Assignment: Planning the Future at Galaxy
Purpose: In the assignment, within a report, you will create a SWOT analysis, discuss a SWOT analysis and provide a detailed explanation of what considerations led to the determination of the SWOT components. You will then make recommendations and explain what factors were considered in making the recommendations.
Note: Not all critical company information is provided, so it is impossible to complete a financial analysis but instead students will focus on the first elements of the P-O-L-C, planning.
Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment:
- integrate management theories and principles into management practices
- employ effective planning processes to develop strategies, goals, and objectives in order to enhance performance and sustainability
- identify the essential characteristics of decision making and indicate the range and types of decisions a manager makes
Instructions:
Step 1: Preparation for the Assignment
Before you begin writing the report, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements. Not reading this information will lead to a lower grade:
Review "How to Analyze a Case Study" under Week 6 Content. You are expected to use the facts from the case scenario focusing on using this information to determine opportunities and solve problems.
In writing this assignment, you will read and following these tasks:
Task 1: Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first person writing), nor is there use of "you or your" (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
Task 2: Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contraction in writing this assignment.
Task 3: You are expected to paraphrase and are NOT to use direct quotes. You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned by reviewing this link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.
Task 4: You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list.
Task 5: You are expected to use the facts from the case scenario paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis and support the reasoning. No more than two (2) external resources can be used in completing the assignment. The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings. If any material is used from a source document, it must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the sample APA paper and the How to Cite and Reference file located under Week 4 content.
Task 6: In completing the assignment, students are expected to use the facts from the case scenario and company profile paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis. View the company profile here: Galaxy Toys, Inc. Company Profile.
Step 2: How to Set Up the Paper
Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 6-8 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page and appendix. You may not exceed eight (8) pages so it is important to write clearly and concisely.
Use the following format:
- Create a title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor's name and date;
- Introduction
- SWOT Analysis
- Strengths & Weaknesses
- Recommendation
- Short-term Production Goals and Objectives
Step 3: Part One: Read critically and analyze the following scenario:
The toy industry is very fickle and innovation is critical. Sales for January 2017 showed only a 3% rise over January 2016 leaving the company managers concerned about meeting projected sales targets for 2017. In a 30-month plan, George Jepson, Jr., as CEO, together with Edward Mercury, CFO, set long-term goals for the company to include the following:
- increase sales unrelated to NASA toys by 22 percent;
- reduce company-wide costs by 5 percent within 15 months and 11.2 percent by the end of the plan;
- create new technology based action toys;
- use innovative technology in production to increase efficiency;
- reduce carbon footprint by 5 percent.
In November 2016, the long term planning team began to select the newest Galaxy product line. The choice of the right product design will hopefully stop the slump in sales and jump start growth. Tomorrow, February 4, 2017 is the final meeting of the planning team. The team will choose between three options:
- produce 1 million Payload Nine toys or MMTJE1 for Christmas 2017;
- produce 1 million Payload Nine toys for Christmas 2017 and 1 million MMTJE1 for Christmas 2018;
- produce 1.5 million MMTJE1 toys for Christmas 2018.
The products have different production requirements. Payload Nine is designed to complement the International NASA Space Station series. Payload Nine is geared to the 7-10 age groups and contains building blocks to make the space shuttle with emphasis on the cargo hold and its loading arm.
Focus group results suggest that Payload Nine will sell well but it is not a "wow" product in the eyes of the group. It is not a trendsetting toy. The introduction of Payload Nine is estimated to jump NASA sales by 6.8%. Payload Nine requires little change on the production floor and supplies are easily obtainable. Production could begin May 1, 2016 and completed in time for the Christmas toy market. No additional personnel would be needed and existing production would not be delayed. Production costs would fit within the current year's budget.
The other project "Moon Mission to Jupiter's Europa" (MMTJE1) is a 3D engineered of the Curiosity vehicle used to. explore Mars. The toy is operated remotely allowing a child and parent to launch the capsule "Juno 1" craft, 500 ft. in the air, unload the rover called Galileo and move it along all terrain surfaces. Galileo takes pictures remotely and sends them to a cell phone.