11/16/23, 11:27 AM Learning Guide Unit 4 | Home

Learning Guide Unit 4

Site: University of the People Printed Abdelrahman Mohamed Hosni Abdelghaffar

BUS 5117-01 Strategic Decision Making and Management by: Abdelrahman
Course:
- AY2024-T2 Date: Thursday, 16 November 2023, 4:27 AM
Book: Learning Guide Unit 4

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Description

Learning Guide Unit 4

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Table of contents

Overview
Introduction
Reading Assignment
Discussion Assignment
Portfolio Activity
Checklist

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Overview

Unit 4: Strategically Managing Internal Resources

Topics:

Internal resources as a part of the strategic management process

Value chain analysis and logistics
Alternative theoretical views of internal organizational factors.
The SWOT Analysis tool.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this Unit, you will be able to:

1. Explain resource-based theory.

2. Build a value chain analysis to identify key points of strength and weakness.
3. Compare and contrast other theories of modern organizational performance.
4. Apply the SWOT Analysis tool and analyze its information to make decisions.

Tasks:

Peer assess Unit 3 Written Assignment

Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
Complete and submit the Portfolio Activity

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Introduction

In Unit Three, the external environment was the main focus. This week’s material is about the internal factors which affect
organizational strategy. A strategist must balance all the internal components to achieve maximum results. This is exceptionally
challenging given the turbulent external environments we studied last week. Typical internal resources include labor, proprietary
technology, processes, access to raw materials, and strong leadership. In the case study this week, you will apply a value chain analysis
and then simultaneously evaluate the internal and external environments in a SWOT.

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Reading Assignment

The text for this course, Strategic Management: Evaluation and Execution, provides the foundation for many of the concepts in the
course. It will be supplemented with a case study from MIT this week.

Kennedy, R. (2020). Strategic management. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/99282 or

Download Strategic Management [PDF]. This book is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA license.

Chapter 4
Chapter 5

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Discussion Assignment

In the discussion forum, you are expected to participate often and engage in deep levels of discourse. Please post your initial response
as early as possible and continue to participate throughout the unit. You are required to post an initial response to the question/issue
presented in the Forum and then respond to at least 3 of your classmates’ initial posts. You should also respond to anyone who has
responded to you.

In this question, you will consider two theoretical views of an organization’s internal environment. First, explain the resource-
based theory from the textbook and its relevance to strategic management. Then, select one of the other theories to research on
your own (enactment, environmental determinism, institutional theory, or transaction cost economics) and compare and contrast
it to the resource-based view. Which do you think best explains the internal environment? Why?

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Portfolio Activity

Assignment instructions
In this assignment, you will show your skills and knowledge on Resource-Based View (RBV) strategy model. RBV identifies the internal
resources of a firm as a strategic advantage.

Choose a local firm in your city/country that has done remarkably well in recent times or has incurred heavy losses. Provide the name,
website, and key products/services of the firm at the starting of the answer. Please do not discuss a hypothetical firm (that does not
exist) or a firm that has been recently launched.

Based on your research and knowledge about this firm, answer the following questions.

1. Discuss the tangible and intangible resources this firm has. Suggest which resources it can build and which ones it can maintain.

2. Explain which resources are heterogeneous and immobile in this firm and why?

3. Perform a VRIO analysis (Valuable-Rare-difficult to Imitate-Organized to capture value) of the firm’s resources and identify its
competitive advantage. Based on this analysis, discuss what leads to differential performance for any firm.

Submission instructions
1. Write the question before your answer. Your submission should be with a minimum of 750 words and not more than 1500 words
(not including a title page and a reference page), double-spaced with 1-inch margins, in 12-point Times New Roman font.

2. Support your arguments with sources and evidence. Use high-quality, credible, relevant sources to develop ideas that are
appropriate for the discipline and genre of writing.

This assignment will be assessed by your instructor using the rubric available on the assignment page in the course homepage.

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Checklist

Peer assess Unit 3 Written Assignment

Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments

Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)

Complete and submit the Portfolio Activity

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