Description Business Strategy Critical Assignment

The capstone assignment for BUS 460, Business Strategy, is one of a series of assignments designed to demonstrate that students have achieved the learning outcomes established for the majors in the College of Business and Management. The checkpoint critical assignments are integral components of the business plan, which is the critical assignment in the capstone course, BUS 460, Business Strategy.

The specific objective of this critical assignment is to assure that students have a sufficient level of, economics, management and leadership skills, marketing knowledge, and accounting and finance skills to develop a business plan. This exercise will provide students with the opportunity to integrate and implement theory to practice and demonstrate that they have accomplished the learning outcomes of the majors in the College of Business and Management. This comprehensive business plan is completed during the final year of study.

For the purpose of this exercise, students will develop a fictional company for which they will prepare a strategic business plan. The work product of the student should include the key components of a business plan, which are listed below. The plan will demonstrate that students have a depth and breadth of business concepts that would encourage a prospective employer to have confidence that students are prepared for a position in industry. The use of one of the Business plan templates provided to you in the materials section of iTunes U is recommended. If you use those, you are less likely to miss a required section.

The specific components should include:

• Executive Summary (One Page)
• Including the strategic direction or strategic deviation from existing strategies, e.g. products, new markets, new technologies recommended. This should be done last!

Table of Contents

Vision and Mission and Goals Statements (Paragraph or statement section for each) Industry Analysis with internal and external SWOTs and SWOT analysis of at least three competitors Company Products and Services current and proposed- in detail- What is strategic advantage of each?

Operational Plan in detail, how will you will deliver the proposed product or service?

Marketing Strategy How will you bring product or service to market; the strengths risks of the marketing plan and anticipated costs?
Financial Forecasts include anticipated revenue and expenses, cash flows, profit statements including margins per product with three years projections. Demonstrate the anticipated Return on Investment (ROI).

Sources of Funding -where is the capital investment cost coming from for capital expenditures, raw materials, additional labor costs, design and engineering costs, plant expansion (if any), new machinery ...(think self-generating positive cash flows, or using a Weighted Average Cost of Capital)

Summary and Closing Statements revisit Who, What When, (timeline) How-Why is the plan compelling and why would the firm invest in it?
The written paper is to be typed double -spaced, 1' margins, Times New Roman and 12-point font, with correct spelling and grammar, proper citation, references, with a cover page and organized with headings and subheadings. The instructor's approval of the topic is required. The paper should be min 20 Pages including cover page, charts, spread sheets and graphs and summary conclusion. The paper and citationsMUST follow APA 6th Style Guide formats. APA style formatting supersedes all other instructions. Papers not using APA 6th formatting will be rejected.

The following Library resources and web-sites could assist students in conducting the research to do the Critical Assignment:

• Lynn Library Sources
• APA Style Guide
• ABI/INFORM
• Academic OneFile
• Academic Search Premier
• Biography In Context
• Business Source Complete
• Campus Research: News and Law -- U.S. (Powered by Westlaw)
• Datamonitor
• General Business File ASAP
• Hoover's Company Profiles
• LexisNexis
• ProQuest
• Reference USA & OneSource
• Research Library Core
• Websites
• www.zacks.com
• www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates/index.html
• www.moodys.com
• www.bondsonline.com
• www.federalreserve.gov
• Lexis/Nexis

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to prepare a professional business plan:
1. Develop a Vision and Mission statement. (SLO 4.2)
2. Conduct an Industry Analysis. (SLO 2.4, SLO 10.2, SLO 11.5, SLO 11.6)
3. Explain the company's Products and Services. (SLO 3.1, SLO 10.3)
4. Prepare an Operational and Human Resource plan for an efficient organization. (SLO 7.4, SLO 9.1)
5. Develop the Marketing Plan for the organization. (SLO 10.3, SLO 10.4)
6. Prepare Financial Forecasts (cash flow statement, income statement and balance sheet). (SLO 1.2)
7. Indicate Financing Requirements and Funding Sources. (SLO 5.4)
8. Demonstrate proficient writing skills. (SLO 12.6)