Homework answers / question archive / SOE11505/SOE11405 Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management End of Module Coursework: Case Study Assessment You are required to conduct an analysis of the following case study and article: POLARIS INDUSTRIES  POLARIS & VICTORY : Entering and Growing the Motorcycle Business:  Hitt, M

SOE11505/SOE11405 Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management End of Module Coursework: Case Study Assessment You are required to conduct an analysis of the following case study and article: POLARIS INDUSTRIES  POLARIS & VICTORY : Entering and Growing the Motorcycle Business:  Hitt, M

Management

Share With

---

SOE11505/SOE11405 Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management

End of Module Coursework: Case Study Assessment

You are required to conduct an analysis of the following case study and article:

POLARIS INDUSTRIES 

POLARIS & VICTORY : Entering and Growing the Motorcycle Business: 

Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., Hoskisson, R.E. (2016)

Strategic Management: competitiveness and globalization – concepts and cases (12^th edition). Boston: Cengage Learning

 

The objective of your case analysis will be to demonstrate your comprehensive understanding of the competitive business environment in the US motorcycle industry, and to identify and discus POLARIS INDUSTRIES capabilities and core competencies, linked to its strategic choices at business and corporate level.

• It is not necessary to include a history of POLARIS INDUSTRIES. A case analysis is not a conceptual explanation or discussion so do not spend too much time on conceptual explanation. Focus should be on how the concepts are used to analyse the case events and reach evaluative judgments.
• If you are not familiar with the company then you can find out more about it by visiting its website, but take care – when answering the questions below, you should only use information that is contained in the case study.
• You should not use alternative sources of information on the company, because it is your ability to analyse the case information provided that is being assessed.

COURSEWORK ASSESSMENT

 

ONLY USE EVIDENCE FROM THE CASE STUDY PROVIDED

 

To gain the best possible grades, please pay attention to: presentation of analysis, application of appropriate tools and use of case evidence.

 

QUESTION 1 Using only Porter’s Five Forces model, fully analyse the competitive environment in the U.S. motorcycle  industry based only on the case study timeline.

 

QUESTION 2 Conduct a Value Chain analysis to comprehensively assess POLARIS INDUSTRIES motorcycle division capabilities. In doing so, identify, appraise and evaluate its core competencies, and argue how these core competencies underpin its choice of generic competitive strategy.

QUESTION 3 Using the cultural web as discussed in the course content, describe the organisational culture at POLARIS INDUSTRIES, and briefly discuss how these features may impact successful implementation of the company’s strategic choices.

QUESTION 4 At the time the case study was written, POLARIS INDUSTRIES underpinning strategy was to become a highly profitable customer centric global enterprise by 2020.

Evaluate possible international strategy approaches (multi-domestic, global or transnational) and select which strategy is needed to achieve success.

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

To answer the questions in a robust and thorough way, please look at the following guidelines.

 

Question 1

Review Porter’s Five Forces model (Unit 3) and apply it to analyse the US motorcycle industry. 

 

This is an industry-level analysis of the competitive environment – part of external environment analysis. At this stage do not focus too much on how POLARIS INDUSTRIES managed to overcome the forces and successfully compete in the industry, as this is the basis for the analysis of its internal capabilities in question 2.

The purpose of the Five Forces Model is to gain a deeper understanding of the intensity of competition in the industry and which forces are the key influencers. The more intense the competition, the less attractive the industry, the lower the average level of industry profitability. The reverse applies to less intense levels of competition. You must analyse each force individually through an examination of the structural factors which determine the impact of this force.  The discussion of how these factors influence each force means that your answer will go beyond  a simple description of each force. For each force sufficient arguments should be presented as to whether the force’s influence is high, medium or low. Your arguments should reach formal conclusions:

• Is this an attractive/unattractive industry (high/low/average profit margins) as result of the intensity of the competitive forces?
• What are the most significant forces facing the US motorcycle industry in the future that all competitors should take into account in their strategy formulation?

Question 2

Conduct an internal analysis (Unit 4) of POLARIS INDUSTRIES capabilities linked to its motorcycle division, then to identify and evaluate its core competencies:

 

• You must go further than simply describing what it does. You must describe each activity through a discussion of what it does well (strengths) and what areas it needs to improve (weaknesses to address).
• To identify POLARIS INDUSTRIES core competencies, analyse critical linkages/processes in the Value Chain, some of which should be the basis for your choice of core competencies (CCs). The explanation of Value Chain linkages is an intermediary stage to identifying CCs. Assess which linkages are “core” by applying either Barney’s or Grant’s criteria.

Question 3

The focus here is on the organisational culture of the company and how this may influence its strategic choices and implementation. Use the cultural web (Unit 10), and back up your description with evidence from the case study and company research. Again, you must go further than simply describing what the culture is. You must be specific for this company by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of different elements of the framework, and how they might impact the ability of the company to make and implement strategic decisions.

Question 4

Consider three international strategy approaches:-(Multi-domestic, Global or Transnational), and to select which strategy you think POLARIS INDUSTRIES should pursue, in the context of the case study. 

To develop an argument to support your choice, work through the elements of the IntegrationResponsiveness Grid (from Unit 7) which apply to the industry. You may wish to draw on your earlier analysis of  strengths and weaknesses to comment on how the company might overcome some of the common difficulties associated with your chosen strategy.

Coursework Marking Criteria

Your assignment will be marked using GradeMark on Moodle, according to the following criteria:

 

Category	Grade	Comment
Presentation of analysis, use of appropriate tools and case evidence. (10% weighting of total grade)		Presentation should be in report format and must have appropriate headings for sections and tables. APA6 must be used for all referencing.
Five Forces analysis of the competitive environment in the US motorcycle industry (30% weighting of total grade)		You must analyse each force individually through an examination of the structural factors which determine the impact of this force.  Your answer will go beyond  a simple description of each force. For each force sufficient arguments should be presented as to whether the force’s influence is high, medium or low.
Analysis of POLARIS INDUSTRIES' Value Chain capabilities, core competencies and generic competitive strategy (30% weighting of total grade)		You must go further than simply describing what it does. You must describe each activity through a discussion of what it does well (strengths) and what areas it needs to improve (weaknesses to address).To identify POLARIS INDUSTRIES core competencies, you must describe your analysis of the  critical linkages/processes in the Value Chain, some of which should be the basis for your choice of core competencies (CCs).
Assessment of POLARIS INDUSTRIES organisational culture and its influence on strategy choice and implementation (15% weighting of total grade)		Use the cultural web (Unit 10), and back up your description with evidence from the case study and company research. Again, you must go further than simply describing what the culture is. It must be discusses in the context of the company and how/what are the salient points to emerge from the analysis.
Evaluation of international strategy approaches and proposed strategy choice for POLARIS INDUSTRIES. (15% weighting of total grade)		Consider three international strategy approaches:-(Multi-domestic, Global or Transnational), and to select which strategy you think POLARIS INDUSTRIES should pursue in the context of the case study. Work through the elements of the Integration-Responsiveness Grid (from Unit 7) which apply to the industry.

 

 

Grades are awarded as follows:

 

F6	F5-F1	P1	P2-P3	P4-P5	D1+
Non- submission	Fail	Marginal pass	Satisfactory/          good	Very good	Excellent

ASSESSMENT PRESENTATION INFORMATION

When preparing for your assessment, please take note of the following;

• Always draw on evidence from the case to support your analysis and conclusions. Using evidence without analysis will amount to describing what has happened in the case and will not gain many marks.
• Try to keep your answers to report format. Write in sections which reflect the major elements of your analysis.
• It is critically important that if you use information from the case or theory from academic texts, you must reference it appropriately. Any direct quotations from the text should be used sparingly – these must be placed in quotation marks and referenced in the same way.

All References should be in APA7 format. Notes on referencing are available on Moodle.

• The case ends in 2013 and you should answer the questions in terms of the information presented in the case up to this time. As a result, you should not include generic references on POLARIS INDUSTRIES from the internet or from sources, other than those contained in the case and from its own website.

                  Target Length:         4500 words

                  Maximum                     Length:                    5000                          words

                  Submission date:     Dec, 23:59 (UK time), via Turnitin on                        Moodle

Assignments submitted after the deadline without an agreed extension will be penalised according to the University Regulations.

The word limit excludes the cover sheet, figures/tables, references and appendices. Where a submission exceeds the stated word limit, the maximum grade awarded will be P1. Appendices can be used to provide additional raw information from your analysis, so long as the analysis itself is incorporated into the main body of the assignment.

You may upload your assignment as many times as you wish before the deadline, using the Draft Assessment Checking Facility. It is recommended that you do so at least once in order to check your Turnitin score – this is a helpful way of making sure that you have used references appropriately. Bear in mind that during busy periods Turnitin may experience delays in generating scores. Assignments submitted to the checking facility will not be marked. To make your final submission, use the Final Assessment Submission Link.