JWI 540: Strategy
Assignment 1
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 –
As the Chief Strategy Officer of your company, you have been commissioned to recommend a game-winning
move that will allow your company to achieve strong revenue and profit growth and to 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 executive briefs on your progress in Weeks 4 and 8.
You want to impress the CEO and your colleagues with your insights and recommendations! You know that the
best way to do this is to follow Jack’s logical 5-slide approach to strategy. Since there will be two interim
updates, you have decided to focus your Week 4 executive brief on the Playing Field, the Competition, and Your
Organization. You will focus your Week 8 executive brief on What’s Around the Corner? and your Game-
Winning Move. You will then synthesize your findings and recommendation into five PowerPoint slides for your
presentation in Week 10. At the culmination of this three-part strategy assignment, you will have a clearly
articulated and persuasive game plan to win!
Instructions for Assignment 1
Using the Assignment 1 Template, address the following:
1. Introduction and Playing Field Description: Provide an opening paragraph that explains the purpose
of your brief, then detail the specific target segment of the market where you are choosing to compete.
You should ensure the target segment is sufficiently large to achieve your company’s sales and profit
growth objectives, but sufficiently focused so that your company can intimately understand market
characteristics and compete effectively. The template provided for this assignment guides you on how
to organize relevant information, including:
a. Your company
b. The industry for your organization of choice
c. The market size of this industry
d. Specific description of the segment of this industry in which you will compete (the Playing Field)
e. Brief explanation of why you selected this segment.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be
copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. This document
is subject to change based on the needs of the class.
JWI 540 – Assignment 1 (1214) Page 1 of 5
, JWI 540: Strategy
Assignment 1
2. Competitive Analysis: In this section you will identify the two most formidable competitors in your
playing field and address the following for each:
a. How big is each competitor in this target segment?
b. What is their most significant strength and their most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact their ability to compete effectively.
d. Does their recent performance indicate they are generally winning or losing in this playing field?
Support your conclusions with data.
e. Has anyone (including new market entrants) introduced any game-changing new
products/technology/capabilities? Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage?
3. Organizational Assessment; In this section you will “turn the mirror around” and look inward to assess
the capabilities and competencies of your chosen organization. Briefly address the following:
a. How big are we in this target segment?
b. What is our most significant strength and our most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact our ability to compete effectively.
d. Do our recent results indicate we are generally winning or losing in this playing field? Support
your conclusions with data.
e. Have we introduced game-changing new products/technology/capabilities? Have we developed
(or lost) a key competitive advantage?
4. Key Conclusions: Provide a succinct conclusion that captures your critical insights about the target
segment and the relative competitive balance of the three companies you analyzed.
5. References: Include in-text citations for all data, assertions, and facts, and a corresponding reference
list. Appendices are allowable if additional supplemental information is needed for the brief.
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 course
title and date.
• Use and reference at least 3 external sources to support your brief. Include a references page at the
end documenting sources and citations.
• You may use additional headings within the template to identify subtopics if this will improve the clarity of
your 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.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be
copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. This document
is subject to change based on the needs of the class.
JWI 540 – Assignment 1 (1214) Page 2 of 5
Assignment 1
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 –
As the Chief Strategy Officer of your company, you have been commissioned to recommend a game-winning
move that will allow your company to achieve strong revenue and profit growth and to 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 executive briefs on your progress in Weeks 4 and 8.
You want to impress the CEO and your colleagues with your insights and recommendations! You know that the
best way to do this is to follow Jack’s logical 5-slide approach to strategy. Since there will be two interim
updates, you have decided to focus your Week 4 executive brief on the Playing Field, the Competition, and Your
Organization. You will focus your Week 8 executive brief on What’s Around the Corner? and your Game-
Winning Move. You will then synthesize your findings and recommendation into five PowerPoint slides for your
presentation in Week 10. At the culmination of this three-part strategy assignment, you will have a clearly
articulated and persuasive game plan to win!
Instructions for Assignment 1
Using the Assignment 1 Template, address the following:
1. Introduction and Playing Field Description: Provide an opening paragraph that explains the purpose
of your brief, then detail the specific target segment of the market where you are choosing to compete.
You should ensure the target segment is sufficiently large to achieve your company’s sales and profit
growth objectives, but sufficiently focused so that your company can intimately understand market
characteristics and compete effectively. The template provided for this assignment guides you on how
to organize relevant information, including:
a. Your company
b. The industry for your organization of choice
c. The market size of this industry
d. Specific description of the segment of this industry in which you will compete (the Playing Field)
e. Brief explanation of why you selected this segment.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be
copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. This document
is subject to change based on the needs of the class.
JWI 540 – Assignment 1 (1214) Page 1 of 5
, JWI 540: Strategy
Assignment 1
2. Competitive Analysis: In this section you will identify the two most formidable competitors in your
playing field and address the following for each:
a. How big is each competitor in this target segment?
b. What is their most significant strength and their most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact their ability to compete effectively.
d. Does their recent performance indicate they are generally winning or losing in this playing field?
Support your conclusions with data.
e. Has anyone (including new market entrants) introduced any game-changing new
products/technology/capabilities? Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage?
3. Organizational Assessment; In this section you will “turn the mirror around” and look inward to assess
the capabilities and competencies of your chosen organization. Briefly address the following:
a. How big are we in this target segment?
b. What is our most significant strength and our most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact our ability to compete effectively.
d. Do our recent results indicate we are generally winning or losing in this playing field? Support
your conclusions with data.
e. Have we introduced game-changing new products/technology/capabilities? Have we developed
(or lost) a key competitive advantage?
4. Key Conclusions: Provide a succinct conclusion that captures your critical insights about the target
segment and the relative competitive balance of the three companies you analyzed.
5. References: Include in-text citations for all data, assertions, and facts, and a corresponding reference
list. Appendices are allowable if additional supplemental information is needed for the brief.
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 course
title and date.
• Use and reference at least 3 external sources to support your brief. Include a references page at the
end documenting sources and citations.
• You may use additional headings within the template to identify subtopics if this will improve the clarity of
your 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.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be
copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. This document
is subject to change based on the needs of the class.
JWI 540 – Assignment 1 (1214) Page 2 of 5
