At the opening of this week's material above, you were asked to choose a case that you would analyze. Your final paper, which , is to analyze this particular case. I realize that you have not yet studied all of the tools and techniques you will need, but you do have some of them. The remainder will be learned in the next four weeks. However, you should begin reading your assigned case now and start analyzing the organization's strategy. You should build your project on a weekly basis as your learn the various techniques. This makes a hard project far easier, I assure you. You do NOT have to turn anything in on a weekly basis but I strongly recommend that you do NOT wait to start. 

Be sure to employ in your analysis, the key concepts you have been studying in the text and the lectures. In particular, you should conduct an analysis of the company's Vision (do they have one?); Mission Statement, (How many constituencies does it address? Examine the Internal and External environmental aspects and also a Value Chain analysis.  In addition, you should provide a competitive analysis of the industry environment by carefully reviewing the five forces model and trying to determine the organization's core competencies. Any other relevant analytical tools and techniques should also be used. You are expected to do (and include) a formal, formatted SWOT analysis and a review of the company's or organization's Generic and Line of Business strategies. Also review their financial results overall. 

In addition, I specifically want your opinion regarding the following:.

What are their Strengths?

What are their Weaknesses? 

What are their Opportunities?

What are their Threats?

What is their specific Value Chain and how do they use it??

How well are they doing?

What do they need to do better?

When you are finished with your analysis, you will be in a position to write your paper. The paper should explain the organization's current situation and the problems and/or challenges it faces and look at its future choices and options, based on your analysis above. Attention should be given to the results of various analyses related to both strategic and financial issues as appropriate. Finally, you should identify the strategic steps the enterprise now needs to implement, and your recommendations for doing all of this.

Quality and Formatting Standards

Your final case analysis should be double-spaced-APA formatted, and approximately 3500-4000 words, or 12-15 pages in length, exclusive of Title Page, Abstract, and References Page.  Remember, all IPPs follow APA and that means that they must include a formal Title Page, a Header (the first 3 words of the actual title and a page number in the upper-right hand corner of the paper starting on the Title page) [Use the "View "header/Footer" command in MS Word to access the Header position-It is right-aligned]; a Heading (a copy of the actual title pasted atop the first page of text) and In-text citations for each and every reference used. References must be properly formatted in accordance with APA ver 5.0 standards on a separate page at the end of the paper. A minimum of 4 outside references must recognized high quality business journals like Fortune or Forbes, etc.