Written Case Analysis

Sometimes a strategy consultant is asked to help with a very specific issue and craft recommendations to achieve a particular organizational goal. That is the situation we have here. You have been retained to develop a strategy to increase the number of candidates attracted to entry level sales positions at Freightquote. On this type of assignments it is necessary to thoroughly understand the organization so you can address their ability to find and employ qualified individuals who can enable them to reach their sales goals. In this engagement you are to prepare well-reasoned recommendations supported by the strategic frameworks we have learned in class. All recommendations MUST be based on the outcome of your strategic analysis. While your opinions are of value, you have been hired to perform a strategic analysis-not provide unsupported opinions. You should research Freightquote online-see what you can find out about the company that might be of value to this assignment (what is being said about the company in addition to the information on their website) and consider and address the following:

1. Summarize the mission/purpose (why Freightquote is in business), vision, goals, culture (be specific about the culture using terminology from Chapter 5) and short strategic history of the organization using the concepts learned in c.lass. Also provide information regarding its current business unit strategy as compared to its competitors i.e. low cost provider vs. differentiated products using the concepts learned in class.

2. Give a brief description of the industry tv.iirig Porter's five forces just to assess the competitiveness and profitability of the industry-which can be important to employee candidates. Summarize your findings and why important to this issue.

3. After this brief introduction of the organization and industry, move to the issue you have been asked to address-"a strategy to identify and attract additional employees"-indicate the type of employees Freight Quote is seeking and why this issue is important to the company.

4. Describe the external opportunities and threats that the company is currently facing (and expected to face in the future) in indentifying, attracting, and retaining employees. Do research about this issue (I have got you started with a few articles) in order to brainstorm a wide range of potential opportunities and threats using the PESTEL but only include in your analysis the FOUR or FIVE or SIX which are the most relevant and will show up in your recommendations.

5. List in detail the current internal capabilities available to address the external opportunities and threats-if there are any with have all four characteristics of the VRIN so indicate and describe-or any which taken together form core competencies which are difficult to imitate. Are any of these a competitive advantage-if you explain using the concepts we have talked about in class.

6. Summarizing the above analysis as support, state concise recommendations for Freightquote. Address if Freight Quote has the current internal capabilities to execute theserecommendations-be specific-what will be needed for each. Is there a gap? If so, can the additional capabilities be acquired and how.

7. Summarize if culture and mission, vision, goals and history support these recommendations-or will changes by required. If changes will be required-what type of changes and how these changes can be made. Is it feasible that these changes can be made given the history of the organization-include reasoning.