Assignment 14: Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies

Choose an industry you have not yet written about in this course, and one publicly traded corporation within that industry. Research the company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University's online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write a seven to eight page paper in which you:

1. Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.

2. Analyze the corporate-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the corporate-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.

3. Analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporation's most significant competitor. Compare their strategies at each level and evaluate which company you think is most likely to be successful in the long term. Justify your choice.

4. Determine whether your choice from Question 3 would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets.

5. Use at least three quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
• Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

Assignment 2: Incident Response (IR) Strategic Decisions

Suppose that you have been alerted of a potential incident involving a suspected worm spreading via buffer overflow techniques, compromising Microsoft IIS Web servers. As the IR Team leader, it is your responsibility to determine the next steps.

Write a three to four page paper in which you:

1. Explain in detail the initial steps that would need to be made by you and the IR team in order to respond to this potential incident.

2. Construct a process-flow diagram that illustrates the process of determining the incident containment strategy that would be used in this scenario, and identify which containment strategy would be appropriate in this case, through the use of graphical tools in Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

3. Construct a process flow diagram to illustrate the process(es) for determining if / when notification of the incident should be relayed to upper management, and explain how those communications should be structured and relayed through the use of graphical tools in Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

4. Detail the incident recovery processes for the resolution of this incident.

5. Use at least three quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Summarize the various types of disasters, response and recovery methods.
• Develop techniques for different disaster scenarios.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in disaster recovery.
• Write clearly and concisely about disaster recovery topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.