Here is some information I sent out to a student who was away Tuesday. It would be helpful to all of you.
- Around 6-7 pages should get it done.
- Page 1 is your cover page. Same as last two written assignments
- Unlike the first case, handle this one by answering each question separately
- Each question should be on a new page. ie. Question 2 on SWOT should be pages 2 and 3. Then the PEST+C should be 4 and 5.
- Submit to Turnitin.
- Graph the financials to help you see trends. Line graph year by year and a Pie graph for total sales by store.
- Use the graphic version of each tool and put point form notes in it (1/2 page). Then under it write your summary of the tool (ie-what is the SWOT telling you).
To encourage discussion and collaboration here are two questions to consider and comment on while you are working on the case;
- What challenges, problems or question are you having with the case. Give a specific example and how you have tried to solve the problem.
- What suggestions or information can you share with the class. For example, do you have a point for P on the PEST+C analysis.
Pest + C i find harder to do then SWOT and the BCG. SWOT and BCG you can think of faster and easier i find. Pest + C takes a little more time and thinking. P and E i have found a little bit on, and still working on the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteAn example for P i found from the note would be Taxes. The bigger the building the more you are paying in taxes. If taxes change you may be able to expand into more building, instead of keeping it in just one old warehouse.
I have misplaced my PEST C note from class. so I'm struggling with that part of the case...
ReplyDeleteas for the BCG and SWOT, it is fairly straight forward for the case study.
The PEST+C is a tough one.
ReplyDeleteFirst, remember PEST+C looks at external factors so this requires two things;
- Research of the Stoney Creek area.
- Assume the case is happen "now" (2010/2011).
Also, if you can't find anything relevant for P(Politics) so be it. Just make sure your other headings are covered.
Hope this helps.
I agree with Alex and Taylor, I found the SWOT and BCG analysis pretty straight forward. I'm having some difficulty with PEST+C because it doesn't talk about the technology, the competition or the politics. So for technology I'm probably going to talk about how certain technology can benefit Coopers and how much it would cost.For competition I think I'm just goign to research other restaurants in the Stoney Creek area that may be a threat to Matt's line of restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others, SWOT and BCG were pretty straight forward, the only problem i had with the BCG matrix was I found that it was a little tricky finding out which were dog/question mark etc..
ReplyDeleteFor the PEST + C analysis:
Economy - you could state how we're still in a recession which could make the total number of consumers for the restaurant lower.
Definatly going to go ahead and say that PEST + C was probably the section that generated most of the difficulties on the case study, especially the "P" part of it. The BCG and SWOT analysis are pretty straight forward and were probably the easier parts of the case study.
ReplyDeleteIm also going to go ahead and say that a lot of people are going to not have their ISU's ready for their specific dates, with the feedback from the blog and case study results so far.
I found the Pest+C allitle challenging because certain components were not covered in the case study or easy to find using research. For example finding political changes or social changes were diffictult to find.
ReplyDeleteI eventaully was able to talk about polical opportunities and threats by mentioning Bratina's election as mayor of Hamilton. He could have a new financial plan which means he could change laws or taxes on many different commercial businesses in Stoney Creek.
The part of this case study that I found the easiest was the SWOT analysis and the only problem that I had was with the PEST+C analysis because it was more complicated than the SWOT and BCG.
ReplyDeleteFor the dog in the BCG analysis:
For the dog part of the BCG anaylsis I put "Mingle" in because it was the restaurant that was going down in profits and all the other restaurnats were having great success.
The PEST+C analysis was challenging, particularily the politics and technology aspect. The BCG and SWOT analyses were fairly easy, and the notes helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteFor the social aspect of PEST+C, you could discuss the aging population and how it affects Cooper's business.
I think the easiest parts of the assignment were the mission statement and the BCG. I got through those fairly quickly. For the PEST+C i tried to be as specific to the business as possible and they helped me to get through it. The strategic plan was also fairly straight forward.
ReplyDeletelet me start by saying the PEST+C part of this case study almost caused me to spontaneously combust... there was not enough information to make a thorough PEST+C analysis, but I somewhat created information to fill in the space.
ReplyDeleteWhat I would like to share with the class is that if you pay attention in class and listen to the teacher, you can totally use it against him... :)
"If you sound smart, people will think you're smart"- Schroeder.
I used this when it came to the PEST+C part of the case study...
I'M KIDDING... the real point i'm trying to make is as followed:
I actually asked friends and family for help... for example, I asked my neighbour about taxes and how much his business costs him, and I googled competition for the restaurant... etc... Ask people who know.
1. The biggest challenge i had with the case study was the PEST + C this is because in the explaination of the business it did not give good examples of each one, unlike the SWOT and BCG Matrix which gave little details of each. Once i got past the PEST + C the rest was pretty straight forward. Also while i was trying to figure out to write for my PEST+ C i went to the blog for a little help and each one of the comments above gave me ideas to expand on and new ones that I had come up with.
ReplyDelete2. The only thing that I would like to share with the class is that it was a lot longer then i expected, but it was easy to write. Also the only points on the P of PEST + C i wrote were taxes which i think that everyone had, and laws, because when owning a restaurant there are a lot of rules, bi-laws, and regulations that need to be followed exactly or the restaurant will plummet.
As with everyone else... I had a very difficult time with the PEST+C. I had such a hard time that I did not include it in my case study because I was not happy with the information I got. But I fout the BCG and SWOT analysis straight forward and easier to do.
ReplyDeleteFor the S in SWOT I put that having the ability to share employees among the four restaurants is a huge strength because they can call employees to one of the restaurants to help out at any time.
I think the toughest thing for me was trying not to repeat myself. I didnt want to say too much in the SWOT, Pest+C and BCG analysis' and then have nothing to say in the strategic plan. The way I worked around that problem though, was using S.M.A.R.T goals to help me develop the plans "Cooper's" should use. I made sure the goals and plans were Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. I set a goal date on each of the changes Matt should make.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I found a little bit tricky to do, like Mike said, was determining which Restaurant was a STAR, ?, $ Cow, and Dog. I felt as though it would have been helpful to know the expenses of the company, seeing as we already had the revenues. It felt like i was making alot of assumptions with the BCG. But overall, it wasnt hard to do.
I didn't quite understand the Pest+C analysis of the assignment and as Kaitlin said nothing was mentioned about any of the technology, or politics, etc. so that part of the assignment required a lot more time and thinking.
ReplyDeleteComing up with a mission statement was pretty easy and straight forward as well as the SWOT analysis.
I found that the BCG and the mission statement were the easiest part of the last case study. THey were both straight forward and it wasnt tricky to find the information to complete them in the case.
ReplyDeleteI had the most problems completing the PEST+C just like everyone else. I found that coming up with points for both the P and the E were difficult because it didnt jump out at me when I was reading the case.
I personally found the PEST+C segment of the assignment to be a royal pain. For a few of them, namely "P" and "C", finding information was really rather difficult. I basically had to load up my "P" section with different kinds of taxes.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who is going to go buy a sandwich at a warehouse? The whole fiasco just sounds creepy to me.
i had referred back to my notes to help me figure how out my swot analysis and pest + c. i found it more difficult to come up with ideas for my pest + c analysis because i could not come up with economical issues, etc. therefore i ended up asking around because a family friend of mine just opened up a business. the swot analysis was somewhat difficult as well because i could not come up with enough opportunities for the owner. anyways hopefully i passed and i found a way to turn it in schroeds :)
ReplyDeleteI found the SWOT analysis the easiest out of the three analysis' we had to do. Despite what everyone else is saying, doing the PEST+C analysis for a restaurant was quite easy I found, and it didn't take me too long to complete. Overall, I'm glad I didn't wait until the last minute to do the case study because it was a huge report and a lot of effort needed to be put into it in order for it to be quality work.
ReplyDeleteUsing my notes was extremely helpful for all aspects of this report because they gave me good ideas and gave me detailed information for what each analysis should include (ex. for PEST+C, what does economics have to do with the restaurant?)
I agree with Chim when he says that it was a little tricky finding the 'dog' and 'question mark' for the BCG analysis. I'm still not sure if it's correct, but I made sure to include lots of reasons to back up my choices.
I liked makjing up a mission statement. I thought it was easy to answer questions on it and I enjoyed being creative with what I wrote for the actual statement.
ReplyDeleteThe SWOT and BCG were the easiest but I had difficulty with thinking about what I should put for the PEST-C. I thought about the taxes of having all four restaurant under one roof in a giant warehouse and I also worte about the maximum occupancy in all four restaurants under one roof. I tries to think more outside the box for this one. I'm not sure if my ideas sounded "ligit" but I thought it would be better to try and be creative.
Kailyn
I feel that there wasnt a particular part that i had a lot of trouble with. It took as long for me to come up with PESTC points than it did for properly analyzing the points for the SWOT or BCG analysis.
ReplyDeleteThe complete plan at the end was probably the most difficult actually, trying to fully flesh out ideas in a formal way.
Great comments everyone. I'm looking forward to reading them all. It sounds as if A LOT of learning and work went into these cases. I'm sure it will translate into quality work.
ReplyDeleteI thought the swot was easier then the BCG and Pestc. I was not sure about the dog and the question mark for the BCG and for PEST C I thought it was a little hard to find something for politics.
ReplyDeleteit was easy to do the BCG matrix, but i struggled on what to write for the summary about it. so i googled what the actual purpose of the BCG matrix is and how other companies use it. this gave me ideas on how to expand on it.
ReplyDeleteAnd for point P on the PEST+C analysis, taxes and governemt rules/regulations were the most important political external factors that i found that could affect Coopers
Shope