Discussion Activity 1
Personal Application
Provide your thoughts about the fundamental strategic issues
facing the industry in which your organization exists. Compare the performance
of your company against the industry within which it operates using
http://finance.yahoo.com/ (“Interactive chart” “Comparison” tool) if you are in
a publicly listed company or use a similar publicly listed company or some
other performance measure if you are not. Individual company information is
available on both Morningstar and Yahoo Finance, not a ready comparison of
industries over time. Consider the
following alternative data source:
https://biz.yahoo.com/p/s_conameu.html
Additional resources are available for those interested in
learning more about performance factors for Government and Non-profit sectors.
Please cover the following questions in your response.
Industry Perspective
Do some industries have better evolution of the stock value
than others? Why? Search for your organization or a similar one and compare its
evolution for the longest possible period to the main stock indicators (Dow,
NASDAQ, S&P500) and competitive firms.
Do some industries have inherently better profitability,
growth and market value than others?
Identify common key performance indicators used within your industry.
Compare for your firm these key factors.
What effect do different industries have on one another’s
overall performance? Provide arguments and examples to justify your response.
Company Perspective
4. Is your
organization performing well against the others in its industry? Provide
arguments and
examples to
justify your response.
5. What factors
explain the differences in company performance in the same industry
6. How can some
companies in poorly performing industries still do well?
Note: If you work in government or in a non-profit
organization, you may pick a company that your organization contracts with for
this exercise. However, we do encourage you to try to apply business strategy
concepts to your organization if you can.
Discussion Activity 2
Personal Application
Industry competitive analysis. An analysis of your company’s
industry from the point of view of Porter’s Five Forces (if your industry
operates in perfect or monopolistic competition), Game Theory (if your industry
operates in oligopolistic competition) or the Resource Based View of the Firm
(if your industry operates as a full monopoly), and any other strategy
frameworks that provide insight to your understanding of the industry.
Discussion Activity 3
Personal
Application
Competitive position of your company within its industry. An
analysis of the strengths and weaknessesof your company from the point of view
of the Resource Based View of the Firm model and any other strategy frameworks
that provide insight into your company’s strategic competitiveness. Discuss
your company’s strategy for competitive advantage (i.e. cost leader,
differentiation, etc.) and your opinion about how they might change or improve
this strategy.
Growth potential of your firm. Analyze the opportunities and
threatsof your firm, how your firm, based on its resources, can determine
business opportunities as a result of the external environments. To do this
please use the PESTEL model (politics, economics, society, technology,
environment, legislation).
Discussion Activity 4
Personal Application
Explain the evolution of the Internet and how it changes the
way customers, suppliers and companies interact.
Describe how your company utilizes the Internet and other
recent technologies. (Be sure to include both internal and external uses)
What recommendations do you have to improve and/or expand
its online use?
How do these existing and new initiatives help to create or
destroy economic value in terms of competitiveness (profits), innovativeness
(sales growth) and resources (intellectual capital)
Discussion Activity 5
Personal Application
Relying on the Staircases to growth paper, analyze each of
the seven staircases. Which of the seven staircases is your organization using
to grow? Which ones would you recommend, why? Does your organization have
enough market power so that such growth strategies may help to create value?
Which of the resources (platforms of capabilities) mentioned
in this paper is your organization implementing? Explain one by one, how they
are used, could be expanded and/or could be implemented in your organization.
Are they unique resources, why or why not?
Does your organization implement the three horizons approach
that McKinsey proposes? If so, how are they implemented? If not, make your own
proposal for each horizon. Be creative.
Discussion Activity 6
Ethics and Corporate
Social Responsibility
Propose a recent (within last 3 years) business ethics case
that you are familiar with; alternatively search on the internet or among the
following resources one business ethics case:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/cases.cfm?fam=BUSI
http://web.tepper.cmu.edu/ethics/aa/arthurandersen.htm
http://business-ethics.com/category/csr/page/2/
Discuss this case using the following Corporate Social
Responsibility approaches:
Stakeholder Theory,
Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Social Performance; Legal, Economic, Moral and
Social responsibilities.
Week 2 Strategy
Simulation Individual Assignment
TATA GAME ASSIGNMENTActions for TATA GAME ASSIGNMENT Oct 14,
2017 10:29 AM -
Regarding the TATA write-up, please follow instructions
carefully but remember to discuss your actual decisions and the associated
results as part of your answers..I want to see a discussion of the interaction
between competitive structure and strategy and performance but the game results
will give you concrete evidence of this so, use your decisions in the paper..
Remember..strategy becomes more essential as the environment
becomes more competitive and the 5 Forces therefore intensify...in an oligopoly
the focus is on the behaviors of others vis a vis your own because you can have
a big impact ..so game theory becomes very relevant..remember also our
discussion from class that technology standardizes as the industry matures and
cost leadership becomes dominant..think of PCs and TVs !
Week 4
Individual Case Study
Assignment
A. General instructions
1. Use
UMUC’s Library (mainly) for research in this assignment. Look for worldwide
data, and not North America data; remember; this is a global strategy course!!
2. Only use
scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money,
Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com, QuickMBA, eHow, Wikipedia…….).
3. Assignment
should be supported by at least three scholarly (peer-reviewed articles), and
at least three reliable non-scholarly sources; in addition to the weekly
readings and multimedia content listed in the classroom.
4. Assignment
should be written in a paper format; not a question and answer format.
5. A half
page Introduction should be included.
Also, Lessons Learned and a Conclusion should be included at the end of
the case study.
6. All
questions are to be attempted. Relate your answers to the required reading. Do
not restate the information from the case study; go beyond the included
information; analyze!
7. Paper
should be 6-8 pages long, with one inch margins, 12 point font, double-spacing,
and should be posted as a PDF document. The cover page, reference list, and
appendix are not part of the page count.
All graphics should be placed in the appendix.
8. Use APA
format for in-text citations and the reference list.
B. Questions:
1. What is
your evaluation of Bezos’ approach to leading change? Have Bezos’ various
initiatives added value? If so, how?
2. With a
business model that focuses on low costs and even goes as far as a break-even
mentality, how does this defy the traditional strategic business models?
3. What are
some of the challenges that Amazon.com faces by setting a goal to be the
company that “sells everything to everyone”? Is this sustainable?
4. Was
Amazon.com continuously successful? Describe some successes and failures.
5. As
Amazon.com continues to grow in size and in scope, what challenges do you think
Jeff Bezos and his managers will confront as they attempt to increase the
company’s performance in the future? What recommendations do you have to
overcome these challenges?
Week 3
Group Case Study
Assignment
A. General instructions
1. Use
UMUC’s Library (mainly) for research in this assignment. Look for worldwide
data, and not North America data; remember; this is a global strategy course!!
2. Only use
scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money,
Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com, QuickMBA, eHow, Wikipedia…….).
3. Assignment
should be supported by at least five scholarly (peer-reviewed articles), and at
least three reliable non-scholarly sources; in addition to the weekly readings
and multimedia content listed in the classroom.
4. Assignment
should be written in a paper format; not a question and answer format.
5. A half
page Introduction should be included.
Also, Lessons Learned and a Conclusion should be included at the end of
the case study.
6. All
questions are to be attempted. Relate your answers to the required reading. Do
not restate the information from the case study; go beyond the included
information; analyze!
7. Paper
should be 12-15 pages long, with one inch margins, 12 point font,
double-spacing, and should be posted as a PDF document. The cover page,
reference list, and appendix are not part of the page count. All graphics should be placed in the
appendix.
8. Use APA
format for in-text citations and the reference list.
B. Questions:
1. Using
UMUC’s Library databases; research the two main industries that PepsiCo
operates in. What are the changes and
trends in these industries?
2. Research
the following three PepsiCo competitors and do a SWOT analysis for them: Coca
Cola, Snapple Dr. Pepper, and Kraft.
3. Conduct a
Porter’s Five Forces analysis of the non-alcoholic beverage industry.
4. How are
the organizational changes that PepsiCo implemented impacting its performance?
What role does PepsiCo’s management play here?
5. If you
were PepsiCo’s CEO: Should the company continue its diversification away from
the non-alcoholic business? What is the impact on PepsiCo’s global operations?
6. What is
PepsiCo’s future outlook from your perspective?
Week 5
Group Strategy
Project (Part 1): Global Industry Analysis
Group Strategy Assignment
A. Project Overview
The Group Strategy Project of this seminar involves writing
a proposal for a foreign direct investment by a major real company into a
foreign country. This Week 5 Assignment is designed to provide the global
industry comparative analysis that will support your decision as to which
industry (Week 5) / country (Week 6) / firm (Week 7) in which to make the
foreign direct investment. Thus Week 5 focuses on industry choice and a
preliminary country choice. In Weeks 6 and 7 you will continue your research
and analysis by performing a more detailed country choice and in Week 7, a
partner firm choice.
NOTE: In each part of the Group Strategy Project, use some
of the strategic management frameworks (if applicable) you have been learning
about in this course or in your prior courses. These include:
• Industry
structural characteristics rationale
• Competitive
advantage rationale
• Resource
Based View of the firm rationale
• Value
Chain rationale
• Vertical
integration rationale
• Horizontal
integration rationale
• Financial
rationale
• Political,
Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal Factors
B. General Instructions
1. Only use scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources
such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money, Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com,QuickMBA,
eHow, Wikipedia…….), in addition to the weekly readings, multimedia and data
resources listed in the classroom.
2. Assignment should be written in a paper format; not a
question and answer format.
3. A half page Introduction should be included. Also, a Conclusion should be included at the end
of the report.
4. There are no page restrictions, however, paper should be
with one inch margins, 12 point font, double-spacing, and should be posted as a
PDF document. All graphics should be placed in the appendix.
5. Use APA format for in-text citations and the reference
list.
6. Have 1 Group member post your Week 5 Group Strategy
Project (Part 1) paper in the Assignment Folder.
C. Week 5 Overview & Deliverables
Chartering/organizing the project - The Part 1 paper is
designed to answer three questions:
• What are
the strategic growth needs of your clients’ business?
• What is
the nature of the industry which allows you to grow and achieve competitive
advantage?
• What
markets (countries) are most attractive in achieving the growth goals?
More details on each element below. Note: earlier student
teams have found it effective to do preliminary research around team interests
and sources of data for the three phases before selecting a company and
industry.
1. Your
group should select an industry to analyze for your Group Strategy Project.
2. Your
group should select a real multinational company from this industry to be your
hypothetical consulting client, for which you will be making a strategic
recommendation for investment into a foreign country.
3. Then,
select 4 prospective countries and your client’s home country. Please post
which industry, client company and countries you have selected into your Group
Discussion Area as early in the week as possible.
Summary/overview
For this first part of your Group Strategy Project your
country recommendation should be based upon your analysis only of the market
size and growth data and commentary specific to your industry. for each
country.
Based upon your market size, growth research and overall
industry profit analysis, select a preliminary country that your team will be
looking at to make an acquisition or joint venture in. Provide reasons for your
decision based upon your research and on the various assigned readings so far
this semester or from prior semesters (properly cite these).
In Week 6 you will be doing an expanded, more detailed,
country comparison using a PESTEL analysis of risk versus opportunity which may
result in a change in your recommendation. NOTE: A weighted attribute
comparative analysis is helpful in comparing alternatives across multiple
attributes and may be used in all three phases of the project.
The following is your Week 5 outline.
I. Description of your client company’s strategic growth
objectives. Develop criteria that will allow you to compare markets (countries)
and partners (acquisition or joint venture)
II. Description of the growth and profit potential of your
client’s industry.
A. The home country structure and environment of the
selected industry.
B. The global structure and environment of the selected
industry.
III. Analysis of international markets
Identify 4 international markets (countries) that are
attractive in meeting your client company’s growth goals. When selecting your
markets (countries), your selections should provide new product and/or
innovation market opportunity. Create a comparative benefit analysis based on
the criteria of client need and the overall market (country) comparison
questions below:
1. What is
the comparative market size of the industry in each of the 4 countries by 2020?
(Hint: Use something like the number of passenger car registrations to size the
automobile industry, other metrics for other industries) and how might that
impact your decision on prioritizing the countries in your global business
strategy?
2. What is
the comparative growth, both in absolute terms and in percentage terms from
2015 to 2020 for the industry you have selected in each of the 4 countries and
how might that impact your decision on prioritizing the countries in your
global business strategy?
3. What is
the profitability of the industry based on the level of competition? Who are
some of the key company players (both multinational and local) in your selected
industry in each of the 4 countries and how competitive is the industry in each
country, and how might that impact your decision on prioritizing the countries
in your global business strategy?
IV. Provide a recommendation of which market (country) you
are recommending and provide the reasons based on your comparative benefit
analysis.
Week 6
Group Strategy
Project (Part 2): Country Assessment Analysis
Group Strategy Assignment
A. General Instructions
1. Only use scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources
such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money, Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com,QuickMBA,
eHow, Wikipedia…….), in addition to the weekly readings, multimedia and data
resources listed in the classroom.
2. Assignment should be written in a paper format; not a
question and answer format.
3. A half page Introduction should be included. Also, a Conclusion should be included at the
end of the report.
4. There are no page restrictions, however, paper should be
with one inch margins, 12 point font, double-spacing, and should be posted as a
PDF document. All graphics should be placed in the appendix.
5. Use APA format for in-text citations and the reference
list.
6. Have 1 Group member post your Week 6 Group Strategy
Project (Part 2) paper in the Assignment Folder.
B. Week 6 Overview & Deliverables
Examine each of the 4 countries that your group selected
plus your client’s home countryand provide a PESTEL analysis on each country.
Once you have concluded your PESTEL analysis on each country, incorporate these
results into the following outline.
The following is your Week 6 outline.
V: Determination of
the Target Country for the Proposed Acquisition or Joint Venture
1. Comparative
risk, opportunity and overall business climate of the countries.
2. Comparative
industry market potential and structure of the countries.
3. Selection,
with rationale of the target country.
In developing your rationale, be sure to address the
following strategic dimensions.
• What are
the benefits of the country for your overall strategy? Why would you move in
that country: resources, raw materials, lower cost production, labor force,
technology, markets, etc.?
• How would
you tradeoff the degree of country risk versus the business environment
ratings, taking into consideration the market size in 2020?
• How would
you tradeoff the degree of country risk versus the business environment
ratings, taking into consideration the market growth from 2015 to 2020.
• As a
result of answering the above three questions, how would you prioritize the
countries that your group researched in terms of developing a global business
strategy?
Note: Write this up, integrating your answers in a way that
demonstrates your critical reasoning supporting your prioritization of the
countries that your group researched.
Week 7
Group Strategy Project
(Part 3): Firm Analysis
Group Strategy Assignment
A. General Instructions
1.Only use scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources such
as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money, Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com,QuickMBA,
eHow, Wikipedia…….), in addition to the weekly readings, multimedia and data
resources listed in the classroom.
2.Assignment should be written in a paper format; not a
question and answer format.
3.An Executive Summary and half page Introduction should be
included. Also, a Conclusion should be
included at the end of the report.
4.There are no page restrictions, however, paper should be
with one inch margins, 12 point font, double-spacing, and should be posted as a
PDF document. All graphics should be placed in the appendix.
5.Use APA format for in-text citations and the reference
list.
6.Have 1 Group member post your Week 7 Group Strategy
Project (Part 3) paper in the Assignment Folder.
B. Week 7 Overview & Deliverables
Identify a short list of potential target companies (at
least two) for acquisition or as joint venture partners in the country you have
selected for the project and provide a rationale for considering each one, and
select one to be the target based upon your analysis. Provide reasons for your
decision based upon your research and on the various assigned readings/multimedia
so far this semester or from prior semesters (properly cite these). Specify
whether this will be an acquisition or joint venture and your reasons why.
The first sentence of your Executive Summary should read as
follows:
“Team _____________ recommends that _______________, a major
multinational company in the ______________industry, target ___________ as the
first country, through an acquisition (or joint venture with) ___________, one
of the key local companies in the ___________industry.
The following is the outline for your Week 7 paper.
VI. Determination of the Target Company for Acquisition or
Joint Venture
1. Short
list and profile potential company candidates and provide comparative benefits
to your client company.
2. Selection
of the Target Company for Acquisition or Joint Venture.
3. Description
of the target company and its fit with strategic objectives of Client Company.
Use comparative analysis of the potential companies in terms of strategic fit
with your client. What is the structure of your partnership: joint
venture/acquisition?
4. Suggest
operational roles and activities of the partners of the new venture. What will
your client firm and target firm each be responsiblefor in terms of the new
venture? Break this into strategic responsibilities and operating
responsibilities. How will these responsibilities be broken out?
Use the following models to analyze the benefits of the
acquisition:
• Internal
resources: Competitive advantage rationale / Value chain rationale / Resource
Based View of the firm rationale. In other words, focus on the skills transfer
potential between the two firms. How will the two firms strengthen each other
as a result of their partnership?
• Shared
resources: Vertical integration rationale / Horizontal integration rationale.
How will efficiency be increased as a result of the combined operation?
• Financial
rationale: Consider the deal from a financial point of view and effects on rate
of return and debt load for example. Note: Acquisitions in the past have
focused on the first two issues but ignored this dimension and incurred huge
debts to make the deal only to find the financial aspects undermined or negated
the strategic benefits.
Finally, add this phase to your previous work from Weeks 5
and 6 to produce one term paper which includes the following:
1. Company
Characteristics and Analysis. Identification of a client company and a
description of its characteristics and strategic needs and intent. Why is
making a foreign diversification move necessary in terms of its strategy and
performance effects? (Week 5)
2. Industry
Characteristics and Analysis. Profile of the client firm’s industry indicating
the Critical Success Factors in the industry and how these relate to the
decision to diversify abroad. (Week 5 Phase)
3. Country
Characteristics and Analysis. Conclusions of your analysis of attractive
countries to fulfill your strategic intent. What specific country are you
recommending and why? (Week 6 Phase)
4. Investment
Partner/ Target Firm Analysis. Discussion of your choice of an investment
partner. (Week 7 Phase)
5. Summary
of your recommendations.
Week 9
Individual Case Study
Assignment
A. General instructions
1. Use UMUC’s Library (mainly) for research in this
assignment. Look for worldwide data, and not North America data; remember; this
is a global strategy course!!
2. Only use scholarly and reliable non-scholarly sources
such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Money, Forbes, and Fortune (no answer.com,
QuickMBA, eHow, Wikipedia…….).
3. Assignment should be supported by at least three
scholarly (peer-reviewed articles), and at least three reliable non-scholarly
sources; in addition to the weekly readings and multimedia content listed in
the classroom.
4. Assignment should be written in a paper format; not a
question and answer format.
5. A half page Introduction should be included. Also, Lessons Learned and a Conclusion should
be included at the end of the case study.
6. All questions are to be attempted. Relate your answers to
the required reading. Do not restate the information from the case study; go
beyond the included information; analyze!
7. Paper should be 6-8 pages long, with one inch margins, 12
point font, double-spacing, and should be posted as a PDF document. The cover
page, reference list, and appendix are not part of the page count. All graphics should be placed in the
appendix.
8. Use APA format for in-text citations and the reference
list.
B. Questions:
1. How was Facebook
able to stay ahead of competitors like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn over the
last 5 years? What strategies did they implement to give them that competitive
advantage?
2. Describe the
weaknesses of Facebook’s privacy policies and features. What factors
contributed to those weaknesses? Did Facebook overcome this issue? If so, how?
If not, what recommendations would you propose?
3. What steps
should Facebook take to increase the confidence of users, analysts and
investors in its innovation strategies?
4. As the social
media industry continues to expand, what measures should Facebook take to fend
off new and innovative companies from entering the market?
