Purpose

The free Excel strategic planning template at www.strategyclub.com is widely used for strategic planning by students and small businesses; this exercise aims to enhance your familiarity with the template. Developing competence with the template will enable you to place this skill appropriately on your resume, in addition to facilitating your development of a comprehensive strategic plan for an assigned case company.

Instructions

Answer the following Chapter 6 related questions about the template. Discuss your answers with classmates to determine any issues or concerns.

1. In performing SPACE analysis, does the template allow you to show your firm and rival firms? If yes, would a legend be nice to create to organize information? Why?
2. In performing BCG analysis, how does the template address firms competing in markets with over or under 20% IGR?
3. Using the template, what is a good way to show a before and after (your recommendations) BCG?
4. In performing IE portfolio analysis using the template, are your EFE and IFE Matrix total weighted scores automatically plotted after you finish those matrices? For divisions, does the template call for all divisional EFE and IFE matrices?
5. Why is it best to label divisions 1, 2, 3 etc. on BCG and IE matrices and thereby create a legend, rather than let division names plot in the matrix?
6. In performing GRAND analysis, how many firms/divisions/scenarios does the template allow to be considered/placed in the matrix? Why is this a nice feature? What are some scenarios you could examine?
7. Why is there no need to reenter weights when performing QSPM analysis using the template?