Case Study Analysis 1: McDonalds

Due day, Submission method, and grade weight table Submit: Each case study is submitted as a full written analysis in a Word document. Length of the full written analysis should be around 57 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font. You may certainly go over 7 pages if you wish. Grading: Each case study is worth up to 100 points. See Rubrics in Course Home for more information. We will be analyzing and discussing two cases. The primary purpose of cases is to create a forum for discussing marketing concepts and strategies. Typically, there is not one right answer to a case, but there are stronger and weaker marketing recommendations based on stronger or weaker analyses. It is important to remember that this is not a report. Im not looking to see if you read the case or not. You need to take the key issues and think about them within the context of whats given in the case. The key here is to think about what you would do if you were in this situation. I am looking for your thoughtswith justification. Integrate and synthesize theory and terminology from class and the readings into your case analysis. This is key to producing a superior analysis. Use headings and subheadings when writing your case analysis. How to Prepare the Written Case Studies Use the following instructions for each part to structure your analysis. Part I. Identify the Key Issues in an Executive Summary In this section you should read the case and ask yourself, Whats happening here right now? What are the issues that the firm faces within the context of the case? In many cases there are issues that involve more than one business function. For example, are there marketing issues, management issues, organizational issues, competitive issues, financial issues, etc.? Your executive summary should briefly identify the key issue(s) at hand and describe how you will come up with your solution. Briefly, but specifically, mention your key strategies at the end of this section. This section should be one page maximumpreferably half a page. It might help to write this as your last section. For Parts II and beyond, remember: You are not writing a report. You are writing an analysis. You should take the information in the case, think about it, and then report your thoughts. You should be comfortable saying I think…. and be comfortable making bold statements. Think of yourself as a consultant hired by the firm to give them strategic advice. They already know what its in the casethey want your take on the situation. The use of outside information may be appropriate to support your claims, thoughts, and ideas. Part II. Identify Internal Strengths What is the firm doing well internally? Why is it doing these things well? And, more importantly, how do the strengths of the firm tie to marketing theory and concepts? What lead to the success of the firm in the past (or present)? What strengths of the firm will lead to future value? Part III. Identify Internal Weaknesses What is the firm doing poorly internally? Why is it doing these things poorly? What lead to these poor tactics? How do the weaknesses contradict good marketing theory and concepts? Part IV. Identify External Opportunities What is going on the firms external environment that the firm can use to its advantage? For example, if you are analyzing a case on McDonalds, an external opportunity might be the fact that the Atkins Diet has run its course and people are eating carbs again. These are not strategies herethose will come later (Part VII). In this section, focus on the external variables the firm can take advantage of. Part V. Identify External Threats What is going on in the firms external environment that the firm needs to defend against? Analyze competitorscompetition is certainly one external threat. Maybe government regulation is another. Possibly the taste of the target market is another. For example, if you are analyzing a case on Amtrak, one major threat is the growth of Southwest airlines and cheap, national air travel. Part VI. Other Issues / Metrics What other issues are going on in the case? How does the firms financial situation look? If financial data is given, what are the trends you see? Does anything you see jump out at you? Is there a lot of debt? Any expenses seem odd? Are there any other issues out there that didnt quite fit in Parts IIV? Discuss them here. Part VII. Strategies Based on all the issues that you identified in Parts IIVI, what do you recommend that the firm do now? Be specific as possible. General strategies like sell more products are a gimme and add little to your analysis. You have to think deep here. How can the firm use its strengths to take advantage of external issues? How might the firm have to defend itself against threats? How can the firm shore up weaknesses? Again, think of yourself as someone hired to help this firm. What do you tell them and why? What are the risks and short/long term implications of what you suggest? (Please note that this should be your longest section.)