10 Sep Classmate Replies: For this Discussion, you will reply to your

Classmate Replies:

For this Discussion, you will reply to your classmates in this way:  Comment specifically on letter C of your classmate’s post.  Describe why you agree or disagree with your classmate’s assessment, and support your response with course materials. 

How to Reply – Substantive Replies:

Substantive replies to classmates are expected for this Discussion. That means that comments like “Great Post” or “I agree” will NOT count toward a substantive reply. A substantive reply MUST use support from course materials, which means APA citations and references. For this discussion, you will reply to your classmates as indicated above in Classmate Replies. 

How Many Replies to Classmates?

Read the grading rubric carefully. The rubric points out the major criteria, including response frequency and timeliness, that will be used to grade this assignment.  Note that you cannot earn maximum grades for the frequency of posting by responding to only 2 classmates. You are required to respond substantively to 4 classmates to maximize your grade in this area. (See explanation above about what “respond substantively” means in this class.)

Other Writing Guidelines for this Discussion:

· Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met to lead to the highest possible grade.  

· Third-person writing is required. The third person means no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first-person writing).

· Contractions are not often used in business writing, so do not use them here. 

· Paraphrase – do not use direct quotations. This means that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lift them directly from a source document. You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document (including the case scenario) or change words in a passage as doing so would require direct quotation marks.  Use a passage from a source document by putting it into your own words (paraphrase) and attribute the passage to the source document. Changing words from a  passage does not exclude the passage from having to have quotation marks. If direct quotes are presented, they will not be included in the grading.

· Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains a reference associated with each in-text citation. 

· Only course materials (from this course’s content) may be used. Sources other than this course’s eBook or the course materials listed under content will not be considered sources of support.

· Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented. Refer to this link for more guidance on how to do this:   In-Text Citations – Including Page or Paragraph Numbers.

DOUGLAS’S POST:

TO:  Joan Smithfield

FROM:  Doug Fleming

DATE: September 2, 2022

SUBJECT:  Future Diversification Strategy of Smithfield Custom Furniture

Analysis

A)        Porter’s Competitive Advantage model focuses a company’s efforts toward a competitive advantage in two specific ways with two focuses in each area. The first area is market scope, where the focus is on either a specific market segment or the broad/overall market segment. The second is cost focused, where the focus is on a higher cost niche market product or a lower cost mass marketed product (Lumen Learning, n.d., para. 9). When using this model to determine the best course of action for Smithfield Furniture, the choice is between mass produced, lowest cost furniture marketed to the general population or the targeting of a very specific market, in this case the top 7.5% of the world’s top earners, to produce a very high quality, even exotic, product.