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• • Strategic Plan Prior to completing this assignment, review your prior research andcourse submissions related to the company you selected for research in Week 2’s Environmental Scanning interactive assignment. Ensure that you have incorporated the feedback you received from your previous submissions. In your Final Project this week, you will pull the various elements you’ve created together to aid your creation of a Strategic Plan. From the perspective of an executive with the firm, your supervisor has tasked you with creating a strategic plan to grow the business over the next three years using this Strategic Plan TemplatePreview the document. Continue to access the Mergent Ashford University Library online database which offers company financials, descriptions, history, property, subsidiaries, officers, and directors and the Business Insights database. (View the Getting Started With Mergent and Business Insights: Global documents for suggested methods of searching Ashford University Library databases generally as well as specific advice for searching these two databases). Your strategic plan must be future-oriented and must Describe the company, the company’s history and its 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion). Examine the company’s mission statement and assess its impact on the organization’s activities. Explain the current situation of the organization in the market (industry, market, and general environment analysis). Add your SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of your chosen company here. Evaluate areas that offer opportunities for
  • Choose three or four areas from your SWOT analysis and assess why the areas you have chosen are essential to your strategic plan
• Summarize the results of your Environmental Scan and Porter’s 5 Forces.
  • Evaluate the degree to which they aid in conceptualizing the company’s competitive position in its marketplace.
• Assess the company’s international performance in light of Cultural Barriers, Monetary Exchange Rates, and Political Instability.
• Assess the financial performance and condition of the
• Operational budget: Research and assess the company’s operational budget.
• Assess the performance in terms of key performance indicators.
• In your analysis, be sure to include profitability ratios relevant to your analysis.
  • Debt to Equity ratio
  • Debt to Assets ratio
• Based on the data, evaluate the overall current financial condition of the company.
  • Support your analysis by referring to the company data
  • Create a three year end trend analysis
• Assess how your Operational Budget analysis affects your three-year strategic plan.
• Recommend an organizational structure in terms of the organizational design as defined in Abraham (2012) section 2.6.
• Assess the impact of the strategic plan on the organizational culture.
• Strategic Goals: Create measurable core strategic goals for each of the three to four areas addressed from the SWOT analysis, addressing any contingencies associated with the strategies you are recommending and prioritizing them according to ease of achievement and time to completion.
• Recommend marketing positions and opportunities for growth in your strategic plan
• Add specific language to the strategic plan that addresses the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility
• Explain your plan to measure the success of your strategic plan
• Submit the Strategic Plan to the instructor.

The Final Paper

• Must be 10 to 12 double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least five scholarly and/or credible resources (including a minimum of three from the Ashford University Library) other than the textbook.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
• (Links to an external site.)Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Weekly Lecture

Business Ethics

Ethics refers to accepted principles of right or wrong that measure the conduct of a person, the members of a profession, or the actions of an organization (Abraham, 2012, p. 278). Managers may be confronted with ethical dilemmas while pursuing strategies that maximize the long-term profitability of the organization. We need to consider that the quest for profitability should not be constrained only by law, but also by ethical considerations.

Ethical Issues in Strategy

The ethical issues that managers confront are often due to the conflict between the goals of the company and the rights of the stakeholders. The most common examples of unethical behavior involve self-dealing, information manipulation, and anti-competitive behavior, among others.

Proponents of the stakeholder view of business ethics often argue that managers should behave in an ethical manner to ensure the support of the stakeholders, which will ultimately benefit both the stakeholder and organizations. Others argue that acting ethically is simply the right thing to do.

When facing an ethical dilemma, managers can ask themselves five questions that might help in making the right decision:

1. What’s in it for me?

2. What decision or action would lead to the greatest good for the greatest number?

3. What rules, policies, and social norms (written or unwritten) apply in this situation?

4. What are my obligations to others?

5. What will be the long-term impact on me and on important stakeholders (Abraham, 2012, p. 287)?

For a real life example of the role of ethics in determining company actions, see Sweatshops in Bangladesh Improve the Lives of Their Workers, and Boost Growth (Links to an external site.)on Nike and the use of sweatshops.

Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR)

Ethics and social responsibility are closely related. Social responsibility is the conscious effort to operate in a manner that creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders. It is often called corporate social responsibility as CSR is an umbrella term for exploring the responsibilities of business and its role in society (Abraham, 2012, p. 287).

Corporations have a responsibility to try to create a win-win situation for stakeholders. For customers, the corporation must provide safe products and services with customer value. For society, the corporation should improve the quality of life, or at least not destroy the environment. The corporation must compete fairly with competitors. Through technology, the corporation should develop new ways of increasing customer value and the quality of life. The corporation must work with suppliers in a cooperative manner. It must abide by the laws and regulations of government. The corporation must strive to provide equal employment opportunities for the labor force. It must be financially responsible in relation to the economy. The corporation must provide shareholders with a reasonable profit. It must provide employees with safe working conditions with adequate pay and benefits.

For a discussion on the use of social media to promote CSR, you may find How the Voice of the People Is Driving Corporate Social Responsibility (Links to an external site.) interesting.

Going Global

As companies expand into foreign markets, they face the challenge of how best to organize their activities across different nations and regions. The five most common strategies include

• Exporting and market expansion.

• Strategic alliances.

• Joint ventures.

• Acquisition.

There are a number of ways in which global expansion can enable companies to increase and rapidly grow profitability. At the most basic level, global expansion increases the size of the market in which a company is competing, thereby boosting profit growth. Global expansion offers opportunities for reducing the cost structure of the enterprise or adding value through differentiation, thereby potentially boosting profitability.

A company can increase its growth rate by taking goods or services developed at home and selling them internationally. The Ford Mustang is an excellent example of a product that is being launched globally. Ford CEO Alan Mulally talks about the challenges of changing the look and feel of the Mustang to appeal to international and domestic customers. Check out the Ford Mustang Goes Global (Links to an external site.) video.

Startups and Small Business

A small business is a business that is independently owned and operated with a small number of employees and relatively low value of sales (Abraham, 2012, p. 322). Small businesses are generally less bound by bureaucracy and corporate policies, and, usually, maintain closer relationships with their customers. In other words, their flexibility affords them the ability to focus on their customers and meet their needs, which naturally generates customer loyalty. At the same time, small firms often grow out of the innovative ideas of their entrepreneurial founders, and, therefore, this mindset is likely to prevail in the small business.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides numerous articles on starting and managing a small business. Check out SBA’s Starting & Managing (Links to an external site.) web page.

When starting a new business, managers should consider developing a business plan which helps to ensure systematic coverage of the important factors to be considered in starting a new business. By identifying the variables that can affect the success or failure of the business, the business plan becomes a model that helps the entrepreneur and any employees focus on important issues and activities for the new venture. Finally, a business plan is essential when additional capital from outside investors will be needed at some time in the foreseeable future.

The Forbes website provides valuable information on writing a successful business plan with Torki’s (2014) How to Write a Business Succession Plan (Links to an external site.).

Nonprofit Organizations

The fundamental difference between nonprofit and for-profit organizations is that the primary goal for a nonprofit organization is not financial in nature. Another major difference between nonprofit and for-profit organizations is that nonprofit funding comes from a third party rather than a customer. Lastly, nonprofits are cause driven and socially geared (Abraham, 2012, p. 324).

Although some noteworthy differences exist, the manager’s role is the same in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. All managers need management skills, perform management functions, and play management roles regardless of the organization type.

SPACE ON RYDER FARM is an excellent example of a leading arts nonprofit. For a brief discussion of the nonprofit and its founder, Emily Simoness, visit How She Did It: From Actress to Founder and Executive Director of a Leading Arts Nonprofit (Links to an external site.).

References:

Abraham, S. C. (2014). Strategic management for organizations. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Boynton, J. (2013, July 17). How the voice of the people is driving corporate social responsibility (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/07/how-the-voice-of-the-peopl…

CNN Money. (2013, December 5). Ford Mustang goes global (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/12/05/n-ford-…

Powell, B. (2013, May 2). Sweatshops in Bangladesh improve the lives of their workers, and boost growth (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/05/02/s…

Pham, T. (2014, June 5). How she did it: From actress to founder and executive director of a leading arts nonprofit (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiffanypham/2014/06/0…

Torki, N. (2014, May 14). How to write a business succession plan (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/05/14…

U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.). Starting & managing (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.sba.gov/starting-managing-business

I’ve attached the SWOT Analysis and mission statement assignments that were part of the requirements