umuc amba670 all discussions activities latest 2017 november

Discussion Activity 1

Personal Application

Provide your thoughts about the fundamental strategic issues facing the industry in which your organization exists. Compare the performance of your company against the industry within which it operates using http://finance.yahoo.com/ (“Interactive chart” “Comparison” tool) if you are in a publicly listed company or use a similar publicly listed company or some other performance measure if you are not. Individual company information is available on both Morningstar and Yahoo Finance, not a ready comparison of industries over time. Consider the following alternative data source: https://biz.yahoo.com/p/s_conameu.html

Additional resources are available for those interested in learning more about performance factors for Government and Non-profit sectors. Please cover the following questions in your response.

Industry Perspective

Do some industries have better evolution of the stock value than others? Why? Search for your organization or a similar one and compare its evolution for the longest possible period to the main stock indicators (Dow, NASDAQ, S&P500) and competitive firms.

Do some industries have inherently better profitability, growth and market value than others? Identify common key performance indicators used within your industry. Compare for your firm these key factors.

What effect do different industries have on one another’s overall performance? Provide arguments and examples to justify your response.

Company Perspective

4. Is your organization performing well against the others in its industry? Provide arguments and

examples to justify your response.

5. What factors explain the differences in company performance in the same industry

6. How can some companies in poorly performing industries still do well?

Note: If you work in government or in a non-profit organization, you may pick a company that your organization contracts with for this exercise. However, we do encourage you to try to apply business strategy concepts to your organization if you can.

Discussion Activity 2

Personal Application

Industry competitive analysis. An analysis of your company’s industry from the point of view of Porter’s Five Forces (if your industry operates in perfect or monopolistic competition), Game Theory (if your industry operates in oligopolistic competition) or the Resource Based View of the Firm (if your industry operates as a full monopoly), and any other strategy frameworks that provide insight to your understanding of the industry.

Discussion Activity 3

Personal Application

Competitive position of your company within its industry. An analysis of the strengths and weaknessesof your company from the point of view of the Resource Based View of the Firm model and any other strategy frameworks that provide insight into your company’s strategic competitiveness. Discuss your company’s strategy for competitive advantage (i.e. cost leader, differentiation, etc.) and your opinion about how they might change or improve this strategy.

Growth potential of your firm. Analyze the opportunities and threatsof your firm, how your firm, based on its resources, can determine business opportunities as a result of the external environments. To do this please use the PESTEL model (politics, economics, society, technology, environment, legislation).

Discussion Activity 4

Personal Application

Explain the evolution of the Internet and how it changes the way customers, suppliers and companies interact.

Describe how your company utilizes the Internet and other recent technologies. (Be sure to include both internal and external uses)

What recommendations do you have to improve and/or expand its online use?

How do these existing and new initiatives help to create or destroy economic value in terms of competitiveness (profits), innovativeness (sales growth) and resources (intellectual capital)

Discussion Activity 5

Personal Application

Relying on the Staircases to growth paper, analyze each of the seven staircases. Which of the seven staircases is your organization using to grow? Which ones would you recommend, why? Does your organization have enough market power so that such growth strategies may help to create value?

Which of the resources (platforms of capabilities) mentioned in this paper is your organization implementing? Explain one by one, how they are used, could be expanded and/or could be implemented in your organization. Are they unique resources, why or why not?

Does your organization implement the three horizons approach that McKinsey proposes? If so, how are they implemented? If not, make your own proposal for each horizon. Be creative.

Discussion Activity 6

Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

Propose a recent (within last 3 years) business ethics case that you are familiar with; alternatively search on the internet or among the following resources one business ethics case:

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/cases.cfm?fam=BUSI

http://web.tepper.cmu.edu/ethics/aa/arthurandersen.htm

http://business-ethics.com/category/csr/page/2/

Discuss this case using the following Corporate Social Responsibility approaches:

Stakeholder Theory, Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Social Performance; Legal, Economic, Moral and Social responsibilities.