SWOT Analysis

Paper details:
The Project: To complete an analysis of the Internet strategy of a chosen enterprise, either an old economy‚ firm/organization that has integrated use of the Internet into its corporate strategy and daily operations or a pure-play Internet business.

The Process: Choose an organization as the subject of analysis and submit it to the instructor for approval no later than Week 2.
The business must be small enough to deal with in a reasonable way. That suggests a strategic business unit or even a product/brand of a large enterprise.
No two students will be permitted to study the same business; choices will be approved on a first come, first served basis.
Doing this paper on a current employer will not be approved. That is a prescription for learning very little. Doing it on a major competitor is a prescription for learning a lot. Likewise, doing it on a best practices firm, even one outside a known industry, is a prescription for learning even more. Consider non-profit organizations, either for those in the non-profit field or for those who wish to seriously broaden their perspective.

The Format: To make the project more manageable, it has been divided into two parts:

Part 1 is the analysis of the current strategy and situation including
A brief background on the business and its situation
A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis
A competitor (competitive) analysis. If the product/brand/business unit has a large number of
competitors, identify 3 or 4 that represent the greatest threat and briefly profile them,
concentrating on their strengths and weaknesses
A discussion of the firm’s Internet business model including a concise statement of its value
proposition and its Internet revenue streams.
Be sure to use citations as needed and to include a References Page that is complete up to
this point in the research.
Much of the timely material for this paper will be found on the Internet, but the Internet alone is unlikely to provide all the material needed unless using paid subscriptions to a number of general business and trade publications. Consult the DU LInC business databases for access to publications from Business Week to the Wall Street Journal to archives of the New York Times. The databases will also give you access to trade publications that cannot be accessed free on the web. Length of 6 pages is reasonable for this section of the paper.

Part 2 is the analysis of how the firm is executing its Internet marketing strategy. Some aspects, like technical infrastructure, data acquisition and evaluation metrics, can only be assumed from outside the organization, but students can make an educated guess. Other things like customer acquisition, retention and service strategies can be at least partially observed in addition to the research material that has been located. The outline for part 2 is:
Target customer segment(s)
Customer acquisition and conversion strategies
Customer retention strategies
Customer service strategies
Integration into overall marketing strategy
Technical infrastructure required (including, but not limited to, Web site)
Customer data acquisition, management and use
Evaluation used/needed
Social and regulatory issues
Other relevant issues/topics
Conclusion, with a significant component of your own analyses and insights about the nature of the firm’s integrated marketing program and its future prospects