ASSIGNMENT. Playing Field, Competition, and Our Organization

I picked for the Assignment GENERAL MOTORS

Assignment 1: Where to Play: Playing Field, Competition, & Your Organization

Due Week 4, Sunday, midnight of your time zone (Weight: 25%)

Introduction

“Find out everything that you can about the playing field.
You should know what your competitors’ salespeople eat for breakfast.”

– Jack Welch –

Congratulations! Your CEO has just promoted you to Chief Strategy Officer for the company of your choice. You have been commissioned to recommend a Game Winning Move that will allow your company to achieve strong revenue and profit growth as well as create a sustainable competitive advantage. Although your Game Winning Move will not be presented to the CEO until Week 10, you have been asked to provide written updates on your progress at Week 4 and Week 8.

You want to impress the CEO! You know that the best way to do this is to follow Jack’s logical 5-slide approach to strategy. Given there will be two interim updates, you have decided to focus your Week 4 content on the Playing Field, the Competition, and your Organization. You will subsequently focus your Week 8 content onWhat’s Around the Corner and your Game Winning Move. You will then synthesize all of this material into fivePowerPoint slides for your presentation in Week 10. Excellent! You now have a plan and are ready to tackle the first brief!

Instructions for Assignment 1

Using the provided Assignment 1 Template, address the following

1. Detail the specific target segment of the market where you are choosing to compete. You should ensurethe target segment is sufficiently large to achieve your company’s sales and profit growth objectives, butsufficiently small so that your company can intimately understand consumer/customer needs and compete effectively. As you will see, the template provided for this assignment guides you on how to populate relevant information, including:
   •  Yourcompany
   •  The industry for your organization of choice
   •  The market size of this industry
   •  Specific description of the segment of this industry in which you will compete (the Playing Field)
   •  Brief explanation of why you selected this segment.
2. Identify the two most formidable competitors in your playing field and address the following for each:

 How big is each competitor in this target segment?
 What is their most significant strength and their most significant weakness? Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact their ability to compete effectively.

•  Do their recent results indicate they are generally “winning” or “losing” in this Playing Field?Note, you would be well-served to support your conclusions with data.
•  Has anyone (including new market entrants) introduced any game-changing newproducts/technology/capabilities? Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage?3. You will also need to “turn the mirror around” and look inward to assess the capabilities andcompetencies of your Organization. Therefore, briefly address the following:

•  Howbigareweinthistargetsegment?
•  What is our most significant strength and our most significant weakness? Briefly explain howthis strength and this weakness impact our ability to compete effectively.
•  Do our recent results indicate we are generally “winning” or “losing” in this Playing Field? Note,you would be well-served to support your conclusions with data.
•  Have we introduced game-changing new products/technology/capabilities? Have we developed(or lost) a key competitive advantage?4. Conclude with a succinct final paragraph or two which highlights your most insightful “a-ha” conclusionson the target segment and the relative competitive balance of the three companies you analyzed.Formatting and Submission Requirements

•  Use the Assignment 1 Template to complete this assignment. Ensure you address each element of the template.
•  The submitted template should be 2 to 3 pages (not including the cover page or appendixes/references page.
•  Typed, single-spaced, professional font (size 10 – 12) with one-inch margins on all sides.
•  Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, professor’s name, and the coursetitle and date.
•  Use and reference at least 3 external sources to support your brief. Include a references page at theend documenting sources and citations.
•  You may use additional headings within the template to identify subtopics if this will improve the clarity ofyour template.
•  You are welcome to include charts, tables, and graphs in-text or in an appendix.
•  Develop and support your research with facts and in-text citations, appendixes, and references.