Assignment 1
In your own words, explain what CSR is. Name two examples of socially responsible companies you know and explain why you consider them so.
It is important for companies to incorporate social responsibility into their strategic plans. Give a brief summary of the company you chose. What aspects of corporate social responsibility would you recommend they incorporate into its strategic plan? Support your rationale from your research.
(NOTE: Incorporate the feedback you receive from your instructor and save your work. It will be part of your Strategic Plan Final Project for this course).
Assignment 2
When companies expand into the international arena, they do so either because their home market has matured or because they see real opportunities in the foreign market.
Increasing the number of strategic business units requires a more complex business strategy. Sometimes the road to success in a foreign market can be a bumpy one. For insights into some of the more extreme cultural challenges posed when entering foreign markets as experienced by one of the United States' largest fast food chains, read How McDonald's conquered India. (Kannan, 2014) and McDonald's Settles Beef Over Fries. (Grace, 2002).
For this discussion, determine whether or not the company operates in the international marketplace. If so, research the company's international strategy and evaluate it in terms of effectiveness in regards to one of the issues below. If your company is not involved internationally, then choose one that is and evaluate that company's international strategy in terms of effectiveness in regards to one of the following issues:
• Cultural Barriers
• Monetary Exchange Rates
• Political Instability
Then,
• Assess how your chosen issue potentially affects the strategic considerations of your organization involved in a global economic environment.
• Propose language to add to the organization's strategic plan that addresses the potential impacts to the organization's global strategy.
Assignment 3
Strategic Plan
Prior to completing this assignment, review your prior research and course submissions related to the company you selected for research in Week 2's Environmental Scanning interactive assignment. Ensure that you have incorporated the feedback you received from your previous submissions. In your Final Project this week, you will pull the various elements you've created together to aid your creation of a Strategic Plan. From the perspective of an executive with the firm, your supervisor has tasked you with creating a strategic plan to grow the business over the next three years using this Strategic Plan Template . Continue to access the Mergent Ashford University Library online database which offers company financials, descriptions, history, property, subsidiaries, officers, and directors and the Business Insights database. (View the Mergent tipsheet and Business Insights tipsheet Tips document for suggested methods of searching Ashford University Library databases generally as well as specific advice for searching these two databases).
Your strategic plan must be future-oriented and must
• Describe the company, the company's history and its 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).
• Examine the company's mission statement and assess its impact on the organization's activities.
• Explain the current situation of the organization in the market (industry, market, and general environment analysis).
• Add your SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of your chosen company here. Evaluate areas that offer opportunities for
o Choose three or four areas from your SWOT analysis and assess why the areas you have chosen are essential to your strategic plan
• Summarize the results of your Environmental Scan and Porter's 5 Forces.
o Evaluate the degree to which they aid in conceptualizing the company's competitive position in its marketplace.
• Assess the company's international performance in light of Cultural Barriers, Monetary Exchange Rates, and Political Instability.
• Assess the financial performance and condition of the
• Operational budget: Research and assess the company's operational budget.
• Assess the performance in terms of key performance indicators.
• In your analysis, be sure to include profitability ratios relevant to your analysis.
o Debt to Equity ratio
o Debt to Assets ratio
• Based on the data, evaluate the overall current financial condition of the company.
o Support your analysis by referring to the company data
o Create a three year end trend analysis
• Assess how your Operational Budget analysis affects your three-year strategic plan.
• Recommend an organizational structure in terms of the organizational design as defined in Abraham (2012) section 2.6.
• Assess the impact of the strategic plan on the organizational culture.
• Strategic Goals: Create measurable core strategic goals for each of the three to four areas addressed from the SWOT analysis, addressing any contingencies associated with the strategies you are recommending and prioritizing them according to ease of achievement and time to completion.
• Recommend marketing positions and opportunities for growth in your strategic plan
• Add specific language to the strategic plan that addresses the company's Corporate Social Responsibility
• Explain your plan to measure the success of your strategic
• Submit the Strategic Plan to the instructor.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be 10 to 12 pages, typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.