The report requirements are as follows: (a) exact same requirements for the report as specified in the syllabus for the Group Report Strategic Audit, but you need to write this report entirely by yourself. (b) The firm to research is Axon (https://www.axon.com/company). Note: Do not plan on using existing Porter’s 5 forces analysis available on the Internet (such as http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/porter5/analysis/2190-axon-enterprise–inc-.php) for your analysis, because they are incorrect. You will need to do lots of original research and writing
Each group should apply a selection of the tools/concepts/frameworks (hereafter simply “frameworks”) learned in lectures 1-12 to analyze the competitiveness and strategies of their chosen firm. This analysis should be included in a report that is divided into several main sections:
Overview: Provide a brief introduction to the chosen firm and market context selected (e.g., country and time of registration, and brief overview of operations).
Competitive Landscape: Analyze the competitive landscape internal and external to the firm in the chosen market. What factors most significantly influence the firm’s competitiveness in the general external environment, at the industry-level, and within the firm? How has the firm recently performed compared to its main competitors? This analysis should be based on an application of Porter’s 5 Forces and at least two other fundamental frameworks learned in the course for analyzing the competitive landscape. Not all frameworks need to be used and choice of frameworks is left up to each group. Substantive usage of the frameworks is required, meaning that the frameworks are not just mentioned in passing but are applied in detail with information specific to the chosen firm and market context. The analysis should draw on some quantitative and qualitative data. Original data collection and presentation is required.
Strategy Formulation: Identify and explain the chosen firm’s main (a) business-level and (b) corporate-level strategies, and at least some (c) functional strategies, in the chosen market. What are these strategies? Why might they have been adopted instead of alternative strategies? Do the strategies seem to be contributing to competitive advantages and, if so, how? The analysis here should be based on application of several of the fundamental frameworks learned for formulating strategy. Of course, not all frameworks need to be used and choice of frameworks is left up to each group. Such analytical frameworks must be substantively used, meaning that they are not just mentioned in passing but are applied in detail with information specific to the chosen firm and market context.
Recommendations: Include a section at the end of the report with a few bullet-pointed recommendations for the firm. What major steps should the firm take to ensure that its strategies continue to, or better enable it to, achieve competitive advantages? Include at least broad timeframes for implementing the strategies. Also, briefly explain the challenges that the firm might encounter when implementing the strategies and how these might be overcome.
The main body of the report should be at least 4,000 words, although longer is also acceptable. Lecture notes, class readings, and additional research conducted by the students should be drawn upon. References should be provided and do not count towards the word target. References should be listed at the end of the report; there is no strict style required for these references, although corresponding in-text parenthetical citations of some sort are recommended.
