Please see attached Part 1 which contains I – V. Also see examples and templates for exhibits in addition to a template for the paper.
Level of detailed discussion and
analysis: Your prose needs to be in sufficient detail to demonstrate your
business knowledge, critical thinking, and critical analysis abilities.
One-line statements do not show nor demonstrate satisfactory business knowledge.
Bullets do not show nor demonstrate satisfactory business knowledge.
Your writing needs to expand on
each point in a paragraph where you discuss and analyze the important elements
of that particular SA item. See Lecture Reading 4.6 in Module 4/Voluntary
Readings for some examples of demonstrated critical thinking, critical
analysis, good discussion/analysis for your paragraphs. Make your paragraphs
good complete detailed discussion and analysis…. Not one-liners. Do not copy
from the textbook.
Formatting and Admin of the SA:
Single space your SA with the appropriate line spacing between parts, sections,
and paragraphs. Extra line spacing is a serious detractor. Follow the
alphanumeric paragraph structure as in the text’s SA and as shown in the SA
Paragraphing Structure Template and the Expanded Paragraph View for sections
VI, VII, and VIII document. Do not use bullets. Use font size 10-12. Use
Portrait page mode for your SA text – do not use Landscape page mode for your
SA text. Use single space of 1.0 – do not use 1.15, nor 1.5.
Use the SA Writing Template (see
attachment)
For Section V(TOWS): Analysis
of Strategic Factors:
In your Situational Analysis,
discuss how the 10 most important Strategic Factors shown in the SFAS could be
grouped in the TOWS matrix. Divide them up into paragraphs on Strengths and
Opportunities, Strengths and Threats, Weaknesses and Opportunities, and
Weaknesses and Threats. Be sure to continue using the same SF tags from the
SFAS (S2, W4, T3, 02, etc etc)
In your Review of Mission and
Objectives, the question here is – are the current mission and objectives good
to go or not? And if they need to be changed, what do you recommend they be
changed to? See page 38, Appendix 1.A for good analysis questions.
For VI: Strategic Alternatives
and Recommended Strategy:
Pay close attention to the
content for this section in the SA-WritingTemplate-BUS485B document in Course
Resources. It does not follow Appendix 1.A.
In VI.A, there are 3
Strategic Alternatives mutually exclusive: No change alternative, growth
alternative and retrenchment alternative.
For each of the three strategic
alternatives, you must provide
1. a
corporate strategy direction (stability, growth, and retrenchment),
2. appropriate
supporting business strategy (competitive or cooperative),
3. and
need to identify 3 to 4 supporting functional level strategies (marketing,
finance, R&D, operations, purchasing, logistics, HR, IT, etc)
4. describe
corporate scenario
5. discuss
the Pros and Cons
Discuss in good complete detail
each of the 3 levels of strategy in each alternative.Talk about what the
Corporate level strategy is about. Talk about what the supporting
Business-level strategy is about. Talk about what each supporting functional
level strategy is about.
Demonstrate the linkages between
each of the 3 levels in each alternative’s hierarchy of strategy as you discuss
and describe each level of strategy.
Then, discuss in good complete
detail each of the 3 strategic alternative corporate scenarios with good
reasonable estimations of future performance expressed in $$$.
Then discuss in good complete
detail the Pros and Cons for each of the 3 strategic alternatives.
If you follow the suggested
organization in the writing template, then you’ll be sure to do good complete
work to construct, analyze, and discuss in detail your 3 strategic alternatives
under consideration. Remember, you need to have the hierarchy of strategy, the
corporate scenario, and the pros/cons for each of your 3 Strategic
Alternatives.
In VI.B discuss in detail
your decision-making process:
First, state your one selected
alternative.
Then second, provide a good
complete discussion of the decision criteria you used to analyze your 3
alternatives and base your decision on.
Then third, discuss and analyze
your 3 alternatives in terms of your decision criteria to show your rationale
and justification for your selection. A good complete compare and contrast
analysis would be very useful. Be sure to support your decision using your
calculations from your 3 pro forma common-size income statements included in
your 5-Y Financials for your 3 alternatives.
For VII, Implementation, and
VIII, Evaluation and Control:
Organize your discussion and
analysis around your ONE recommended Strategic Alternative that you have chosen
to implement.
The verbiage in VII and VIII
describes the data elements in your Exhibit 6, Implementation, Evaluation and
Control Plan. Your Exhibit 6 content that supports VII and VIll should contain
the same details about your one recommended Corporate Strategy, supporting
Business Strategy, and 3 to 4 supporting Functional Strategies.
