FORMAT for Case Analysis BUAD460 Capstone II

Page 1. Cover sheet with the case title, your name, the class, the date, and instructor's name. Beginning on

Section 1: A. Statement of the Mission of the firm in the case. B. Statement of the Objectives of the firm in the case. C. Corporate Business Structure of the firm in the case. Section 2: Financial analysis of the firm in the case depicting the corporation's (company's) financial position. (Minimum of balance sheet, income statement, summary and at least two ratios from each financial category)

Section 2. SWOT Analysis - The environmental threat/opportunity profile

Section 3: The Strategic Advantage Profile (What is the firms' strategic advantage?) (Does the firm have a sustainable competitive advantage?)(Who are the firm's competitors?) (How has the firm positioned itself competitively?) (What is the industry structure - i.e., monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, pure competition)

You MUST always include the following: You MUST begin each of the following sections with a “Heading”.

  1. A discussion of the firm’s resources, capabilities, core competencies, competitive advantage, sustainable competitive advantage, tangible resources, intangible resources, etc.
  2. A discussion of Organizational culture
  3. A discussion of the General, Industry, and Competitive Environment
  4. A Five Forces Model Analysis (Include Figure)
  5. Discussion of the firm’s strategic group.(Include Figure)
  6. You Must do a Value Chain Analysis
  7. A thorough discussion of the firm’s business-level strategy and in applicable, it’s corporate strategy.
  8. A discussion of the firm’s target market
  9. You Must do a Competitor Analysis
  10. Identify any strategic action, tactical action, or competitive response
  11. A discussion of the firm’s competitive dynamics.
  12. If applicable, a discussion of the firm’s merger and acquisition strategy
  13. If applicable, a discussion of the firm’s international business strategy
  14. A VRIN analysis
  15. A discussion of the company’s business model.
  16. Identification and discussion of the firm’s generic competitive strategy
  17. A discussion of the firm’s corporate strategy (i.e., merger, acquisition, divesting)

Section 4: Discuss the problems found (thoroughly - I mean throughly!!). BE CERTAIN TO DESIGNATE THE "SALIENT" (Major) PROBLEMS AND EXPLAIN WHY!

Section 5: The Strategic Alternatives (the solutions), along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Also address the logic and feasibility of each. (For purposes of this course, you must have at least three (3) mutually exclusive alternatives).

Section 6: Give your recommendations of the best solutions and explain why!

Section 7: DETAIL your recommended plan of implementation of the solution you chose. This should be a real detailed activity plan, not general ideas.

Section 8: Control - How would measure the success of your recommendation? (See your management and finance texts)

Section 9: Present the citations, in an acceptable form, from all source material utilized.

Section 10: Appendices (graphs, charts, and any additional information that assists in getting across your ideas. MAKE CERTAIN TO ENCLOSE A "HARD COPY" OF ALL YOUR VISUALS (REPORT SIZE PAPER ­ Optional: you may submit your visuals on a floppy, zip or CD). THIS IS A REPORT: CLEARLY SEPARATE AND TITLE EACH SECTION AS SHOWN! PAPERS WILL BE TYPED (WORD-PROCESSED), DOUBLE SPACED ORIGINAL COPIES. APPEND MATERIAL MAY BE "COPIES" (CLEAN COPIES ONLY).