In your report to Stihl’s leadership, you need to address the following question

In your report to Stihl’s leadership, you need to address the following questions: 1. What is Stihl’s current strategic positioning? Namely, does it position itself as a differentiator, a cost leader, or something else? Use evidence from documents enclosed in this case and/or from other sources to support your evaluation. 2. Is Stihl’s current strategic positioning a prerequisite condition for the success of Stihl’s current retailing model – using small and independent stores and avoiding big box mass retailers? Why or why not? 3. What are the pros and cons for Stihl to start using the Amazon Marketplace to sell its tools? Use evidence from documents enclosed in this case and/or from other sources to support your evaluation. 4. If Stihl decided to start using the Amazon Marketplace to sell its products, which of its stakeholders – such as its employees or its retailers – would be negatively affected by the strategic move? How would these affected shareholders influence Stihl’s financial performance? 5. Based on your analysis, with Stihl’s long-term financial performance in mind, what would be your recommendation to Stihl’s leadership on whether to use the Amazon Marketplace? 6. What changes in situation – such as shift in Stihl’s strategic positioning, increasing competition, change in product quality, or change in its customer base – might lead you to reverse your recommendation? Some Guidelines for the Writing of the Report 1. Remember that you were a strategic consultant, the audience of your analysis and your report would be Stihl’s leadership. 2. The report needs to have an introduction section and a conclusion section. 3. You need to address sufficiently all the questions. 4. The report should be no more than three single-spaced pages, with a font type of Time New Roman and a font size of 12. 5. Use the two rubrics provided along with this case – one for writing and the other for critical thinking – to inform your analysis and your writing of the report. 6. In your report, you need to use information and data from documents enclosed in this case. You can also use additional information and data from credible sources, such as Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business Week, Financial Times, and Consumer Reports. In the body text of your report, please use in-text citations to indicate the sources of the key information and data that you cite. You need to provide details about the citations in a reference list, including their authors, publication years, titles, and publishers.