MBA290 Advanced Strategic Management
individual project guidelines
Purpose of the individual project
The individual project is designed to fulfill the requirement of the MBA program with regard to the culminating experience.
Deliverables
You are required to write a strategic plan for IBM based on the case titled “IBM's Decade of Transformation (A): The Turnaround”. The case is included in the course packet. A reasonable amount of external research may be necessary.
A suggested outline of your final report is included in this document. The questions in the outline are designed to help you write your strategic plan. You don’t need to answer every question. Instead, you should focus on the issues that are most pertinent to the case. You may also address issues that you think are important for your analysis.
A hard copy of your ABSTRACT is due on Tuesday, November 10th at 6pm.
You will also need to submit an electronic version of your abstract to at the same time. An electronic copy of your FINAL REPORT should be submitted to by 10PM, Monday, December 14th. No hard copy is required for the final report. A confirmation email will be sent to you after the final report is received.
The MBA program requires an Abstract of your individual project. The following is a message from Jeanie Williams, Coordinator of Graduate Programs:
Dear MBA 290 students,
The Sacramento State, Office of Graduate Studies requires an "unbound Project" from all MBA 290 students. They require each student complete an Abstract and a Project Completion Approval form, and have them approved/signed by the current MBA 290 instructor.
We have typed up the specific instructions for completion of an abstract in the attached document. You can use this document as a template for your abstracts as it is already formatted to meet the university requirements (i.e. margins, pagination, line spacing).
The abstract is essentially a statement summarizing the important points of a project (like an executive summary). It should be approximately 1 to 2 double spaced pages. You must follow the standard university Thesis/Project margin, spacing, and pagination requirements. Please read the attached document for details.
You will submit your completed abstracts to Dr. Han in class on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. You will also need to submit an electronic version of your abstract to by the same deadline (Please put the following in the subject line “Fall 2009 MBA 290 Abstract – First Name Last Name”).
If you have any formatting questions please email me or call The Graduate Business Advising Center at 916-278-6772. Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Take care,
Jeanie Williams
Graduate Coordinator
College of Business Administration
Graduate Business Advising Center
Sacramento State University
Tahoe Hall Room 1035
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6088
Email:
Phone: 916-278-6772
Fax: 916-278-4233
Final report: requirements and grading criteria
• >7 pages (not including exhibits, tables and graphs)
• Double spaced
• Use of appropriate headings
• Ability to identify key issues facing the organization
• Appropriate use of relevant theories and models to analyze the case
• Creativity and feasibility of recommendations
• Appropriate use of evidence to support analysis and recommendations
• Overall writing style and skills
Outline of Strategic Plan
0. Executive Summary
- Key issues identified
- Theoretical framework/models/methodology employed
- Major findings from analyses
- Key recommendations identified
1. Introduction
- A brief description of the organization’s history, product/service offerings, performance, and current status, etc.
- What are the most critical strategic and organizational issues that may affect the organization’s short-term and long-term performance? Why do you think these are the most critical issues?
- What is your approach to resolving these issues?
2. External Analysis: Environment, Industry, and Extended-Five Forces
- What elements in the macro-environment will significantly affect the organization’s performance? Discuss the impact of economic, social, cultural, demographic, technological, legal and global factors when applicable. Has the organization been dealing with these factors effectively?
- What are the evolutionary patterns of the industry or sector in which the organization under examination is located? What are the trends in the industry? Has the organization been responding to these trends effectively?
- What are the organization’s competitors? What are they doing? How do they affect the organization’s performance? How has the organization been responding to competitors’ strategic moves? Are these responses sufficient and effective?
- What are the organization’s customers, suppliers, substitutes, complementors, and potential competitors (new entrants)? How do they affect the organization’s performance? Has the organization been dealing with these forces effectively?
3. Internal Analysis: Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies
- What resources (e.g., financial, physical, technological, human and reputational resources) does the organization own? Among these resources, how many of them are valuable, unique and difficult to imitate by competitors? Do you think the organization has a sufficient and strong resource base relative to its competitors? What resources need to be acquired or upgraded to ensure the organization’s competitive advantage?
- What are the organization’s capabilities (e.g., marketing skills, supply chain management, R&D, manufacturing capabilities)? Among these organizational capabilities, how many of them can be considered core competencies; namely, they are unique, valuable, and difficult to imitate by competitors? Do you think the organization has sufficient core competencies to ensure its competitive advantage?
4. Strategic Goals and Recommendations
- Based on your external and internal analyses, what should be the organization’s strategic goals? These goals should be broken down into financial, market share and other sub-goals that are measurable. What are the timelines for these goals?
- Based on your external analysis, how should the organization capture opportunities and neutralize threats in the macro-environment? How should the organization capitalize on industry-level trends?
- How should the organization position or reposition itself relative to its competitors along key strategic dimensions (e.g., price, features, customer service)? What generic strategy do your recommend to the organization (low-cost leadership, differentiation, or focus)?
- What should the organization do to improve its position and therefore increase its bargaining power over its customers, suppliers, substitutes, and potential competitors (new entrants)? What should the organization do to capitalize on complementary products/services?
- Do you recommend the organization to diversify into other areas within or outside the current industry? Present your reasons.
- Do you recommend the organization to vertically integrate other stages of the industry value chain? Present your reasons.
- Do you recommend the organization to explore opportunities in international markets? Present your reasons.
- For every strategic recommendation you have made, is it the most productive way to leverage the organization’s core competencies? Does the organization have sufficient resources and capabilities to implement it? If not, what resources and/or capabilities need to be developed or upgraded within a reasonable timeframe?
- If the organization needs to develop new resources and/or capabilities, what mode (in-house development, strategic alliances, or mergers/acquisitions) do you recommend? Present your reasons.
- To successfully implement the strategic recommendations you have made, what functional-level (e.g., marketing, R&D, logistics) and cross-functional issues should the organization pay special attention to?
5. Appendix (optional)
- Include any graphs, tables, figures and/or other types of evidence that may strengthen your analyses and recommendations.
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