MGT 497 WK 4 & 5 Assignment

Audit Exercise Paper Four  DUE 9/16/14

Write a two to three page paper that addresses the following audit exercise, found at the end of the chapter. Include an introductory paragraph about the business you have chosen, its mission, and its immediate M.T.I goals. As noted in the Final Paper Guidelines at the beginning of the Course Guide, your selected should remain consistent throughout the course.

Audit Exercise Chapter 7: This exercise involves assessing value analysis and costs in acquiring new technology or the company buying a smaller firm.  Includes the information phase, speculation phase, evaluation and analysis phase, and implementation phase.

The complete instructions for the audit exercises can be found in Week Five of your online course or in the “Components of Course Evaluation” section of this guide.

 

AUDIT EXERCISE

The implementation task can be large, but it is possible to make the changes needed. Keeping track of what has been done and what needs to be done to integrate the various systems and processes of two entities can be daunting. One method often suggested is a value analysis process. The purpose of most alliances is to add value, and all organizations want to add value to themselves and to the marketplace. Value analysis answers the following questions:

_ What are the parts, processes, or pieces that can add value to the alliance or merger/ acquisition?

_ What does the alliance do or what is it supposed to do?

_ How much will the alliance cost (money, time, people, and other resources)?

_ Is there any other way to get the technology in a more effective or efficient way?

_ How much will the alternative cost (money, time, people, and other resources)?

   The value analysis itself is a four-phase process.

1. Information phase: Define the problem.

2. Speculation phase: Generate ideas that could work.

3. Evaluation and analysis phase: Analyze the ideas based on cost, feasibility, and goal attainment potential.

4. Implementation phase: Propose how to implement the integration or idea that is best for the organization and the conditions.

   If your organization were to acquire new technology by buying a smaller entrepreneurial firm, what actions would you suggest in each of the four phases to ensure that your firm would get the desired synergies?

(White 258-259)

White, Margaret A., Garry Bruton. The Management of Technology and Innovation: A Strategic Approach, 2nd Edition. South-Western, 2014-08-04. VitalBook file.

 

Strategic Information Technology Plan (Due 9/20/14)

The audit exercises collectively comprise the Strategic Information Technology Plan.  Students will each select a business organization which the will refer to for every assigned audit exercise.  Students respond to each audit exercise as it applies to their chosen organization, integrating citations from the text and other scholarly sources. Each audit exercise should be accompanied by a title page and reference page formatted according to APA style.
 
Include side headings, according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, where appropriate in longer audit exercises.  For instance, in the Audit Exercise in Appendix 1, you would include the side headings:

• Assessing sustainability, CSR, and Ethics
• Responsibility to Stakeholders
• Social Responsibility and the Bottom Line
• Innovative Actions

The first audit exercise paper should include an introductory paragraph about the student’s selected business, its mission, and its immediate management of technology and innovation (M.T.I.) goals.  This introductory paragraph should be included in each audit exercise paper submitted in the course. 

The length of the audit exercise papers should be about two pages per exercise, not including the title and reference pages. The audit exercises can be found at the end of each respective chapter of the textbook, The Management of Technology & Innovation: A Strategic Approach.

Focus of the Final Paper
During Week Five, the student cohesively brings together the four audit exercise papers, the final two audit exercises, and an executive summary to form a Strategic Information Technology Plan. This final paper should be eighteen to twenty pages in length and should incorporate any comments or suggestions made by the instructor on the audit exercise papers.

The executive summary is an abbreviated overview of the entire plan, and as such, it should touch upon all major points while engaging the reader. It should make the reader want to read the plan. Students should assume that the target audience is familiar with the computer terminology learned throughout this course.

Audit Exercises

• Audit Exercise, Chapter 1: This exercise involves assessing a firm’s M.T.I capabilities with strategy.
• Audit Exercise, Appendix 1: This exercise involves assessing sustainability and evaluating company stakeholder responsibility, the bottom line, and technology and innovation responsibility of the company.
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 3: This exercise involves the evaluation of the firm.  Addresses: demand for the product, factors that could block success of an innovation, competitive response, standards, level of novelty of the innovation, and other factors.
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 4: This exercise involves assimilating a checklist for innovation for the organization to consider and determining the organization’s readiness to implement an innovation strategy.
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 5: This exercise involves synthesizing a strategy score card of four elements: financial results, customers, human resources, and sustainability. 
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 6: This exercise involves developing Information Technology plans and strategy for mergers and acquisitions, planning for the acquisition of new technology during a merger, and measuring evaluation and control.
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 7: This exercise involves assessing value analysis and costs in acquiring new technology or the company buying a smaller firm.  This includes the information phase, speculation phase, evaluation and analysis phase, and implementation phase.
• Audit Exercise, Appendix 3: This exercise involves applying the process model (risk assessment, decision analysis, options, current position) and relating the processes to internal innovation and obtaining technology.  Evaluating the effect each strategy will have on organization structure and processes. 
• Audit Exercise, Chapter 9: This exercise involves ensuring the results of new technology, evaluating the process for implementing the building of capabilities, measuring capabilities (external environmental factors, strategic capabilities, and strategic decisions).

Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:

1. Must be eighteen to twenty double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
2. Must include a title page with the following:
   • Title of paper
   • Student’s name
   • Course name and number
   • Instructor’s name
   • Date submitted
3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
6. Must use at least five scholarly sources.
7. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
8. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.