For Section II, have you provided subheadings and offered your recommendations in the form of an action plan with a timeline for implementation?   Sectio

Section II: Recommendations, you will offer your recommendation to resolve the company’s problems.

Format the recommendations as an action plan with appropriate time schedule for each suggestion you will

implement. As the Hill & Jones text suggests, they should extend logically from your overall discussions and

remain consistent with the SWOT analysis. Remember to:

• Recall any recommendations you began to uncover in earlier Chapters

• Refer again to the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and build upon the

summary statement to offer alternatives to the predictions

• Specifically explore the company’s ability to address external threats without changes. If you decide it

cannot, recommend how it should change business level strategies to succeed and achieve profitability

goals.

• In addition, investigate the company’s ability to address internal weaknesses without changes. If you

decide it cannot, recommend the changes necessary to succeed and achieve profitability.

As summarized in the Hill & Jones text, recommendations usually center on issues such as changing functional,

business, or corporate strategies. They could also focus on changing organizational structure and control to

improve performance. Other examples include recommendations that address questions such as:

• Should the company increase R & D spending? If so, how will your company derive the funding?

• Should the company divest business divisions?

• Should the company change from unrelated to related diversification?

• Should the company improve the integration between divisions?

• Should the company change the organizational structure to adopt a new business strategy? How soon?

In each of these considerations, bespecific. For example, if you suggest that the company should change

its business strategy, explain exactly which new strategy it should adopt, why it should adopt it, how it

will help, and when the implementation occurs on the timeline.

At this point, make sure you discuss funding for any of these changes. Remember, you are presenting to a CEO

or the board so you must offer a convincing, practical argument for the changes. Simply stating, “we must

increase R&D spending to retain a competitive advantage” is an obvious conclusion that the CEO already

understands and likely would have implemented had the funding been available. Try to offer an innovative

solution that also addresses internal funding (efficiency improvement, force reduction, etc.). This will convince

your CEO that you have identified a practical solution or recommendation exhibiting a measured—but

acceptable—level of risk.

For Section II, have you provided

subheadings and offered your

recommend