Integrative Project
Integrative projects are intended to illustrate to a professor that you understand the course material presented over the semester and can illustrate that by presenting a research paper. The writers at Paper Masters will help you write your integrative project by providing sample project, just as you need it to be.
A common Integrative Project assignment is as follows:
Students are required to engage in an original integrative project reflecting their comprehensive knowledge of the course material. The Session Long Project for a class consists of an integrative project emphasizing the application of concepts from this class towards an organization with which you are familiar.
The student will perform an SLP (Session Long Project) in five parts:
- First, select a company and a product or service they are or might target for international markets. The first step, and provide an explanation for the choice of the company.
- Second, do a strategic situation analysis of your chosen firm. You'll do a strategic situation analysis of your firm. Concentrate on a SWOT analysis, the 5-forces model for an industry analysis, and a competitive analysis. Analyze the capabilities and competencies of the firm (make sure you know the difference).
- Third, discuss strategic fit, how your chosen strategy provides direction for your company's international effort given the situation as analyzed. Generate a list of strategic alternatives that fit your given situation. Discuss how your strategies will enhance the firm's performance, and how the strategies will fit your given environmental situation. Also, how do your strategies provide direction within a global environment?
- Fourth, discuss how you will implement your strategic plan throughout the firm. We are primarily interested, at this point, in seeing how these implementations of resources (technology, people, capital, knowledge, information, and raw materials) fit into the overall corporate strategy you have been discussing.
- And fifth, integrate the above SLP steps into a strategic plan for the proposed export (or import) of a product or service by a company as preparation for entry in the global marketplace. Turn in a strategic plan report.
The biggest problem students run into in an integrative assignment is in simply describing the different aspects of the course. In evaluating the various topics, be sure to go beyond mere description and discuss them in terms of strengths, weakness, similarities, differences, etc. Stress critical thinking! Use these insights to support and justify your assessment of which of these elements is best.
Optimize your research time: Get an overview of the case assignments so you know what information you will be looking for when you do research. As you do research for Case 1, you can also be finding information and data for the other cases, too. Continue this strategy as you do research for the next case and the next, etc. The more information you have about the chosen company, the better you will get to know it. The better you get to know it, the better your analysis will be.
You may use a simple diagram to highlight important factors. However, do not use the diagram in lieu of valuable analysis (or to take up valuable writing space).
- Choose the data you use carefully.
- Is it relevant and important?
- Include headings within the paper.
Cite AND reference all sources that you use in your work, including those that you do not quote but paraphrase. This means include citations and quotation marks for direct quotes of more than 5 words, and citations for that information which you have "borrowed" or paraphrased from other sources.
Search for articles in the business and trade press that give an independent view of the company, because you do not want to depend solely on corporate information. Check the financial websites such as Yahoo Finance, MSN Money, Morningstar, Dunn & Bradstreet and Standard and Poor's for reports by industry and financial analysts. Wiki's and blogs are good ways to get an "inside" look - helpful for when you are evaluating their corporate culture/climate.