M1A3 Capstone

ABC Case Study—Employee Alignment

The goal of using cross-functional teams was to ensure that all employees stayed aligned with the strategy and could help navigate the path to success with regular communication. In lieu of building silos within each function, the cross collaboration and communication served to ensure that an optimal client growth plan could be created and achieved. Course development personnel were aware of what was going on with client services as related to a specific customer and therefore, potential issues could be addressed before they became a problem, and services could be offered or adjusted to better meet the client needs. The company won an “honorable mention” award from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) for integrating internal training and cross-functional workgroups to improve the organization and how it was serving customers.

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ABC Case Study—Market Analysis

Short- and Long-Term Strategy

Having a good product and being able to convey value is important. However, it is also critical to have both effective short- and long-term strategies. There are many examples of companies that rose to great heights quickly and then failed. Although there were likely numerous reasons, often the failure revolved around issues with strategy, alignment, and execution of short- and long-term business plans. Timing is a key element as well and can be involved in something as simple as the timing of an e-mail, a customer satisfaction survey, or follow-up on an issue with a defective product. Timing is an important part of the overall process to strategy development and execution.

Let us check in with the ABC eLearning Company and learn more about its corporate strategy.

The ABC eLearning Company began with a focus on academic institutions and the company took on new customers. Later, through marketplace analysis, management realized that not only academic institutions needed help with developing online learning but so did businesses. Therefore, ABC eLearning expanded its market position.

Next, it realized that many businesses and academic institutions were not prepared to take on a large learning management system (LMS). ABC eLearning then outsourced its LMS and created a relationship with the vendor to allow others to piggyback on its LMS. The vendor benefitted with a fee and ABC eLearning helped clients and benefitted with additional revenue. Next, the company started helping customers with eLearning strategic planning and introduced channel partners to help with marketing client online programs and courses and providing access to other technology (such as student information systems).

The key to ABC’s success was paying attention to the core business as well as the evolving trends and needs in the marketplace, which enabled expansion of services and products (course development and hosting). Within the organization, a cross-functional team was developed that included a management member from each of the following areas:

· Course development and programming

· Client services (customer support and LMS technology services)

· Sales

· Training

· Accounting/finance

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Applying Concepts and Theories

The readings and other assignments in this module will help you develop a greater understanding of these and other concepts related to evolving with market demands. You will have the opportunity to compare notes with your classmates about your experiences with strategic planning or execution and discuss the issues you may have encountered in developing strategic plans. In other assignments, you will discuss the best strategy for a business. You will also begin your work on your strategic audit by identifying a suitable business unit, interviewing at least one mid-level or senior manager, and conducting a market position analysis.

In addition to your required assignments, be sure to take time in this module to read the directions for preparing your course project. Get started by identifying the organization or business unit of your choice. It is important to have reliable sources in the business unit/organization you identify for the project because securing information and being able to revisit for clarification and understanding during the engagement is essential. Share with the organization the project overview so the decision-maker who provides you with access understands and fully supports the parameters of the assignment.

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Case Study—Introduction to ABC

Throughout this course, to help illustrate the concepts, you will follow the story of the ABC eLearning Company and its activities. The company was founded in 2003 when eLearning was just taking off in the marketplace.

When you examine your business or organization, whether as an owner or an employee, it is important to understand business in general, your specific industry thoroughly, and also the economic indicators. By triangulating basic business practices, industry demands, consumers, and key economic indicators, managers and leaders are able to develop a diverse and flexible strategy around driving business success.

Organizations may enter the marketplace with one product or a focused product suite approach, but it is critical to be constantly paying attention and allowing the business to evolve based on what is going on with the general economy as well as marketplace demands.

ABC’s initial proposition was to help academic institutions develop online learning. The company was just at the right place at the right time and picked up customers because of the growth of online learning. However, two years after it was established, the founders realized it was important for the business to define its strategy and plan how to execute it in a way that employees could support it and the marketplace would adopt it.

The company set up an innovative consortium of academic institutions and businesses that served online learning but did not compete with ABC. This consortium brought vendors and prospective clients together to better understand needs and what services could support the needs. This was the first of many steps the company used over the years to position itself in the marketplace and communicate its strategy.

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Communicating Strategy

As you review the readings and work on the assignments, consider how the ABC eLearning Company communicated its strategy versus how Amazon uses its annual report to communicate its strategy. Different companies adopt various strategies based on what is assessed and what will deliver the optimal results.

To understand how companies design strategy and share the strategies with key stakeholders, it is important to talk to various members of the management or leadership team to see how this is decided.

It is necessary to have a cross section of management and speak to at least one management team member from the company. Be sure to ask the following key questions:

· How is success defined in the organization?

· How does this relate to the current marketplace position and goals?

It is always interesting to hear, based on the functional area within the company, how the goals are viewed and what the results mean to the company (that is, finance and bottom-line, sales and customer acquisition, and operations and delivering the products or services).

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Course Overview

This course provides you with a forum to draw from your master of business administration (MBA) prior coursework and learning and to design and deliver a capstone project that triangulates concepts, theories, and practical application. Activities in this course provide you the opportunity to dynamically address organizational or business challenges, thereby demonstrating both scholarly depth and real-world application necessary in an ever-changing business world. You will examine models, theories, and cases that, in tandem with prior learning and experience, demonstrate your ability to review and assess organizational situations as well as recommend and apply right-fit strategies to facilitate change or address issues that are impeding progress or growth.

You will review a number of required and recommended readings provided in each module that will help you focus on important concepts, models, and theories. You will also be required to find additional scholarly works to support the positions you present in discussions and assignments.

Throughout this course, you will examine how the company Applied Vision Products (AVP) carried out a strategy audit. You will review interviews with Carolynn Larson-Garcia, president and co-owner of AVP, to learn more about how the audit results were implemented across the organization.

Strategy Audit Project

The focal point in the course is completing a strategy audit for an organization of your choice as. You will submit the strategy audit in two parts through two Learning Assessment System Assignments (LASAs). In Module 3, you will present a preliminary strategic audit in LASA 1. In Module 5, you will complete the capstone strategy audit in LASA 2. Assignments throughout the course will help you prepare the various components of the capstone strategy audit.

Completing this project will provide a summative learning experience that allows you to demonstrate your understanding of most of the MBA program learning outcomes and concepts in the various courses within the program. You will write this report as though you are a consultant to your selected company and are addressing the executive officers of this company. In each module, you will collect and analyze data in producing your report, but your final product will be condensed and will focus on presenting your analysis findings and conclusions.

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Course Project—Strategy Audit Tasks

Key Concepts in this Module

The following are some of the key concepts that will be covered in this module:

· Market position is predicated on the identification of a specific niche or focus. This activity of finding a market niche will enable a product to compete successfully.

· Value proposition is the aspect that entices the buyer or consumer to understand the “worthwhileness” of a given product or service.

· Differentiation or competitive advantage is how a product or service separates itself from the competition in the marketplace, that is, how the product or service is different, better, or unique.

· Strategic fit is defined as making sure all the elements of the business come together internally as well as externally. This is used to assess whether it makes sense for a given organization to be in the line of business it is in and offer the services and products that it does. The viability of aligning products, services, mission, or market niche comes together to provide opportunity for growth and to support the business direction and goals.

· Generic strategies focus on cost differentiation (when the product or service offers something a little more unique or different than the competition), cost leadership (lower cost leader in the industry given a set quality), and strategy focus (this effort narrows the playing field or market segment and also offers some differentiation, possibly in cost).

· Vertical integration (supply chain) is often referred to as the degree to which a firm owns its upstream suppliers and its downstream buyers. This often influences corporate strategy because a focused vertical integration approach can significantly impact cost as well as the ability to differentiate.

· Diversification (horizontal integration) allows businesses to add to their existing suite of products, services, and even markets. Most often, the purpose is to allow the company to enter lines of business that are related but new. However, diversification can also be completely different from current operations.

· Outsourcing involves contracting with another business or person to perform specific business functions. For example, many companies outsource their payroll function to a firm to process, manage, and distribute paychecks. Some smaller firms may have an outsourced chief financial officer (CFO). They may not need someone full time, but still need the skills or expertise a CFO can provide on a part-time and contractual basis.

· Timing refers to the two old adages—“timing is everything” and “be in the right place at the right time.” Most likely these were coined by business people, as they understand that timing is key.

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Module 1 Overview

This module is designed to introduce you to core concepts related to defining organizational strategy and its role. Through your readings and assignments, you will examine why developing, articulating, and implementing a strategy is an essential part of organizational growth and change. This work builds on prior MBA course work and expands on the concepts of strategy and execution as fundamental drivers to frame pathways to business success.

This module will also reinforce prior learning from the MBA coursework and offer further introduction to the core concepts on strategic models and patterns. You will explore the importance of examining generic and historical models and patterns while simultaneously assessing the changing and sometimes turbulent economic environment when identifying a strategy and direction. You will also examine opportunities around formulating, designing, developing, implementing, and monitoring a diverse and flexible plan.

Market Strategy versus Business Model

Simply put, strategy is the plan and subsequent course of action to achieve organizational goals. It is often referred as the roadmap or blueprint that provides the logic for making a set of defined business choices. While strategy is a plan of action developed to meet a business goal or goals, a business model is a prescribed method used to secure, service, and retain customers. A model is often applied to help implement a given strategy.

For example, the leadership of Fleener, a clothing retail company has spent three weeks doing a strategic planning session for the upcoming year. After the vision, mission, goals, and objectives were laid out, the leadership team looked at the existing business model and looked at some industry and non-industry operational models to see if there were issues, forms, and forces to consider.

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· Synthesize a wide variety of economic, financial, and qualitative data to draw actionable managerial conclusions that convince others of your position and analytical conclusions.

· Identify actions that effectively integrate the primary business disciplines cross functionally to move the organization toward its mission and strategic goals, while being consistent with professional standards, social norms, and corporate ethics.

· Analyze a business situation as a team member or leader, assess the optimal leadership style, and communicate its organizational impact.

· Analyze the complexity of ethical situations and corporate social responsibility and their impact on decision-making in business.

Overview of LASAs

The strategy audit is a comprehensive analysis of the company’s business strategy and operating performance, and culminates in a series of recommendations for improving your company’s performance based on the findings and conclusions of your analysis. It involves assessing the actual direction of a business and comparing that course to the direction required to succeed in a changing environment. A company’s actual direction is the sum of what it does and does not do, how well the organization is internally aligned to support the strategy, and how viable the strategy is when compared to external market, competitor, and financial realities. These two categories—the internal assessment and the external or environmental assessment—make up the major elements of a strategy audit.

Throughout this capstone course, you will work on a strategy audit for a selected organization. This will provide a summative learning experience that allows you to demonstrate your understanding of most of the MBA program learning outcomes and concepts in the various courses within the program. You will write this report as though you are a consultant to your selected company and are addressing the executive officers of this company. In each module, you will collect and analyze data in producing your report, but your final product will be condensed and focus on presenting your analysis findings and conclusions. You will submit two parts of a course project related to the strategy audit. You will submit these two parts in Modules 3 and 5.

Here is a list of tasks you will complete for your course project.

M1: Assignment 3—Market Position Analysis: You will assess the product portfolio of your selected organization by analyzing its value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage. You will identify the business unit of your company and the product(s) and service(s) you will focus on in this report. To gain a better understanding of these factors you will conduct at least one interview with a mid-level or senior manager.

M2: Assignment 2—External Environmental Scan: You will conduct a comprehensive external environment scan of your business unit along with a five forces analysis. Your analysis will incorporate any key customer-related factors and trends. You will use this information for a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis in Module 4.

M3: Assignment 2—LASA 1: Preliminary Strategy Audit: This is where you submit the first part of your course project assignment. You will develop a preliminary strategy audit, in which you will include an analysis of the company’s value proposition, market position, competitive advantage, and an external environmental scan/five forces analysis. You will also identify the 5–7 most important strategic issues facing the organization or business unit and include a preliminary set of recommended tactics for improving your company’s strategic alignment and operating performance.

M4: Assignment 2—Internal Environmental Scan/Organizational Assessment: In this assignment, you will continue your SWOT analysis by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the internal environment of your business unit including factors such as mission, vision, values, strategy clarification, cultural assessment, and value chain analysis.

M5: Assignment 2—LASA 2: Capstone Strategy Audit: This is where you will submit the second part of your course project assignment. In this assignment, you will complete and submit the capstone strategy audit report and the accompanying PowerPoint presentation. You will provide a high-level analysis of the company’s business strategy and operating performance and recommend specific tactics for improving your company’s strategic alignment and operating performance. You will include an executive summary for your report and attach the sections completed throughout the course as appendices.

To get a head start on your course project, be sure to identify a suitable business unit before starting the assignments for Module 1.

Use the following parameters to help you identify your business unit:

Research

“Access” to information and “availability” of the contact(s)

· The organization should be accessible and local to where you live.

· Meeting the concerned person for the interview and data collection will help you in your project.

· You will need access to both company information and the contacts. In addition, select contacts that will be available for consultation in order to fulfill the assignment. Keep in mind that you may need to speak to them more than once.

· In case you have only remote access to your selected organization, ensure timely access to collect all relevant information.

Presentation

The PowerPoint presentation that accompanies the strategy audit aligns with the following parameters:

· The PowerPoint presentation should be approached as though it is being given to the executive team at the company for which you will conduct the strategy audit.

· The presentation should be very professional and polished with summarized material on the slides supported by charts, graphs, and visual aids.

· Detailed explanatory information should be provided in the notes section available under each slide.

Take this opportunity to get started on your course project assignment:

· Review the course project instructions.

· Identify an organization:

· Option 1: Review your current organization.

· Option 2: Identify an organization that you can have access to for the assignment, serving as a consultant providing a final product to assist them with a fresh, educated look at their strategy and operating performance.

· Create a plan and timetable for how you will gather the information you will need for the strategy audit.

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