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Purpose
The main purpose of the Strategic Plan is to meet a key learning objecti
Purpose
The main purpose of the Strategic Plan is to meet a key learning objective in the course:
Develop effective approaches for managing the process of executing and implementing strategic decisions and initiatives
Exchange ideas and opinions with other students in a team environment to develop strategic alternatives within semi-structured settings
Hence, creating a strategic plan of your team’s Game situation will help you develop the skills to synthesize diverse information and so reason critically about potential solutions in a business context. Such skills are necessary for effective business management.
Task
The task is to create a document containing the following three aspects:
Strategy Recommendation: Please describe the generic business-level strategy that your company will utilize (see Chapter 4 notes). Be specific about your intent. For instance, saying “our company will be number one” is not a strategy! References changes to specific elements of the company’s strategy (see Chapter 1 notes). In addition, the plan should note the competitive weapons that are most critical for your proposed strategy, as well as how this strategy will help the team meet its goals. Therefore, the plan should reflect a detailed analysis on the two dimensions – internal organization and external environment (SWOT). Essentially, students should reference their recommendations in relation to both analytical dimensions.
Strategy Implementation: In this section, the plan should describe in detail their implementation approach – i.e., the value chain activities and the combination of competitive factors to execute your strategy. You should also explicate the specific numbers that you have proposed, discussing how these target numbers will help you to (1) implement the strategy and (2) achieve your objectives. For example, you could describe your decisions on the raw material mix, celebrity bids, worker productivity, delivery rate, etc. Discussing specific numbers helps to clarify your intent and the expectations to achieve objectives for these decisions. Each competitive factor outlined in the Guide is associated with a particular value chain activity.
Expected Outcome: What performance outcomes are you expecting? This section should include a discussion of the projected income statement and expected performance on the benchmark metrics. The plan should reference the expected results of the decisions for the year/round of the plan. Please include the pro forma income statement as an exhibit. Do not just attach the pro forma printout from the game. Instead, you need to discuss the assumptions and decisions made to forecast your performance over the next year. This statement should mirror your intended strategy and highlight how you plan to reach your goals. For example, if you are targeting a higher than average market share, it would not make sense to assume an enormous increase in price. To get started here, students must complete their decisions for the year.
A few further points of clarification:
The format is a typed document (12-point font, double-spaced text). I would encourage students to use a memorandum or presentation format, addressed to your team members.
The Strategic Plan must be submitted electronically before the scheduled decision round. Your file (Word; PDF; PPT) should be uploaded to the proper folder under the Assignments tab on our iCollege site. Ideally, the plan is completed prior to the team meeting to finalize decisions for the round.
Each team member is responsible for submitting a plan to the Assignments folder for the specific decision round chosen (Year 13). The team should discuss the specific round/year that each member will provide a strategic plan. Ideally, the specific decision round chosen by each student is completed for the team charter.
If in memorandum format, each submitted Plan should be roughly three-to-four pages in length.
Criteria
In terms of grading criteria, the following guidelines are instructive:
Clearly identifies the main strategies of the team’s company. In addition, the student is able to recognize how these strategies relate to course concepts, such as business-level strategy. Student is also able to clearly distinguish the main elements of the strategy.
The analysis explicates multiple challenges in the Game, including issues related to the external environment and internal organization. The student references the analysis along the SWOT dimensions, while identifying the most serious challenges facing the team.
Outlines the process of making critical game decisions, illustrating the implementation steps to achieve competitive advantage (i.e., cost leadership, differentiation, hybrid). The Plan makes clear references to actual Game decisions, discussing the benefits and issues with the choices being made.
The plan closes with a clear outline of the team’s expectations on key performance metrics (e.g., EPS, ROE, Image rating). In addition, the plan explores the key assumptions driving the projections, as well as outlines the next steps to be taken.
Finally, students can structure the Plan in either a memorandum or presentation format. Please see the examples below for an illustration of a Plan as a memorandum directed to the team, or as a presentation of your analysis.
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