Choose company Macy's or something similar.

Overview

A strategic analysis of a company is a major component of this course. It is where you will apply what you have learned to analyze a selected company. Your position is that of a business consultant to the chief executive officer of the company. You have been hired to do a strategic analysis of the company. The goal is to determine what direction the company should take and make specific recommendations about what the company should do next and why.

You will individually write a thorough company analysis, which includes five parts:

Part 1: Financial analysis to assess the company’s health

Part 2: Internal analysis (including value chain analysis)

Part 3: External analysis

Part 4: Identification of the firm's strategy

Part 5: Recommendations

Detailed requirements and expectations for each part will be discussed in class and posted in eLearning. This project accounts for 20% of your total grade.

1.This assignment requires the use of library/outside research, using sources such as business newspapers, business magazines, library databases (see appendix), and books. Sources such as private blogs / private websites are not allowed. Analysis (not just facts) and recommendations are required.

2.Please properly document your sources either in footnotes/endnotes or in (author name, year) format with a reference list attached at the end of your work

Format guidelines:

·Double spaced, font size 12, 1-inch standard margin on four sides of the paper.

·Sub-titles are required.

·Exhibits should be labeled sequentially and in the order they are discussed in the text. If you do NOT talk about an exhibit in the text, it probably isn’t doing anything except taking up space.

·Include a title page including your names and an abstract outlining your case study (the abstract should be max 100 words).

·We will discuss the report (content, format, etc.) early on in the course.

·For each part, there should be about 2 pages excluding the title page and any attachments, such as figures, tables, references and appendix.

·For the final project, minimum of 10 pages and maximum of 15 pages of text excluding the title page and any attachments, such as figures, tables, references and appendix.

·Please follow the style of your choice for the citation format.

Your paper will be graded based on:

·Use of concepts learned in class

·Reasonableness of analysis

·Appropriateness of recommendations/conclusions

·Storyline and professionalism of manuscript

In general, the best papers will show evidence of some investigative efforts—digging for more information, interviews/phone calls/emails with managers—and of synthesis and careful editing. They will also be insightful, going beyond the most obvious lessons to draw out the story behind the story.

Strengthening aspects:

Detrimental aspects:

·Evidence of thorough company study. ·Judgments supported by evidence from the sources. ·Clear articulation of the issues you are addressing. ·Use of professional tools and concepts from the text and lectures. ·Justification for the recommendation that is consistent with company strategy and its resources.

·Failure to ANALYZE. Don’t just give facts, do ANALYSIS! ·Failure to support opinions by evidence or logical explanation. ·Lack of adequate outside research, such as relying on Google or Wikipedia for information versus the library’s databases. ·Poorly edited or organized or presented clearly (i.e. Failure to proofread and correct obvious errors) ·Exhibits that are extraneous to the analysis. The reader or viewer is left to draw his/her own conclusions and wonder why the exhibit is there.

Other requirements are:

·I take plagiarism very seriously. If you plagiarize others’ work in any way, you will be reported immediately and receive a zero for your paper.

·While you may form study groups to discuss your company, the paper should be written on an individual basis.

·Extensive library research is required. The internet may be used but only along with other sources. If your paper has only internet sources, such as Wikipedia, but without library sources, you will not receive points for references.

·The final project should include at least six references.