Team ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENTS: SPRING 2014

BUS 664 Global Strategy

Team ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENTS: SPRING 2014

Learning Objective

The Team AnalysisAssignment provides you with the opportunity to use your conceptual, analytic and technical skills in applications of real-world business situations. You should adopt the role of a consulting team that has been asked to examine the corporation and to provide (a) strategic judgments regarding the key issues and problems facing the company with supporting evidence and sound logic; (b) alternative courses of actions available to the corporation and assessments of these options; and (c) a specific recommendation with a supporting plan of action.

Team Analysis Case and Due Date

Case / Due Date
BBC Worldwide. / Saturday, April 05, 2014.

Logistics

Please upload an electronic copy of your slides with notesby April 5, 2014 to Blackboard. Be sure that the slides can be printed in “Notes” format so that the slides and all notes fit onto one (1) printed page for each slide.

Case PowerPoint Document Requirements

Based on your analysis of the case(do not update the case), you are to create a 7-slide power point presentation addressing the primary strategic issuein the case.The format of the presentation is as follows:

Slide 1: (Title Slide) Basic cover slide must contain the following information: team #, names of all team members. At the bottom of the slide you must note theelectronic submission information: file name of the electronic document and the name of the student that submitted the document.

Slide 2: (Executive Summary) Logic flowing from issues to recommendations. This slide addresses 3 key aspects showing a very high level of understanding with low level of details (the details are in the remaining slides):

What’s going on? What is the strategic issue? Why? What are the implications if the firm does not fix this issue?

What’s causing it? Summary of key causes indicated from your analysis (e.g., Slides 3-5).

What should be done? What alternative do you recommend? (give your recommendation – not all 3 alternatives) What is your major criterion for choosing this alternative?

Slide 3: (Key Financial and Strategic Quantitative Indicators) What are the quantitative indications that the strategic issue is important to the firm? That is, show evidence of the cause and its effect. Possible indicators:

changes in financial performance
level of achievement of strategic and financial objectives
changes in key industry indicators and measures unique to the firm
changes and trends in costs or profitability of the firm
etc.

Slides 45: (Use of Strategic Analysis Tools)The most important results and implications from your analysis of the situation.You are required to use the appropriate frameworks, concepts, and techniques covered in the course. You may also include other tools known to you when they enhance your understanding of the situation. Reminder – SWOT is not a tool we use in this class, so this tool is not allowed. Remember, however, that these are analytical tools, which help in forming judgments concerning central problems and associated recommendations; these tools are not ends in themselves.Emphasize your judgments and present data/information from the case, along with supporting analysis, in support of these judgments. Avoid merely rehashing facts. Do not take a framework and present the entire analysis unless every aspect is important to convey. Only focus on the key issues and, most important, the implications you are drawing from your analysis. Remember, we have all read and analyzed the same case. Part of the learning is for you to be able to identify what is most important and its implications. That is what should be presented.

Slide 6: (Evaluation of Alternatives to resolve your Stated Issue)Restate the issue, present and evaluate three alternatives to solve the strategic issue you identified on slide 2. You should be able to give justification for your choice of alternatives. They should be legitimate alternatives that the firm would seriously consider to resolve the issue you have identified. Use common criteria to evaluate across the three alternatives. You may want to consider: degree to which it resolves the issue, consistency with external environment, consistency with existing or needed capabilities that create a competitive advantage, strategic fit with their generic competitive strategy (and vision/mission), availability of funding, etc. and impact on willingness-to-pay (the wedge). Be sure toclearly note your recommendation ofone of the alternatives for the company to implement.

Slide 7: (Implementation Plan)Restate the strategic option that you recommend as a result of comparing three alternatives identified on Slide 6 and sketch out an implementation plan. While implementation needs may vary with the firm’s situation, this plan might require:

Explicit identification of assumptions regarding implementation of the alternative (E.g., Changes in demand, price and costs that factor in competitor reactions, customers willingness to pay a higher price, realistic cost projections)
Statement of strategic and financial objectives to measure accomplishment of recommended alternative and the likelihood that they will achieve them
Investments needed (e.g., new facilities, equipment) to implement alternative including amount and source of funds (e.g., available cash, loans, stock offering)
New or revised value chain activities or new capabilities required to implement your recommended alternative and who will be responsible
Any changes that need to be made in structures and systems (e.g., Incentive program to gain acceptance).

Style & Flow

Your document should convey the highest quality, one that you would be proud to present as a consultant to managers in a company. The slides and notes should be clear and concise, especially the flow and integration among the set of slides. The slides should hang together as a cohesive whole which can only be accomplished through coordination and integration processes your team employs. The slides and notes should be concise and readable, not packed with information that distracts the audience or reader. Do NOT use the shot gun approach; only use the most important and relevant information you uncover from your analysis and discussion within your team. Lastly, it is important to use the appropriate terminology and grammar. Terminology learned and used in strategic management tools and frameworks has specific meanings.

Printing & Formatting

The slides should be informative and readable – neither overwhelmingly full of information nor disappointedly empty – and present a compelling case for your understanding of the situation.

The slides are to be printed in “Notes” format. It is strongly recommended that you use the “Notes” feature in PowerPoint to support the information on the slide itself. The notes section in this case is notfor you to remember what to say when presenting; notes should be used to support the key points shown on the slides. You are adding details to provide meaning with the bullet points on the slide. This may include definitions, clarification, calculations, key data, implications, justification, etc. for why the bullet points on the slide are so important. You should use complete sentences and must follow in order the bullet points on your slide. In the Notes section, use Times New Roman font and 10point font size. The text in the Notes section must fit on each printed page. Be aware that if you have not used this feature in PowerPoint, printing in the “Notes” format can take some trial and error to ensure that your comments fit the printed page correctly. While you can add infinite lines in the notes section, only about 20 or so lines will print. While I will check font and font size of your electronic copy, I will NOT read comments that extended beyond the printed hardcopy.

Team Processes

A critical aspect of preparing a good case analysis is an effective team process.First and foremost, take your role seriously. Approach it as a professional.Organize your team, perhaps selecting a team manager to lead the collective structuring of tasks, responsibilities, and schedule. Decide on a specific process for analyzing the case and creating the slides and the notes.You should aim to integrate the various viewpoints and simultaneously make the best possible use of the different analytical skills of the team members.A creative team process builds upon resolving diverse views in arriving at a synthesized whole.One method for achieving this result is presented in Figure 1 below. It consists of, first, having each team member exhaustively analyze the information individually. If each team member does the analysis individually, have other team members check analysis for correctness and comprehension of the analysis. Then meetcollectively and verbally decide on collective judgments.

You should decide early on as to a specific process for completing individual analysis work, setting appropriate time for discussions, drafting, writing, and editing the final document.Set clear deadlines and expectations for individuals. An important part of this process may involve giving one or two team members the authority to edit and pull the final document together, in the interests of generating a cohesive presentation but all important aspects of the analysis and perspectives need to be incorporated.

An effective team process and excellent presentation (including logic on the slides) requires that you create the slides collectively. It is impossible to create slide 2 without tying all the information from the other slides. If you allocate each slide to a different team member the story will be disjointed and meaningless. To clarify, slide 2 cannot be completed until slides 3-6 are completed. Slide 6 cannot be completed until slides 3-4-5 are completed. Slides 3-4-5 require collective sense making. My recommendation for a best practice in preparing this assignment is as follows:

Step 1: Individually analyze the case, outlining slides 3, 4, & 5.

Step 2: Meet and collectively discuss individual findings of the above, engage in collective sense making.