MBA 560 Milestone Two Guidelines and Rubric
This milestone defines an organization’s core competencies, key strengths, and key weaknesses to provide strategic viability for it in the marketplace. These are important because they impact the strategic management process. Business decisions are made to capitalize on strengths, while avoiding potential dealings in which organizational weaknesses could compromise success. Core competencies are defining capabilities that provide strategic advantages because the competition cannot easily duplicate them. These relate to the final project because they provide the foundation for continued growth and success in the dynamic marketplace. They provide guidance that will go beyond the current product or service being presented in the business plan.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Section Four: Strengths and Weaknesses
For the company you have chosen, identify and assess at least four, but no more than eight, of each of the following: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may affect new business activities or offerings. You may use topics listed in the Module Four discussion or others that you deem important. Then, identify emerging consumer trends and explain how they impact branding and success of your new product or service. Additionally, analyze how perceived ethics violations might affect branding and success. Finally, assess how all of the SWOT and ethics factors affect branding and operations within the organization.
Section Five: Core Competencies
Continue your paper by identifying and explaining three to five core competencies for the company you have chosen. Explain how and why they are not easily duplicable by the competition. Explain how these core competencies dovetail with your new product or service offering. Upon which competency or competencies will the new business offering benefit and why? What strategic implications will/could this have on the new offering?
Guidelines for Submission: Milestone Two should utilize double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and discipline-appropriate citations. It should be 8–10 pages in length and follow APA formatting requirements.
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats: Assess Identifies and analyzes at least four, but no more than eight of each of the following: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may affect new business activities or offerings Identifies and analyzes two to three of each of the following: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may affect new business activities or offerings Identifies and analyzes only one to two of each of the following: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may affect new business activities or offerings 18
Strengths and Weaknesses: Opportunities: Consumer Trends
Assesses how emerging consumer trends impact branding and success of new product or service in current global marketplace, identifying most relevant trends and how they apply to target market in justifying response
Assesses how emerging consumer trends impact branding and success of new product or service in current global marketplace, identifying most relevant trends for target market in justifying response, but response contains inaccuracies or omits key details, or links between trends and impact are tenuous
Does not assess how emerging consumer trends impact branding and success of new product or service in current global marketplace, identifying most relevant trends and how they apply to target market in justifying response
18
Strengths and Weaknesses: Opportunities: Ethics
Analyzes how perceived ethics violations might affect branding and ultimate success of new product or service in a global environment, supported by specific examples
Analyzes how perceived ethics violations might affect branding and success of new product or service in a global environment, but analysis is cursory, illogical, contains inaccuracies, or is not supported by specific examples
Does not analyze how perceived ethics violations might affect branding and ultimate success of new product or service in a global environment
18
Strengths and Weaknesses: Affect
Assesses how factors identified affect branding and operations across different departments, including how business plan takes this into account
Assesses how factors identified affect branding and operations across departments, including how business plan takes this into account, but response contains inaccuracies or omits key details, or link between factors, their impact, and business planning is tenuous
Does not assess how factors identified affect branding and operations across different departments, including how business plan takes this into account
18
Core Competencies Assesses aspects of company or new idea that set it apart from the competition and provide long-term sustainability in the market, including how those competencies affect business plan
Assesses aspects of company or new idea that set it apart from competition and provide long-term sustainability, including how those competencies affect business plan, but response is cursory or illogical or contains inaccuracies
Does not assess aspects of company or new idea that set it apart from the competition and provide long-term sustainability in the market, including how those competencies affect business plan
18
Writing (Mechanics/Citation)
Minor errors related to organization, grammar, style, and citations
Some errors related to organization, grammar, style, and citations
Major errors related to organization, grammar, style, and citations
10
Total 100%
