• Go to the Fortune 500 site and select 1 corporation to research.
• Identify the selected corporation in the discussion site for it. Please, use the number in the ranking in 2019 and the name of the corporation (e.g. 12 Ford Motor). You can not repeat the corporations already taken by other students or the example I use here (first coming, first serving).
• Go to the site of each corporation and find the link to the corporate site. The corporate site is not always easy to find, it is usually mentioned at the end of the page. So you may need to develop your skills as a researcher. For example, in the case of the Ford site (Links to an external site.), you can read "Corporate" under the menu "Experience Ford" at the right bottom of the page, click on it and you will be taken to the corporate site (Links to an external site.).
• Then, find the “About US” in the top menu of Ford corporate site. Other corporations may have an equivalent name, For example, "Our Story" or “Our business”.
• Finally, find the mission, vision, objectives, and or principles. Then, complete the following.

TASK 1:

1. Describe the most possible generic strategy followed by the corporation. Mention the evidence you find from the corporate site.

2. Evaluate the firm position vis-á-vis Porter’s Five Forces (see the “Improving competitive position vis-á-vis the five forces, for each generic strategy, in the textbook for additional explanations)

3. Identify the most possible stage of the industry Life Cycle to which the corporation belongs (see Exhibit 5.6 in the textbook for additional explanations)

4. Analyze the possible pitfalls of the generic strategy followed by the corporation

TASK 2:

Describe what would be the role of each functional area manager in executing the generic strategy of the corporation selected.

The most common area manages:

1. Accounting manager
2. Finance Manager
3. Human Resources Manager
4. Marketing Manager
5. Operations Manager
6. IT Manager