(The introduction goes here. It should be one or two paragraphs explaining the findings of your paper. The introduction should prepare the reader for the contents of the paper by previewing the main topics in your paper. Be sure to end with a transition word or sentence to lead into Section 1 of your paper. Triple click anywhere in this paragraph to begin typing your own introduction.)

Company’s History and Growth

(Investigate and analyze the company’s history and growth. A company’s past can greatly affect the present and future state of the organization. To begin your case study analysis, investigate the company’s founding, critical incidents, structure, and growth.)

Strengths and Weaknesses

(Indentify strengths and weaknesses within the company. Using the information, you gathered in step one, continue your case study analysis by examining and making a list of the value creation functions of the company. For example, the company may be weak in product development, but strong in marketing.)

External Environment

(Gather information on the external environment. The third step in a case study analysis involves identifying opportunities and threats within the company’s external environment. Special items to not include competition within the industry, bargaining powers, and the threat of substitute products.)

Analysis

(Analyze your findings. Using the information in steps two and three, you will need to create an evaluation for this portion of your case study analysis. Compare the strengths and weaknesses within the company to the external threats and opportunities. Determine if the company is in a strong competitive position and decide if it can continue at its current pace successfully.)

Corporate Level Strategy

(Identify corporate level strategy. To identify a company’s corporate level strategy for your case study analysis, you will need to identify and evaluate the company’s mission, goals, and corporate strategy. Analyze the company’s line of business and its subsidiaries and acquisitions. You will also want to debate the pros and cons of the company strategy.)

Business Level Strategy

(Identify business level strategy. Thus far, your case study analysis has identified the company’s corporate level strategy. To perform a complete analysis, you will need to identify the company’s business level strategy. (Note: if it is a single business, the corporate strategy and the business level strategy will be the same.)For this part of the case study analysis, you should identify and analyze each company’s competitive strategy, marketing strategy, costs, and general focus.)

Analyze Implementations

(Analyze implementations. This portion of the case study analysis requires that you identify and analyze the structure and control systems that the company is using to implement its business strategies. Evaluate organizational change, levels of hierarchy, employee rewards, conflicts, and other issues that are important to the company you are analyzing.)

Recommendations

(Make recommendations. The final part of your case study analysis should include your recommendations for the company. Every recommendation you make should be based on and supported by the context of your case study analysis.)

Conclusion

(This is the conclusion of your paper. It should be one or two paragraphs summarizing the topics in your paper. It should also contain your conclusions or findings.)

References

Your references go here in alphabetical order (by the first author’s last name – or when there is no author, the first word of the title). This page is already set up with hanging indents. Include only references cited in your paper and be sure to include every reference cited in your paper. Most references will be from the Life U Library databases and should follow the format below.

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial (if there is one). (year). Name of article in sentence case: If there is a subtitle, it should also be in sentence case. Name of Journal in Title Case, volume(issue), first page-last page. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from name of database.

An example of a properly formatted reference is shown below.

Lee, H. W. (2005). The factors influencing expatriates. Journal of American Academy of Business, 6(2), 273-279. Retrieved January 29, 2005, from ProQuest database.

Please note: When citing Life U Online Library databases, you must use the capitalization and spelling for these databases exactly as they appear in the Library. For example,

 EBSCOhost database

 ProQuest database

ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS:

– Must be in proper APA format (6th edition)

– Must be 3-5 pages, does not include title page or reference page.

– Should utilize 80% your own analysis, 20% cited material (as a guideline).

– Avoid over-using direct quotes! My guidelines are there should be no more than one direct quote per page and direct quotes should not be longer than three sentences.

– You must have THREE additional scholarly resources to support your analysis PLUS your textbook – for a total of FOUR resources

– Work must be submitted as a .doc or .docx file (no .wps, .txt, .rtf, pages).