Question BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

30 May Question BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Question
BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 1 – SLP

Strategic Review

BACKGROUND:

First, run the simulation using the Default Decisions. In other words, use the prices and R&D percentage that are already there. Capture or collect the results for each product (X5, X6, X7) as you run each year. Copy (using Excel, by hand, or some other method) the Financial results and Marketing results, as well as the information provided by the Advisor.

SCENARIO

It is December 15, 2015. Joe Schmoe, the VP of Marketing at Clipboard Tablet Co., is smugly patting himself on the back for how well he has done with pricing and product development on the three products, X5, X6, and X7. He knows his strategy was not very creative, since he did not change any prices or R&D allocations over the four-year period (actually six years, counting 2010 and 2011). But he is certain that he did not need to change anything, and that his overall performance is proof.

However, Sally Smothers, CEO of Clipboard Tablet Co., has a different opinion, and she fires Joe.

You are hired. You applied for the position a few weeks ago and interviewed, unaware of the fate of Joe Schmoe at the time. So here you are, Dec. 15, 2015, VP of Marketing at Clipboard Tablet Co., and ready to move the company ahead into 2016. Your boss, Sally Smothers, is expecting you to take over and move the company forward in terms of product development, and smart pricing.

ASSIGNMENT:

Write a 4- to 6-page paper, not including cover and reference page, according to Sally’s directions as follows:

Sally wants to make sure that you are ready to move ahead and asks you to review the past four to six years to see what was going on in terms of product development, sales, pricing, and performance against the competition. You collect all of the data and write a report which is due on Sally’s desk January 2, 2016.

Module 1 – Case

BACKGROUND:

XCG

THE EXCELLENT CONSULTING GROUP

Communication from Art Epance:

Welcome to this project. ABC Company and Whole Foods Market expect us to provide them with top-notch advice on how to integrate Whole Foods into ABC Company. I will be working on analyzing ABC Company. You will be working on analyzing Whole Foods Market. Review as much information as you can on the Whole Foods Market website, particularly that in the “Investor Relations” section. At a minimum, review the following materials in preparation for your report/analysis:

Review Case Analysis since it is so important in this final course. The purpose of a Case is to show that you have thought critically about the subject matter that you are learning and to make an argument for aClaim about the specific situation in the Case Assignment. Stephen Toulmin has developed an Argument Methodology that is very useful inMaking a Case. To review Case Analysis and Toulmin’s Argument Methodology, go to Making a Case page.

CASE 1 ASSIGNMENT:

First, you need to do a strategic analysis of Whole Foods Market. The executives want us to provide an independent, objective view of Whole Foods Market’s current strategic position, including full information of Whole Foods Market’s mission, vision and values. They want to identify its current set of strategic goals, and acritical assessment of the competition and the competitive environment (remote and operating environments). Also, they want to see the opportunities and threats Whole Foods is presently facing, and they need a general idea of the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Whole Foods Market and ABC Company want to know if we think they should make any strategic changes or continue with the status quo. Synthesize everything you have learned, provide a final recommendation, and justify your reasoning.

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 2 – Background

Case: Organizational Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp!!

Background

Organizational Development (OD) is a fundamental management subject and important for an MBA degree program. One aspect of Organizational Development is Organizational Diagnosis, which is not as comprehensive as the overall development or change process. Diagnosis is often the first step in the OD process. Over the years, there have been many OD models developed. Some are better than others and some are more useful in certain situations than others. Later models were developed with Open System Theory in mind, which tends to make the models more comprehensive. ABC Company and Whole Foods Market are interested in using an OD model to diagnose Whole Foods Market’s current situation. You will need to have an understanding of some of these models in order to make a recommendation.

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 2 – SLP

Case: Organizational Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp!!

InModule 2, you will continue with the scenario and simulation you began in the Module 1 SLP.

REQUIRED READING

SCENARIO CONTINUATION:

SLP2 – It’s New Year’s day, 2016. You just had a great New Year’s Eve celebration. You have finished analyzing the performance of Clipboard Tablet Co. in a great report that you turned in a few days early to Sally Smothers. Now you are ready to charge ahead into the future.

As you turn on the TV you notice something strange. The TV commentator is saying something about New Year’s Day, 2012. You look around and everything looks different. Yes, it’s true; it’s New Year’s Day, 2012. Time has rewound – a Time Warp, like the guy in the movie “Groundhog Day.”

You realize that you get to make the decisions for Clipboard Tablet Co. starting with 2012. Perhaps you can do better than Joe Schmoe.

At the beginning of each year (2012-2015), you will determine your pricing, your R&D allocations, and whether or not to discontinue any products. You make your decisions and time advances to the end of that year, and you look at the results to see what happened. You keep track of your decisions and make notes about your reasoning and analysis of the data, keeping the data for later analysis.

You run the Marketing of Clipboard Tablet Co. through the end of 2015. It is now December 31, 2015, New Year’s Eve. What is your total Score? Did you do better than Joe Schmoe?

You decide to organize your notes about your decisions, your analysis, and your reasoning into a report, which you think will help you move ahead into 2016.

Module 2 – Case

Case: Organizational Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp!!

BACKGROUND:

XCG

The Excellent Consulting Group

Communication from Art:

Thank you for your report on the strategy analysis of Whole Foods Market. Now, we need to move ahead to the next part of this project.

ABC Company and Whole Foods Market have decided they want to do an Organizational Diagnosis to determine how various aspects of Whole Foods Market are aligned, such as inputs, resources, productivity, throughput effort, outputs, performance, strategy, etc. They want to know if there are any significant issues at Whole Foods Market and how these issues might affect its integration into ABC Company

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 3 – Background

Case: Inputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 2

Objectives

Objectives

Background Reading for Case 3

The background reading for the Case in this module focuses on the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model. You will be using this model to complete the case.

David Nadler is the founder and CEO of Mercer Delta Consulting Group. An internationally recognized expert in organizational change, Nadler has written seven books and numerous articles for practicing managers. Michael Tushman is a Full Professor at the Harvard Business School. He has written or edited eight books and is widely published in academic and practitioner journals.

Abstract:

Using an operational framework, thediagnostic funnel is introduced, which prescribes the appropriate actions of a process consultant in conducting anorganizational diagnosis. Thediagnostic funnel comprises the four actions of (a) selecting a generaldiagnosticmodel, (b) collecting data that minimizes bias, (c) analyzing the data to reduce the likelihood of error, and (d) deriving a unique diagnostic paradigm, specific to the organization under study. It is argued that the actions described by thediagnostic funnel will result in a diagnosis that achieves a high level of scientific rigor. To provide a detailed description of thediagnostic funnel, a case example of anorganizational diagnosis is presented.

Gregory, B. T., Armenakis, A. A., Moates, K., Albritton, M., & Harris, S. G. (2007). Achieving Scientific Rigor in Organizational Diagnosis: An Application of the Diagnostic Funnel.Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice & Research,59(2), 79-90. Retrieved on November 7, 2012 from EBSCO.

There are no reading assignments for the SLP

However, if you need a refresher on various theories (product life cycle, pricing, price elasticity, market saturation, product development, etc.) there are a multitude on the Internet.

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 3 – SLP

Case: Inputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 2

BACKGROUND

In Module 3, you will continue with the scenario and simulation you worked on in the Module 1 and Module 2 SLPs.

REQUIRED READING

SCENARIO CONTINUATION:

It’s New Year’s Day, 2016. You just had a great New Year’s Eve celebration, having finished analyzing the performance of Clipboard Tablet Company, and are ready to charge ahead into the future. You turn on the TV and notice something strange (again). The TV commentator is saying something about New Year’s Day, 2012, and you realize that you are in Time Warp 2.

Your decision-making process will be different this time, as you will be using CVP analysis, a technique with which you recently became familiar.

You analyze the results of the first set of decisions you made in Time Warp 1, from 2012 to 2015. You use CVP analysis to help determine a new strategy, employing the CVP Calculator.

You analyze the results using CVP and develop your complete four-year strategy, making notes about your analysis and your reasoning process, just in case you have to do this again.

You finish the report that shows your strategy for the next four years during Time Warp 2.

Do not run the simulation yet; just turn in the report.

ASSIGNMENT

Write a 4- to 6-page paper, not including cover and reference page, in which, after again reviewing and analyzing the results that you got in SLP2 (Time Warp 1 decisions), you develop a revised strategy and make a case for this new strategy using analysis and relevant theories.

KEYS TO THE ASSIGNMENT

The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered and taken into account in preparing your paper include:

· The revised strategy consists of the Prices, R&D Allocation %, and any product discontinuations for the X5, X6, and X7 tablets for each of the four years: 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

· You must present a rational justification for this strategy. In other words, you must make a case for your proposed strategy using financial analysis and relevant theories.

· Use the CVP Calculator and review the PowerPoint that explains CVP and provides some examples.

· You need tocrunch some numbers (CVP Analysis) to help you determine your prices and R&D allocations.

· Make sure your proposed changes in strategy are firmly based in this analysis of financial and market data and sound business principles.

· Present your analysis professionally making strategic use of tables, charts and graphs.

· Time Line Summary:

SLP1

· 2015: Hired on December 15.

· Turned in first report to Sally a few days early on December 30.

· Celebrated on December 31.

SLP2

· Time Warp 1 begins: January 1, 2016 warps into January 1, 2012.

· You realize you have to make decisions for 2012 – 2015, which you do.

· December 31, 2015 – You have gone through all four years, and you write your report to summarize how you did. You are hoping that you will wake up tomorrow and it will be 2016.

SLP3

· Time Warp 2 begins: January 1, 2016 warps into January 1, 2012. (Again)

· Now it is January 1, 2012: You decide to use CVP analysis and develop a four-year plan for your strategy. You analyze the results of your first decisions in Time Warp 1 and make notes. You use the CVP Calculator to help develop a strategy, and make more notes explaining your logic and analysis.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

Note the following tips and suggestions:

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 3 – Case

Case: Inputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 2

BACKGROUND

XCG

The Excellent Consulting Group

Communication from Art:

I reviewed your report regarding Organizational Diagnosis, and I thought you did a nice job. I presented your recommendation to ABC Company and Whole Foods Market, and had several discussions with them.

They’ve finally decided that they want to use the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to analyze the overall congruence in the company – they like the Input and Output analysis that this model provides.

First, the company’s executives are interested in the Inputs, including the strategy. They are interested in getting an objective opinion of what their critical inputs are and how they align with their strategy. So I suggest that you very quickly brush up more on the Congruence model, particularly for this assignment on inputs.

REQUIRED READING:

Nadler, D. A. & Tushman, M. L. (1980) A Model for Diagnosing Organizational Behavior.Organizational Dynamics, 9 (2), 35-51. Retrieved on November 7, 2012 from EBSCO.

CASE 3 ASSIGNMENT:

Using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, conduct an analysis of Whole Foods Market’s inputs and how they align with the strategy.

For the analysis, I suggest that you start with strategy, since you have already done some work on this aspect in your first report. Review Whole Foods Market’s strategy and then determine which one of Porter’s competitive strategies fits with this strategy. Then review the company’s inputs and determine one or two specific critical inputs from each input category: environment, resources, and history.

Ultimately, I want you to determine how aligned the critical inputs are with the strategy. Is there high congruence (alignment), some congruence, or little to no congruence? I expect you to support your claim with a good, logical argument using the information you have collected.

In order to make this case, you first need to review the strategy and then classify it as one of Porter’s competitive strategies. Then identify the Key Input factors in the first three categories. Explain why these are the critical input factors. Then determine how congruent the three input factors are with the strategy.

Be sure to include references. Turn in the 4- to 6-page paper by the end of the module.

KEYS TO THE ASSIGNMENT:

Case Expectations:

1. Discuss the organization’sstrategy and classify it according to Porter’s three generic competitive strategies.

2. Identify the most critical inputs in each of the first three categories and justify why they are critical. Also explain what effect the inputs from one category have on inputs from the other categories. How well does the strategy fit with the environmental, resource and historical inputs you identified?

3. Make a Case for your proposition as to how the Key Inputs support (are congruent with) the Strategy. Specifically make a claim: “The inputs at Whole Foods Market consisting of Organizational Environment factors, Internal Resource factors, and Historical Tradition factors are [highly, partially, or minimally] congruent with the company’s strategy.”

4. Support your analysis with objective evidence. Sources of information for the entire project may include interviews, organizational documents and reports, articles in newspapers, and trade publications. Be sure to cite your sources and provide a list of references.

Write up your report in a 4- to 6-page paper and submit it by the end of the module.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

· You may use a simple diagram to highlight important factors. However, do not use the diagram in lieu of valuable analysis (or to take up valuable writing space) – it should be in addition to your paper of 4-6 pages of analysis.

· Just because you have written the minimum four pages does not mean that you have adequately covered the topic. Err on the side of writing more rather than less.

· Choose the data you use carefully. Is it relevant and important?

· Include a cover page and reference page, in addition to the 4-6 pages of analysis described above.

· Include headings within the paper.

· Cite and reference all sources that you use in your work, including those that you paraphrase. This means include citations and quotation marks for direct quotes of more than five words, and citations for that information which you have “borrowed” or paraphrased from other sources.

Follow TUI Guidelines for well-written papers.

Module 4 – Background

Case: Outputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 3

Background Reading for Case 4

In Case 4, you will continue with the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to assess an organization’s outputs. Nadler and Tushman identify outputs as existing at the individual, group, and organizational level. They also emphasize the importance of identifying the outputs that the organization desires vs. what is actually achieved.

Read:

Nadler, D. A. & Tushman, M. L. (1980) A Model for Diagnosing Organizational Behavior.Organizational Dynamics, 9 (2), 35-51. Retrieved on November 7, 2012 from EBSCO.

For Case 4, focus on the Outputs aspect of this model. Read pages 43 to 51.

Outputs are not complicated to understand. At the Organization level, they are the products and services that are provided to its customers. (It can also be the value provided to its owners, but we are not going to consider this here.) The primary way that a company measures its performance is financially: Sales, Profit, Return on Sales (ROS), Return on Assets; and also via market share.

The organization is made up of various groups. One way to look at groups is by functional area: marketing, operations, purchasing, etc. Another way, if the company is large, is by its various divisions or by its product groupings. Here it becomes a little more complicated to measure performance, but it is possible by defining the goals and objectives of each group.

The bottom level of the organization is the individual. Each person has a job description and is responsible for specific outputs for that job. The main method of performance measurement here is individual productivity: Outputs/Inputs (e.g., widgets/hour, or reports/day). This is more difficult to quantify and for a specific company is difficult to obtain, since this data is not generally reported. Sometimes you can infer some individual measures, for example, by dividing Profit by the number of total employees, to get a measure of overall profitability per person.

There are no reading assignments for SLP 4

However, if you need a refresher on various theories (product life cycle, pricing, price elasticity, market saturation, product development, etc.) there are a multitude on the Internet.

Optional Review Materials – Once again, here is the link to the sample Internet resource list for the course. Click here.

Module 4 – SLP

Case: Outputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 3

BACKGROUND

In Module 4, you will continue with the scenario and simulation you worked on in the Module 1, Module 2, and Module 3 SLPs.

REQUIRED READING

SCENARIO CONTINUATION:

It is now January 2, 2012 (again), still at the beginning of Time Warp 2. You have just completed your revised strategy using CVP analysis, and you are ready to charge ahead. You implement your decisions for 2012, see the results at the end of the year, and collect these results to use later. Again, you implement the decisions you have already made for 2013, and collect the results at the end of the year. You do the same for 2014 and 2015, hoping this time that you can finally move ahead into 2016.

It is now New Year’s Eve, 2015 — what you hope is the end of not only Time Warp 2, but all the time warps. You have the results of your decisions. How did you do? What was your final score? Will it finally be 2016 when you wake up?

It’s New Year’s day, 2016. You just had a great New Year’s Eve celebration, you finished another four years of moving Clipboard Tablet Company through 2012 – 2015, and are ready to charge ahead into the future. You notice something strange (again): The TV commentator is saying something about New Year’s Day, 2012.You are now in Time Warp 3.

Maybe you need to keep improving Clipboard Tablet’s performance so that you can finally move ahead. Vowing to do better this time, you decide that your best approach is to develop a four-year strategy like you did the last time.

You analyze the results of your last set of decisions from 2012 to 2015. You are going to use CVP analysis (and the CVP Calculator) again to help determine a new strategy. You will get better at it.

You analyze the results from Time Warp 2 using CVP and develop your complete four-year strategy. You decide to make notes about your analysis and your reasoning process, just in case you have to do this again.

You finish your report showing the strategy you are going to use these next four years, Time Warp 3.

ASSIGNMENT

Using the strategy that you developed in SLP3, run the simulation. Review and analyze these results (from your Time Warp 2 decisions) and develop a revised strategy for Time Warp 3. Support your revised strategy using analysis and relevant theories.

Please turn in a 4- to 6-page paper, not including cover and reference page.

BUS599 – MBA Integrative Project

Module 4 – Case

Case: Outputs Diagnosis, SLP: Time Warp 3

BACKGROUND

XCG

THE EXCELLENT CONSULTING GROUP

COMMUNICATION FROM ART:

Onward to the next project: Outputs of Whole Foods Market. As I indicated before, this is a follow-up using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model.

We need to analyze how Whole Foods Market has been doing in terms of its performance and how it stacks up against its goals. We will do this at three levels: the overall organizational level, the group level, and the individual level. The Congruence Model explains this well. You should be up to speed on this model.

The executives want to know how congruent the outputs are across the three levels. Given your analysis of performance at each of the three levels, are the interactions of these outputs congruent – highly, somewhat, or very little? Make this determination and support it with a logical argument using the information that you obtain about Whole Foods Market’s goals and performance.

REQUIRED READING:

Nadler, D. A. & Tushman, M. L. (1980)A Model for Diagnosing Organizational Behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9 (2), 35-51. Retrieved on November 7, 2012 from EBSCO.

CASE 4 ASSIGNMENT:

Use the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Moduleto analyze Whole Foods Market’s outputs. Start with the Organizational Level. Identify the Outputs – what does it produce and sell? What are its goals? How has it been performing? Then go the group level. What are some groups that Whole Foods Market identifies, and the goals and performance of these groups. Finally, discuss the Individual level. Here you will find it difficult to get much detailed information, so identify five to seven key jobs and their outputs. How can the performance of these jobs be measured? Finally determine the congruence of the outputs and make a strong argument for your case.

Be sure to include references. Turn in the 5- to 7-page paper by the end of the module.