M3A2, M4A2, M5A2 Capstone

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100% original, rubric, word count and required readings must be included

 

This is 3 assignments in one. The final is all the assignments from M1A2- M5A2

The assignments are highlighted in yellow and the rubics are in red and attached for M3A2 and M5A2

 

Assignment 2: LASA 1—Preliminary Strategy Audit

The end result of this course is developing a strategy audit. In this module, you will outline and draft a preliminary framework for your final product. This provides you with the opportunity to get feedback before a final submission.

In Module 1, you reviewed the instructions for the capstone strategy audit assignment and grading rubric due in Module 5. By now, you have completed the following steps:

  • Identified the organization for your report
  • Interviewed at least one key mid-level or senior-level manager
  • Created a market position analysis
  • Conducted an external environmental scan in preparation of your final report and presentation

In this assignment, you will generate a preliminary strategy audit in preparation for your final course project.

Prepare a report that includes the following:

  • In preparation for your course project, prepare the preliminary strategy audit using the tools and framework you have focused on so far including the following:  
    • Analysis of the company value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage
    • External environmental scan/five forces analysis
  • Identify the most important (5–7) strategic issues facing the organization or business unit.
    • You may modify the strategic issues in your final report based on the additional analysis you will conduct in the next module as well as the feedback you receive on this paper from your instructor.
    • Keep in mind that it is important to look at the strategic issue(s) from more than just one perspective in the business unit or company—speak to or research the issue from more than one angle to offer a 360-degree approach that does not cause more problems or issues.
    • Strategic issues arise from a mismatch between internal capabilities and external trends such that important opportunities are not being pursued or significant external threats are not being addressed under the current strategy.
  • Include a preliminary set of recommended tactics for improving your company’s strategic alignment and operating performance.
    • You may modify these recommendations in your final report based on the additional analysis you will conduct in the next module as well as the feedback you receive on this paper from your instructor.
    • Keep in mind that recommendations can include, but are not limited to, tactics in marketing, branding, alliances, mergers and acquisitions, integration, product development, diversification or divestiture, and globalization. If you recommend your company to go global, you must include a supply chain analysis and an analysis of your firm’s global capabilities.

Write your report as though you are a consultant to your company and are addressing the executive officers of this company. 

Write a 7–10-page report in Word format. Make sure your writing is clear, concise, and in an organized manner; demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Use the following format for your report:

  • Cover page
  • Executive summary/abstract
  • Table of contents
  • Introduction to company (each subsection should be an assessment)
    • Value proposition
    • Market position
    • Competitive advantage
  • External environmental scan/five forces analysis
    • Current environment
    • Assessment of external factors applying five forces
  • Strategic issues (label each issue and provide a header and the reason for why it is an issue)
  • Summary/key findings and recommendations
  • References

Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M3_A2.doc.

 

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria

Assignment Components
Proficiency
Maximum Points

Value proposition, market position, competitive advantage: Assess the organization’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage

Course Objectives (CO) 2, 3
Program Outcomes (PO) 1, 2, 3, 4
Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO) 1, 3, 6

Assessment of the organization’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage is accurate, grounded in reason, and uses examples and scholarly research to support ideas.
60

External environmental scan/five forces analysis:Assess the external factors that impact the organization using five forces analysis.

CO 1, 3, 5
PO 1, 2, 3, 4
ILO 1, 3, 6 

Assessment of the external factors that impact the organization using five forces analysis is accurate, grounded in reason, and uses examples and scholarly research to support ideas.

40

Strategic issues: Identify the most important (5–7) strategic issues facing the organization or business unit.

CO 1, 5
PO 1, 2, 3, 4
ILO 1, 3, 6

 

The most important strategic issues facing the organization or business unit are reasonably significant and are clearly and completely discussed. They represent a variety of issues that threaten the organization in some way. 
40

Summary of key findings and preliminary recommendations:Include a preliminary set of recommended tactics for improving your company’s strategic alignment and operating performance.

CO 1, 2, 4, 5
PO 1, 2, 3, 4
ILO 1, 3, 5, 6

(1) A brief summary of findings and (2) a preliminary set of recommended tactics for improving your company are appropriate for the company’s resources, market, and goals. How these tactics directly improve strategic alignment and operating performance is discussed, and these tactics will reasonability reach those goals.

40

Write using ethical scholarship and proper grammar and mechanics.

CO 1, 5
PO 2, 3, 4
ILO 1, 3, 6

Writing is clear, concise, and in an organized manner; demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

20
Total: 
200

 

Assignment 2: Internal Environmental Scan/Organizational Assessment

This section provides the opportunity to develop your course project. Conducting an internal environmental scan or organizational assessment, provides the ability to put the strategy audit together.

In this module, you will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the internal environment at your business unit or organization you are working with for this project, also known as an organizational assessment, and present your findings in a report. In your report, you should analyze the operating characteristics and assets of your business unit.

The SWOT model is one of the most common business tools used during organizational assessment. Another is developing a balanced scorecard based on a prescribed or planned set of performance objectives that will be measured and evaluated regularly. In this assignment, based on the external environmental scan you conducted in M2: Assignment 2 and the internal environmental scan in this assignment, you will develop a SWOT analysis and a balanced strategic scorecard.

Part I: Internal Environmental Scan (2–3 pages)

The internal environmental scan or organizational assessment should include the following:

  • Mission, vision, and values: Assess the organization’s understanding of the mission, vision, and values, and how they relate the business strategy. Is there consensus on the mission and vision of the organization? What are the shared values of the organization? What are the behaviors espoused by these values?
  • Strategy clarification: Assess the organization’s understanding of the business strategy through the interview with a mid-level or senior manager. Assess his or her understanding and agreement of the business unit’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage.
  • Cultural assessment: Explain the unwritten rules and shared values that govern behaviors in the organization. Do they act as enablers or blockers to the strategy? For example, is there a culture of information sharing and collaboration that enables the organization to respond quickly across structural boundaries to solve problems for customers? On the other hand, do groups not share important information through informal mechanisms, thus slowing response times?
  • Value chain analysis: Identify the primary (direct) and support (indirect) activities that create and deliver your product or service to your customers. Assess each activity’s contribution to competitive advantage through cost or differentiation. Identify any areas where the business may be at a competitive disadvantage.
  • Summary of findings: Using these different analyses, identify the organizational strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the business strategy. Organizational strengths are assets, capabilities, and resources that contribute directly to the organization’s strategic fit, differentiation, and competitive advantage relative to competing organizations. Organizational weaknesses are characteristics and capabilities (often lacking) that place the organization at a disadvantage relative to competitors.

Part II: SWOT Analysis (1–2 pages)

Your SWOT analysis should summarize the opportunities and threats from the external environmental scan with the strengths and weaknesses from your organizational assessment or internal environmental scan.

Your output should include a matrix depicting strengths or weaknesses on the horizontal axis and opportunities or threats on the vertical axis. This matrix will reveal a set of strategy forces that can be used to assess the current strategy and identify important potential changes to the strategic direction of the company.

In creating your SWOT analysis, look for natural pairings of internal and external factors that match internal resources and capabilities to the external environment. Internal strengths and external opportunities depicted in the upper-left quadrant on your matrix might form complementary pairs that suggest necessary strategic focus for the business unit to pursue opportunities that fit its competitive strengths. Conversely, internal weaknesses and external threats shown in the lower right quadrant of the matrix may combine to illustrate the need for a defensive strategy to avoid becoming highly susceptible to competitive threats.

Your matrix should not simply be a collection of four lists compiled together in a matrix. Your analysis should combine factors and explain why specific strengths complement specific opportunities, and selected weaknesses are amplified by external threats. In addition to your matrix, provide a brief narrative that summarizes the main findings in your analysis and the implications for the current and projected strategy.

Part III: Balanced Strategic Scorecard (1–2 pages)

Use the balanced scorecard or another similar tool to recommend indicators and measurements that will tell you if the company is successful or unsuccessful in progressing toward your vision through execution of strategy.

A balanced scorecard presents organizational performance on four primary groups of measures:

  • Financial
  • Customer (external stakeholder)
  • Learning and growth
  • Internal process

You should develop a strategy scorecard that ties the performance of your business unit in these areas to its overall business strategy. The challenge you face is selecting two-to-three measures in each of the four areas that give a measurable and reliable indication of the business unit performance in the key activities that promote strategic fit, customer value, and sustained competitive advantage.

Write an 5–7-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M4_A2.doc.

The paper should include a cover page, executive summary/abstract, table of contents, body of paper—proper headers (mission, vision, and values assessment; strategy clarification; cultural assessment; value chain analysis; summary of key findings; SWOT analysis; balanced strategic scorecard; and references).

 

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points

Mission, vision, and values: Assess the organization’s understanding of the mission, vision, and values, and how they relate the business strategy. Is there consensus on the mission and vision of the organization? What are the shared values of the organization? What are the behaviors espoused by these values?

16

Strategy Clarification: Assess the organization’s understanding of the business strategy through an interview with a mid-level or senior manager. Assess his or her understanding and agreement of the business unit’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage.

16

Cultural Assessment: Explain the unwritten rules and shared values that govern behaviors in the organization. Do they act as enablers or blockers to the strategy? For example, is their culture of information sharing and collaboration that enables the organization to respond quickly across structural boundaries to solve problems for customers? Or do groups not share important information through informal mechanisms, thus slowing response times?

16

Value Chain Analysis: Identify the primary (direct) and support (indirect) activities that create and deliver your product and/or service to your customers. Assess each activity’s contribution to competitive advantage through cost or differentiation. Identify any areas where the business may be at a competitive disadvantage.

16

Findings: Using these different analyses, identify the organizational strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the business strategy.

20

Write using ethical scholarship and proper grammar and mechanics.

16

Total:

 

 

 

Assignment 2: LASA 2—Presentation of Strategy Audit Findings

In this assignment, integrate all the pieces of work you have drafted and formally turn it into the capstone strategy audit.

In previous assignments, you performed multiple, specified analyses of your company (or any company of your choosing). Those individual analyses provide the needed research to successfully complete the following LASA.

Part I: Strategy Audit Report

Using the tools and framework learned in class and throughout the program, prepare a 15-page strategy audit of your company with a companion presentation. The strategy audit is a comprehensive analysis of the company’s business strategy and operating performance, and culminates in a series of recommendations for improving your company’s performance based on the findings and conclusions of your analysis.

A strategy audit involves assessing the actual direction of a business and comparing that course to the direction required to succeed in a changing environment. A company's actual direction is the sum of what it does and does not do, how well the organization is internally aligned to support the strategy, and how viable the strategy is when compared to the external market, competitors, and financial realities. These two categories, the internal assessment and the external or environmental assessment, make up the major elements of a strategy audit.

In your strategy audit:

  • Provide a high-level analysis of the company’s business strategy and operating performance. Be sure to complete the following:
    • Analysis of the company value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage
    • External environmental scan/five forces analysis
    • Internal environmental scan/organizational assessment
    • SWOT Analysis
    • Balanced scorecard/strategy scorecard
  • Recommend specific tactics for improving your company’s strategic alignment and operating performance.
    • Recommendations can include but are not limited to tactics in marketing, branding, alliances, mergers/acquisitions, integration, product development, diversification or divestiture and globalization (if you recommend your company go global, you must include a supply chain analysis and an analysis of your firm’s global capabilities).
    • Explain how the recommendations will help the company achieve its strategy and vision.

You are to write this report as though you are a consultant to your company, and are addressing the executive officers of this company. You will collect and analyze a large amount of data in producing your report, but your final product will be condensed and focus on presenting your analysis findings and conclusions.

Your report should consist of the following sections in the given order.

  1. Executive summary (1 page): A concise and insightful summary of the significant findings of your analysis and the recommendations you have for your executive team.
  2. Strategic issues and recommendations (5 pages): Identify 5–7 most important strategic issues facing your business unit. Strategic issues arise from a mismatch between internal capabilities and external trends such that important opportunities are not being pursued or significant external threats are not being addressed under the current strategy.

    The strategic issues list should integrate your SWOT analysis, your Five Forces analysis, and the organizational assessment and external environmental scan completed earlier during the course. These detailed analyses are the foundation for your final set of findings and recommendations presented to the executive team.

    In developing your recommendations for addressing each strategic issue, consider misalignments that might be apparent in different operating areas:

    1. Product portfolio: Are there changes to the target market segment, value proposition, or positioning of the product or service line needed?
    2. Structure: Are the organizational roles and responsibilities, decision-making authority, skill requirements, and work assignments properly configured and aligned to support the strategy?
    3. Organizational culture or behavior: Does the organizational culture inspire behaviors that support the strategy? Are the mission, vision, and values clearly articulated and aligned with the strategy? What new behaviors are needed?
    4. Value chain activities: Does the organization value chain fully align with the strategy? Are their activities that should be added, eliminated, or modified significantly?
    5. Performance measures: Do the organization’s performance measures focus on the key drivers of strategic success? Is there a strategy scorecard that ties the main elements of the strategy to specific operating capabilities, including goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that give an indication of incremental or predictive progress toward reaching strategic goals?

    Your recommendations should fall into these general categories, but should be specific in terms of scope and expected impact.

    These sections have been completed earlier in the course, and should appear as appendices:

  3. SWOT analysis (2 pages—completed in Module 4): SWOT matrix illustrating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
  4. Balanced strategy scorecard (4 pages—completed in Module 4): Develop a Balanced Scorecard for your business unit that reflects the key drivers for your business strategy.
  5. Organizational assessment (3 pages—completed in Module 3)
  6. External environmental scan and five-forces analysis (3 pages—completed inModule 2)
  7. Market position analysis (3 pages—completed in Module 1)

Part II: Companion Presentation

Finalize the companion PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the audit and recommendations in a compelling manner that persuades senior management to explore and possibly implement your recommendations. The elements of the presentation should include the following:

  • Title
  • Agenda
  • Summary of audit
  • Recommendations
  • Key measurements
  • Risks and benefits
  • Call to action
  • Next steps

Submit a 20–25-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.doc.

Develop a 10-slide companion presentation in PowerPoint format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.ppt.

Use information from your previous assignments to support your conclusions and recommendations and conduct additional research when needed. Make sure you properly reference and cite so that the location of information is clear.

 

This assignment is worth 300 points and will be graded using the LASA rubric you can download.

100

 

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