Case Assignment II
VALUE CHAIN AND VRIO PAPER MANAGEMENT 5355 Spring 2017
From the Syllabus:
Each individual student will submit two INDIVIDUAL (2) papers. The papers will be 2-3 page responses to specific questions. Proper writing and grammar are critical to these assignments. Dr. Sherman will provide further direction at the appropriate time. Each individual paper is worth twenty-five (25) points.
Assignment:
You have been hired by the Board of Directors of Brinker (EAT) to help provide an internal analysis for the company. The analysis should be written as if it was a report and no report cover or title page is needed. All answers are to be submitted by 3/10/2017 (Friday) by 8:00 a.m. by Blackboard™. The timeframe is Spring 2017 (now) and the preceding three to five years strategic horizon. Your assignment has two parts:
1)
What two elements (inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, service, procurement, technical development, human resources management, financial management, organization, or culture) of the value chain most significantly add or subtract value for your client, EAT. Please use Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) as EAT’s comparative.
Please properly cite data sources and use only reliable data sources.
Please present the data for the specific value chain element for the client firm (EAT), the comparative firm (DRI), the percentage difference(s), and the overall evaluation (plus, minus, neutral).
Most elements of the value chain use only the most current year’s data. Exceptions are marketing and sales, technological development, and operations.
Please do not speculate or add interpretation of what the data may mean beyond the data presented and the evaluation as positive, negative, neutral.
2)
What are two (2) resources EAT possesses that are not sources of competitive parity? How would you answer all four questions, rate the competitive and economic implications of these two resources in the resource-based view? Firms in the industry are BJRI, CAKE, DRI, EAT, and TXRH.
Please properly cite data sources and use only reliable data sources.
Please name the resource, explain what data supports the resource being valuable, rare, barriers to imitation, and exploited by organization and what are the competitive and economic implications based on these answers.
The resource based view uses firm data from the past three years (2013-2016).
Please do not speculate or add interpretation of what the data may mean beyond the data presented and the evaluation based on the resource based view.
Notes:
1. You may use any reliable and trustworthy source for your data. Wikipedia is NEVER an acceptable source for graduate-level research.
2. Citation is required for all sources. The format should be (author, year). The author of a 10-K is the company that issued it and the year is the year the 10-K was published/released. The publication/release year MAY not be the same as the year the 10-K covers. For example, a 10-K for a firm with a fiscal year-end of December 31, 2015 will not publish/release its 10-K until 2016.
3. Writing well is a critical part of this course. Please be sure the answers are well-written in an active voice, please follow the recommendations in Dr. Bubba’s Writing Guide, and please ensure words are correctly spelled and used.
4. Clarity and brevity are keys and excessive length is usually a sign of insufficient understanding of the topic. More than four (4) total pages suggest a lack of understanding of the topic or of the questions.
5. All answers are to be submitted by 3/10/17 (Friday) by 8:00 a.m.
Answers should be submitted through blackboard.
Late work will not be accepted.
6. All work is to be done on an INDIVIDUAL basis and all work is to be typewritten in 12 point type, double-spaced, and with margins of 1” on all sides.
Rubrics:
A successful assignment will address all of the following issues.
Value Chain:
Are two (2) elements of the value chain clearly identified?
Is the client and comparative data clearly presented, accurate, and appropriate?
Are the client data and the comparative data compared and properly evaluated as plus, minus, or neutral?
Are citations present, accurate and formatted correctly?
Is the data presented well-written with brevity, clarity, and proper spelling and grammar and in the correct format?
Resource Based View:
Are two (2) resources in the resource based view clearly identified and explained?
Are the VRIO elements of the two resources clearly evaluated using accurate and appropriate data?
Are the correct competitive and economic implications made based on the answers given?
Are citations present, accurate and formatted correctly?
Is the data and evaluation presented well-written with brevity, clarity, and proper spelling and grammar and in the correct format?
