Strategic Analysis of an Enterprise
Overview
You will be conducting a strategic analysis of an assigned organization. You will be drawing upon the concepts presented in this course to conduct your analysis. Your industry, external and internal analysis for your assigned organization will form the foundation for your assessment and recommendations. Please see the project guide and key resources document for a more detailed review of the resources you can utilize when performing the analysis.
For the data gathering portion of the project, the team will be writing a paper with supporting exhibits (either embedded in the document or included in an appendix). Please follow the following formatting guidelines for our team’s report. For readability, please double-space your report using Times 12-point font. Margins should be one-inch on top, bottom, and sides. There should also be a cover sheet for your report that provides the following: the assigned company’s name, your team number, and a list of your team members. Below, I have provided an outline of questions that should be answered in your analysis. Please include the “bolded headers” from my outline in your paper so that I can clearly associate your responses by section when I grade your papers.
Also, please remember that I will be using Turn-It-In software linked to D2L to check for originality of your work. Your deliverables must represent your own work. Any work that is copied from another source must be included in quotes and properly cited. These types of quotes should be minimized however since I am hoping to assess what the team has learned and interpreted. Simply copying from what others have written is not acceptable. There will be significant penalties for any plagiarism.
Please use APA 6th edition style to cite your sources.
Questions to be answered in each module
Environmental Analysis
Using a variety of sources described in the Key Resources document, the team will discuss the environmental conditions for the markets in which your firm operates.
What are the regulatory or cultural challenges that the organization is facing in their markets?
Are there specific laws, regulations, norms, or ways of doing business that presents issues for the organization?
Are they facing any regulatory issues?
Module 3 - Internal Analysis – This area will require you to gather information from financial reporting sites that are used by investors and investment analysts.
Please provide a description of how the organization is structured?
- What type of organizational structure do they have?
- Is it organized around geographic regions or products?
- Do they have any joint ventures or alliances with other firms?
What are your firm’s core competencies/capabilities?
Does the firm have a competitive advantage in any areas?
What are your firm’s strategies?
Using Porter’s different types of strategy, what area does your organization focus on?
Describe the top level of leadership in the organization. Does the team have members that have international backgrounds?
How are their employee relations?
How are they positioned with their technology?
Summarize key financial performance indicators for the past 5 years. This would include revenues, expenses, net income, operating margins, and performance by geographic region or product.
Compare the organization’s financial performance against key competitors for a given time period.
Identify any efforts the organization is doing to act in a socially responsible manner. (CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility)
Module 4 - SWOT Analysis
Utilizing all the gathered information regarding the internal and external environment, the team will conduct analysis of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Module 5 - Conclusions
Based on the information you have regarding the firm, the team should formulate an overall view of the organization’s position in the market.
Is the organization well positioned in the market?
Do they have competitive advantages? Are these advantages sustainable?
In what geographic or product areas is the organization winning and losing?
What are future areas of growth for the firm?
What are the major issues or problems facing the organization?
If you were an investor, would you consider investing in this organization?