Strategic Analysis

Your essay will address these items:

A. Select a company from the 35 listed at the end of our text (Case Studies – pages 540-541).  Do not use any company that you previously wrote about in previous classes.  This must be original research.   In addition to the information in your text, research this company using at least (2) outside scholarly articles.  Do not use a website as a reference.  Your reference source must have an author.  Discuss six selected topics from our studies throughout weeks one through five.  Discuss these six topics in relation to your company and discuss how the economic situation of today influences the strategic decisions your company is making.  Each of the six topics discussed should be in bold print.  For example, one topic you may choose may be how your company handles competition (Five Forces Framework).  Another topic may be your company’s organizational structure and why they have the structure they have.   You may choose to discuss your company’s strategic grouping or value chain. Choose your topics and explore them in detail throughout your paper.

Give examples using the terms and concepts in your textbook readings and your research articles.

B. What is the importance of each of the six topics within your company?

C. What is the usefulness of understanding this topic in today’s corporate structure?

D. Through what strategies does your selected company choose to excel over other strategically grouped companies.   For example, what strategies does Apple choose that keeps it on top? 

Paper Format (no abstract is necessary):

Title Page – Include a title page with your name, student number, title of your paper, course number & course name.

Introductory Paragraph – Include an introductory paragraph that states your company and your six topics and why you selected them.

Font and Spacing – Use Times New Roman 12 pitch font with double-spaced lines.

Length – Write a 4 to 6 page essay not including the title page and citation page. Make sure you have at least 1400 words, not including the title and reference page.

Reference Page – Include all sources including your textbook on a separate reference page.  Use references with authors, not websites. All references must have citations within your paper.

Utilize the APA Style for documenting sources. You will need to include at least 2 sources in additional to your textbooks.