Everything in Blue should be deleted Due Week 8 and worth 150 points Using the corporation you chose from Assignment 1 McDonalds, examine its industry. Research the company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions. NOTE: Be sure to read Chapters 1 – 10 in the course textbook and complete the LEARN E-Activities for Weeks 1-8 as they set the foundation to this assignment. Be sure to cite your sources! Link to the Writing Workshop covering this assignment in detail: https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/956951/uiconf_id/38285871/entry_id/1_itnbdr0i/embed/dynamic Begin your paper on Page 2 and write a minimum of six (6) pages (does not include Title or Source pages) in which you: Week 8 Assignment 3 Write your brief introduction here: It should not be more than 1 good paragraph (about 5 complete sentences) to introduce the reader to your topic and it should explain in detail what your paper will be discussing. Much of your introduction may be taken from the assignment itself (in your own words). Read the scenario to get a feel for what the paper is about and explain what your paper will be discussing – so be sure to review the Assignment instructions AND Rubric for understanding. Finally, please ask me any questions about this assignment. Business-Level Strategies Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice (Note: in this step you need to choose and write about only one (1) business-level strategy from the text book (not Google). Justify your opinion. For background, be sure to research and explain the industry in which your selected corporation operates. You could also briefly (1 – 2 sentences) define the business-level strategy (cite your sources) and briefly (1 – 2 sentences) define the strategy you are writing about using the textbook/Learn, as an introduction to your analysis. Read Chapter 4 in the course textbook. Review the Week 4 Learn video/Lecture for supporting content. In this section, you will want to research and identify the core competencies of your chosen firm. Demonstrate from your research how the firm uses its core competencies to create and sell its products in the marketplace. What actions & choices has the firm made to compete in individual product markets? Hint: “Every firm must form and use a business-level strategy.” (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013, pp. 102). Review Chapters 4-9 for specifics on the business-level strategies. Corporate-Level Strategies Analyze the corporate-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the corporate-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice (Note: in this step you need to choose and write about only one (1) corporate-level strategy from the text book (not Google). Justify your opinion. You should briefly define (1 – 2 sentences) corporate-level strategy based upon the textbook/lectures (cite your sources) as part of your analysis. Read Chapter 6 in the course textbook. Review the Week 6 Learn video/Lecture for supporting content. Competitive Environment Analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporation’s most significant competitor (this will require research/cite your sources). Compare their strategies at each level (market commonality, resource similarity, competitive behavior, and competitive dynamics/actions/responses) and evaluate which company you think is most likely to be successful in the long term. Justify your choice. Hint: read Chapter 5 in the course textbook as it provides a solid background and clues on this model that apply to this section. Review the Week 4 Learn video Lecture for supporting content (cite your sources). Market Cycles Determine whether your choice from Question 3 (Competitive Environment section above) would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets. It would be a good idea to briefly explain what the slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets are from the textbook (cite your sources) as a short introduction to your determination. Hint: read Chapter 5 in the course textbook with a special focus on the Competitive Dynamics section. Review the Week 4 Learn video Lecture for supporting content (cite your sources). Sources Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2013). Strategic management: Concepts and cases: Competitiveness and globalization (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Use at least three (3) quality references, one of which should be the course textbook. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: List your reference here in APA format. The reference page must include all of the references you used, listed in proper APA format. All references listed here must be used (cited) in your paper. After deleting the blue fonts in this template, make sure your original writing is turned to a black font. APA formatting: http://www.easybib.com/guides/students/writing-guide/iv-write/a-formatting/apa-paper-formatting/ Note: You will be graded on the quality of your answers, the logic/organization of the report, your language skills, and your writing skills. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: • Identify how the six segments of the general environment affect an industry and its firms. • Identify the five forces of competition. • Analyze the external environment for opportunities and threats that impact the firm. • Analyze the internal environment of a company for strengths and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness. • Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration. • Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics. NOTE: Strayer uses SafeAssign – an automated plagiarism checker. It is advised that you do your own writing and use external resources (other websites) to support what you have written in your own words. In this assignment, you are to use the same corporation you selected and focused on for Assignments 1 and 2. Research the company on its own website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions. Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you: Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion. Analyze the corporate-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the corporate-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion. Analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporation’s most significant competitor. Compare their strategies at each level and evaluate which company you think is most likely to be successful in the long term. Justify your choice. Determine whether your choice from Question 3 would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm. Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration. Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics. Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
