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You are now at the stage where you have gathered all the information related to the target firm for the semester and your individual project is now complete. Your work from this point forward must focus on developing and delivering the best team project possible. You have just completed a situation analysis as an individual. Use it in your work together with your teammates. The better you understand the situation the better prepared you are to deal with it. The first part of the team project is the written part consisting of the combination of your situation analyses and your recommendations. Then you need the most effective presentation possible for the MBA Conference. The MBA Conference is a showcase for the quality of work you are capable of producing. Your work will be judged there by a team comprised of faculty and Alumni that are all familiar with this process and what to expect from excellent work. This instruction set will describe what it will take to prepare an excellent strategic plan and excellent presentation.
Together, you and your teammates must take the situation analyses of your team’s members and distill their findings in order to form statements that define the issues that are the most critical ones facing the firm. How well do the firm’s strategies fit the environment in which they operate? You will recall that strategic fit indicates how well the firm's mission and strategies fit its internal capabilities and its external environment today. You have identified gaps that exist between what should be and what is. The answer to the fundamental questions involved in gap analysis should guide the rest of your work this semester. This means identifying those issues having the greatest effect on the long-term success of the organization and addressing them. Once you have a crisp description of the issues, it is possible to generate a comprehensive list of recommendations with goals and objectives that your team believes would be essential in addressing those issues.
You must demonstrate that you have chosen a suitable area and have framed the issue in terms that matter in a significant way to the success of the firm. Critical arguments you might include would be competitive necessity – the firm must respond; or market expansion – the firm needs to sustain growth; or a regulatory requirement – something needed to maintain legal standing. These three arguments are very persuasive in convincing the reader or the audience. Be sure to define and redefine the issue until it is completely unambiguous. If you cannot state the issue succinctly then you cannot propose its solution.
The next thing to consider is that you must know all the information needed to resolve the issue. You do not need to have it all. However, you have to be aware that your choices are limited by what you do not know. What you do not know has risk implications that you will want to consider later. Next, you will construct a list of factors that contribute to causing the issue. These factors provide your road map for the solution you should propose and answer all the questions the audience will have. Next, in this process, you will identify the kinds of results needed in each of the areas. Throughout each of the aforementioned sections, you must be specific and clear in your written and oral presentations.
The recommendations that your team develops are the most important part of your report. They are the value added part. They represent your vision for the future of the company in light of your assessment of its situation. Anyone can tell someone else what is wrong! Business professionals know how to fix it. You have selected a strategically significant set of issues to resolve and now will include a complete discussion of your recommendations of strategies you believe will resolve them. This implies a thorough discussion of your plans for implementation, the outcomes you expect and the controls needed to see your vision fulfilled. These sections of your report should combine to be of about the same length as the first part of your report. (Note: You cannot be too specific in these sections.) You must provide specific and detailed strategic recommendations. (For example, do not just say they need better marketing, or improved customer service. Be specific about what you are recommending and how you propose it be accomplished. Be sure to address the following issues in justifying your strategic choices.
What: Again, you need to develop specifics rather than vague, general statements like "they should innovate." Your recommendations should include detailed descriptions. For example, "we recommend the company expand its northeast coast operations to permit access to those population centers through a balanced combination of retail outlets and direct sales approaches".
Why: The "why" of your recommendations should be based on your analyses earlier as to why it is important that the company implement your recommendations. For example, "Our recommendation will produce needed sales growth, utilize excess capacity, build on our reputation for quality products and is projected to produce $30 million in revenues in the first year".
How: This aspect of your recommendations provides specific descriptions of how to implement the recommendations (do not just say they should market more – be specific. Also, explain how they should pay for it, for instance.) For example, "Since sixty percent of our current customers purchase our products in retail outlets we propose forming an exclusive relationship with PDQ Corporation to provide the needed additional retail channels. PDQ Corporation is the northeast’s leading retailer of products such as ours and has 156 locations in the most densely populated regions of the northeast. Our proposal will be funded by issuing $50 million in debt and financing the rest of the needed working capital through short-term credit. Our statement of sources and uses of funds and pro forma P&L found at appendix 3C illustrates. . . ".
When (the milestones): describe the time horizon for the plan. How long will the plan take to implement? Target dates (month, quarter or year) and results for each time period, based on prioritizing the recommendations. Give a recommended time line.
How Much? You are required to include budgets, performance metrics, and estimates of strategic impacts, risk assessment and contingency plans, long-term effects, the impact on all the stakeholders and the control systems needed to monitor the success of the selected strategies. Although there are many measures for the results you expect to achieve, some are indispensable. You must develop and present a good grasp of all the common numerical methods used in business for evaluating performance such as the payback period for the costs associated with the initiatives, the Net Present value (NPV) of the initiative, as well as the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Internal Rates of Return (IRR) for the elements of your proposal. Please note that these are not optional. Your presentation and the underlying case analysis must include these methods of evaluation. We want specifically for you to demonstrate these essential business skills. The measures are important because they guide the formation and evaluation of the goals of the project.
Goals are required for the key areas in which strategic results will occur. They are not measurable as stated, but contain factors that will be measurable as objectives. Goals determine what objectives you select. An objective is a statement of measurable results that are realistic and attainable, but represent a significant challenge. A checkpoint to note at this point is that the objectives taken together must assure the accomplishment of the underlying goal. Test your objectives in that way. Again, goals are established for each key area. Measurable objectives are developed that when combined assure accomplishment of the goals. Once you have established goals and objectives, the next step is to develop action plans for their implementation.
The first step in strategic implementation is to develop action plans. Your action plans should be a straightforward description of the specific actions that are required to accomplish your strategies. They will provide concrete direction for all major functional areas. Well-developed action plans enact good strategy. Action plans are effective when they incorporate the following five elements.
Specific tactics and actions. Action plans should specify what exactly needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next quarter. Consider all essential functions of the business. Look for gaps in your thinking and in your plan.
Identification of personnel involved. They must specify who is responsible for each action in the plan. Will current staff handle the strategies? Are you planning for staffing increases or layoffs? Clear period for completion. You action plan must specify when actions start and when objectives will be reached.
Resources needed to succeed. A lot of care and attention should be devoted to this important and sometimes neglected step. All the costs of your strategies must be contained in the budgets you develop. It is at this critical step that you begin to grapple with constructing pro forma financials. How many units will be sold? How much revenue will those sales generate? What are the capital costs? At what cost, if at all, can the raw materials be procured? Can the materials be found in time to support the effort?
Feedback mechanisms. Effective action plans and short-term objectives provide four value-added benefits. If action plans and objectives are assessable, practical, and ambitious, they provide a clear understanding of the company's overall strategies, and enhance managerial performance. As such, they are critical to the effective implementation of your strategy. An example might be that construction of a certain facility must be completed by a certain point to make an expansion possible. Or, that installation teams must be trained in order to meet demand that will occur in the second quarter, etc.
An important part of what you must do is to build and evaluate pro forma financials for your recommendations. Spend time discussing and working on the Key Performance Indicators for each phase of the plan. Explain why you chose each of them. You have to be in a position to argue that your recommendations will have a strategic impact on the firm. Success in accomplishing this requires budgets and resources for executing all parts of the strategic plan. Allocating scarce resources involves funding capital projects and efforts to strengthen competencies and capabilities or to create new ones. This implies shifting resources—downsizing some areas, upsizing others, killing activities no longer justified, and funding new activities with a critical strategy role. It also implies determining the level of financial resources required to achieve the plan’s objectives. That is your task. Demonstrate that you recognize its importance and have mastered the tools and techniques needed to figure it out.
Changes in strategy mean budget reallocations. Budgets are the numerical plans for assigning resources to specific activities. Companies commonly employ three types of budgets to control activities: Profit and loss (P&L) budgets, Capital budgets and Cash flow budgets. Your plan may call for all three types. Your presentation ought to take certain elements of project planning into consideration as well. Specifically you should include project scheduling, a project budget to explain your recommendations as to resource allocation, the cost control metrics you think are valid, and milestone reports. Remember to be prepared to include all the numerical methods when you discuss metrics. To reiterate, include payback period, net present value (NPV) or Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), internal rate of return (IRR) and expected commercial value (ECV). You should also discuss cash flow considerations and resource constraints. The best way to approach that is with pro forma financials including Income Statements, Balance Sheets and Sources and uses of funds statements.
Assume for the purposes of the presentation that yours is a consultant team that has developed a strategic plan.
You will present the plan to a group of business experts that do not possess an in-depth knowledge of the target firm. The panel of judges is comprised of faculty and Alumni members that want you to do a good job.
You will need to begin with a short summary statement concerning your assessment of the firm’s current strategy, how well it is working, and a brief description of what you think are the most pressing strategic issues. The next section (and the bulk of your presentation) will provide your strategic recommendations supported by the results of your analysis. Use all of your knowledge, skills, abilities, and creativity to present your work in an engaging and interesting way.
The presentation shall be limited to twenty-five minutes. You will answer the questions of the panel for twenty-five additional minutes. The maximum time allowed will be fifty minutes. Be prepared to answer any question pertaining to your presentation and to present any exhibits that may be called for.
The order in which teams make their presentations is random. This means that you may present first or may follow one or more teams. If you are not first, you should shorten the general situation analysis material since earlier groups have spoken. Refer to the presentation-grading rubric for details about the key performance indicators.
Equipment for a simple PowerPoint presentation will be available. You will need to provide any additional equipment you need. Come to the presentation room ten minutes before you present and set up your presentation. All presentations being and end on schedule.
Contact Information:
3007 North Ben Wilson
Victoria, TX 77901
Phone: 1-800-687-4293
Fax: 361-570-4229
