For This Assignment (Please NO Suzlon)

You will write a report, and it will be divided into two parts:

Part 1

Write A Report With the Following Guidelines

3-5 report of their company and its strategic situation.

The report will be in APA format,

Use a minimum of 3 credible sources (each source must be cited in-text within the paper as well as listed at the end).

Neither a cover sheet nor an abstract is required. A great source of information on this report, in addition to the information below, is the class textbook (Rothaermel, 5th ed.) which provides tips on doing case analysis.

Additionally, write the report with the following headers:

Company Name and Industry

Competitor

Mission statement: (direct quote expected)

Vision statement: (if available and as direct quote)

Basic facts: Year of founding, annual revenues, number of employees, major products and/or services

Company Background: this portion will be the beginning of the company's narrative, as told in the student's own words. Quotes may be sparingly used, paraphrasing should be the norm. The background should go back at least 5 -10 years, but be aware longer time frames may be relevant. especially for long-standing, "brick and mortar" businesses (WalMart, Target, IBM, etc.).

Part 2

Your Report Should Also Include:

A Qualitative Analysis (see Rothaermel, 5th ed): Students should include in the narrative any relevant PESTEL external factors that impact the company as well as internal competencies under VRIO framework and make note of them for the reader. Students do not have to do a complete PESTEL analysis, just point out the PESTEL factor and show how it is impactful. One short case study showing the use of VRIO analysis is in Chapter 4 of the text, detailing the rise and fall of Groupon. Please note: VRIO is a means of analyzing an internal company resource, it DOES NOT APPLY to the company as a whole. For the resource you're analyzing under VRIO, show the reader the higlights of what you have found--does the resource contribute to sustained competitive advantage or just temporary and tell the reader why. Is this something the competitor company also has or is trying to copy?

A company problem you'd like to investigate OR a major product or service you'd like to analyze: This is the second part of the narrative that zeroes in on an issue. It can focus on a set of struggles for the company and its leadership OR you can analyze a specific product or service the company is offering or proposing to offer. Issues could come from PESTEL-related factors or ones internal to the company (alleged corruption, sexual harassment scandals, lack of innovation, etc.). Or, your line of investigation might look at a new product, like Google's investment in driverless car technology or Amazon's web services division.

Because large companies are under pressure to stay relevant and grow, they frequently try new projects or ideas that may or may not work. Think of Microsoft putting out a new version of Windows that's full of bugs and crashes, Samsung trying to compete with a phone found to catch fire and explode, or Google glasses, a once-hyped product which no one wears today.

Note: In a later assignment, students will address the above challenges with their own set of recommendations, but for now, they are only required to identify what those strategic issues are.