help management teams make informed decisions W r i t i n g

APPLY: BUSINESS PLAN: COMPANY OVERVIEW ASSESSMENT

Each week you will prepare an assigned deliverable as part of your capstone project, a final Business Plan for submission to senior leadership.

For the weekly Apply assignments, assume you have a senior management role within your organization or a company you are familiar with and would like to research (LATOYA STYLEZ HAIR SALON). Your company is facing a dilemma that is technology-, operation-, service-, or manufacturing-based, such as the company’s inability to meet consumer demand. Senior leadership expects you, as the manager, to collaborate with staff on creating a Business Plan designed to reinvigorate internal and external customers. Guiding your team, you must either generate a new or update an idea, product, service, or process as a resolution to the organization’s current challenge.

In this assignment, you begin your capstone project by assembling a Company Overview Assessment. You will identify your selected organization, provide a brief historic overview, evaluate the strength of the competitors, and select organizational challenges to research.

Assemble your Company Overview Assessment as a Microsoft® Word document. In 350-525 words, complete the following:

• Compile a historic overview of your selected organization: your history (if relevant), company history (when it started and important milestones), management team structure, location, mission, vision, legal structure, flagship products or services, and competitive advantage (what sets it apart from competitors).
• Write an evaluation of the competitors’ strengths for your selected organization.
• Select an organizational challenge or dilemma you will research for your chosen organization

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.

APPLY: SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT: BUSINESS PLAN: SWOT ANALYSIS

In order to lead innovation, every business requires an evaluation of its current status. Perform a SWOT Analysis and determine the need for change for your selected organization. Determine the problem and propose a solution (such as the introduction of new or updated process, product, or service).

In a 525- to 700-word document, complete the following in your analysis:

• Include the SWOT analysis you constructed and your complete SWOT graphic.
• Determine the current challenge(s) or dilemma you will address as part of your Business Plan
• Justify how you determined the current challenge(s) or dilemma you will address as part of your Business Plan.
• Propose a solution (such as the introduction of new or updated process, product, or service) for your business’s challenge or dilemma.
• Justify the implications of your recommended solutions to enhance organizational outcomes.

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.

APPLY: BUSINESS PLAN: CONSUMER NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT

As a manager and developer of your Business Plan, it is necessary that you re-examine your current consumer base to ensure that your recommended solution is aligned with consumer preferences and needs. Strategic managers determine the accuracy of target markets and make necessary adjustments.

As part of your Business Plan, develop a Consumer Needs Assessment Report.

A Needs Assessment refers to a systematic process of collecting information to help management teams make informed decisions to drive change, organizational solutions, and ultimately, improve organizational performance. The results of a Needs Assessment cannot only provide managers with direction but also justification of recommended solutions and initiatives.

Develop a Consumer Needs Assessment Report to support your Business Plan. In 525-700 words, complete the following in your report:

• Propose relevant information to be gathered on your target market consumer.
• Formulate how and when the information of your target market will be collected.
• Elaborate on how the target market information to be gathered aligns with the impetus for change in your selected organization, addresses identified challenges, and aligns with strategic management principles.

APPLY: SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT: BUSINESS PLAN: CORRESPONDENCE MEMO

When businesses implement change, that change must start within the company. In order to gain alliance and facilitate change, managers must educate and inform internal staff of the reasons for the change and the proposed solution to the identified problem. As part of your Business Plan this week, you will write a Correspondence Memo for internal staff and develop a communication plan. Continuing with your Business Plan, incorporate your work and findings from your Wk 2 SWOT Analysis and your Wk 3 Consumer Needs Assessment in order to successfully communicate your identified problem and solution(s).

Compose an internal Correspondence Memo. In a 700-word document, complete the following:

• Discuss the reason(s) for the change and the proposed recommendations (solution) to your internal staff, as well as staff expectations.
• Develop a communication plan to inform internal staff of changes and explain how will it be delivered.
• Propose the mode(s) of your selected communication plan and the rationale.
• Propose a strategy for ongoing engagement with staff and leaders and the rationale.
• Propose opportunities to demonstrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the rationale.

APPLY: BUSINESS PLAN: GANTT CHART

For a Business Plan to be effective, it is critical that managers track the progress and development of their proposed plans. Managers can leverage various tools, such as a Gantt Chart, to track and evaluate the effectiveness of business plans. As part of your Business Plan this week, you will create a Gantt Chart for your proposed Business Plan.

Create a Gantt Chart that can be used to track your progress, ensure you are meeting your business goals, and to secure funding and investors.

Track your progress via use of critical milestones.

In a 525-word document, include the following:

• Your created Gantt Chart to support your Business Plan
• Your tracked progress via use of critical milestones
• A justification of how you will use your Gantt Chart to evaluate the effectiveness of your Business Plan
• A justification of how you will use your Gantt Chart as a means to secure funding and investors

APPLY: SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT: BUSINESS PLAN: PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Looking back on your work in weeks 1-5, consider the effectiveness of your proposed Business Plan. As a forward thinker, reflect on all components of your recommendations and construct a performance evaluation.

Construct a Performance Evaluation as a 525- to 700-word document. Include references from the textbook or peer-reviewed sources, and include the following:

• A Financial Evaluation: Propose how you will use financial performance (via financial statements) to measure the effectiveness of your implemented solution. Include additional measurable analytics as needed.
• Succession Planning: Determine how you will select relevant candidates and formulate an organizational chart to support your business plans.
• A Contingency Plan: Propose a contingency plan to safeguard against unforeseen sustainability threats to your Business Plan.
• Recommend how you will evaluate the continuity of your proposed strategies in your contingency plan.