Assignment:
Within the Discussion Board area, write 600 to 800 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
You talk with Mike and Tiffany at lunch. "You've done some great research and brought up some good ideas to implement in the presentation," you say. "There is one element that we are missing."
"One of the most important aspects of the strategy: our competitors," Tiffany states.
"I've already done some analysis, and there are many in the global market. It seems like there are several office furniture companies thriving, but not as many custom furniture manufacturers," Mike elaborates.
"Well, we need to provide the board with some solid competitors. I'll work on finding our top two," you say. Complete the following:
1. Who are your top 2 global competitors in the market?
2. Provide a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis for each competitor.
3. Why are they direct competitors?
4. What is their competitive advantage?
5. Could you form a cooperative strategy with any of the competitors?
6. What strategies could you use to build a competitive market profile?
7. What is balanced scorecard?
Deborah enters your office, and you notice that she looks apprehensive. "Hi, Deborah. What's up?" you ask, hoping that nothing is wrong.
"Well, your team is doing an excellent job researching, and you've been keeping me up-to-date on your findings. My concern is that we are approaching this from a narrow-minded approach."
"How so?" You ask. You are puzzled. "Our team has been looking at every aspect of the company and considering both internal and external pros and cons."
"We need your findings put into some kind of management system so we can really see where we are headed regarding our global expansion. I think we need to cover our bases here. Please report back to me next week with your thinking put into a framework."
Complete the following:
1. A balanced scorecard suggests that we view the organization from four perspectives (the learning & growth perspective, the business process perspective, the customer perspective, and the financial perspective). Briefly discuss these four perspectives analyzing what each means to your organization? Based on this analysis:
2. What other strategies would be a good fit for your company profile?
3. Provide a brief overview of these strategies.
4. Why is it important to have more than one strategy in mind when pursuing global expansion?
5. The materials found in the M.U.S.E. may help you with this assignment such as the audio file Choosing a Strategy. This file provides real-world experience that may help you with this assignment. In addition to your textbook material, here are a few resources that may help you learn more about the basics of the balanced scorecard:
- https://balancedscorecard.org/Resources/About-the-Balanced-Scorecard
- https://ap-institute.com/kpi-white-papers/what-is-a-modern-balanced-scorecard.aspx
Please submit your assignment.
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.
You decide that Deborah has brought up another good point that should have been discussed in the beginning of the project. You make a note to add this to a list of project management ideas to help make future projects go smoother.
Complete the following:
- What other strategies would be a good fit for your company profile?
- Provide a brief overview of these strategies.
- Why is it important to have more than one strategy in mind when pursuing global expansion?