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Strategic Analysis
As noted in the Syllabus, written analyses of our scheduled case studies are a component of your participation grade in the
course.  To encourage preparation for our company discussions, students are expected to prepare and submit written
analyses of the case studies covered during the semester.  The case method requires active participation and dialogue of
the company and industry facts provided in the case study.  The requirement of a written analysis will ensure the
necessary preparation to conduct an enriching online discussion of the issues faced by managers.  The purpose of
a Strategic Analysis is to meet key learning objectives in the course:

Evaluate specific company strategies and analyze the impact on competitive advantage and financial performance;
Demonstrate careful reasoning for strategic initiatives using the tools of external and internal analysis

Hence, creating a strategic analysis of a company’s situation will help you develop the skills to synthesize diverse
information and so reason critically about potential solutions.  Such skills are necessary for effective business
management. The task is to create a written analysis containing the following three aspects:

1. An identification of the company’s strategy, referencing course concepts (e.g. business-level strategy, five elements
of strategy, international strategy)

2. An explication of the strategic issues facing the company, derived from an analysis of the external environment and
internal organization (i.e. SWOT analysis)

3. A recommendation plan for dealing with the issues explicated (i.e. detailed options that weigh the benefits and costs
of the proposal)

You will find “Preparing an Effective Case Analysis” in your textbook useful in organizing your document.  A few points of
clarification:

The format is a typed document (12-point font, double-spaced text).

The Strategic Analysis must be submitted electronically by the start of our scheduled case date.  Your file (Word;
PDF) should be uploaded to the proper folder under the Assignments tab on our iCollege site.

Each submitted analysis should be roughly three pages in length.

Students earn points towards participation for each Strategic Analysis submitted.

I do not expect students to prepare all seven scheduled cases.  As a rule of thumb, students should anticipate
completing at least three company analyses to secure a B on this component. Please see Individual Grade
Components in the Syllabus for guidelines.

The GSU Library has created a Research Guide on conducting case analysis for the course. It contains many resources to
help you learn about the company, industry, and external environment.

In terms of grading criteria, students should review the following examples.  These examples illustrate that the tasks
noted above were addressed in sufficient detail.

Case Example - CFA.pdf

Case Example - Lululemon.pdf