SEC 10-K filings
Yahoo! Finance
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San Jose State Library online databases
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http://libguides.sjsu.edu/az.php?s=2688
Section I: Introduction, leadership, & Mission Statement
A brief introduction to the business
name,
location,
nature of the business,
founding date,
the number of employees,
the brief biographies of founders and current leaders
major shareholders
the composition of clientele,
annual revenue,
the growth history of the business
The firm’s mission Statement
The mission
The vision
Values (corporate culture)
Major goals
Section II: External Analyses
1.
Identify the industry.
Its products or services
Key players
2.
Environmental analyses of the industry
Discuss at least two factors
Political factors
Economic factors
Social factors
Technological factors
3.
Use Michael Porter’s Five Forces’ Model
Risk of entry by potential competitors
Entry barriers
Intensity of rivalry among established firms
Who and why
Bargaining power of suppliers
Who and why
Bargaining power of buyers
Who and why
Threat of substitutes
Who and why
4.
Andrew Grove’s sixth force
Who and why
5.
Use the Industry Life Cycle Analysis model to identify the stage in which the firm’s industry finds
itself.
Section III: The Internal analyses
1. Identify the firm’s business models.
How does the firm make money?
2. Use the Appraisal Framework for Resources and Capabilities to evaluate your firm’s strengths
and weaknesses.
3. Use the Blue Ocean Strategy industry canvas to compare your firm with its competitors.
Section IV: Business Proposal
1. What are the firm’s main problems?
External environment
-Threat of substitutes
-Paradigm shift
-Bargaining power of suppliers
-Or others Internal operations
-Business models
-Leadership
-Culture
-Products
-Or others
2. Use Blue Ocean Strategy canvas to propose an ideal value curve relative to competitors.
3. Provide three concrete strategies to help the firm to survive and thrive.
-Use data to support your proposed strategies.