Assignment A:
Prior to beginning this discussion, review section 7.4 Contingency Planning in your textbook. Strategic plans are focused on current and future company goals, therefore changes in the environment must be detected and monitored.
Changes in the environment that impinge on the company's strategic plan are known as external triggers and triggers are paired with plans to successfully deal with them. These paired actions are known as contingency plans. What qualities make a future issue a "trigger"?
As an example, consider you are on the strategic planning team for a soft drink company. A merger of two major competitors next year would constitute a future trigger.
For this discussion, consider the Environmental Scan and SWOT analysis you conducted in Week 2. Formulate a trigger/contingency pair in the form of a three-part sentence similar to the example in the textbook. Examine it in terms of the three guidelines that good contingency plans should follow.
Post a summary of your selected company and risks that you perceive based on your prior Environmental Scan and SWOT analysis. State the three-sentence trigger/contingency pair and justify your choice of contingency plan using information from the week's readings and/or other scholarly or credible resources, using the Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources document for guidance..
(NOTE: Incorporate the feedback you receive from your instructor and save your work. It will be part of your Strategic Plan Final Project for this course).
Assignment B:
Please review Chapter 4's section concerning Porter's 5 Forces, read the Forbesarticle Porter or Mintzberg: Whose View of Strategy Is the Most Relevant Today? (Moore, 2011) and view the required You Tube video Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy, regarding Porter's five forces. In the video, Mr. Porter discusses how Porter's Five Forces Analysis is an important tool for assessing the potential for profitability in an industry.
As an example, Mr. Porter applied these five forces to the airline industry. Think of another industry where profitability is low. In an initial post of at least 250 words, apply the five forces to your chosen industry and demonstrate how those forces can lower profitability.
Assignment C: Mission Statements
Prior to completing this assignment, review Chapter 2, section 2.1 in your Constellation textbook and read the article Answer 4 Questions to Get a Great Mission Statement (Hull, 2013), being sure to review this Fortune 500 Mission Statements. Now, turning to the company you selected, research and find the company's mission statement. Then,
State how the mission statement provides guidance for the company's organizational activities.
Evaluate the company's mission statement per each of the four questions posed in the Hull article as well as your assigned readings for the week.
Rate the company according to the 5 star rating system used in the Fortune 500 list, stating how many stars would you rate the mission statement. Explain your rationale.
Rewrite the mission statement so that it better addresses the four questions and forms a complete mission statement.