Posted: July 21st, 2016

The process of business model construction is part of business strategy. In theory and practice, the term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, business process, target customers, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies

2. Executive Summary
o Summarize your entire report in one page or less

3. Company Overview
o Please include the following:
 Business model: A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts. The process of business model construction is part of business strategy. In theory and practice, the term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, business process, target customers, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies.
 Mission: A firm’s mission is its long-term purpose. Missions define both what a firm aspires to be in the long run and what it wants to avoid in the meantime. Properly crafted mission statements (1) serve as filters to separate what is important from what is not, (2) clearly state which markets will be served and how, and (3) communicate a sense of intended direction to the entire organization.

Example Mission Statement

Our mission is simple: make technology an asset for your business not a problem. Too many times we have seen other IT consulting firms recommend solutions that are not appropriate for the specific client’s business or will not take a business’ operations into their planning as they routinely bring down an entire business while they perform routine maintenance on a server. That is unacceptable. We won’t bring you down in the middle of the day because it is “a better time for us”. We work around your business. We strive to make technology integrate seamlessly with your business so your business can grow. As your technology partner, when your business grows ours will grow with you, therefore, we will work hand in hand with you to support your growth.

 Vision: A mission is different from a vision in that the former is the cause and the latter is the effect; a mission is something to be accomplished whereas a vision is something to be pursued for that accomplishment.
 Goals: Business goals and objectives are part of the planning process. They are describe what a company expects to accomplish throughout the year. Business owners and Directors usually outline their goals and objectives in their business plans. These goals and objectives might pertain to the company as a whole, departments, employees, customers and even marketing efforts. Goals and objectives are important to the company, as they clarify the purpose of the business and help identify necessary actions. Goals can involve areas such as profitability, growth and customer service.
 Values: Business Value is an informal term that includes all forms of value that determine the health and well-being of the firm in the long run. Business value expands concept of value of the firm beyond economic value (also known as economic profit, economic value added, and shareholder value) to include other forms of value such as employee value, customer value, supplier value, channel partner value, alliance partner value, managerial value, and societal. (See 3M’s Value Statement on page 27 of our text book).

4. Summary of Operations
o What was happening in the external environment? What did you competitors do and how did this impact your operations?
o What have you been doing in various functional areas of your organization? Talk about your actions/decisions in relation to production, marketing, finance, R&D, etc.
5. Financial Performance
o Please make sure you discuss various measures of profitability, your stock price, and total return to shareholders.

6. Strategic Plan
o External Analysis
 You need to discuss the threats and opportunities in the external environment. Please make sure you discuss both the industry environment (5 industry forces) and the broader (general) socio-economic environment (PESTEL analysis). An extensive analysis of your company’s Opportunities and Threats should be given.

o Internal Analysis
 Discuss your internal resources and capabilities. You should discuss which resources or capabilities can be potentially strategic for your company and how you will develop these resources or capabilities of attaining sustained competitive advantage. You have to perform your internal analysis by using VRIO framework. An extensive analysis of your company’s Strengths and Weaknesses should be given.

o Strategies & Strategic Recommendations
 How are you going to compete with other companies in the industry? Do you develop a sustainability/green strategy? To phrase it in a more conceptual way: which resources or capabilities are you going to use to pursue opportunities in the external environment so that you company attains sustained competitive advantage? Please go from general to specific. Start with a general strategy (e.g. cost leadership) and then talk about the specific tactics that you will use to implement that strategy (e.g. expanding production to lower unit costs).