Unit 1: What is Strategy? - Discussion

Please review the Discussion Board Participation grading rubric in your course Syllabus.

This is important information that will ensure that you earn maximum points. Your professionally written postings should provide substantive depth that advances the Discussion. Also, please be sure to edit your posts for grammatical errors before you post.

For Units 1, 2, 4 and 5, you will be choosing a company's product or service to analyze. Please use the same company for each of these Discussions. Each company covered must be unique, so go through the existing posts to determine if the company you have chosen has been used already. If it has, you must choose another.

When posting in weeks 1,2,4 and 5, you must use scholarly references, and you need to provide a critical analysis in each of your initial posts for the week. Do not simply sing the company's or product's praises. Find information that questions what the company claims. For example, when asked about the company's core competencies, you may state what they claim on their website, but go into customer reviews and other sources to see if the company's claims are actually perceived the way they think they are. Remember, this is a course in strategic planning. If you do not know the weaknesses of the company, you cannot address them in your planning. Your critical analysis will be considered in the quality portion of the discussion rubric.

Finally, assure ALL your research is very current. A good rule of thumb is information produced within the last year. Again, be sure to cite and reference all of your sources.

Topics Discussion:

Discussion For Units 1-3, you will be choosing a company's product or service to analyze. Please use the same company for each of these Discussions.

Consider focus, divergence, and a compelling tagline (pp. 39-41 Blue Ocean Strategy) and Figure 1-3 (p. 7 Strategy: A View from the Top). Choose a well-known company and one of its products or services and analyze how well you believe they have employed these three concepts in the strategy for the product or service (You will be discussing this same company in Units 1-5, so choose wisely.). For example, if you believe they have focused adequately, explain why. If you believe they lack adequate focus, recommend changes that you believe will improve the strategy, and explain why.

Avoid "company speak" as you develop your response to this question. Your task is to analyze what the company has developed and why, as well as to critically analyze the effectiveness of this part of their strategy. Please include outside sources in your text that are not limited to the company's website.