Reference no: EM133494040

Case Study: This project is the second of four projects. It also represents the second part of the external environmental analysis part of a strategic management plan. You will use the tools and apply concepts learned in this and previous business courses to demonstrate an understanding of how an organization develops and manages strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain their competitive position in the 21st century (rapidly evolving/shifting/changing), uncertain hyper-competitive business environment.

Monitoring competitors' performance is a key aspect of performing an external environment analysis. This project provides you with the opportunity to evaluate the competitive position of your assigned company and integrate that information in a partial SWOT (OT), Porter's Five Forces, External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix, and Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM).

In this project, you are presenting a report document. The expectation is that the report provides details to help the audience grasp the main topics and to understand and complete the External Environmental Analysis.

"Analysis" is the operative word. In analyzing the external environment, you are expected to thoroughly research the company. As part of this effort, you will need to take that research and break it into small parts to understand better what is happening in the external environment of the business. In researching an industry, it is important to understand that every company within an industry is different, so gathering information on one company does not mean that the collected information is relevant to other companies. When researching, parsing the material is critical to an accurate analysis. Avoid presenting just any information as that may lead to using irrelevant information.

You will then write the report in your own words to share the external analysis. You are expected to present information and support the ideas and reasoning using the course material and your research. You will not lift any information from source documents without properly citing and referencing. For the technical analysis aspect of the project, you must create the technique on your own and may not use any source material that you happen to find. No work from a clearinghouse or similar website may be used or cited as a credible source.

Outcomes Met with This Project

Utilize a set of useful analytical skills, tools, and techniques for analyzing a company strategically;

Question 1: Integrate ideas, concepts, and theories from previously taken functional courses including accounting, finance, marketing, business, and human resource management;

Question 2: Analyze and synthesize strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to generate, prioritize, and implement alternative strategies to revise a current plan or write a new plan and present a strategic plan.