Strategy Implementation & Evaluation

Case Assignment

Please note that this assignment is unique in that your written communication skills will be assessed. This assignment also includes a specialized rubric focused specifically on written communication.

After reviewing the book section, presentation materials, and additional readings you will be asked to compose an argumentative essay where you will argue for or against the thesis identified below regarding the implementation process of a strategic management plan. Here is the thesis statement you are expected to support or refute using well-reasoned arguments:

The successful implementation of the strategic management plan in a large corporation like Dish is highly reliant on measurement and evaluation efforts during and after the implementation phase.

In responding to this assignment you should continue your review of the information available on Dish. Identifying strategies over the past couple of years that did not work out so well versus strategies that succeeded might be helpful in supporting key arguments. Some questions to ask yourself in formulating your arguments might include: What barriers might have gotten in the way of any less successful strategies? And what type of strategic evaluation efforts do you think are necessary to keep an eye on progress in a large company like Dish? How does measurement of implementation processes help assure success? How does the evaluation process help to assure future success?
In this assignment, make sure you clearly identify the position you are taking with respect to the thesis. Your essay should include an introduction, and well developed arguments in support of your position. You should wrap up your essay with a conclusion.

Assignment Expectations

Your case assignment should be a minimum of 5 pages in length.

You are required to use APA formatting and you are required to cite and reference your sources. There should be a minimum of three reputable sources cited and referenced in your paper but more is preferred.

Please make sure you review the assignment rubric prior to writing your assignment. Keep in mind that this rubric is a different rubric from what you are used to as it focuses on the assessment of your writing skills.

Strategy Implementation & Evaluation

Current Event Blog

For this SLP submission you will be asked to submit your fourth blog entry about another important aspect of the strategic management process and to provide examples based on current events pulled from recent articles from reputable sources (such as a major national news source like the NY Times, Business Week, etc.).

Recall that the main article(s) for each of your blog entries must be no older than 4 months old. If you use an older article as your primary focal article, you will be asked to redo the assignment. You may, of course, use older sources to support your discussion but the article serving as the main focus of your paper must be recent.

This final blog entry will be related to your case assignment in that it will deal with Comcast. For this assignment consider the short news article related to Verizon by Albanesius (2014) and the Nakashima (2014) article that discusses a deal made between Disney and the Dish Network. The articles deal with plans to provide video content on mobile devices and on home televisions in an a la carte manner. As you know, Cable companies tend to bundle programming to cause customers to want to buy more premium packages to accommodate their home entertainment desires. The players in the industry have been avoiding the a la carte approach to programming in order to cause customers to pay more through the bundling strategy.

Your assignment will be to present to your blog reading audience an argument as to whether you believe that Comcast is strategically poised to compete with upcoming changes in the environment related to providing an a la carte approach to programming. What should large cable companies like Comcast be doing now so as not to go the way of Kodak?

Make sure you provide at least two very recent articles to support your key points (no older than 4 months old).

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your SLP assignment should be a minimum of 4 pages in length.

You are required to use APA formatting and you are required to cite and reference your sources. There should be a minimum of three reputable sources cited and referenced in your paper.

REFERENCES

Here is an e-text reading assignment that provides a good overview of the materials presented in this module:

Subba, R. (2009). Strategic Management [Including Skill Development]. Himalaya Publishing House. Retrieved as e-book from Trident University's online library. Pp. 117 - 151

Please open the Trident University IBIS World document and scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the "Click Here" hyperlink at the bottom of the page. This will take you to IBIS World, an organization well known for conducting industry level research. Run a search on "Cable" in the search window. You will then see a list of links that will lead you to detailed industry specific report. Please click on Cable Providers in the U.S.

Also take some time to look at what's going on in related industries.

Here are some useful readings on strategy implementation that should also help with this module:

Salih, A., & Doll, Y. (2013). A middle management perspective on strategy implementation. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(22), 32-39. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Markiewicz, P. (2011). Change management in the strategy implementation process. Intelektine Ekonomika, (2) Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Aldehayyat, J. S., & Anchor, J. R. (2010). Strategic planning implementation and creation of value in the firm. Strategic Change, 19(3/4), 163-176. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Kohl, J. (2006). Mental Models That Block Strategic Plan Implementation. Reflections, 7(1), 30-42. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Here are some background readings on the issue of performance measurement as it applies to strategy implementation:

Albanesius, C. (2014). Verizon tips a la carte internet TV service in 2015. PCmag.Com, Retrieved from Trident University International library.
Nakashima, R. (2014, Mar 10). Dish, disney deal envisions internet TV offer similar to netflix. Telegraph-Journal Retrieved from Trident University International library.

CHOI, J., HECHT, G. W., & TAYLER, W. B. (2013). Strategy Selection, Surrogation, and Strategic Performance Measurement Systems. Journal Of Accounting Research, 51(1), 105-133. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Micheli,P., Manzoni, J.F., (2010). Strategic Performance Measurement: Benefits, Limitations and Paradoxes. Long Range Planning. 43(4), 465-476. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

Mitchell, F., Nielsen, L. B., Nørreklit, H., & Nørreklit, L. (2013). Scoring strategic performance: A pragmatic constructivist approach to strategic performance measurement. Journal of Management & Governance, 17(1), 5-34. Retrieved from Trident University International library.

You may also refer to the readings in Module 1 that provide background on the competitive environment faced by Comcast.