Prepare a paper entitled The Macro Environment and Its Influence on (company name).

Consider the macro environment in which a specific company operates. For this paper, you will examine how events/trends/issues occurring within the macro environment provide both opportunities (as defined by this course) and threats (as defined by this course) to a particular industry. The primary focus of the paper is the set of events/trends/issues in the macro environment that is prompting change in an industry. Changes within an industry then trickle down to drive changes within a company. The secondary theme of the paper is how the company responded. You are looking for broad reasons behind the companys strategic response. Macro environmental influences are very broad and non-specific. Response to the macro environment is only a strategic change IF the new strategy represents a new direction for the company.

Instructions: Find an example (from a set of at least four articles) of a company which has responded to events/trends/issues occurring within the macro environment. Choose a company that is not a case in your book or used in any assignments. Your paper will discuss one macro environmental segment that is prompting the company to make a strategic change. Factors which prompt change may be directly stated in the article or may be implied from your knowledge of general business conditions. The specific response may or may not be directly discussed in the article.

Note: in reality, changes in strategy are in response to all four segments of the macro environment. For the sake of brevity, only address one in this paper.

Paper Format:

Part I: Introduction

Identify and briefly describe the industry in which the company operates. Provide a brief background of the company and identify the companys major product lines. Next, clearly identify which macro environment segment you will be discussing in the paper.

Part II: The (insert name of segment) Segment's Influence on (insert industry)

Opportunities: Identify at least four opportunities that apply to this industry. You should use a separate paragraph for each opportunity. Explain how the opportunity affects the industry.

Threats: Identify at least four threats that apply to this industry. You should use a separate paragraph for each threat. Explain how the threat affects the industry.

Remember that you are analyzing a segment of the macro environment and its influence on a specific industry. You should relate how events/trends/issues occurring in the macro environment segment affect overall business conditions for this industry. Positive effects are opportunities; negative effects are threats. Remember that opportunities as defined in this context are NOT actions the company should or could take.

This section of the paper should be the main focus of this paper.

Part III: The Companys Response

Describe how the company responded to the opportunities and threats occurring in this segment of the macro environment. Make sure you clearly connect the events/trends/issues occurring in this macro environmental segment and the response of the company. You are looking for a strategic change, not changes due to the competitive environment. Examples of strategic changes include major change in focus for the company, such as the addition of major resources, changes in the structure of the company, or the addition of a completely different market. For example, a strategic change is partnering with another company to enhance the scope of the company. This represents a major change in resources and how those resources are used. Changes to a companys product features is not a strategic change. Changes of this type are typically done because of competitive pressures, not macro environmental pressures. Discuss why the company responded as it did (this may be directly discussed in the article, implied, or may be drawn from your general business knowledge).

Part IV: Conclusion

Provide a brief conclusion where you may analyze the company's response to change and give your opinions regarding the company's response to the macro environment.

Citation Information: Provide source information as directed in the General Guidelines for Written Work in the Syllabus.