Homework: Strategy Selection, Implementation & Evaluation
Purpose:
This project is the last of four projects. You will generate a pool of alternative strategies, evaluate these alternative strategies, and select the best strategy using the tools and concepts learned throughout the course. You will develop implementation plans, evaluative plans to control the implementation process, and plan for post-evaluation measures. You will also draw from previous business courses to understand how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish, safeguard, and sustain their position in a competitive market.
Skill Building:
In this project, you build many different skills, including research, critical thinking, writing, and developing analytical skills related to various financial analysis tools and strategy tools used in business. In addition, you will select optimal strategies, design how to implement them, and evaluate the implementation process of the optimal strategies.
Outcomes Met With This Project:
1. Examine the impact of ethical decision making, social responsibility, stakeholder analysis, and corporate governance on organizations and society;
2. Utilize a set of useful analytical skills, tools, and techniques for analyzing a company strategically;
3. Integrate ideas, concepts, and theories from previously taken functional courses including, accounting, finance, market, business, and human resource management;
4. Analyze and synthesize strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to generate, prioritize, and implement alternative strategies to revise a current plan or write a new plan and present a strategic plan;
5. Evaluate the outcomes of identified strategies to determine their success and impact on short-term and long-term objectives.
Instructions:
Step I: Course Material and Research
You must research information about the focal company and the environment for this project. You are accountable for using the course materials to support the ideas, reasoning, and conclusions made. Course material's use goes beyond defining terms and explains the 'why and how' of a situation. Using one or two in-text citations from the course materials and then relying on Internet source material will not earn many points on the homework. A variety of source material is expected, and what is presented must be relevant and applicable to the topic being discussed. Avoid merely making statements but close the loop of the discussion by explaining how something happens or why something happens, which focuses on importance and impact. In closing the loop, you will demonstrate the ability to think clearly and rationally, showing an understanding of the logical connections between the ideas presented from the research, the course material, and the question(s) being asked.
Note: Your report is based on the research results performed and not on any prepared documentation. What this means is that you will research and draw your own conclusions that are supported by the research and the course material rather than the use of any source material that puts together any of the tools or techniques whether from the Internet, for-pay websites, or any pre-prepared document, video or source material. A zero will be earned for not doing your own analysis.
Success: The analysis is based on research and not opinion. You are not making recommendations, and you will not attempt to position the focal company in a better or worse light than other companies within the industry merely because you are completing an analysis on this particular company. The analysis must be based on factual information. Any conclusions drawn have to be based on factual information rather than leaps of faith. To ensure success, as stated above, you are expected to use the course materials and research on the focal company's global industry and the focal company. The opinion does not earn credit, nor does it use external sources when course materials can be used. It is necessary to provide explanations (the why and how) rather than making statements. Avoid stringing one citation after another, as doing so does not show detailed explanations.
Step II: Research
In completing the report, you will use the chapters in the eBook as a guide and perform research on the same company as in Projects 1 and 2. Answer the required elements below in narrative form following the steps.
Note: Your report is based on the research results performed and not on any prepared documentation. What this means is that you will research and draw your own conclusions that are supported by the research and the course material rather than the use of any source material that puts together any of the tools or techniques whether from the Internet, for-pay websites, or any document, video or source material. A zero will be earned for not doing your own analysis.
Library Resources
On the main navigation bar in the classroom, select Resources and then select Library. Select Databases by Title (A - Z). Select M from the alphabet list, and then select Mergent Online. Dun and Bradstreet's Hoovers Database, among others, is another excellent source for competitors and industry information. You are not to depend on one resource to complete the analysis. Moreover, it is impossible to complete Porter's Five Forces, a competitive analysis, or an OT by using only the course material.
You should not be using obscure articles, GlassDoor, or Chron, or similar articles.
Research for Financial Analysis: Financial Research
Research for Industry Analysis CSI Market
The UMGC library is available for providing resources and services. Seek library support for excellence in your academic pursuit.
Library Support
Extensive library resources and services are available online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support you in your studies. In addition, the UMGC Library provides research assistance in creating search strategies, selecting relevant databases, and evaluating and citing resources in a variety of formats via its "Ask a Librarian" service.
Scholarly Research in OneSearch
To search for only scholarly resources, you are expected to place a checkmark in the space for "Scholarly journals only" before clicking search.
Step III: Specific Company for All Four Projects
For this project, your instructor has specifically assigned each student to write an independent report on one focal company. The assigned company must be used for all four projects in this course. You cannot write reports on any other company different from the company specifically assigned by your instructor. Students who fail to use the specifically assigned companies from the list or use an unapproved company will receive a zero for the project.
The company that your instructor has assigned to you will be used for this project.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
1. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.