代做Strategic Management – Strategy Concepts (6204)代做R编程

Strategic Management – Strategy Concepts (6204)

Group Project Assignment

Objective:  Act as “strategic consultants” to analyze and evaluate a strategic change initiated by a firm.

Description: Select a firm where you can evaluate a situation where that firm has either attempted to restructure or reposition itself strategically in response to changes in its industry and environment, or where an entrepreneur is starting a new firm and positioning it within that environment. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

•    Significant changes in strategy, such as entering new markets, targeting new customer segments, eliminating a product offering

•    Large-scale organizational restructuring/downsizing

•    Constructing a new market

•    Implementing a merger or acquisition or entering a strategic partnership

You may analyze strategic changes or initiatives that have been completed.  You may also analyze strategic changes that have only recently been initiated, but are still being implemented. You may not analyze strategic changes that you think will or should occur, but have not yet happened.

Final Deliverable:  Prepare a written report. The report should follow the format described below. You can weight content areas as you feel appropriate; however, my suggestion is to spend more time on the analysis and findings (e.g., 80% spent on describing the firm and 20% on analysis and implications would not produce a strong deliverable). Please cite the sources of your data in a reference section. Not including tables and figures or references, the paper cannot exceed 10 total pages (double spaced, 1” margins around, Times New Roman 12-point font.

A schedule of deadlines related to this assignment is below.

Important deadlines:

•    Week #6 – Discuss project assignment.

•    Week #9 – Librarians visit class (via Zoom) to discuss research. Come to class with 2-3 ideas.

Please note: No two groups can cover the same topic.  If there is a topic you really would like to cover, please talk to me before this date – first to request will take priority.

•    Week #9  – Group Project Plan due. In this plan, you must describe the firm and strategic change you are proposing to research, your plan on collecting data (including your plan for primary data  collection), and how you will divide work across the team. The plan cannot exceed one page (double spaced, 1” margins around, Times New Roman 12-point font) and may be bulleted.

•    Week #11 (4/2 class) – In class project work time.

•    Week #14 (4/24 class) – In class project work time.

•    April 25th  - Project due

Approach:

How you approach the project will depend on whether or not the change has been completed:

•    If you choose to analyze a strategic change already completed, your job is that of an historian

skilled in strategic analysis. You should document what happened and explain why things went right or why things went wrong. It is important for you to include an analysis of the risks posed at the time that decisions were made if things went “wrong,” and of the benefits expected at the time decisions were made if things went “right.”

•    If you choose to analyze a strategic change in progress, your job is that of a consultant. You

should develop clear, reasonable suggestions about how the strategic change should be implemented internally based on your understanding of how the firm works and your knowledge of principles of strategic management. You should include an analysis of the potential upsides and downsides ofany course of action, depending on environmental unknowns that may arise in the future.

Analyzing a work in progress is often more exciting than doing a careful history. But it is also riskier. It is easy to fall into speculation and forget about the organizational and strategic constraints faced by the firm. To combat this, keep asking yourself:  Why might the suggested course of action succeed/fail? What are the barriers to successful implementation?  Projects that take these issues seriously produce better reports.

Report Details:

Each project should consist of three sections:

Section 1: Firm Strategy Analysis (2-3 pages): Provide an overview of the firm and the restructure/repositioning the firm has done/is considering including:

•    Provide a brief background on the firm, identifying its strategy initially prior to the change and the proposed change it is attempting/underwent

•    Analyze and discuss the firm’s competitive advantages and position in the industry, relating this to an industry analysis – note: for new entrants you want to discuss how they plan toposition themselves, how this fits in the industry, and what advantages they plan to develop

•    Identify the driving forces behind the restructuring/entry (e.g., industry changes, competitive  actions) and firm-specific problems/opportunities that led to the restructuring/positioning (for new entrants would be industry specific problems/opportunities the firm foresees)

Section 2: Organizational Restructuring/Repositioning (3-4 pages): Discuss how did/should the firm   undergo this? Provide analysis of the internal organizational structure of the firm and the elements the firm is adapting/have adapted to fit with the strategic change or entry, including:

•    Describe the organizational structure of the firm prior to this event (note: this would only apply to an existing firm that is entering a new business/making a change)

•    Describe the proposed/current organizational structural adjustments based on the restructuring or repositioning (note: do not necessarily repeat aspects that remain unchanged, but focus on   the specific structural changes the firm is undergoing or underwent)

•    Discuss how difficult/easy these changes are/would be, explaining based on course concepts   your arguments for this assessment (for new entrants, focus on how difficult/easy it will be to construct the proposed internal structure and why)

Section 3: Strategy/Structure Analysis & Recommendations (3-4 pages): Assess the benefits and challenges associated with this event, including:

•    Analyze the fit between the proposed/ongoing strategy and structure of the firm

•    Analyze the fit between the proposed/ongoing change with their strategy

•    Identify the risks and benefits associated with this event for this particular firm

•    Propose at least two specific recommendations that you believe would contribute/would have contributed to the success of the strategic change. Justify recommendations with evidence and address the feasibility of implementing these recommendations.

You should write the project to take advantage of the information at your disposal, and may therefore choose to emphasize some parts more than others. While you must master the facts ofthe case, the goal of the project is to demonstrate your ability to understand and use the lessons/concepts from the course. A thoughtful analysis is essential; projects that are simple statements of facts and historical events will not be successful. Throughout the paper, you should leverage course concepts and frameworks to help structure your analysis.

You may study any firm that interests you and your fellow group members. A project will not be considered successful unless it contains a consideration of structural changes within the firm, integrates the industry and environmental context, and links these to the firm strategy. Therefore, choose the firm carefully with an eye toward being able to gather useful information on these aspects of the strategic change.

Research for Project:

The main research for this project should be collected and sourced through the GW library that you were   taught and discussed in class by the business school librarian. While popular press and company websites  are helpful to gather initial information, the expectation is that you go beyond this and use the more vetted sources taught in this class.

Primary Research: As part of this assignment, you will also be required to collect research from a primary source. Examples of this could involve an interview with some part of the value chain (supplier, customer, firm itself), a customer survey, an online survey, your own “mystery shopping” or visiting retail locations ofthe organization you are studying. This should then be used as one data source in your paper’s analysis – not written up as its own separate section of the paper.

AI Usage: The use of AI to author or write any part of this assignment is a violation of the GWSB Honor Code and will be treated accordingly. While using AI (similar to an internet search) is permissible  to gather research and information, it should not be used to author the paper or to author the initial draft of the paper and then edit it. Any research collected from AI should be validated by the group.

Final Thoughts & Keys to Success:

•    Allow enough time to get “inside” the organization and change. It will be difficult to do this by using only ChatGPT or looking at a few websites. Plan your time accordingly. I have allowed   time in class to work on the project as well to help.

•    Invariably, one member of your team may have more familiarity with the industry or firm. A

mistake would be for that person to author the report and dominate the analysis. Members with less personal experience will have different perspective when evaluating the topic. Use this wisdom to your advantage.

•    Pick a topic that interests you but keep in mind that the best reports are ones with hard evidence to support arguments. Trade-offs to keep in mind – picking a large change will give you lots of resources but then you need to spend time sorting through it. Picking a small, niche firm may be more targeted but also possibly difficult to find hard evidence.