Cloud Technology

Project
1- Report
In the Business strategy research project, students will develop a full industry and company
analysis and critics. The group will need to analyze and critically assess a company strategic

orientation based on data collection, data analysis, and methodology (qualitative/quantita-
tive), topics covered in class and literature research. The research project will address

strategic management issues in order to assess your abilities to critically analyze organiza-
tions’ strategic decisions and ultimately to recommend a set of actions. The evaluation of

your papers is with particular attention being paid to your application of course reading ma-
terial, concepts and research references. The research question must be identified and ad-
dressed in depth and using strategic frameworks.

Key Structural Elements in Depth

A Key Strategic Issue/Problem Identification section
a) A brief background of key relevant information/facts pertinent to the company
b) State the key research issue/problem facing the organization. The statement should be
direct and actionable, e.g., the problem must be stated in some way that the organization
can take action to solve the problem. It should also be strategically focused, not tactically or
operationally focused. One (of many ways) to determine whether an issue is strategic is to
ask yourself “what happens to the organization within the next 3-5 years if the issue is not
addressed?” If your answer is “not much” then it is probably not a strategic issue.
c) Evaluate and critically analysis the best case, likely case, and worst case scenarios if the
strategic issue/problem is not addressed(i.e., no action is taken)
An Alternatives section to address the key issues
a) Alternatives must be strategic, and they must be mutually exclusive. For example, two

alter natives for an issue could be to 1) buy the competitor, or 2) not to buy the competi-
tor—obviously the organization cannot do both. You will usually develop 2 or 3 alternatives

in an analysis. Rarely, if ever, is “do nothing” or “continue to do what they are doing” a
strategic alternative for a case.
b) Critically asses your alternatives and then:
i)Discuss 2-3 strategic advantages of the alternative
ii)Discuss 2-3 strategic disadvantages of the alternatives
Recommendation section where you select 1 (and only 1) alternative from the list above as
the recommendation—this answers the question of “what should the organization do?”
a) Describe 1-3 key decision criteria and/or assumptions, with rationale, that will serve as
the basis of the decision.

b) State the recommended course of action (from your list of alternatives) and possibly pro-
vide a little more elaboration of the recommendation beyond its description in the alterna-
tive section

c) Describe why the recommended course of action is the best alternative and the weak-
nesses of the other alternatives that prevent them from being selected as the recommenda-
tion

d) Describe the goals and objectives the recommendation. This must include: 1) a stated
time frame for achieving; 2) appropriate specific goals (profit, market share); 3) expected
costs and benefits
A section discussing the Implementation/Action Plan—this answers the question of “how
should the organization go about achieving the recommendation”. This is in many respects

the most important part of the entire case analysis. This section describes how the organi-
zation should go about making the recommendation happen. This section needs to be de-
scribed in as much detail as possible given the constraints in the case—when you are miss-
ing specific data, fill in using sound business judgment. Items to include (this is not neces-
sarily a complete list):

a)Description of specific activities that need to be undertaken
b)Assignation of responsibilities
c)Costs of each activity
d)Time frames for each activity
e)Measures of success/failure for each activity
f) Possible coordination issues

g)Possible obstacles/impediments (might be HRM, Finances, Operations, Ethics,…prob-
lems) that need to be considered/dealt with to successfully implement the recommendation

* The paper must be double-spaced, use 1” margins, and use a standard (Times or Times
New Roman) 12 pt. font. The case study report should be concise and coherent. The name

of the case should be on the first page of the text with your names, date, and course num-
ber. The limit is 7500 words (+/- 10%), plus exhibits.

* Exhibits should contain specific types of analyses (application of a framework, table of
comparisons, cost analysis, competitive features, data form the field and information that
supports and is relevant)
* Please proofread/spell check your paper before turning it in. Papers for this course should
be of the same quality that you would provide to the management of the business.
The paper will be comprehensive in scope and include a/an:
• Executive Summary and abstract
• The rational of the strategic analysis
• Research method and design
• Data collection and data analysis
• Analysis of findings
• Critical analysis of the current company’s strategy
• Recommended scenarios