CASE SCENARIO - PAUL'S DISCOUNT TIRES & REPAIRS BUSINESS STRATEGIC PLAN

It's a Friday at 4:00, and you are looking at the clock - it's been a tough week at Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs business, and the week is not over! The global COVID Pandemic has hit the business hard, and you saw several people working there laid off this week. You feel lucky to be still working as their business consultant!

The business is family-owned and has been in business for over 21 years. The founder of the company, Paul Wilford, started the company as a small tire shop then expanded into service repairs. Now Paul's grandson, Steve Wilford, runs the company, which has grown to several million in annual revenues over the past couple of years.

Steve Wilford stops by your cubicle. He looks worried and worn out from the long workday. Despite that, he greets you warmly.

"You are taking a course in Strategic Management right now, aren't you?" Steve asks you.

You reply yes.

"Well, that is great timing," says Steve, "because I just drafted a 10-year strategy for our business! If I get you a copy, would you mind looking it over during the weekend and giving me your thoughts?"

You tell Steve that you'd be happy to give your input. Within 5 minutes, a one-page document is on your desk. At the top of the page is written: "Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs Strategic Plan." You start to read it in your remote work office at home.

The basics of the plan are highlighted with the following three (3) bullet points:

1. Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs core business will continue providing tires and minor vehicle repair services to our retail customers over the next ten years.
2. Paul's Discount Tires & Repairswill beat its competitors by providing the lowest price discount tires, vehicle repairs, exceptional customer service, and quality work.
3. Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs culture is rooted in its 21-year history. Paul's will overcome the setbacks caused by the COVID Pandemic by sticking to its core values and cutting costs wherever necessary. Our people will help get us through these tough times.

You look at the bottom of the page and see a post-it note with questions posed to you by Steve.

1. What is wrong with this strategy?
2. What is right about this strategy?
3. We are the market leader in discount tires and repairs in our city, indicating that we currently have a competitive advantage. Will we sustain it with this strategy?
4. What is one thing we could do to improve on this strategy?

Directions for Initial Posting:

Create a memo to Steve answering these four questions. Your memo should outline all four questions, and the answers to all four questions should be supported by course materials.

Initial Post and Classmate Replies:

Your initial post is due by Saturday at 11:59 PM. Your replies to your classmates are due by Tuesday at 11:59 PM (see below about HOW to reply). You are required to respond to a MINIMUM of 2 classmates by the Tuesday at 11:59 PM deadline. Remember that posting your responses to other students earlier in the discussion period affords the necessary time for a reply.

How to Reply - Substantive Replies:

Substantive replies to classmates are expected for this Discussion. That means that comments like "Great Post" or "I agree" will NOT count toward a substantive reply. A substantive reply MUST use support from course materials, which means APA citations and references.For this Discussion, you will reply to your classmates in this way:

Respond to your classmate's answer to question D: What is one thing we could do to improve this strategy? Discuss whether or not you feel this will improve the strategy for Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs. Support your claim with course materials.Note: do not repeat what you wrote in your initial post if your idea for part D is similar.

How Many Replies to Classmates?

Read the grading rubric carefully. The rubric points out the major criteria, including response frequency and timeliness, that will be used to grade this assignment. Note that you cannot earn maximum grades for the frequency of posting by responding to only two (2) classmates. You are required to respondsubstantivelyto initial posts by four (4) classmates to maximize your grade in this area. (See explanation above about what "respond substantively" means in this class.)

Other Writing Guidelines for this Discussion:

• Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met to lead to the highest possible grade.
• This is a business memo to Steve Wilford, who runs Paul's Discount Tires & Repairs. Ensure your memo answers all 4 questions and that your writing is concise. There is a balance between providing a robust answer and writing succinctly and to the point.
• Third-person writing is required. The third person means no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first-person writing).
• Contractions are not often used in business writing, so do not use them here.
• Paraphrase - do not use direct quotation marks. This means that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lift them directly from a source document. You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document (including the case scenario) or change words in a passage as doing so would require direct quotation marks. Use a passage from a source document by putting it into your own words (paraphrase) and attribute the passage to the source document. Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having to have quotation marks.If direct quotes are presented, they will not be included in the grading.
• Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains a reference associated with each in-text citation.
• Only course materials (from this course's content) may be used. Sources other than this course's ebook or the course materials listed under content will not be considered sources of support.
• Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation of a written source presented. If citing an audio/video source, include a time marker. Refer to this link for more guidance on how to do this: In-Text Citations - Including Page or Paragraph Numbers