Business Foundations Capstone Framework for Analysis

1. Business Foundations
Capstone
Framework for Analysis
Company Name
Learner Name
Date

2. Situational Analysis

3. Product or Service–
Describe the product or service you are developing a strategy for
• Use this space for identifying the opportunity. Be as specific as possible! Use images (if available) to make your proposal more convincing.

4. External Environment –
Relevant economic, social, political, legal, technological trends
• Use this space to provide key details about the overall environment.
• Please describe the environment in your home country or region in detail.

5. External Environment –
Nature and extent of demand (demand elasticity & size of the market)
• Please describe why you think the market will be receptive to your proposal. Make sure to include details about the market size, the elasticity of the market, and
any other information to support why you think customers will respond to your opportunity.

6. External Environment –
Industry structure (entry/exit barriers)
• Please describe the state of the industry. Be sure to list current leaders in the field, as well as the leading competitors.
• List the possible barriers to market entry and/or to market exit.

7. External Environment –
Industry structure – Competition (nature of competition, profile of competitors (background, resources, etc.),
market shares, & stage of product life cycle)
• Please describe the competition in detail. Provide a short profile of the leading competitors and describe the nature of the competition for
each.

8. External Environment –
Marketing Channels
• How are the company’s products/services currently marketed?
• Which channels are most successful?

9. Internal Environment –
Resources (Top management, Marketing, Production, Finance, research & development)
• What company resources will you tap to support your opportunity?

10. Internal Environment –
Brand diagnosis (current brand positioning, current pricing strategy, current distribution strategy, & current
promotions strategy)
• Please list the current brand positioning, and the pricing, promotions and distributions strategies

11. Internal Environment –
Problem definition & Critical Factors
• What are the factors within the organization that will help your proposal?
• What are the factors within the organization that may hinder your proposal?

12. Segmentation, Targeting &
Positioning

13. Market Analysis & Segmentation –
Who is/are the market?
• Post your demographic breakdown here

14. Market Analysis & Segmentation –
• Please answer the following questions:
• What does the market buy?
• When does the market buy?
• Where does the market buy?
• Why does the market buy?

15. Market Targeting –
Who is/are the target audience(s)?
• Please describe the target audience in detail.

16. Market Positioning –
Proposed brand positioning
• Please describe the positioning of your opportunity. Make sure you include an analysis of how your opportunity expands or enhances the company’s existing brand.
Also include an analysis of how the your opportunity affects the positioning of the brand (if applicable).

17. Market Positioning –
Communication objectives
• Please describe the goals and objectives of your communications (and how you will achieve them)

18. Operations Plan

19. Operations Plans –
Describe your plan for cost, quality, variety and responsiveness of the new line
• Please describe your plan for how your offer will work. Make sure to address the following questions:
• What are the distribution channels?
• How will you design the operational flow to maximize cost efficiency, quality, variety, and responsiveness?

20. Financial Plan

21. Financial Plan –
Estimate of costs and revenue for the new line
• Please enter the terms of the offer (what the customer pays, and/or where the income is derived), as well as the projected costs and revenue

22. Integration & Evaluation

23. Timetable of Activities
• Please construct a timeline of the market entry

24. Evaluation
• How will you evaluate success?
• What are the criteria to be used for evaluation?
• What kind of data will you collect?
• When and how will the data be collected?

25. Evaluation
• What are some reasonable scenarios for failure? How do you propose to address them?