Project 4: Strategy Selection, Implementation and Evaluation

BMGT 495 – Project 4: Strategy Selection, Implementation and Evaluation

NOTE: You are expected to use proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list only). 

Purpose:

This project is the last of four projects.  You will generate a pool of alternative strategies, evaluate these alternative strategies, and select the best strategy using the tools and concepts learned throughout the course.  You will develop implementation plans, evaluative plans to control the implementation process, and plan for post-evaluation measures. You will also draw from previous business courses to develop an understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market.  

Skill Building:

In this project, you are building many different skills including research, critical thinking, writing and developing analytical skills related to various financial analysis tools and strategy tools used in business.   You will select optimal strategies, design how to implement and evaluate the implementation process of the optimal strategies.

Outcomes Met With This Project:

· Examine the impact of ethical decision making, social responsibility, stakeholder analysis, and corporate governance on organizations and society

· Utilize a set of useful analytical skills, tools, and techniques for analyzing a company strategically;

· Integrate ideas, concepts, and theories from previously taken functional courses including, accounting, finance, market, business and human resource management;

· Analyze and synthesize strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to generate, prioritize, and implement alternative strategies in order to revise a current plan or write a new plan and present a strategic plan;

· Evaluate the outcomes of identified strategies to determine their success and impact on short-term and long-term objectives. 

Instructions: 

Step 1:  Step 1: Specific Company for All Four Projects

The company you will use for this project is Tilray, Inc. (NSM: TLRY). After reading the course material, you will complete the steps below.   

Although you are required to research information about the focal company, you are also accountable for using the course material to support the ideas, reasoning and conclusions made.  Course material use goes beyond defining terms but is used to explain the ‘why and how’ of a situation.  Using one or two in-text citations from the course material and then relying on Internet source material will not earn many points on an assignment.  A variety of source material is expected and what is presented must be relevant and applicable to the topic being discussed.   Avoid merely making statements but close the loop of the discussion by explaining how something happens or why something happens, which focuses on importance and impact.  In closing the loop, you will demonstrate the ability to think clearly and rationally showing an understanding of the logical connections between the ideas presented from the research, the course material and the question(s) being asked.

Step 2:  Research

In completing the report, you will use the chapters in the eBook as a guide and perform research on the same company as in Projects 1 and 2, answer the required elements below in narrative form following the steps. 

Note:  Your report is based on the results of the research performed and not on any prepared documentation.  What this means is that you will research and draw your own conclusions that are supported by the research and the course material rather than the use any source material that puts together any of the tools or techniques whether from the Internet, for-pay websites or any document, video or source material.  A zero will be earned for not doing your own analysis.

Library Resources

You may use Market Line and should be looking at the focal company’s Annual Report or 10K report.  You are not depending on any one resource to complete the analysis.  It is impossible to complete a Porter’s Five Forces, competitive analysis or OT by using only course material.

You should not be using obscure articles, GlassDoor, or Chron or similar articles.

Research for Financial Analysis:  Financial Research

Research for Industry Analysis CSI Market

Step 3: Specific Company for All Four Projects

The company you will use for this project is Tilray, Inc. (NSM: TLRY). After reading the course material, you will complete the steps below.   

Step 4: Preparation for the Project

Before you begin writing the report, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.

· You will be doing an analysis on Tilray Inc.  When doing an analysis you are not merely making statements that may be cited.  Instead, you will be supporting the statements made.  “Support” is the process of explaining, discussing and analyzing “why” and “how,” which is a higher level critical analytical skill that is required for this class.  Support is needed to do well on this project.

·  Read the grading rubric for the project.  Use the grading rubric while writing the report to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

Step 5:  How to Set Up the Project

Use this template to complete the project: Project 4 Template (see below)  The document has to be written in Word or rtf.  No other format is acceptable.  No pdf files will be graded.  Use 12-point font for a double-spaced report.  The final product cannot be longer than 16 pages in length, excluding the title page and reference page.  Those items identified in the implementation and action plans should appear under the appropriate heading in the paper.  Do no use an Appendix. Also, endeavor to label your tables/figures. It helps in proper identification and clear presentation.

Step 6:  Introduction

Create an introductory paragraph.  The Introduction should clearly and concisely convey the main points of the project’s requirements. Review the following website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html.  

Step 7:  Alternative Strategy Generation

· To generate a pool of strategies, you will look at the organization’s business level strategy, corporate level strategy and global strategy.   Using the information and data collected from your research, and the analytical outcomes from (a) external factor analysis in your Project 1 and (b) internal factor analysis in Project 2 (see attachments), you will generate a pool of strategies.

· Generate a minimum of three possible alternative strategies for the company;

· Identify and discuss cultural and organizational factors that should be considered in analyzing and choosing among the alternative strategies.

Step 8:  Strategy Prioritization

· Prioritize strategies and explain using the course material to support the reasoning.

Step 9:  Strategy Selection

· Explain how to select the best strategy (or strategies);

· Recommend the best one or two strategies and long-term objectives among the alternative strategies and explain why these strategies and objectives are best;

· Identify strategy recommendations using the following format for the formulation of strategies.   Make sure you are thorough in your presentation.

· View Strategy Content Guidelines.

· Goal (The desired outcomes to be achieved)

· Objective (Measurable milestone toward accomplishing the Goal)

· Strategy (The approach used to achieve the Goal)

· Tactic (A specific activity undertaken to implement the Strategy)

· Review this resource to differentiate between Strategy Versus Operations and Strategy Versus Tactics

Step 10:  Strategy Implementation

· Recommend procedures for strategy implementation;

· Discuss who, what and how to implement the selected strategy (or strategies) at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.

Step 11:  Strategy Evaluation

· Discuss procedures for strategy review and evaluation;

· Discuss the appropriate evaluative measures (including who, what, when and how)  at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.

· Discuss a corrective action plan (including who, what, when and how) at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.

· Use frameworks and tools discussed throughout the course;

· Support the reasoning and conclusions made.

Step 12: Conclusion

Create a concluding paragraph.  The Conclusion is intended to emphasize the purpose/significance of the analysis, emphasize the significance/consequence of findings, and indicate the wider applications that are derived from the main points of the project’s requirements. Review the following website to learn how to write a concluding paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/concl.html.

Your conclusion must capture your paper and complete referencing of the entire section. Conclusions are supposed to be substantiated using both the course material and research to support reasoning.

Report Requirements to Follow

In writing the report:

· Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

· Third person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).

· Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them.

· No direct quotes except for mission statement and vision statement.  For all other source material used in the analysis, you will not use direct quotation marks but will instead paraphrase.  What this means is that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lifting directly from a source document.  You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, as doing so would require direct quotation marks.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.  If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations of academic dishonesty.

· Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains the reference associated with each in-text citation.

· You may not use books in completing this project.

· Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented.

Project 4 Template

Introduction

(The Introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper and will be used to describe to the reader the intent of the paper explaining the main points covered in the paper.  This intent should be understood prior to reading the remainder of the paper so the reader knows exactly what is being covered in the paper.  Write the introduction last to ensure all of the main points are covered.)

Alternative Strategy Generation

To generate a pool of strategies, you will look at the organization’s business level strategy, corporate level strategy and global strategy.   Using the information and data collected from your research, and the analytical outcomes from (a) external factor analysis in your Project 1 and (b) internal factor analysis in Project 2, you will generate a pool of strategies.

(1. Generate a minimum of three possible alternative strategies for the company)

(2. Identify and discuss cultural and organizational factors that should be considered in analyzing and choosing among the alternative strategies.)

Strategy Prioritization

(1. Prioritize strategies and explain using the course material to support the reasoning.)

Strategy Selection

(1. Explain how to select the best strategy or strategies)

(2. Recommend the best one or two strategies and long-term objectives among the alternative strategies and explain why these strategies and objectives are best)

(3. Identify strategy recommendations using the following format for the formulation of strategies.   Make sure you are thorough in your presentation.)

· View Strategy Content Guidelines.

· Goal (The desired outcomes to be achieved)

· Objective (Measurable milestone toward accomplishing the Goal)

· Strategy (The approach used to achieve the Goal)

· Tactic (A specific activity undertaken to implement the Strategy)

· Review this resource to differentiate between Strategy Versus Operations and Strategy Versus Tactics

Strategy Implementation

(1. Recommend procedures for strategy implementation)

(2. Discuss who, what and how to implement the selected strategy or strategies at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.)

Strategy Evaluation

Use frameworks and tools discussed throughout the course. Support the reasoning and conclusions made.

(1. Discuss procedures for strategy review and evaluation)

(2. Discuss the appropriate evaluative measures (including who, what, when and how) at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level)

(3. Discuss a corrective action plan (including who, what, when and how) at the corporate level, business-unit level, and functional level.)

Conclusion

(Create a concluding paragraph.  The Conclusion is intended to emphasize the purpose/significance of the analysis, emphasize the significance/consequence of findings, and indicate the wider applications that are derived from the main points of the project’s requirements.  You will draw conclusions about the findings of the external environment analysis.)

References

(The reference page is on a separate page from the report. The reference page is completed according to APA with each reference left-justified with hanging indentation for subsequent lines. References are completed in alphabetical order. Please see the module, Learn to Use APA to ensure references are in APA format.)

RESOURCES

Mastering Strategic Management Chapter 8:  Selecting Corporate Level Strategies

Chapter 9: Executing Strategy Through Organizational Design (SEE ATTACHMENT).

Strategic Management: Strategy Evaluation and Control– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfKLoGZiR4s

10 Strategic Management: Strategy Evaluation and Control– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfKLoGZiR4s&feature=youtu.be

Porter’s Five Forces – https://www.business-to-you.com/porters-five-forces/

Using Porter’s Five Force Model– https://soundcloud.com/businessbankingcoach/using-porters-five-forces-model

Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)- https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/competitive-profile-matrix-cpm.html

The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy (13:11 minutes)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYF2_FBCvXw

Competitive Profile Matrix Example – Handicraft Industry 042619- (see attachment)

SWOT Analysis: How to perform one for your organization- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXYI10Po6A

External Factor Evaluation (EFE) Matrix: www.maxi-pedia.com/EFE+matrix+external Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)

Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM): www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/competitive-profile-matrix-cpm.html http://www.mba-tutorials.com/strategy/85-cpm-competitive-profile-matrix.html

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) Matrix: www.maxi-pedia.com/IFE+EFE+matrix+internal+factor+evaluation

Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis: www.maxi-pedia.com/SWOT+analysis+matrix+method+model

Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) Matrix: www.maxi-pedia.com/SPACE+matrix+model+strategic+management+method

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix: https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/bcg-matrix-growth-share.html

Grand Strategy Matrix: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/develop-grand-strategy-matrix-37514.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYWHaOjWnN8

Rubric

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