Note – This will take time to complete, which is why it is the only assigned task for this week.
To be successful, please plan to put in at least 8 hours.
Consider all of the research resources shared with you to this point in the class.

Choose any publicly-traded company that begins with the same letter as the first letter in your last name. Then, answer the following 10 questions:

1. List the company name.

2. What is the principal business model of the firm? (How does the firm make most of its profits?) (1-page)

3. Identify the major goals of the company. Does the firm seem to have any longer-term challenging or stretch goals that would serve as its strategic intent?

4. Trace any changes in strategy that you can identify over time. Try to determine whether the strategic changes of your selected firm are a result of intended strategies, emergent strategies, or some combination of both.

5. How dynamic is the industry in which your company is based?  Is there evidence that industry structure is reshaping competition, or has done so in the recent past?

6. Identify the core competencies that are at the heart of the firm’s competitive advantage.  (Remember, a firm will have only one, or at most a few, core competencies, by definition.)

7. Does the firm seem most focused on the economic, accounting, or shareholder perspective of its competitive advantage?  Give quotes or information from these sources to support your view.

8. What suggestions do you have to improve the firm’s business strategy and strategic position?

9. Is your firm highly vertically integrated?

10. Use the preceding vertical value chain to identify the corporate strategy of the firm. In other words, where within the industry has the firm chosen to compete?