Assignment 1:  External Environment Analysis

Purpose:  This assignment is the first of three assignments.  You will use the tools and apply concepts learned in this and previous business courses to demonstrate an understanding of how organizations develop and manage strategies to establish, safeguard and sustain its position in a competitive market.  

Monitoring competitors’ performance is a key aspect of performing an external environment analysis.  This assignment provides you with the opportunity to evaluate the competitive position of one of the organizations listed below and integrate that information in an External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix and Competitive Profile Matrices (CPM).

Instructions:

As you prepare to create the PowerPoint, read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.  

 Use the grading rubric while completing the assignment.  Refer back to the rubric to ensure you have met the requirements.

 Third person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).  If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link:  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.

 Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them in this assignment.  

 You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct quotes unless related to a company’s mission or vision statements.  To learn how to paraphrase, review this link:   https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.

 In completing this assignment, you are required to support reasoning or conclusions using in-text citations. Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.  

 When using a source document, the expectation is that the information is cited and referenced with a page or paragraph number.    

 No books are allowed other than the course eBook.

Step 2:  How to Set Up the PowerPoint Presentation

Create a PowerPoint Presentation.  The final product will be no longer than 20 slides including the title page and reference page.  You will use the note section of the PowerPoint to discuss, explain and support the reasoning and conclusions for the information presented in each slide.  The expectation is that what is presented is more than a few sentences.

Step 3:  External Analysis

After reading the course material in the first three weeks, you will perform an external analysis on an industry where a company from the list below operates and competes.  You will select one of these companies to complete the analysis.  Students who fail to use the companies on the list or an unapproved company will receive a zero for the assignment.

 Vivint Solar [NYS: VSLR])

Focus on factors related to the company’s industry and the environment that it and its competitors make. The factors to measure are those identified in a SWOT, five Forces, PESTEL, EFE, and CPM.

In completing the assignment, you will perform research on a selected company, its industry, and its competitors.

Step 4: Complete an External Environmental Analysis:

Use tools, concepts and information from your own research to perform an external analysis of the company’s environment.  Include the following:

 Company overview

 Industry analysis

 Competitive analysis:  [Use the company’s closest competitors plus the selected company.]  

 Techniques Analysis:  PESTEL, Five Forces, OT from SWOT, EFE, and CPM.    

 Trends: Discuss trends significant to the industry and company and discuss key areas of uncertainty related to trends or events that potentially could impact the company’s strategy.

 Utilize the Notes section to support each slide