Business Finance Homework Help

Car SWOTing

Introduction

In each unit, the students will be assigned discussion questions concerning unit topics, examine the presented topics, and complete the discussion tasks. After submitting the initial posting, the students will provide constructive criticism of at least two peers’ initial postings, including the perceived strengths, weaknesses, and specific opportunities for improvement.

The initial post should be a minimum of one page double spaced in length. Refer to the discussion rubric for grading criteria which includes using credible sources (properly cited in APA format) and linking in the unit’s concepts and terms for critical analysis.

It is recommended that your use a word processer, such as MS Word and use both spell checking and grammar checking tools. You should expand your grammar checking tools in Word to cover any writing weaknesses (such as setting to Grammar and Style in Word). You can then copy and paste your post into the discussion forum. While there is no minimum or maximum word expectation for peer responses, they are expected to be substantive in nature and linked to credible sources. All work should reflect graduate-level critical thinking, as well as an ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate given scenarios and tasks.

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Directions

A SWOT analysis CAN be a useful tool, but only if used in a way that provides quality managerially useful information. For example, it is easy enough to find a SWOT on a company from sources such as Business Strategy Hub (Links to an external site.). The Strengths and Weakness parts of a SWOT are inward looking. A SWOT should include an analysis of external considerations of opportunities and threats which can often be found in the trade literature.

A SWOT can help identify and protect competitive advantages. A SWOT analysis should also lead to strategic recommendations such as: how to turn weaknesses into strengths, how to react to threats, and how to pursue opportunities.

• Initial Post
• Peer Responses

Initial Post

You are the lead analysis at a marketing strategy consulting company. You have been hired to conduct a SWOT analysis and develop recommendations for a SBU in the automotive industry. Your external analysis must include a reflection on competitive SBUs, including major competitive actions from current global competitors and future competitors, such as China.

A basic principle of Michael Porter’s book Competitive Advantage of Nations is that nations, and the firms in those nations, gain competitive advantage in industries where the home demand gives their companies a clear early picture of emerging buyer needs and where demanding buyers pressure companies to innovate faster and achieve more sophisticated competitive advantages. These winning products can then be competitive in a global market. This was true for Japanese auto industry in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and it is true for China today. There are 1.4 billion customers in China. For background read the following:

Lassa, T. (Feb 19, 2020). These Chinese Car Brands Are Racing to Get to the U.S. First. (Links to an external site.)

For this assignment, you will need to determine your unit of analysis. This could be:

• The entire national (such as the U.S.) auto industry, in which case you are reporting the national automotive trade group.
• A specific company (such as Ford, Honda, Vantas, etc.), in which case you are reporting to the vice president of marketing for the company.
• A specific product category within a company (such as the consumer truck lines in Ford Motor Company, not a specific brand of trucks at Ford), in which case you are reporting the divisional head of marketing for the company.

Discussion Issues

1. Specify and justify why you chose your unit of analysis.
2. Identify two items you consider to be the most important for each: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
   1. Justify in your statements why you consider these to be the most important considerations for each SWOT category.
      1. Back your statements with citations to relevant research.
3. Identify current competitive advantages for your unit of analysis and how to protect those competitive advantages
4. Make and justify strategic recommendations on:
   1. How to turn the identified weaknesses into strengths,
   2. How to react to threats,
   3. How to pursue opportunities.