Prepare a study guide that addresses the listed questions for each of the following two companies for the listed year end. Please do not use information subsequent to the year-end. There is no special format required for this document.
Companies:
Aurora Cannabis Inc. – Annual Information Report as of 30 June 2017
ROKU Inc. Form10-K as of 31 December 2017

Potential Questions

  1. Read the company’s annual report and apply Abell’s model to identify and analyze the company strategies. Your answer must clearly identify the firm’s strategies and show your awareness of strategic management theory as applied by the company. Clearly and succinctly, outline how its strategies are applied to achieve its corporate goals. Identify whether any red flags exist that the company must address if it is to succeed with its strategy.
  2. Using the Porter analysis, examine the industry in which the company operates. You must fully explain your assessment of the Porter forces with reference to the evidence presented in the case. As stressed in the module, the Porter analysis is of the industry/sector in which the firm operates. Focus your attention on the industry as a whole and be mindful of the segment in which the firm operates. The assessment must be complete and show your awareness of all the factors shaping the industry.
  3. Prepare a SWOT and macro analysis (the SWOT and Macro analysis is to be presented in a table format only) of the company. Comment on the firm’s competencies, capabilities, and resources; and relate the same to the opportunities and threats confronting the firm. Using the SWOT and macro analysis as your guide, provide insights into the strategies that company selected. Is the strategic direction of the firm consistent and appropriate?
  4. Based on your awareness of the firm, provide an assessment of the firm’s overall strategic options, alternatives, direction, and future outlook.
  5. Identify and explain the strategic levels that the firm is expressing and assess whether the company has the competencies, resources, and capabilities to achieve its goals. With regard to the industry life cycle, comment on whether the strategies are appropriate to address the firm’s opportunities and threats.
  6. Identify and comment on the principal competitive challenges that the firm faces.
  7. Identify, and analyze the strategic group in which the company places. How does its position in the strategic group shape its principal strategy? Based on what the documentation reveals, are its principal strategies appropriate in the current industry cycle?
  8. Identify and explain the company’s market entry approach and describe how its market entry approach correlates to its strategic thrust.
  9. Based on your awareness of the firm, what must the firm do to improve its performance and long-term sustainability? As appropriate, refer to strategic management theory and the evidence from the case to support your assessment.
  10. Identify, and analyze the generic building blocks and the strategies that this organization is expressing. Which building block is the most important for this firm and outline the relationships between the four blocks.
  11. Examine and comment on the company’s international ventures. What is the rationale for such ventures, and what approach is the firm taking in these other markets? Discuss whether the firm’s strategies conform to what the theory suggests would be appropriate in these ventures, and identify what competencies it is leveraging in its international activities.
  12. Identify and discuss the short and long-term risks and assess and evaluate how the company has managed these risks.
  13. Assess and comment on the appropriate structure and controls that the company must apply.
  14. Analyze and discuss the firm’s complementary assets and its approach to maximizing these assets. Are its decisions and actions consistent with strategic management theory?
  15. Assess the long-term future of the company. Address this in terms of the industry life cycle and the viability of the firm in the current competitive environment.

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