MGMT 4309: Strategic Management
Project Instruction

A. General information:
• AACSB Assessment: This assignment is used to assess student performance for AACSB
accreditation. In other words, this assignment is how UHV determines whether you have
learned certain skills that UHV would like all graduates to know.
• Academic Honesty: You may include a few short, selected quotes (properly cited with page
numbers included) in your report, but each and every sentence you write in this assignment
must be crafted by you. This means that you need to seriously avoid copying and pasting from
any sources. Your assignment will be checked for originality.
• Project Description: The purpose of this project is to apply theories, concepts, and tools of
strategic management to a real-world case. The students should conduct a full strategic
planning process on the selected company, starting from the company’s vision and mission
statement, to the analyses of its external and internal environment, to developing strategic
recommendations.
• Your Role: For this assignment, assume that you are a management consultant hired to analyze
the company and to give an honest and thorough assessment of the company’s environment
and competitive situation. You are required to research the company, and the industry yourself,
and to conduct the required analyses requested using the tools, theories, and ideas that you
have learned in this class and in the core and elective classes you have completed.
B. Report Format:
• Format: All the parts must be typed and double-spaced using font size 12, Times New Roman, 1
inch margins on all sides, spell- and virus-checked. APA style is required. Please remember to
include page numbers.
• References: You are required to provide appropriate references for all data and for all sources
of information that you use in your analyses. For any source from the ‘web’, you also need to
provide an appropriate reference as you would for any other cited reference (author, date, etc.).
You also should include the date the URL was accessed and the entire web address to reach the
cited materials. Please use the APA format. You may refer to UHV Library APA guidelines.
• Writing Center: The Student Success Center provides writing assistance and writing resources.
Face-to face or online, the Center staff review class papers and other student writing projects.
UHV students may make an appointment for face-to face tutoring or email documents. The
report format accounts for up to 10% of the total grade; therefore, I strongly encourage you
take advantage of this free service.
C. Report Structure:
This project report consists of six (6) sections organized in four parts. Please follow the structure in
Appendix A and number each section and its subsections.
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 Part I report submission includes section 2 (Company history and products/services) and
section 3 (an analysis of the general environment, the industry and the assigned firm’s
competitors). Your focus in Part I is the external environment.
 Part II report submission includes adding section 4 which requires you to analyze the
assigned firm. It also includes the revised part I.
 Part III report submission includes adding section 5 where you need to summarize the
strategic challenges (opportunities and threats) from both the general environment and the
industry environment (section 3) and match them with the internal strengths and
weaknesses of the firm (section 4) through the SWOT analysis. It also includes the revised
parts I & II.
 Part IV report submission includes adding section 6 in which you provide two
recommendations along with an implementation plan for your top recommendation. This is
the final report submission that includes all sections (i.e., sections 1-6). It also includes the
revised parts I, II & III.
Section 1: Executive Summary (1-2 pages): The executive summary is the first section of a report for
your audience to read and the last section you write after completing your report. The executive
summary is simply a brief description of a) the purpose and scope of the report, b) major parts of the
report and methods and results in each part, and c) the final conclusion. The executive summary may
have 4-5 paragraphs. Each paragraph consists of 3-5 short sentences.
PART I Report Submission (External Analysis)
• Page limit: 12-15 pages total, excluding figures or tables, which should be included in the Appendix
section.
Section 2: About the company (2-3 pages): This section provides a brief history of the company with
major milestones. It also includes the company’s major products and services. Please consider adding
some tables/ figures/ graphs regarding the firm history and products/services in the appendix.
Section 3: General Environmental (PESTEL) Analysis (2-4 pages): This section needs to include a
complete analysis of the general external environment.
Section 3.1: You are expected to provide a specific definition of the industry and an in-depth
analysis of the industry’s current and future outlook.
• Please refer to figure 3.1 and Table 3.1 on pages 39-40 of your textbook (7th Ed.). You should
explicitly analyze how any trend you identify in each of the segments in the external environment
may affect the industry. You need to explicitly state the implications. For example, if the industry
you are analyzing is personal computers and you see an expanding economy in some emerging
economies, but a recession and declining disposable incomes in other economies, your analysis
should include how these trends are likely to influence the personal computer industry. Do not
discuss specific companies in this section.
• At the end of this section, you need to identify the industry top two driving forces (DFs). A driving
force is an external environment change (e.g. change in a governmental policy or emergence of a
new breakthrough technology) which may significantly change the rule of the game in the industry
competition. Please refer to Table 3.2 and page 54 of your textbook (7th Ed.).
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Section 3.2: Industry Dominant Economic Features (2-3 pages): This section needs to include a
complete analysis of Market Size, Market Growth Rate, etc.
Section 3.3: Five Forces Analysis & Industry Attractiveness (3-5 pages): You need to employ the 5
forces framework to examine the competitive environment of the company. This section also
includes an analysis of the industry profitability based on the collective strength of the five forces.
Your analysis should clearly address profitability of the industry for an “average” firm. You are
required to provide a table (in the appendix) summarizing your findings using the format shown
below. Industry profitability is defined as its long-term profit potential of the industry. Please refer
to Figure 3.2 and pages 41-51 of your textbook (7th Ed.).
Summary of Five Forces Analysis
Buyer Leverage
Supplier Leverage
Threat of New Entrants
Threat of Substitutes
Intensity of Rivalry
Profit Potential
Rating Key: VL = Very Low; L = Low; M = Medium; H = High; VH = Very High;
N/A = Not applicable
Section 3.4: Industry Competitors Analysis and Analysis of their Anticipated Strategic Moves (2-3
pages): In this section, the focus is on the competitors. This section explains all strategic groups in
the industry. Please refer to textbook pages 57-58 (7th Ed.). Please include a strategic group map in
the appendix. In addition, this section explains competitors anticipated Strategic Moves. Please refer
to pages 58-59 of your textbook (7th Ed.).
Section 3.5: Industry Key Success Factors (1-2 pages): This section provides an examination of 3-5
key success factors (KSFs) you identify in the industry. A KFS may be defined as what any firm in the
industry must have to survive and grow. Please refer to Table 3.3 and pages 59-61 of your textbook
(7th Ed.).
PART II Report Submission (Internal Analysis)
• Page limit: 12-15 pages total, excluding figures or tables, which should be included at the
Appendix section.
Section 4.1: Organizational Strategy Analysis (4-6 pages): This section examines the company’s
current strategy and its components. For analyzing a company’s current strategy at the business
level, Figure 5.1 on page 90 of your textbook (7th Ed.). is useful. Please use this table as a framework
for analyzing the current business strategy for the company. For example, if you think the company
is pursuing a cost-leadership strategy, your analysis should include a rationale based on market
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segmentation and key functional areas (basis of competitive advantage). This section also includes
analyses of mission statement, core values, organizational culture and leadership.
Section 4.2: Financial Analysis (2-3 pages): Please provide an interpretation of the financial ratios.
This section explains completely what the numbers mean in terms of the financial health of the
company. Please refer to pages 229-230 of your textbook (7th Ed.). The financial review includes the
past 3-5 years. Industry average ratios and 1-2 major competitors’ ratios need to be included in the
comparative analysis. Please select at least one competitor, which is a public company to make sure
you can find its financial data. Please include summary tables in the appendix.
Section 4.3: Value Chain Analysis (4-6 pages): For the value chain analysis, you may refer to Figure
4.1 on page 74 of the textbook (7th Ed.). A complete value chain analysis includes examination of
the company and at least one of the competitors or industry average statistics so that you can
assess the company’s cost competitiveness in relation to its rivals. Be sure to identify major primary
and support activities undertaken to deliver value to the customer, and value chain activities that
firm does more or less well (or more or less efficiently/cost effectively) than competitors. Your
analysis should help you understand the internal cost structures of the firm (vs. competitors), and
the resources and capabilities of the firm. Please also refer to Table 4.1 on page 72 of your textbook
(7th Ed.).
PART III Report Submission (Strategic Fit Analysis)
• Page limit: 5-10 pages total, excluding figures or tables which should be included at the
Appendix section.
Section 5.1: Strategic Opportunities and Threats (1-2 pages): Based on Part I analysis, these section
lists 2-4 external opportunities and 2-4 external threats. Please refer to Table 4.2 on pages 72 of
your textbook (7th Ed.).
o Identification of an opportunity or threat depends on the level of company capabilities
to respond to them. With a relevant and strong internal capability, the company may
see an external challenge as an opportunity. However, when a company lacks the
necessary capabilities to properly respond to a strategic challenge then that challenge
becomes a threat.
o The potential benefits of pursuing each opportunity should be identified.
o The consequences of failing to address each threat should be identified.
Section 5.2: Core competencies (1-2 pages): Based on Part II analysis, this section lists 2-4 internal
strengths and 2-4 internal weaknesses. Please refer to Table 4.2 on pages 72 of your textbook (7th
Ed.).
o Using the 4 tests framework (Chapter 4, Pages 68-69 in your textbook), you need to
justify which of the internal strengths may be considered as the most important core
competency of the company.
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Section 5.3: Strategic Fit (SWOT) Analysis (3-6 pages): This section explains the link between
Strategic Challenges (O&T) and the organizational competencies (S&W).
o You need to provide a “SWOT summary table” (in the appendix) that recaps the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
SWOT Summary Table
A. List of Opportunities (external)
• Opportunity 1
• Opportunity 2
• Opportunity 3
B. List of Threats (external)
• Threat 1
• Threat 2
• Threat 3
C. List of Strengths (internal)
• Strength 1
• Strength 2
• Strength 3
D. List of Weaknesses (internal)
• Weakness 1
• Weakness 2
• Weakness 3
o After strengths and weaknesses are matched with opportunities and threats, strategic
directions emerge at their intersections. You need to identify 4 such strategic directions.
The following matrix describes the 4 types of matching with related questions which
may help you identify the strategic directions. Needless to say, not all internal and
external factors may match well with each other. Therefore, you need to only focus on
the meaningful, relevant, and significant fits.
o You need to provide the “SWOT Matrix Table” (in the appendix) that recaps 4 strategic
directions.
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SWOT Matrix Table: Strategic Directions
A. List of Strengths (internal) B. List of Weaknesses (internal)
C. List of Opportunities
(external)
1 –Strategic Direction 1 (S/O Match)
 Obvious attractive options
 Likely to produce greatest ROI (Return On
Investment)
 Likely to be quickest to implement and
easiest to justify immediate actionplanning or feasibility study
– Executive question: “If we are not
already looking at these areas and
prioritizing them, then why not?”
2 –Strategic Direction 2 (W/O Match)
 Potentially attractive options
 Likely to produce good returns if capability
and implementation are viable
 Potentially exciting and rewarding due to
change, challenge, surprise tactics, and
benefits from achieving improvements
– Executive questions: “What’s actually
stopping us from taking advantage of these
opportunities?”
D. List of Threats
(external)
3 – Strategic Direction 3 (S/T Match)
 Easy to defend and counter
 Only basic awareness, planning, and
implementation required to meet these
challenges
 Investment in these issues is generally
safe and necessary
– Executive question: “Since we are strong
here, can any of these threats be turned
into opportunities?”
4 – Strategic Direction 4 (W/T Match)
 Potentially high risk
 Where risk is low , we must ignore these
issues and not be distracted by them
 Where risk is high we must assess capability
gaps and plan to defend/avert in very
specific controlled ways
– Executive question: “Where the risks of
these threats are high, do we have specific
improvement plans for related weaknesses
to minimize the risk of those threats?”
PART IV Report Submission (Recommendations)
• Page limit: 5-10 pages total, excluding figures or tables which should be included at the
Appendix section.
Section 6.1: Selection and Justification of the Top Two Recommendations (1-2 pages): In part III,
you have identified a set of 4-5 strategic directions. In this section, you need to select the top 2 out
of those and include a complete discussion to justify your selection. Each of your top 2 choices
needs to answer the questions of what, why, how, and when to really develop into sound
recommendations.
 What: You need to develop specifics rather than vague, general statements like “they
should innovate.” Your recommendations should include detailed descriptions. Be specific
about what you are recommending and how you propose it be accomplished. For example,
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“we recommend the company expand its northeast coast operations through a balanced
combination of retail outlets and direct sales approaches”.
 Why: You need to explain why it is important that the company implement your
recommendations. For example, “Our recommendation will produce needed sales growth,
utilize excess capacity, build on our reputation for quality products and is projected to
produce $30 million in revenues in the first year”.
 How: You need to explain how the company may implement the recommendations and how
to acquire the required capital to pay for it. For example, “Since sixty percent of our current
customers purchase our products in retail outlets, we propose forming an exclusive
relationship with PDQ Corporation to provide the needed additional retail channels. PDQ
Corporation is the Northeast’s leading retailer of products and has 156 locations in the most
densely populated regions of the northeast. Our proposal will be funded by issuing $50
million in debt and financing the rest of the needed working capital through short-term
credit. Please refer to appendix 3C which illustrates. . .”.
 When: Describe the time horizon for the plan. How long will the plan take to implement?
Section 6.2: Implementation of the Top Recommendation
 Action Plans, Deliverables, and Milestones (2-4 pages): The first step in strategic
implementation is to develop action plans. A 3-year or 5-year projection is very helpful. Your
action plans should be a straightforward description of the specific actions that are required
to accomplish your strategies. Action plans are effective when they incorporate the
following elements.
 Specific tactics and actions. Action plans should specify what exactly needs to be done
today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next quarter.
 Clear period for completion. You action plan must specify when actions start and when
objectives will be reached.
 Deliverables. The next step is to define major deliverables—the expected outputs over
the life of the improvement project. Deliverables typically include time and quantity.
 Milestones. A milestone is a significant event in a project that occurs at a point in time.
 Resources, Technical requirements, and Budgeting (2-4 pages): This section the following
elements:
 Identification of personnel involved: You must specify which organizational department
or manager is responsible for each action in the plan. Will current staff handle the
strategies? Are you planning for staffing increases or layoffs?
 Identification of materials and costs: You must specify at what cost, if at all, can the raw
materials be procured? Can the materials be found in time to support the effort?
 Technical requirements: You must specify technical requirements to ensure proper
performance of the new product or service. Examples from IS projects include speed
and capacity of database systems and connectivity with alternative systems.
 Budgeting: Allocating scarce resources involves funding capital projects, shifting
resources, downsizing some areas, upsizing others, killing activities no longer justified,
and funding new activities with a critical strategy role. Specifically, you should suggest a
project budget to explain resource allocation, the cost control metrics you think are
valid, and milestone reports. You must specify the Key Performance Indicators for each
phase of the plan. Explain why you chose each of them. You should also discuss cash
flow considerations and resource constraints.
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MGMT 4309: Final Team Project Report Outline
Title page
Table of content
• Any report needs to have a title page, table of content and page numbers.
1.0. Executive Summary*……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
• Section 1 (Executive Summary) is only required for the final report (Part IV).
PART I:
2.0. About the company
2.1. Company History…………………………………………………………………………….……………………….…………………………
2.2. Products and Services ……………………………………..……………………………………………….………….……………
3.0. External Analysis
3.1. General Environmental Analysis
3.1.1. Political Segment ……………………………………………………………………………………….
3.1.2. Economic Segment …………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.1.3. Socio-Cultural and Demographic Segment ………………………………………………..………………
3.1.4. Technological Segment……………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.1.5. Environmental Segment ………………………………………………………………………………………………
3.1.6. Legal Segment ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.1.7. External Environment Driving Forces ………………………………………………………………………….
3.2. Industry Dominant Economic Features (e.g., Market Size, Market Growth Rate)…………………………
3.3. Five Forces Analysis
3.3.1. Threat of New Entrants………………………………………………………………………………….
3.3.2. Power of Suppliers …………………………………………………………………………………………
3.3.3. Power of Buyers……………………………………………………………………………………….…….
3.3.4. Power of substitutes …………………………………………………………………………………..…
3.3.5. Intensity of Rivalry ………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.3.6. Summary of Five Forces Analysis ………………………………………………………..…………
3.4. Industry Competitors Analysis and Analysis of their Anticipated Strategic Moves……………………..
3.5. Industry Key Success Factors………………………………………………………………………………………………………
PART II: Internal Analysis
4.0. Internal Analysis
4.1. Organizational Strategy Analysis
4.1.1. Corporate Mission…………………………………………………………………………………………..………………
4.1.2. Strategy (corporate level & business level) ………………………………………………………………………
4.1.3. Organizational Culture and Core Values……………………………………………………………………………
4.1.4. Leadership ……………………………………………….………………………………………………..……………………
4.2. Financial Analysis
4.2.1. Valuation Analysis (e.g., Stock Price/Book value, P/E Ratio) ……………………………………………
4.2.2. Growth Analysis (e.g., Revenue growth rate) ………………………………………………………………….
4.2.3. Profitability Analysis (e.g., Gross Profit Margin, ROA, ROE, EPS) ……………………………………….
4.2.4 Financial strength Analysis (e.g., Current and Quick Ratios, Debt/equity) ……………………….
4.2.5. Management Efficiency Analysis (Inventory Turnover, accounts receivable to sales) …….
4.2.6. Summary of Financial Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………….…
4.3. Value Chain Analysis
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4.3.1. Support Activities
4.3.1.1. Structure (organizational chart, communication system, etc.) ………….…… ………
4.3.1.2. Design, Research and Development (R&D) ……………….………………………………………
4.3.2. Primary Activities
4.3.2.1. Input (tangible and intangible resources) …………………..……………………………………
4.3.2.2. Operation Processes (e.g., production, logistics, product/service cost structure)
4.3.3.3. Marketing and Customer Service…………………………………………………………………………
PART III: Strategic Fit Analysis
5.0. SWOT Analysis
5.1. Strategic Challenges: Opportunities and threats (based on Part I) ……………………………………………………..
5.2. Core Competencies: Strengths and Weaknesses (based on Part II) ……….……………………………………………
5.3. Strategic Fit Analysis (SWOT Matrix) …………………………………………………………………………………….…….
PART IV: Recommendations
6.0 Recommendations
6.1. Selection and Justification of the Top Two Recommendations………………………………………………….…..
6.2. Implementation of the Top Recommendation
6.2.1. Action Plans, Deliverables, and Milestones…………………………………………………………………..…
6.2.2. Resources, Technical Requirements, and Budgeting………………………………..……………….………
References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………….
Appendix …………………………………………………………….………………………………