Week 1 discussion DQ1 Mission Statement Acme Airlines is an international carrier. The airlines transports passengers and/or freight all over the globe. The CEO of Acme Airlines, namely Wile E. Coyote, has asked you—a renowned Strategic Management expert—to draft a Mission statement for the company. In Week 1, your task is to come up with a Mission statement that: States the business that Acme Airlines is in; Is memorable (creative); and Is informative, but simple. Do some research in the library on the airline industry. Open the Trident University IBIS World document and scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the “Click Here” hyperlink at the bottom of the page. This will take you to IBIS World, an organization well known for conducting industry level research. Run a search on “International Airlines in the U.S.” in the search window. This will lead you to a detailed and industry-specific report. After familiarizing yourself with the international airlines industry, write your Mission statement. Be creative! Consider the specific target market of Acme Airlines (its passengers or the kind of freight it transports), and remember that Acme Airlines is competing with major airlines. DQ2 Vision and Values Statements The CEO of Acme Airlines, Wile E. Coyote, liked your Mission statement so well that he is now asking you to develop the Vision or Values statement for the organization. In Week 2, you are asked to come up with either a Vision or a Values statement for Acme Airlines. If you decide to devise Acme Airlines’ Vision statement, your statement should: Be inspirational; Convey a sense of purpose; Capitalize on the unique competencies of Acme Airlines (it is up to you to determine what the airlines’ competencies should be); and Be futuristic, forecasting the airlines’ desired future (you need to decide what that future should look like). If you decide to devise a Values statement for Acme Airlines, your Values statement should: Specify at least five (5) specific core values of Acme Airlines; Guide Acme Airlines’ Mission and Vision (you should choose your Week 1 Mission Statement as your reference point); Be sure to state whether Acme Airlines is internally focused, externally focused, or both (e.g., an internal focus would be oriented towards employee needs or company profits, while an external focus would be oriented towards the needs of the community, e.g., philanthropy). Please be sure that you respond to at least two of your classmates’ posting as well! Week 2 discussion DQ1 Amazon.com: Gathering the External and Internal Data During Week 1, we will be compiling information concerning strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as they relate to Amazon.com. First, visit the website of Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com. Go to the “Investor Relations” section of the Amazon.com website (you will find the “Investors” link at the bottom of the page), and locate the company’s most recent Annual Report. Share with your classmates at least three (3) key facts, metrics, ratios, or observations as they relate to some key strength, weakness, opportunity, or threat faced by the company (i.e., an internal functional area, a PESTLE force, or one of Porter’s Five Forces). For example, you might provide a financial ratio along with your impression as to whether it is a financial weakness or a strength (Internal Profile), or you might mention how the governmental politics of a foreign country might be placing one of Amazon’s foreign operations at greater risk (External Environment). In the company’s Annual Report, you will find multiple references to the external environment and extensive self-reported information and data on the company’s internal functional areas as well. Alternatively, visit IBISWorld, and type in “E-Commerce and On-line Auctions in the U.S.” Choose one of Porter’s Five Forces and one of the PESTLE forces, and discuss how each of these forces influence competition in the E-Commerce and On-line Auctions industry. Remember to properly cite your sources. You can also use current trade journals, business magazines, or newspapers if you like. The purpose of this week’s Discussion is to locate data or information from the external environment. Do your best not to duplicate information that has already been provided by one of classmates. DQ2 Amazon.com Completing the SWOT After reading the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats presented by your classmates in Week 1, provide your impression as to whether Amazon.com has more strengths than weaknesses or more weaknesses than strengths. Do the company’s opportunities (if any) outweigh its threats? Does Amazon.com have any sustainable competitive advantages (SCA), and if so, what are they? Be sure that you respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers; what is important is that you use critical thinking to support your position, and that you are able to support your position. Week 3 discussion DQ1 Grand Strategy Recently, Sears Holdings (consisting of Sears and Kmart stores) and Macy’s announced the combined closing of over 200 stores and the layoff of approximately 10,000 workers nationwide. Do some research either on Sears Holdings or on Macy’s. Be sure that you visit IBISWorld, and that you do some research on the Department Store industry. Then, answer the following: Describe the specific strategies that you believe Sears Holdings or Macy’s have followed in the past 2-3 years. Next, discuss why the strategies of these companies appear to be failing (why are both companies now needing to close so many stores?). Are the strategies of the company you selected flawed? If so, why? If not, what else is the cause of the multiple store closures on the part of both companies? DQ2 Constrasting Strategy Success with Strategy Failure In contrast to Sears and Macy’s, Target department stores appear to be thriving. Has Target pursued a more appropriate (or correct) strategy than Sears or Macy’s? If yes, what do you believe is the difference between their strategies (why has Target been relatively more successful)? If no, what then, is behind Target’s success? Be specific. Week 4 discussion Organizational Culture: Can It Be "Managed"? Some organizational theorists would assert that an organization's culture cannot be "managed" in the truest sense of how one "manages" the processes and activities and things that exist within an organization. David Campbell (2000, p. 28) says that an organization "is being constructed continuously on a daily, even momentary [italics added], basis through individual interactions with others. The organization never settles into an entity or a thing that can be labelled and described, because it is constantly changing, or reinventing itself, through the interactions going on within it." At the same time, Campbell says that an organization "does have a certain character to it, such that, like driving on the motorway, not just anything goes" (p. x). Consider the sheer multiplicity of formal and informal groups, structures, tasks, functional operations, and individual interactions that exist and occur within very large organizations; these are seemingly endless. Consider as well the potential number (and combination) of individual to individual, individual to group, and group to group interactions that are likely to occur on a momentary basis within an organization (and then, there are the seemingly endless numbers of contacts/interactions with external stakeholders as well). The possibilities are seemingly infinite—or at least they are indefinite. For this reason, organizational culture seems more abstract, fragmentary, perhaps fluid—perhaps even relative and momentary. What is organizational culture? Can culture be managed in the same way that other systems and processes can be “managed”? Depending on your answer, what does this mean as to the use of culture as a “strategic control”? Week 4 reflective discussion In this final Discussion Question—the Module 4 Reflective Discussion—I would like for you to reflect on the course by responding to the following: What concepts were most interesting to you? What concepts and ideas will be most useful to you? How do you believe you will use the concepts you have learned in MGT499?