Final Project: Analytical Report
Throughout the course you have used the concepts and tools of strategic management to analyze case studies and respond to them with your recommendations. Your final project will draw upon this experience, and you will write an original analytical report and make recommendations to the CEO of a company.
Your report and recommendations will be based on one of the three scenarios listed below. Your report will require you to do independent research (primarily on the Internet), formulate positions on particular issues, and to justify those positions in a formal document prepared for your target audience. Thus, the production of your report will require critical thinking and your final draft should display good communication (persuasive) skills.
Case Scenario 1
Given the increasing regulation of the Internet and e-mail by the government of China, recommend to the CEO of Google whether the company should continue to operate in China, among the worlds largest growth markets.
Case Scenario 2
Given the likelihood of huge cuts in the procurement of military equipment by the U.S. government over the next 10 years, recommend to the CEO of Lockheed Martin how the company should prepare for the loss of its most important customer.
Case Scenario 3
Given the damage to a nuclear power plant caused by an earthquake and tsunami and the real and potential danger of a radiation leak, recommend to the CEO of a utility company whether it should continue to rely on nuclear power plants for electricity or base its electricity generation on fossil fuels instead.
For your analytical report and recommendations, you will need to:
Research the company, organizations, industry, operating environment, and so forth, involved.
Review the vision, mission, goals or objectives, and business model of your organization, and note how these relate to your scenario.
Identify strategic management concepts and the internal and external environment, including international aspects of the organization important to your scenario.
List the alternative competitive strategies that could be taken to address the scenario.
Identify ethical principles and socially responsible management values that are relevant to your scenario.
Explain the key elements necessary to execute your recommended strategic plan.
Based on this analysis you need to:
Succinctly identify key issues in your scenario.
Recommend an action plan to management.
GUIDELINES
For this final project, thoroughly discuss the topics described above and, when possible, provide specific examples or recommendations.
Your paper should:
Be 14 to 20 pages (3500 to 5500 words) in length. It must be prepared using Calibri 11-font or Arial 11-font with 1-inch margins.
Include the authors full name appearing in the papers footer left margin, along with the page number centered, and the course at the right margin.
Include a cover sheet, a table of contents, and an appropriate Endnotes section in addition to its content pages. (Word 2007+ versions have a simplified tool to make sure that Endnotes are done properly. Select the References menu.)
Follow academic research approaches and APA citation format, including in-text citations and a References list. All references must have integrity of source (i.e., professional journals, newspapers, books, and media sources). Encyclopedias, including Wikipedia, college textbooks, and dictionaries are not acceptable sources for college writing.
Be well developed and convey your understanding of the readings and concepts.
Be organized, coherent, and unified.
Be free of spelling, structure, and grammatical errors.
Demonstrate comprehension and analysis of course topics and objectives.
