draft the missing statement(s) for the company. (You may consider explaining to the CEO why it’s crucial to have each of these statements during your presentation.)

3. SWOT Analysis Include at least three strengths and weaknesses and three opportunities and threats, as well as your analysis as to why something is a strength/weakness or opportunity/threat. Be sure to also assess how each strength relates to potential opportunities and how each weakness relates to potential threats.

4. Industry and Competitive Analysis Identify and describe the organization’s industry, which will include a comparison between the organization and at least two major direct competitors, as well as an identification of any indirect competitors. Also include industry history and current trends, current and potential customer profiles, and the organization’s differential advantage.

5. Organizational Growth Strategies

Based on your analysis throughout the report, present three growth strategies that the organization might consider. Be sure to explain why you think each strategy is appropriate for the organization.

6. Strategic Recommendations and Implementation Beyond growth, what strategies would you recommend the organization implement? Give the organization three strategies based on your research, explain why you think it should implement these strategies, and provide guidance on how the organization could implement your strategic recommendations.

Research the organization you have chosen by thoroughly reviewing its website for any information that will help you understand the nature of the business and answer many of the questions posed above (vision, mission, value statement, finances, competitive advantage, etc.). Use additional resources to obtain marketing, financial, industry, and company information that will inform your analysis. You may want to conduct interviews with people who work at this company or in the industry as well as review articles from reputable news sources, trade industry magazines (if available) and financial reporting and news sources. Use your best search techniques to find sufficient information about the organization to prepare your report

Course Project Strategic Management

© 2015. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without express written permission. Students are expected to maintain the integrity of the assignment by refraining from reproducing or posting the assignment or their completed work where it can be viewed by current or future students.

and presentation. SMC is counting on your excellent strategic analysis skills to impress the client. They know that you will exceed their expectations! The 20-page report must be written using APA style and should use six external reputable resources (the textbook can count as one). Presentation Once you have completed your analysis and prepared your recommendations, SMC has scheduled a presentation for the client that you will be expected to lead. Because the client organization’s headquarters is located in another city, you will not give your presentation in person. Instead, record yourself giving the presentation. Your presentation must include a 15- slide PowerPoint that provides highlights of your report and covers each of the topic areas noted above.

USEFUL RESOURCES Business and Scholarly Research Sites

• 10K Wizard: http://www.tenkwizard.com/ • Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com • Business and Industry (Dialog File 9):

library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0009.html • Competitive Intelligence Center (Factiva and Fuld & Company):

http://www.factiva.com/cicenter/ • DefenseData: http://www.defensedata.com • Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.doaj.org/ • Dow Jones Business Directory: www.bd.dowjones.com • Dow Jones Interactive: http://www.djinteractive.com • Dun & Bradstreet (D&B): http://www.dnb.com • Edgar: edgar.sec.gov • FreeEdgar: www.FreeEdgar.com • Gartner: http://www.gartner.com • Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/ • Guidestar: www.guidestar.org • Hoovers: http://www.hoovers.com • Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/ • Michael Porter: ils.unc.edu/daniel/237/Competition.html • Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) EDGAR database:

http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm • Standard & Poor's: www.standardpoor.com • SWOT: www.marketing-intelligence.co.uk/aware/services/swot.htm

Course Project Strategic Management

© 2015. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without express written permission. Students are expected to maintain the integrity of the assignment by refraining from reproducing or posting the assignment or their completed work where it can be viewed by current or future students.

• Wall Street Journal: public.wsj.com or www.wsj.com

PROJECT SUBMISSION

1. A title page is not required for project submissions. Because evaluators do not see student names when reviewing student work, it is important that students not include any personal identifiers in their project submissions.

2. If your project requires a video, you should post the video to a free video hosting site like www.youtube.com, www.photobucket.com, or another free web hosting site. The following website maintains a list of video hosting sites: http://www.videohostings.com. In the written materials that you submit as part of the assignment, you should include the title of the video and a link for the evaluator to use to grade your submission. Please make sure that the privacy settings on your video are set to allow third parties to view it.

3. When you are ready, click on the Upload Files button in the Project tab of your course to submit your assignment. Your project should be graded within 7 days. Please contact your instructor if this is not the case.

4. Your assignment will not be returned to you, so keep a copy for your files.