STRATEGY CASE ANALYSIS – WRITTEN REPORT (300 points) Length expectation: 10 page

STRATEGY CASE ANALYSIS – WRITTEN REPORT (300 points)
Length expectation: 10 pages, single-spaced.
FORMAT AND STRUCTURE OF A CASE ANALYSIS
I: Introduction (15 points). A brief introduction of the firm’s background.
II: Mission, vision, and core values (30 points). Locate and analyze the mission, vision and core values of your chosen firm. Are they appropriate? Can they be improved?
III: Evaluating your company’s competitive position (60 points).
1: Strengths and competitive assets. Name and describe at least 3. Rank them by importance.
2: Weaknesses and competitive deficiencies. Name and describe at least 3. Rank them by importance.
3: Market opportunities. Name and describe at least 3. Rank them by importance.
4: External threats to the company’s future well-being. Name and describe at least 3. Rank them by importance.
IV: Choosing an adequate strategic approach for improving strategy (40 points).
There are four types of strategic approaches:
− Use company strengths as the foundation for the company’s strategy.
− Pursue market opportunities best suited to company’s strengths.
− Correct weaknesses and deficiencies that impair pursuit of important market opportunities or heighten vulnerability to external threats.
− Use company strengths to lessen the impact of important external threats.
Select only one of the four strategic approaches above, and explain WHY this strategic approach is the most adequate in light of your company’s competitive position analysis (title 3).
V: Identify strategic actions consistent with your strategic approach (50 points).
1: Select a main strategic action. There are a wide range of strategic actions available for managers, most of them are described in chapters 6, 7, and 8. Here are some examples of strategic actions that may be in line with your selected strategic approach:
− Develop a new product or service
− Enter into a strategic alliance or joint venture with another firm
− Backward and forward integration
− Outsourcing
− Diversification (related, unrelated)
− Retrenchment and divestitures (e.g., layoffs, closing store locations)
− Investments in your value chain (e.g., expand or create new plant)
− International market entry
− Offensive and defensive strategic moves
− Etc.
2: Select a contingency strategic action – “plan B.” This section should be smaller than subtitle 1 (i.e., one paragraph is enough), as your hope as managers is to not use the contingency plan. Change is an important aspect of strategy, and market conditions may shift rapidly, thereby making your main strategic action irrelevant. If your main strategic action is unsuccessful, you need to select a secondary strategic action.
For example: You may decide to launch a new product to save a struggling department within your firm. What is your contingency plan if the new product does not sell? It could be to close the department in order to shift resources to a more successful business segment, or it could be to enter into a strategic alliance with a powerful distributor.
VI: Strategy execution (30 points). How are you going to implement your main strategic action? Here, you should cover the specific actions required to execute your main strategic action, i.e., the “to-do list” of the top management team. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 cover such topics related to good strategy execution. This part of the report may include topics such as:
− Staffing the organization with skilled employees and managers
− Developing new capabilities (e.g., through employee training)
− Instituting adequate policies and procedures
− Allocating a budget to the new strategic action (e.g., borrow funds?)
− Tying performance reward and incentives to the main strategic action
− Developing an adequate corporate culture
− Etc.
VII: Monitoring performance of the main strategic action (20 points). Provide a clear evaluation criteria (e.g., sales expected, market share expected, cost reduction expected) and a clear point in time (e.g., 2 years from main strategic action execution) where you will deem whether your main action was successful or not. The criteria should dictate whether your contingency plan should be implemented (if main strategic action proves unsuccessful).
VIII: Ethics, CSR, and sustainability (25 points). Promoting ethical behavior in today’s business environment is part of the mission of the College of Business Administration here at TAMUCT. This section of the assignment helps support our college’s mission. Select one specific area of ethics, CSR, or sustainability that could be improved for your firm. Provide
recommendations on how to improve your selected area. Examples of ethical business practices include (cf. Ch 9):
− Encourage honorable management and fight corrupt practices
− Provide good working conditions for employees
− Encourage workforce diversity
− Be a good environmental steward
− Philantropy and community service
− Encourage sustainable thinking
− Etc.
IX. Appendix or bibliography (10 points). Add your sources, references, and other internet links at the end of your strategy case. This section does not count towards your number of pages.
Format and instructions followed (20 points). You should carefully follow the instructions above in order to ensure your comprehensive exposure to all relevant sections of a strategy