Strategy plan

The case

Choose a company to use as the subject for the strategic plan. It is suggested that you be somehow familiar with this organization so that you know where to get information quickly and easily. The purpose of this assignment is not to become an ace researcher, but rather to use actual data as the basis for strategic planning.

The requirements

Using that organization as the subject for the rest of the assignment and drawing from the course material from weeks 1-8 of BUSA 506 (in particular the videos on Moodle of how to maximize the effectiveness of strategic tools), write a strategic plan for that company. The strategic plan should focus on the future per your own critical thinking, but be based on actual data filtered through the tools to make all of your strategic decisions. The purpose of this assignment is to ensure you are able draw from an apply everything learned in BUSA 506 in order to create a strategic plan with the critical thinking expected of an MBA.

Once you have chosen a company, write a strategic plan including each of the following components. Use the appropriate strategic tools from BUSA 506 to drive the logic as you populate the sections of your Strategic Plan, even when not specified below. You may choose your own format for the strategic plan, as long as it contains – at a minimum – the following elements:

Include a one-page summary of your strategic plan at the beginning of the paper. This can either be in the form of an executive summary or a one-page visual representation, depending on your own preference.
Background information – Internal: using the strategic tools, conduct a current-state assessment of the organization. Include the scope for your strategic plan – zoom in to a particular division for a large multi-national corporation or zoom out to the entire organization for an SME.
Background information – External: using the strategic tools, describe the industry in which the company operates.
Vision – using the strategic tools as a foundation, identify and describe a potentially lucrative or beneficial spot for the organization to be in in the future. Conclude this section by summarizing this desirable future into a concisely worded vision statement. Please note that the vision does not have to have any connection to the current vision of the organization (if known). In fact, if known, it should be a different vision.
Goals – define and describe quantifiable goals for 3-5 years from now that, collectively, will indicate that the organization is on track to achieving their vision.
Objectives – describe 2 or 3 shorter term objectives for each goal. In the interest of time and word count, there is no need to include tactics.
Metrics/dashboard – This section should include key performance indicators (KPIs) to show progress and identify potential warning signs.
Strategy – identify strategies that will help guide the organization through the objectives, goals, towards the vision. The strategies should be specific enough that each department or employee in the organization would have no problem identifying tactics that they or their department should undertake that would contribute to achieving the objectives of the organization.

Additional instructions

The following additional instructions should be used to guide your decisions for what to include in the paper.

Grading. This assignment is worth 35% of your final mark. The rubric entitled “Assignment 3 – Strategic Plan (Individual)” will be used to grade your assignment.
Word count. 3000-word minimum and 5000-word maximum including the summary but not including appendices. All strategic tools should be in the appendix, not in the body of the paper. The critical-thinking-driven takeaways from the strategic tools should be captured in the body of the paper (with reference to the appropriate Appendix). The Appendix must be limited to 10 pages with type no smaller than 12-pt, double-spaced in order to receive timely feedback.
Writing and Formatting. The body of the strategic plan should be written out in full (not in bullet form) using APA formatting guidelines. External sources of data should be cited using APA format. Given that this is emulating a strategic plan and you have an executive summary, an introduction and conclusion are not required.
BUSA 506 learnings. Draw from 506 learnings only – not other courses, and not what you knew before you took the course.
Must include a pestel, swot, porters five forces, vrine, and a strategic map in appendices and the paper be formatted around models.