Business Finance Homework Help

Research the firm’s value chain and diversification strategies.  Very likely a value chain depiction is already alluded to from the internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses.  Start there and present a fully developed value chain for your selected organization.

Look for opportunities to improve competitive advantage and ROIC through vertical integration or outsourcing. Research the levels and types (related versus unrelated) of product diversification in the product lines and industries and associated revenues and profits.  Look for strategic rationale in building the “portfolio” – what capabilities and competencies are being leveraged and how? Also, look for vehicles of diversification –acquisitions and mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and partnerships.

Analyze the information in the context of diversification strategy frameworks presented in the readings.  What does the firm’s diversification behavior indicate regarding the balance between increased performance associated with diversification and the increased bureaucratic costs? 

How is the company organized (such as divisions, SBUs, geography, matrix or combination) and how does that fit with the rationale for diversification?  Include an organizational chart for your selected company.

Based on an understanding of the firm’s competitive advantage, what is being leveraged vertically and horizontally, and how is diversification of the firm shaping its competitive advantage? How is it shaping the firm’s ROIC in the short run versus the long run (i.e., over time)? Again, attempt to find changes to this metric in correspondence with these types of decisions being made within the company.

Report your findings as a description of the firm’s Value Chain and Diversification strategy.  Include critical commentary or analysis to indicate the “fitness” of the observed strategy with the strategy criteria from the readings, including the rationale for outsourcing.  Can strategy alternatives be used, in related or unrelated industries, that better fit the company’s competitive advantage?  Are there diversification opportunities that require capabilities investments not yet considered? Does the analysis indicate strategic opportunities and threats that have not yet been considered in the firm analysis? This could be helpful in developing recommendations for your next assignment.

outline:

Value chain

    Primary activities

    Support activities

Horizontal integration 

Vertical integration (upstream or downstream)

Outsourcing activities

Vehicles for diversification

Related and unrelated diversification

ROIC (return on invested capital)

Competitive advantage -leveraging capabilities and competencies 

Fit (fit expresses the degree to which an organization is matching its resources and capabilities with the opportunities in the external environment)