Digital business

Venture Challenge and SWOT Analysis.

The Venture Challenge is the culmination of the project throughout the semester. Through the completion of the following sections of the Business Plan

· Ethics Policy

· External Environmental Analysis

· Company Description

· Operational Plan

· Marketing Plan

You have researched and made decisions about the type of business you would like to start. Now you need to sell it to potential investors! (Think Shark Tank!) To do so, you need to create a MS PowerPoint with your answers to the items in Step 1 below.

Remember, you are not an expert in your chosen industry so your answers should use external academic sources to support your decisions and statements. You should have this info already from your business plan sections. Include a separate slide for a list of 3-4 references used. Expectations describing what a ‘professional business PowerPoint’ should contain on the slide and notes sections can be found in the  Business PPT Instructions  Download Business PPT Instructions . 

Sharks will rate you on:

· The Corporate Social Responsibility Plan (CSR) you developed (including the view picked) which should also include your steps for implementing a CSR policy.

· Your company's code of ethics.

· Pitch your business using research (grounded) based on the External Environmental Analysis you performed. Identifies one or more problem (purpose/need the business is solving) based on the external environment analysis.

· Describe your mission statement, ownership type (Sole Proprietor, Partnership, Corporation) including any specializations of Partnerships & Corporations.

· Identify the investors (owners)

· Names

· Percentage of ownership (% and whether money or stock was provided/purchased)

· The job/role they will have in the company.

· Indicate an organizational chart (picture) that makes sense for the business/industry. Justify the chosen structure with research supporting your chosen

· departmentalization (business function, customer, geographic or product)

· span of management control

· functional structure (line, line & staff, matrix).

· A summary of your operational plan including

· How you will manufacture your product and/or provide your service (describe the process)

· How you will deliver the product/service

· How you will manage quality

· How you will manage inventory

· Your personnel need.

· Describe your Marketing Plan, including:

· Your target audience (market) & how you are meeting their needs.

· The segmentation variables chosen & information about the variables you've selected.

· The Marketing Mix (product, price, promotion and place).

· Presentations must meet the criteria outlined for PowerPoint submissions in the class assignment. 

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S.W.O.T. Analysis Instructions

The S.W.O.T. Analysis is an opportunity for you to apply the business knowledge you have learned throughout the semester to an existing multi-national corporation.

Create a MS PowerPoint with your answers to the items in Step 1 through 5 below. You are not an expert in your chosen industry so your answers should use external academic sources to support your decisions and statements. Include a separate slide for a list of 3-4 references used.  Expectations describing what a ‘professional business PowerPoint’ should contain on the slide and notes sections can be found in the  Business PPT Instructions . Download Business PPT Instructions.

Step 1: Choose a for-profit organization, which conducts business and sells products or services in and outside the U.S. that is listed on a U.S. stock exchange. 

Step2: Research your chosen company.

· Locate the organization’s corporate Annual Report. See if the report contains any historical information, strategies for the future, and financial information.

· Research historical information, including financial articles, reports,  or even other S.W.O.T. Analyses.

· Use this information to bring the audience up to speed on how the company is doing in today’s economy.  Be sure to provide stats on the overall performance of the company in the previous year and its projections/strategies for the current year.

Step 3:  Answer  these questions.

· Put the answers for each part of the SWOT Acronym  in the notes of your  SWOT 2 by 2  Download SWOT 2 by 2 (downloadable single slide of a 2×2 table) table slide. 

· You may  Google SWOT analyses  for your company. Business Strategy Hub ( bstrategyhub.comLinks to an external site.) is recommended,  BUT you must  cite and reference  the SWOT you use. You may also find the Googled SWOT will help you answer the questions below.

Strength Questions (Internal).  Examples include who is on your team, your patents and intellectual property, and your location.

1. What business processes are successful?

2. What assets do you have in your business team, such as knowledge, education, network, skills, and reputation?

3. What physical assets do you have, such as customers, equipment, technology, cash, and patents?

4. What advantage does the company have over the competition? Identify all competitive advantages.

Weakness Questions (Internal) Examples include business processes, labor gaps.

1. Are there things that the company needs to be competitive?

2. What company processes need improvement?

3. Are there tangible assets that your company needs, such as money or equipment?

4. Are there gaps in the company's team?

5. Is your location ideal for your success?

6. What areas do the organization’s competitors have an advantage on? Identify all competitive disadvantages.

Opportunity Questions (External)

1. What external changes will bring opportunities for the company?

2. What are current trends in the industry? Will the trends affect the organization positively?

3. Is the company's market growing and are there trends that will encourage people to buy more of what the company is selling?

4. Are there upcoming events that the company may be able to take advantage of to grow the business?

5. Are there upcoming changes to regulations that might impact the company positively?

6. Do customers think highly of you?

7. What is the market missing?

Threats Questions (External)

1. What external changes will pose a threat to the company?

2. Are there potential, new or existing competitors that have entered the market or are outperforming the organization?

3. What current trends in the industry have negatively impacted the industry?

4. Will suppliers always be able to supply the raw materials the company needs at the prices they need?

5. Could future developments in technology change how the company does business?

6. Is consumer behavior changing in a way that could negatively impact the business?

7. Are there pending political/legal, social, global, economic, technological factors that have the ability negatively impact the organization’s future success?

Step 4: Analytical conclusion.

· In your opinion, what’s next for the organization?  Provide strategy based on the group’s analysis.

Step 5:  Prepare a presentation of a minimum of 6 slides (does not include title & reference slides). Your presentation can take on many forms.  Examples include PowerPoint, Video Presentation (YouTube). I encourage creativity. This is your time to present a  topnotch capstone project.

Example Outline for Presentation (6 slide PowerPoint presentation) (You can use this  template   Download template as a starting point for the presentation.)

1. Provide history on organizations existence.

2. Describe the company’s products/services it provides.

3. List major competitors and their current and prior year's earnings

4. The Company's SWOT Analysis in a 2 row, 2 column table ( download this example file  Download download this example file )

1. Strengths -  Strengths should be  listed on the slide  and the  answers to the questions above with any other supporting material  should be in the notes .

2. Weaknesses -  Weaknesses should be  listed on the slide  and the  answers to the questions above with any other supporting material  should be in the notes .

3. Opportunities -  Opportunities should be  listed on the slide and the  answers to the questions above with any other supporting material  should be in the notes.

4. Threats -  Threats should be  listed on the slide  and the  answers to the questions above with any other supporting material  should be in the notes .

5. Analytical Conclusion.

1. Brief summary of organization’s overall performance in previous year and corporate performance.

2. Strategies for current year.

6. Reference Page

Your SWOT must contain factual, data collected about your organization that accurately reflects your point of view. You must support your assumptions and implications with facts and statistics, particularly when addressing the weakness and strengths of the organization.

Possible Sources for Gathering Information

· Organization’s Annual Report (this is your primary resource)

· Informational Databases such as ABI/Inform, Active (visit campus library)

· Hoover Business resource (hooveronline.com)

· Wall Street Journal

· Other SWOT analyses

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Creating a Business Plan powerpoint

Here are the expectations for you to prepare your Business Plan in PowerPoint.

Purpose: When presenting information in business the expert on the information is the presenter, not the presentation. The information on the slides are queues to the presenter about the points being discussed. The presenter uses notes, in your case you will be using the ‘notes’ section of the PowerPoint slide to contain your notes.

Submitting your assignment:

· You must submit the file in a PowerPoint format (.ppt or .pptx).

· Your weekly Business Plan assignment is due on the last day of the week as indicated in the Course Schedule in the Syllabus. 

· You have until 11:59 PM EST to submit the .pptx file in CANVAS, through the assignment link for that week.

· Every section of the Business Plan must be in a separate PowerPoint file.

The presentation content:

· A business professional' PowerPoint presentation is designed to be presented to an audience, not as a document to be read.

· Use the "Notes" section of PowerPoint to document your answer to the question in sentences and to provide justification of the answer. You are required to have a written summary of what you would be telling the audience when presenting the slide, in the Notes section.

· You must provide research that supports any assumptions or decisions you make. Most businesses use the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.) format. Always put a citation with the bulleted item and put the reference in the NOTES section.

· Keep in mind, you are presenting to a management audience. There could also be some executives in the audience as well. Use graphs and images to get across your point.

· HINT: Complete your notes first and then figure out what key info should be in the bullets on the slide.

Formatting guidance:

· Each slide should address a specific point(s).

· Each slide should have 3-5 bullets with 5-7 words per bullet.

· Do not use sentences on your slides!

· Use images when it makes sense.

Working as a group.

· Groups may use Google Docs to create your presentation deck, just remember to save it in a .ppt or .pptx format. Create the presentation template in PowerPoint and import it into Google. Put in your content and then export it in a .ppt or .pptx format.

· Many groups divvy up the questions amidst themselves. Some groups craft the answers as a group. Either way, you must indicate on the top right-hand corner of the slide who worked on the question. If you act as a group, put "ALL" in the corner.

· Before individuals put content on their slides, create a Google presentation with all the slides you will have, a design template already applied, and the responsible team members name in the top right corner.

· As a group, determine who will be submitting the file and when is the latest time that the submitter will take each person’s work. Any work sent after the agreed upon time may be considered a zero "0" for that person unless negotiated with the team and the instructor prior to the due date.

· Other members of the group are not affected by the rest of the groups grade for that assignment. You are graded based on the slides you've completed and the overall presentation style and required content.

· If you are absent from a class and your name does not appear on an individual slide, you will get a zero "0" for that week's Business Plan section.

· If a group member has not submitted their slides to the coordinator for that week by the agreed upon time, the rest of the team should NOT take it upon themselves to complete the missing slide. Instead, an empty slide indicating the question/point to be completed and the responsible team members name in the top right corner, should be included.

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