Project : Phase -Strategic Plan (Group Project) - Submit Files

Assignment : Strategic Plan (Group Assignment)

Phase : Assignment Instructions:

NOTE: All submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in­text citations and an associated reference list only).

This assignment is the last of three assignments. Students will use the tools and concepts learned in the course and in previous business courses to develop an understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market.

This assignment is a group project. You will be placed into groups consisting of no more than four students each. Groups will be assigned early, and the expectation is that the groups will work on the various parts of the assignment as relevant content is covered throughout the course. The group will act as a self­directed team, and will therefore determine its own leadership, timetable, task list, guidelines for communication, goals, and so forth. As an individual, you are expected to participate fully in the project. You are required to use the UMUC group area for discussion.

You will actively participate in completing the assignment and group members will receive the same group grade. However, free­riders who contribute little will receive a different grade than the group grade at the discretion of the instructor. If you fail to contribute to the project, a zero for the assignment will be assigned.

Throughout the course, you have learned about the strategic management and have practiced the various stages through the completion of assignments and learning activities. In phase 1 of this final project, you will work in a group to create a strategic plan and present the plan in a professional manner. The plan requires a paper submitted to the Assignment Folder.

You will perform a strategic plan on a company, from the list provided below. However, instructors may elect to assign a company on the list or of his or her choosing or one of their own as long as previous companies provided in the course are not used. Starbucks, Walmart, Amazon and Apple may not be used. Students who fail to use the companies on the list or an unapproved company will receive a zero for the assignment.

Interactive Intelligence Group (NASDAQ: ININ)

Liberty Sirius XM Group (NASDAQ: LSXMA)

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI)

HMS Holdings (NASDAQ: HMSY)

Ancestry (NASDAQ: ACOM)

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ: IPGP)

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)

In completing the assignment, you will perform research on the company provided, answer the questions below in narrative form and follow the steps provided below.

Step 1: Preparation for the Assignment

In writing this assignment, you will read and do the following:

Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first person writing), nor is there use of "you or your" (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person.

Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are NOT to use contraction in writing this assignment.

You are expected to paraphrase and are NOT use direct quotes unless related to a company's mission or vision statements. You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned.

You are responsible for APA only for in­text citations and a reference list. Cite the page or paragraph number.

You may use the resources from the course and from your research. You may not use books and page and paragraph numbers must be used.

Read all course material and perform independent research to provide a comprehensive strategic plan.

Step 2: How to Set Up the Plan

Create a double­spaced, 12­point font Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document. The final product will be no more than 20 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page. Write clearly and concisely.

Follow this format for the comprehensive strategic plan:

Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor's name;

introduction

vision and mission

background organization

industry analysis

competitive analysis

financial analysis ­ not copied data from internet

technique analysis ­ IFE, EFE, CPM, BCG matrix, Grand Strategy Matrix, and QSPM

alternative strategy generation

SWOT analysis

strategy and prioritization selection

action plan for implementation

evaluative plan

Reference page

Step 3: Create an introductory paragraph.

Step 4: Develop the plan:

Identify strategies;

Discuss strategies used at corporate, business and function levels using the concepts learned in the course;

Recommend specific strategies and long­term objectives;

Recommend procedures for strategy review and evaluation;

Use frameworks and tools discussed throughout the course.

Step 5: Strategy Recommendations

Identify strategy recommendations using the following format for the formulation of strategies.

View Strategy Content Guidelines.

Goal (The desired outcomes to be achieved)

Objective (Measurable milestone toward accomplishing the Goal)

Strategy (The approach used to achieve the Goal)

Tactic (A specific activity undertaken to implement the Strategy)

Review this resource to differentiate between strategic planning and operational planning: strategy versus tactics.

Step 7: Proofread

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;

Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;

Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4­ 6 areas that may need improvement.

Step 8: Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder.

(The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a student's final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor.

It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission.

No exceptions will be considered by the instructor.)