| Q1 – Business Strategy | 15 |
| Q2 – Industry Environment | 20 |
| Q3 – Value Chain Analysis | 20 |
| Total | 50* |
*Note: 5 points of bonus.
The Basics
- This assignment is to be done in PowerPoint.
- You should be able to do the assignment using only your company’s annual report and letter to shareholdersand related documents (some companies split out their annual report materials into multiple documents).
- Avoid at all costs: generalities, platitudes.
- No fluff, please! Good answers are specific and concrete, and use things like numbers and identifiable products, brands, names and locations.
The Questions
- (15 points; 3 slides max) Generic Business Strategy Identify and explain how your company achieves itsgeneric business strategy.
- Clearly identify your company’s generic business strategy (Broad Differentiation, Broad Low Cost, Focused Differentiation, or Focused Low Cost)
- Explain how/why the company’s scope is narrow or broad. Remember that a scope discussion MUST addressproducts, customers,and
- What is the primary source of its main competitive advantage? If it is a low cost leader, explain how it keeps costs down. If it is a differentiator, explain how it makes itself better/different/superior than others.
- (20 points; 3 slides max) Industry Environment. Do a Porter’s Five Forces analysis of your company’s industry environment.
- For each force, address at least 2-3 different factors impacting the strength of that force. Reference things like switching costs, economies of scale, differentiation of products, etc.
- Assess the strength of each force and assign them asHigh/Medium/Low based on your analysis above. Please note that the strength of force in (b) must logically follow from the factors addressed in (a).
- (20 points; 4 slides max) Value Chain Analysis. Do a Value Chain Analysis of your company. Remember that there are two types of activities: Primary, which includes Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing & Sales, and Service; and Support/Secondary, which includes General Administration, Human Resources, Technology Development, and Procurement. A proper analysis will include:
- For all activities, explain the company executes them. Generally speaking, you’ll need 3-5 bullet points to give a rough outline of how the activity is accomplished. If your company outsources an activity, that is still noteworthy here.
- Highlight visually1-2 primary activities and 1-2 support activities that are key to your company’s performance. Note that not all activities can be key, and that your selection of key activities should be reflective of the value chain as well as the company’s strategy.