30 Mar For Section II, have you provided subheadings and offered your recommendations in the form of an action plan with a timeline for implementation? ?Chapter5Recommendation.docx
For Section II, have you provided
subheadings and offered your
recommendations in the form of an
action plan with a timeline for
implementation?
Section II: Recommendations, you will offer your recommendation to resolve the company’s problems.
Format the recommendations as an action plan with appropriate time schedule for each suggestion you will
implement. As the Hill & Jones text suggests, they should extend logically from your overall discussions and
remain consistent with the SWOT analysis. Remember to:
• Recall any recommendations you began to uncover in earlier Chapters
• Refer again to the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and build upon the
summary statement to offer alternatives to the predictions
• Specifically explore the company’s ability to address external threats without changes. If you decide it
cannot, recommend how it should change business level strategies to succeed and achieve profitability
goals.
• In addition, investigate the company’s ability to address internal weaknesses without changes. If you
decide it cannot, recommend the changes necessary to succeed and achieve profitability.
As summarized in the Hill & Jones text, recommendations usually center on issues such as changing functional,
business, or corporate strategies. They could also focus on changing organizational structure and control to
improve performance. Other examples include recommendations that address questions such as:
• Should the company increase R & D spending? If so, how will your company derive the funding?
• Should the company divest business divisions?
• Should the company change from unrelated to related diversification?
• Should the company improve the integration between divisions?
• Should the company change the organizational structure to adopt a new business strategy? How soon?
In each of these considerations, bespecific. For example, if you suggest that the company should change
its business strategy, explain exactly which new strategy it should adopt, why it should adopt it, how it
will help, and when the implementation occurs on the timeline.
At this point, make sure you discuss funding for any of these changes. Remember, you are presenting to a CEO
or the board so you must offer a convincing, practical argument for the changes. Simply stating, “we must
increase R&D spending to retain a competitive advantage” is an obvious conclusion that the CEO already
understands and likely would have implemented had the funding been available. Try to offer an innovative
solution that also addresses internal funding (efficiency improvement, force reduction, etc.). This will convince
your CEO that you have identified a practical solution or recommendation exhibiting a measured—but
acceptable—level of risk.
For Section II, have you provided
subheadings and offered your
recommendations in the form of an
action plan with a timeline for
implementation? Did you include
practical funding considerations?
Make sure your recommendations reflect your thesis
statement. Again, you may modify your thesis if it is not
entirely consistent with your opinions at this point. Did you
provide subheadings for conclusions and the implementation
timeline? Did you discuss possible employee resentment or
resistance to change? Can you address these issues as part of
your implementation plan?
