I have provided Chapter 3 to 9 that you will need to use and cite from.  You may use internet sites but most of it must me from the chapters and  especially for the analysis.

BMGT 495 – Project 4: Strategy Selection, Implementation and Evaluation (Week 8)

NOTE:  All  submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work  from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse.  You are  expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy,  and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and  general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources  as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (Students are held  accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list  only). 

Project 4 is due Saturday at 11:59 p.m. eastern time of week 8 unless otherwise changed by the instructor.

Purpose: 

This  project is the last of four projects.  You will generate a pool of  alternative strategies, evaluate these alternative strategies, and  select the best strategy using the tools and concepts learned throughout  the course.  You will develop implementation plans, evaluative plans to  control the implementation process, and plan for post-evaluation  measures. You will also draw from previous business courses to develop  an understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to  establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market.  

Skill Building: 

In  this project, you are building many different skills including  research, critical thinking, writing and developing analytical skills  related to various financial analysis tools and strategy tools used in  business.   You will select optimal strategies, design how to implement  and evaluate the implementation process of the optimal strategies.

Outcomes Met With This Project:

• Examine  the impact of ethical decision making, social responsibility,  stakeholder analysis, and corporate governance on organizations and  society
• Utilize a set of useful analytical skills, tools, and techniques for analyzing a company strategically;
• Integrate  ideas, concepts, and theories from previously taken functional courses  including, accounting, finance, market, business and human resource  management;
• Analyze  and synthesize strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)  to generate, prioritize, and implement alternative strategies in order  to revise a current plan or write a new plan and present a strategic  plan;
• Evaluate the outcomes of identified strategies to determine their success and impact on short-term and long-term objectives.

Instructions: 

Step 1:  Course Material and Research

Although  you are required to research information about the focal company, you  are also accountable for using the course material to support the ideas,  reasoning and conclusions made.  Course material use goes beyond  defining terms but is used to explain the ‘why and how’ of a situation.   Using one or two in-text citations from the course material and then  relying on Internet source material will not earn many points on an  assignment.  A variety of source material is expected and what is  presented must be relevant and applicable to the topic being  discussed.   Avoid merely making statements but close the loop of the  discussion by explaining how something happens or why something happens,  which focuses on importance and impact.  In closing the loop, you will  demonstrate the ability to think clearly and rationally showing an  understanding of the logical connections between the ideas presented  from the research, the course material and the question(s) being asked.

Step 2:  Research 

In  completing the report, you will use the chapters in the eBook as a  guide and perform research on the same company as in Projects 1 and 2,  answer the required elements below in narrative form following the  steps. 

Note:  Your  report is based on the results of the research performed and not on any  prepared documentation.  What this means is that you will research and  draw your own conclusions that are supported by the research and the  course material rather than the use any source material that puts  together any of the tools or techniques whether from the Internet,  for-pay websites or any document, video or source material.  A zero will  be earned for not doing your own analysis.

Library Resources

On  the main navigation bar in the classroom select, Resources and then  select Library.  Select Databases by Title (A – Z).  Select M from the  alphabet list, and then select Mergent Online.   You may also use Market  Line and should be looking at the focal company’s Annual Report or 10K  report.  You are not depending on any one resource to complete the  analysis.  It is impossible to complete a Porter’s Five Forces,  competitive analysis or OT by using only course material.

You should not be using obscure articles, GlassDoor, or Chron or similar articles.  

Research for Financial Analysis: Financial Research

Research for Industry Analysis CSI Market

UMUC library is available for providing resources and services. Seek library support for excellence in your academic pursuit.    

Library Support

Extensive library resources and services are available online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week at https://www.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm to  support you in your studies.  The UMUC Library provides research  assistance in creating search strategies, selecting relevant databases,  and evaluating and citing resources in a variety of formats via its Ask a  Librarian service at https://www.umuc.edu/library/libask/index.cfm.

Scholarly Research in OneSearch

To  search for only scholarly resources, you are expected to place a check  mark in the space for “Scholarly journals only” before clicking search.  

Step 3:  Specific Company for All Three Projects 

For  this project, each student in this course has been specifically  assigned by your instructor to write an independent report on one focal  company.  The assigned company must be used for all three projects in  this course.  You are not allowed to write the reports on any other  company different from the company specifically assigned by your  instructor.  Students who fail to use the specifically assigned  companies from the list or use an unapproved company will receive a zero  for the project. 

The company that your instructor has assigned to you will be used for this project.

Step 4: Preparation for the Project

Before  you begin writing the report, you will read the following requirements  that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.  

• You  will be doing an analysis on the selected company.  When doing an  analysis you are not merely making statements that may be cited.   Instead, you will be supporting the statements made.  “Support” is the  process of explaining, discussing and analyzing “why” and “how,” which  is a higher level critical analytical skill that is required for this  class.  Support is needed to do well on this project.
•  Read  the grading rubric for the project.  Use the grading rubric while  writing the report to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to  the highest possible grade.

Step 5:  How to Set Up the Project 

Use this template to complete the project: Project 4 Template.   The document has to be written in Word or rtf.  No other format is  acceptable.  No pdf files will be graded.  Use 12-point font for a  double-spaced report.  The final product cannot be longer than 16  pages in length, excluding the title page and reference page.  Those  items identified in the implementation and action plans should appear  under the appropriate heading in the paper.  Do no use an Appendix. 

Step 6:  Introduction 

Create  an introductory paragraph.  The Introduction should clearly and  concisely convey the main points of the project’s requirements. Review  the following website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html.  

Step 7:  Alternative Strategy Generation

• To  generate a pool of strategies, you will look at the organization’s  business level strategy, corporate level strategy and global strategy.    Using the information and data collected from your research, and the  analytical outcomes from (a) external factor analysis in your Project 1  and (b) internal factor analysis in Project 2, you will generate a pool  of strategies.
• Generate a minimum of three possible alternative strategies for the company;
• Identify  and discuss cultural and organizational factors that should be  considered in analyzing and choosing among the alternative strategies.

Step 8:  Strategy Prioritization

• Prioritize strategies and explain using the course material to support the reasoning.

Step 9:  Strategy Selection 

• Explain how to select the best strategy (or strategies);
• Recommend  the best one or two strategies and long-term objectives among the  alternative strategies and explain why these strategies and objectives  are best;
• Identify strategy recommendations using the following format for the formulation of strategies. Make sure you are thorough in your presentation.
• View Strategy Content Guidelines.
• Goal (The desired outcomes to be achieved)
• Objective (Measurable milestone toward accomplishing the Goal)
• Strategy (The approach used to achieve the Goal)
• Tactic (A specific activity undertaken to implement the Strategy)
• Review this resource to differentiate between Strategy Versus Operations and Strategy Versus Tactics

Step 10:  Strategy Implementation 

• Recommend procedures for strategy implementation;
• Discuss  who, what and how to implement the selected strategy (or strategies) at  the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.

Step 11:  Strategy Evaluation

• Discuss procedures for strategy review and evaluation;
• Discuss  the appropriate evaluative measures (including who, what, when and how)   at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.
• Discuss  a corrective action plan (including who, what, when and how) at the  corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.
• Use frameworks and tools discussed throughout the course;
• Support the reasoning and conclusions made. 

Step 12: Conclusion 

Create  a concluding paragraph.  The Conclusion is intended to emphasize the  purpose/significance of the analysis, emphasize the  significance/consequence of findings, and indicate the wider  applications that are derived from the main points of the project’s  requirements. Review the following website to learn how to write a  concluding paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/concl.html. 

Step 13: Submit the Report in the Assignment Folder 

Submitting  the project to the Assignment Folder is considered the student’s final  product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor.  It is  incumbent upon the student to verify the project is the correct  submission.  No exceptions will be considered by the instructor. 

Report Requirements to Follow 

In writing the report: 

• Use  the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all  requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade. 
• Third  person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words  such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use  of “you or your” (second person writing).  
• Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them. 
• No  direct quotes except for mission statement and vision statement.  For  all other source material used in the analysis, you will not use direct  quotation marks but will instead paraphrase.  What this means is that  you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words  rather than lifting directly from a source document.  You may not use  more than four consecutive words from a source document, as doing so  would require direct quotation marks.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.  If  more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this  material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations  of academic dishonesty.
• Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains the reference associated with each in-text citation.
• You may not use books in completing this project.
• Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented. 
• You may not use Fern Fort University, Ibis World or any other for-fee website.