Assignment 1:  External Environment Analysis (Week 3)

Purpose:  This assignment is the first of three assignments.  Students will use the tools and apply concepts learned in this and previous business courses to demonstrate an understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market. 

Monitoring competitors’ performance is a key aspect of performing an external environment analysis.  This assignment provides students the opportunity to evaluate the competitive position of one of the organizations listed below and integrate that information in an External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix and Competitive Profile Matrices (CPM).

Instructions:

Students will perform an external analysis on a company from the list below or from a list of companies provided by the instructor. 

• Tencent
• Citrix
• Riverbed Technology
• HemispherxBiopharma, Inc.

In completing the assignment, students will perform research on the selected company and respond to the required steps below:

Step 1:  Create a PowerPoint Presentation.  The final product will be no longer than 20 slides  including the title page and reference page.  Students will use the note section of the PowerPoint to discuss, explain and support the reasoning for information presented in each slide.

Step 2:  Review assignment grading rubric.

Step 3:  In completing the assignment, students are required to support the reasoning using in-text citations and a reference list.  Both in-text citations and an associated reference list is required.  View the sample APA paper under Week 1 content.  Students may also look under Course Resources>>Student Toolbox for APA resources.

 Step 4: Complete an External Environmental Analysis:

Use tools, concepts and information from your own research to perform an external analysis of the company’s environment.  Include the following:

• Company overview
• Industry analysis

2)   Competitive analysis.  [Use the top two competitors plus the selected company.] 

3)   Techniques Analysis:  PESTEL, Five Forces, OT from SWOT, EFE, and CPM.   

• Trends: Discuss trends significant to the industry and company and discuss key areas of uncertainty related to trends or events that potentially could impact the company’s strategy.
• Utilize the Notes section to support each slide

Step 5:  Using the grading rubric, ensure all required elements are presented in the presentation.

Step 6: Proofread for spelling and grammatical issues and for completeness.

• Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;
• Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;