Integrative and Analytical Tools

Unit 2 – Discussion Board  Assignment Overview Type:  Discussion Board Unit:  Integrative and Analytical Tools Due Date:  Tue,9/1/20 Grading Type:  Numeric Points Possible:  75 Points Earned:  Points Earned not available Deliverable Length:  600–800 words; See assignment details View objectives for this assignment Go To: Assignment Details Scenario Learning Materials Reading Assignment My Work: Online Deliverables: Discussion Board Looking for tutoring? Go to Smarthinking Assignment Details Assignment Description Primary Discussion Response is due by Friday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Tuesday (11:59:59pm Central). Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 600–800 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. As you close your weekly meeting with Deborah, she says, “There are some very good ideas here. I would like to see you continue with a global marketing plan. We need more concrete analysis and data for the presentation. Get your team to work.” After your meeting with Deborah, you briefly meet with your team to discuss moving toward a more formal analysis. “Tiffany and Mike, we need to provide a more detailed analysis,” you explain. “You’ve done a great job so far looking at what resources we need and potential countries, but we need to really dig deeper on this.” Tiffany nods her head in agreement. “Definitely,” she says. “We need to look at some internal variables as well as political, environmental, sociocultural, and technological environments of the countries that we are considering.” Mike interjects, “Well, that’s something we should consider, but it’s not the only way to analyze this type of project. This is such a big decision, and we need to give as much information as we can.” You reply, “Great point, Mike. We should look at this from a couple of different angles.” The next step in your strategic marketing plan is to determine the tools that are needed to conduct an analysis of the industry and competitors. Complete the following: What are the best tools to use in this situation? Provide a brief summary of at least 2 of these tools. Why do you think these are the best ways to analyze the market? How will you use these tools in your plan? The materials found in the M.U.S.E. may help you with this assignment, such as the audio file Implementing a Global Strategy. This file provides real-world experience that may help you with this assignment. Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions: What did you learn from your classmate’s posting? What additional questions do you have after reading the posting? What clarification do you need regarding the posting? What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings? For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials. MUSE Materials: Introduction If you think of an organization as a car driving on an expressway, then strategy is the road map. It helps guide an organization along the road from the present to the future. Think for a moment of what would happen if you took a trip to an unfamiliar place without a map. You might find yourself turning in circles without realizing it. The same problem can occur with an organization that does not have a strategy; the organization can find that it has not made any progress in improving the success of the company. In another sense, if the company does not conduct thorough research before creating its strategy, the company is likely to create a faulty road map. When the map is incomplete or incorrect, organizations can make wrong turns and get lost. SWOT Analysis and TOWS Matrix SWOT is an acronym that used to describe particular strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) that are strategic factors for a company. Conducting a SWOT analysis results in identifying a corporation’s distinctive competencies and reveals opportunities that the firm is not taking advantage of due to resource constraints. Distinctive competencies are the particular capabilities and resources of a firm and the superior way they are utilized by the company. Over the years, SWOT analysis has proven to be the single most enduring analytical technique used in strategic management. SWOT analysis generates a number of possible alternative strategies. A TOWS Matrix seeks to match external opportunities and threats with internal strengths and weaknesses. A TOWS Matrix is very useful for a company to generate a series of alternative strategies that might otherwise not be considered with SWOT. The TOWS Matrix is a logical extension of the SWOT analysis, and helps keep strategic managers flexible in terms of possible options. Competitive Tactics Competitive tactics are specific operating plans detailing how a strategy will be implemented to gain a market advantage over competitors. These tactics are a link between formulation and implementation of strategy. Some of the available tactics are timing (when) and market location (where). Timing tactics can be generally classified as first movers (pioneer) or late movers. Offensive market location tactics include frontal assault, flanking maneuver, bypass attack, encirclement, and guerrilla warfare. Defensive market location tactics include raising structural barriers, increasing expected retaliation, and reduced inducement for an attack. Corporate Strategy Corporate strategy is critical to a company’s survival and success. It is primarily about the choice of direction for the company as a whole and deals with three key issues: Directional strategy: The overall orientation toward growth, stability, or retrenchment Portfolio strategy: The industries and markets in which the firm competes through its products and business units Parenting strategy: The manner in which management coordinates activities, transfers resources, and cultivates capabilities among product lines and business units Risk, Choice, and Policy The attractiveness of a particular strategic alternative is partially a function of the amount of risk in implementing the strategy. Risk is essentially composed of two parts: the probability that the strategy will be effective, and how much resources or assets are needed for the strategy that won’t be available for other uses. Strategic choice is the evaluation of alternative strategies and selection of the best alternative. After the best strategy is selected, policies are developed to provide guidance for decision making and actions throughout the organization. They are the guidelines for implementing a selected strategy. They tend have a long life and can even outlast the particular strategy that generated the policy.