Your assignments for this week are as follows:
- 1. Prepare a presentation, a set of slides, using Power Point or other presentation software identifying and discussing the key strategic issues for small businesses. This presentation will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- 1. Identification of Key Issues – (20 Points)
- 2. Supporting Evidence – (15 Points)
- 3. Examples – (15 Points)
- 4. Suggestions – (15 Points)
- 5. Spelling, grammar, format, etc – (10 Points)
Total Points Possible – 75 Points
A note on the use of presentation software
Within your group, you are free to negotiate how you will make the presentation available to the whole class and to each other. You need to be aware, however, that not all students in the class may have the same software on their computers. You need to either survey the class if you use commercial software to see what the others own (you can do this by using the “announcements” discussion), or you may find some “shareware” on the internet (remember that different operating systems may have different shareware), or you may make webpages to present your work. How you decide to do the presentation is up to you. Part of your grade will be determined on how effectively you make your presentation. This not only means the content, but the accessibility of the technology you use as well. In other words, can all of the students view your presentation? Are your instructions on how they are to view it clear?
To talk to your group, remember to go to your group’s discussion area in the Discussion Board located on the left of the screen. You can upload documents to share with your group directly in the discussion area for your group.
Audience: This presentation should be addressed to other members of the class and will be posted into the Discussions Board by the end of week 11.
Content: The objective of this assignment is for you all to reflect upon what you have learned in the process of putting together a Strategic Plan for a small firm. In the course you were asked to read several articles about strategic management from a theoretical point of view, you were asked to think about the differences between theory and practice. You learned about a real business operation and were asked to think strategically about this firm in order to make recommendations to the owner.
Now is the time to organize your thoughts in collaboration with your colleagues. Your presentation should identify key issues that you all discovered through your course activities. It should offer evidence and examples from your consulting experience. Finally your group should make some suggestions to address these issues.
