STR
581 Strategic Planning & Implementation Complete Course
STR 581 Strategic Planning &
Implementation Complete Course
STR 581 Week 1 Assignment ( Ethics
Reflection Paper )
- STR 581 Week 1 Knowledge Check
- STR 581 Week 2 Assignment ( Learning Team Activity )
- STR 581 Week 2 Assignment ( Research Proposal )
- STR 581 Week 2 Knowledge Check
- STR 581 Week 3 Assignment ( External and Internal
Environmental Analysis )
- STR 581 Week 3 Assignment ( Learning Team Peer
Evaluation )
- STR 581 Week 3 Knowledge Check
- STR 581 Week 4 Assignment ( Learning Team Peer
Evaluation )
- STR 581 Week 4 Assignment ( Strategic Choice and
Evaluation )
- STR 581 Week 4 Knowledge Check
- STR 581 Week 5 Assignment ( Implementation, Strategic
Controls, and Contingency Plans )
- STR 581 Week 5 Assignment ( Learning Team Peer
Evaluation )
- STR 581 Week 5 Knowledge Check
- STR 581 Week 6 Assignment ( Learning Team Project
Selection )
- STR 581 Week 6 Assignment ( Strategic Plan and
Presentation )
Week 1
Ethics Reflection Paper
Take the Ethics Awareness Inventory and Ethical Choices in
the Workplace assessments to assess your values.
Write a paper of no more than 700 words in which you do the
following:
- Explain the role of ethics and social responsibility in
developing a strategic plan, considering stakeholder needs.
- Explain how your ethical perspective has evolved
throughout the program.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Knowledge Check:
- For the past 28 years, ABC, Inc. has made a significant
investment of time, money, and other resources to increase the literacy
rate in adult Americans. This represents which of these principles of
successful collaborative social initiatives?
2.According to stakeholder theory,
in a survey of over 2000 directors from over 290 U.S. companies, which of these
stakeholders was perceived to be least important?
- Which law revised and strengthened auditing and account
standards?
- Which of these is true about Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002?
- A major consequence of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
has been the
- The most critical quality of ethical decision making is
- Judging the appropriateness of a particular action
based on a goal to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of
people is what ethics approach?
- Judging the appropriateness of a particular action
based on equity, fairness, and impartiality in the distribution of rewards
and costs among individuals and groups is what ethics approach used by
managers?
- A broadly framed but enduring statement of a firm’s
intent is defined as the company
- This statement of a company’s philosophy usually
appears within the mission statement and specifies basic beliefs of a
firm.
- This statement presents the firm’s strategic intent
that focuses the energies and resources of the company on achieving a
desirable future.
- The strategic decision makers in the firm are
responsible for
- The idea that businesses have a duty to serve society
as well as the financial interest of stockholders is called
- Which of the following strategic decision makers
implement the overall strategy?
- Which level of strategy uses a portfolio approach?
16.Of the three levels of strategy
that are part of an organizations decision-making hierarchy, which level develops
annual objectives and short-term strategies in such areas as production,
operations, and research and development, finance and accounting, marketing,
and human relations?
- The behavioral consequences of strategic management are
similar to those of
- What do strategic managers call a flow of information
through interrelated stages of analysis toward the achievement of an aim?
Week 2:
Research Proposal:
Write a proposal of no more than 750 words, outlining the
research approach you will use for your Strategic Plan, due in Week 6. Include
the following:
- How you intend to ensure the organization’s vision,
mission, and people strategies and values statements are aligned with the
proposed strategic plan.
- Sources you expect to use to perform an external
environmental analysis
- Sources you expect to use to perform an internal
environmental analysis
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Learning Team Activity:
Write a paper of no more than 1,050 words that describes and
evaluates an organization’s innovation strategy.
Use publicly available information, including Securities and
Exchanges Commission filings.
Choose an organization that is introducing new products or
services.
Select an organization according to the following criteria based on
team member experience:
- Current employer
- Most recent or former employer
- Place of business patronized over a period of time and
that members are familiar with
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Knowledge Check:
- A firm’s external environment is divided into various
subcategories that include
- When managers consider the general availability of
credit, the level of disposable income, and the propensity of people to spend,
they are considering what factors?
- This factor considers or provides creative adaptations
that can suggest possibilities for new products or for improvements in
existing products or in manufacturing and marketing techniques.
- The quasi-science of anticipating environmental and
competitive changes and estimating their importance to an organizations
operation refers to
- This term refers to the relationships among human
beings and other living things and the air, soil, and water that supports
them.
- Economies of scale in an industry
- This term refers to descriptive characteristics that
can be used to differentiate groups of present or potential customers.
- This information is used to explain or predict some
aspect of customer behavior with regard to a product or service.
Information such as usage rate, benefits sought, and brand loyalty can
provide significant aid in the design of more accurate and profitable
strategies.
- Because the quantity, quality, price, and accessibility
of financial, human, and material resources are rarely ideal, assessment
of suppliers and creditors is critical to an accurate evaluation of which
of the firm’s external environments?
- What Human Resource component within its operating
environment is a major element of a firm’s ability to satisfy its
personnel needs?
- A firm’s access to needed personnel is affected
primarily by four factors that include
- This element of employment or labor represents the
workers in their negotiations with employers through the process of
collective bargaining.
- The environment that is typically subject to much
influence by the firm is
- Which of these is a determinant of entry, according to
Porter?
- Which threat of entry creates a barrier by forcing
entrants to spend heavily to overcome customer loyalty?
- This group is considered powerful if it is not obliged
to contend with other products for sale to the industry.
- This is considered a collection of firms that offer
similar products or services that customers perceive to be substitutable
for one another.
- This environment in the strategic planning process
comprises factors in the competitive situation that affect a firm’s
success in acquiring needed resources or in profitably marketing its goods
and services.
Week 3:
External and Internal Environmental
Analysis
Complete the external environmental scan for your organization.
Perform an internal competitive environmental scan for your
organization.
Write a summary of no more than 1,400 words that does the
following:
- Identifies and analyzes the most important external
environmental factor in the remote, industry, and external operating
environments
- Identifies and analyzes the most important internal
strengths and weaknesses of your organization: include an assessment of
the organization’s resources
- Assesses the organization’s competitive position and
possibilities
- Analyzes the structure of the organization and how this
affects organizational performance
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Learning Team Peer Evaluation:
Share drafts of the External and Internal Environmental
Analysis assignment with all team members.
Provide feedback to be incorporated into each member’s paper.
Write a synopsis of no more than 350 words summarizing the
team’s discussion.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Knowledge Check:
- The structure of a simple organization
- This structure is one in which a set of relatively
autonomous units are governed by a central corporate office but where each
operation has its own functional specialists who provide products or
services that are different from those of other operations.
- This type of organizational structure combines the
advantages of functional specialization with the advantages of product-project
specialization.
- Twenty-first-century corporations reflect
- Today, global means
- This type of organization or structure is one that
identifies a set of business capabilities central to high-profitability
operations and then builds a virtual organization around those
capabilities.
- These are arrangements between two or more companies in
which they both contribute capabilities, resources, or expertise to a
joint undertaking, usually with an identity of its own, with each firm
giving up overall control in return for the potential to participate in
and benefit from the relationship.
- This is an organization structure most notable for its
lack of structure wherein knowledge and getting it to the right place
quickly is the key reason for the organization.
- One of the limitations of the SWOT analysis is that it
can be
- One of the limitations of SWOT analysis is that it can
do this to a single strength or element of strategy.
- Value chain analysis takes a
- Which of the following is an example of a primary activity
in the typical firm?
- In VCA, which method of cost accounting is preferred?
- This is an internal analysis technique wherein
strategists examine customers’ needs, company offerings, and competitors’
offerings to more clearly articulate what their company’s competitive
advantage is and how it differs from those of competitors.
- The first step of this type of analysis involves a firm
determining what their customers value and why they value it.
- Once a hypothesis about competitive advantage has been
developed by a firm through three circles analysis, it should be tested by
- This is a method of comparing the way a company
performs a specific activity with a competitor, potential competitor, or
company doing the same thing.
- Companies committed to this process attempt to isolate
and identify where their costs or outcomes are out of line with what they
identify as the best practices of competitors or other companies or
organizations that undertake similar tasks.
Week 4
Strategic Choice and Evaluation
Write a paper of no more than 1,400 words that evaluates
alternatives an organization must consider to realize growth.
Identify the best value discipline, generic strategy, and grand
strategy for your organization.
Recommend a strategy or combination of strategies the
organization should implement.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Learning Team Peer Evaluation
Share drafts of the Strategic Choice and Evaluation paper
assignment with all team members.
Provide feedback to be incorporated into each member’s paper.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Knowledge Check
- Firms that enjoy higher profit margins are using which
of Michael Porter’s generic strategies?
- Which of the following companies is a good example of a
low-cost leader?
- Firms that follow this type of generic strategy can
sometimes have difficulties succeeding without compromising the key
attributes of a company’s products or services.
- Which of the following is a generic strategy developed
by Michael Porter?
- Striving to create and market unique products for
varied customer groups is called
- Which of the following is a value discipline?
- Companies that pursue this value discipline strive to
produce a continuous stream of state-of-the-art products and services.
- Which of the grand strategies is typically lowest in
risk?
- The grand strategy in which the firm directs its
resources to the profitable growth of a single product, in a single market
and with a single technology is termed
- What is it called when current products are marketed,
often with only cosmetic changes, to customers in related market areas?
- The acquisition of one or more businesses operating at
the same stage of the production-marketing chain is an example of
- If a textile producer acquires a shirt manufacturer,
this is called
- For the ABC Company, the Alpha business is in a
dominant market share position in a mature market. As per the BCG matrix,
Alpha is a
- Which matrix makes fine distinctions among business
portfolio positions with the inclusion of high/medium/low axes?
- Which matrix involves a framework that can help ensure
that businesses’ strategies are consistent with strategies appropriate to
their strategic environment?
- Which of the following represents an operating
opportunity to build value or sharing?
- The most compelling reason companies should diversify
can be found in situations when
- The core competency must represent a major source of
value to be a basis for competitive advantage. Furthermore, the core
competency
Week 5
Implementation, Strategic Controls,
and Contingency Plans
Write a draft of no more than 1,800 words of the strategic
plan for your organization, including the following:
- Implementation plan
- Objectives
- Functional tactics
- Action items
- Milestones and a deadline
- Tasks and task ownership
- Resource allocation
- Any required organizational change management
strategies that would enhance successful implementation
- Key success factors, budget, and forecasted financials,
including a break-even chart
- Risk management plan, including contingency plans for
identified risks
Format your plan consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Learning Team Peer Evaluation
Share drafts of the Implementation, Strategic Controls, and
Contingency Plans assignment with all team members.
Provide feedback to be incorporated into each member’s paper.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Knowledge Check
- This is concerned with tracking a strategy as it is
being implemented, detecting problems or changes in its underlying
premises, and making necessary adjustments.
- Strategic surveillance must be kept
- This, called kaizen in Japanese, is the process of
relentlessly trying to find ways to improve and enhance a company’s
products and processes from design through assembly, sales, and service.
- CCC21 stands for
- The DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and
control) process is relevant to
- This idea factor involves following demographic and
other broad trends and trying to develop ideas that may be relevant and
useful.
- While these may under perform established products in
mainstream markets, they often offer features or capabilities appreciated by
some fringe customer group.
- These are also referred to as crowdsourcing or open
innovation.
- Short-term objectives are usually
- Short-term objectives assist strategy implementation by
identifying measurable outcomes of action plans or functional activities,
which can make feedback, correction, and evaluation
- Discussion about and agreement on short-term objectives
help raise issues and potential conflicts within an organization that
usually
- Key, routine activities that must be undertaken in each
department of the organization are
- In which type of strategy do functional tactics
translate into action designed to accomplish specific short-term
objectives?
- The effort to familiarize future leaders with the
skills important to the company and to develop exceptional leaders among
the managers you employ is
- Organizational culture includes important assumptions
shared by members of the organization. These assumptions are often
- Power Fund is a long-standing brokerage firm with a
great history of high returns and well-managed growth. The managers at
Power Fund repeatedly refer to terms like quality, growth, and reliability
in the firm’s advertisements. This demonstrates managers’
- These create differences across national boundaries
that influence how people interact, read personal cues, and otherwise
interrelate socially.
- A leader’s vision should be
Week 6
Strategic Plan and Presentation
Resource: Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency
Plans assignment with facilitator feedback
Complete a strategic plan for your organization of no more than
3,500 words.
Update your plan to incorporate facilitator feedback from the
drafts you submitted in previous weeks. Include the following:
- Table of contents
- Executive summary, with a 2-page maximum
- Company background, organizational mission, vision, and
value statements
- Note. For
a start-up, you should focus on the backgrounds and accomplishments of key
anticipated management personnel. The goal is to convince the investor
that these individuals are trustworthy and successful.
- Environmental scan
- Review of Week 4 strategies and a recommendation for
the best strategy for your organization
- Implementation plan including contingency plans for
identified risks
Prepare a Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation
of no more than 10 slides with speaker notes. Your audience will play the board
of directors or a venture capital firm. The focus is to sell your
recommendations to the board or venture capital firm and obtain approval for
funding your plan.
Format your plan and presentation consistent with APA
guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Learning Team Project Selection
Resources: Strategic Plan and Presentation assignment from each
team member
Review all team members’ Week 6 assignments.
Discuss each project’s strengths and weaknesses.
Write an analysis of at least 750 words including the
following:
- Comparative analysis of the top 2 strategic plans
- Selection of one of the strategic plans
- Justification for the team’s selection
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
