Business Analysis Paper Checklist

Title of Paper: Something that says this is an interesting paper that the reader will enjoy and benefit from reading.

Objective Statement: What you intend to accomplish with the entire paper and the overall structure of the paper.

Table of Contents: For the entire paper with the submission of Section I and II. Page numbers are not necessary.

Section I – Industry Analysis:

Correct Definition of the Industry: Not too broad and not too narrow. With whom does your company compete?

Funnel-down Approach: Where appropriate to introduce the major industry segments in which your analysis company competes without violating the industry definition that makes sense as an appropriate starting point.

Appropriate Charts to Profile the Industry: This could be a representative list of major competitors with logical data that indicates size, market share, growth trends, overall financial health, etc. that help to understand the overall structure of the industry.

Porter Competitive Model: A tailored model for the industry with the specific market being evaluated identified.

Porter Model Power Implications: An analysis of the power implications for buyers and suppliers relative to the Strategic Business Unit and its rivals.

Porter Model Analysis Conclusions: Some logical conclusions regarding the competitive environment within the industry based upon the Porter Model analysis.

Representative Business Strategies: It helps to use Porter terminology in discussing the major strategies in the industry: differentiation versus least cost as a primary strategy, alliances, growth and innovation as supporting strategies.

Business Strategy Model: A model tailored to the industry being evaluated that identifies the six to eight major areas where business strategy decisions that must be made to successfully compete in the industry. Be sure to keep the Internet in mind in doing this part of the assignment.

Globalization of the Industry: Is the industry already global? If so, why? If it isn’t, what is the likelihood that it will become more global? Look at this from a push standpoint: companies pursuing new business opportunities, and from a pull standpoint: customers wanting the products/services offered by the industry. Does the industry have products that travel across national boundaries?

Importance of IT to the Industry: This is a big picture perspective and can often be best addressed by using the simple Value Chain added in the lecture on Porter models.

Section II – Company Perspective

Key Company People: Successful companies are much about successful people. Identify key people both on the business and IT side of the business. If you bring up someone you must provide pertinent information about them as it relates to this assignment.

Company Performance Over Time: This is not a financial analysis paper that should include a significant amount of financial or stock data. It should include a chart showing revenue and profit over time. Avoid stock performance charts and only use this data to support an explanation of growth or success. You could also include things like number of stores for a retailer as another indication of growth. The question that needs to be addressed is whether good things are going up and bad things are going down.

Competitive Strategy Statement: State in summary form how your analysis company competes within its industry. Using Porter terminology helps to do this. If you can’t do this, do you really understand your company?

Significance of IS to the Analysis Company: This is again an overall summary of the role of IS.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Analysis Company: This is a key part of Section II and should be done in a summary blocked format since it should not introduce a new topic. Remember that there is no such thing as a company that has no weaknesses.

Section III – Structured Analysis of Information Systems

Strategic Option Generator:

Introduce the use of this model. Use the model to introduce the major points of this section in summary form without going into detail for any of the four levels of the model. Use a structured format with sub-titles.

Roles, Roles and Relationships

Use the core concept systematically and in its entirety. This is the people section so be sure to address the role of information systems, the role of senior management and the relationships between the business managers that run the business and those responsible for information systems.

Redefine and/or Define

Use the concept as part of the narrative and then determine which part of the concept applies to your analysis company. This is where you should do into detail on a major information system used by your analysis company. A tailored value to customer model should be included in this section.

Significance of Telecommunications (one page)

Summarize the significance of telecommunications at the functional level. The emphasis should be on the role and importance of telecommunications to the business and a general description of the network.

Success Factor Profile

This should be at least four but no more then six strengths from the Success Factor Profile. Use a standard format with sub-titles for each of the success factors.

Section IV – Final Analysis

Provides conclusions based on the earlier analysis.

Be sure to address both business and IS factors.

Format Points to Remember:

1. Footnotes should be at the bottom of the page and not within the narrative of the paper.
2. It is only necessary to reference major sources of information or opinions that make a major point within the paper.
3. Use the designations Section I, II, III and IV to organize the paper.
4. The bibliography is not due until you submit the final paper.
5. List the major sources of information for the paper and identify the three best sources with an explanation as to why they were good sources.