Question: Strategic Management Project Background - Appraising the strategic planning elements of Caterpillar Inc.

Strategic Management Project Background

Overview

The intention of the Strategic Management Project is to provide you practical experience with the elements of strategic management. The project is spread across the 5-week period of the course. Weeks 1‑4 provide an opportunity to put key terms into practice by appraising the strategic planning elements of Caterpillar Inc. through documentation in the Strategic Management Research Journal. The Week 5 concluding assignment showcases your understanding of strategic management and improvement in the formulation of a presentation to Caterpillar Inc.’s leadership team.

For purposes of the Strategic Management Project, you will operate as if you are a new hire at the Caterpillar Inc. headquarters in the role of Assistant Strategic Development Analyst.

Assistant Strategic Development Analyst Job Description

• Maintain a Strategic Management Research Journal in which you:
  • Appraise Caterpillar Inc.’s corporate data, competitors, and associated business information.
  • Document background information to include previous and current strategic management of Caterpillar Inc.
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of strategic management of Caterpillar Inc., based on your analyses, and provide information in a presentation to Caterpillar Inc. leadership.
• Recommend strategic management actions to ensure future success in a presentation to Caterpillar Inc.’s leadership team.

About Caterpillar Inc.

The following is derived from the Caterpillar Inc. website:

Caterpillar Inc. is a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Caterpillar’s enterprise strategy focuses on solutions to help customers build a better world and allows the company to deliver profitable growth for their shareholders. The company’s corporate governance program ensures they serve the interests of stockholders and other stakeholders with the highest standards of responsibility, integrity, and compliance with all laws. Caterpillar’s global presence, product breadth, and financial strength enables the company to be competitive in today’s global marketplaces.

Review the following terms and concepts discussed this week to prepare for this assignment:

Organizational structure
Organizational culture
Inertia
Holacracy
PESTEL model


Create a Microsoft® Word document and title it Strategic Management Research Journal Part 3.


Write a 525- to 700-word response to the following prompts in your journal entry:


Assess whether Caterpillar Inc. is using the appropriate measures to verify its strategic effectiveness. Instructor Expectations: Determine CAT’s strategic goals. Is CAT accomplishing its strategic goals? How do you know? Include an analysis of the status of accomplishment of CAT’s strategic goals. How is CAT measuring the effectiveness of its accomplishment of its strategic goals? What are the best qualitative and quantitative measurements? Is this measurement effective? Use business metrics/measurements to support your results and examples.


Summarize Caterpillar Inc.’s organizational structure. Instructor Expectations- The answer to #2 is different from the answer to #3 below. The text is clear. Defend your choice.


Determine whether Caterpillar Inc.’s organizational structure is considered a traditional organizational structure or a Holacracy. Instructor Expectations: Determine which structure CAT uses; defend and explain your choice. What is the difference?



Justify why it’s important for Caterpillar Inc.’s leadership team to study and understand the company’s internal and external environments. Instructor Expectations: Justify why it is important for leadership to study and understand. The text offers a good base. Are the reasons the same for understanding the internal environment and external environment. Explain in detail; provide examples.



Evaluate Caterpillar Inc.’s competitive position and how they have responded to shifts in the external and internal environments. Instructor Expectations: This is a two-part question. 1. What is CAT’s competitive position as compared to its competitors. Explain and defend your position 2. Indicate specifically how CAT has recently responded to the shifts in the external and internal environments. Provide current examples of how. Details and examples help in the evaluation of how.


Recommend strategies in operational changes to support Caterpillar’s strategic plan, future business decisions, and improvement in business performance. Instructor Expectations: What is an operational change? Hint the chapter this week is about organizational structure. Does a company’s structure need modification in order to incorporate and support strategic plans and changes to the plans? Provide specific, clear strategies .To say you have no recommendations is not acceptable.