Monster Beverage STRATEGIC GROUP: Coca-Cola (KO) PepsiCo (PEP) Monster Beverage (MNST) Keurig/Dr Pepper (KDP). Note: Refer to them by their ticker symbol (i.e., “KO”, “PEP”, “MNST”, and “KDP”) throughout your paper (except the references the refer to them by name, of course). Note: You MUST use ONLY these companies. Ignore the companies named “Embotelladora Andina” … Continue reading “Monster Beverage | My Assignment Tutor”
Monster Beverage STRATEGIC GROUP: Coca-Cola (KO) PepsiCo (PEP) Monster Beverage (MNST) Keurig/Dr Pepper (KDP). Note: Refer to them by their ticker symbol (i.e., “KO”, “PEP”, “MNST”, and “KDP”) throughout your paper (except the references the refer to them by name, of course). Note: You MUST use ONLY these companies. Ignore the companies named “Embotelladora Andina” and “American Beverage S.A.” These are international companies that are not in your strategic group. DEFINITIONS: In this industry, note the following terms and DO NOT CONFUSE THEM: Raw material suppliers: These are the companies that supply raw materials that get turned into soft drinks.Manufacturers / Producers: These are the companies that purchase raw materials from suppliers and CREATE the soft drink products. These companies include the companies in the strategic group.Customers: These are the companies that purchase the soft drinks in bulk from the manufacturers. These would include wholesalers, retailers, etc. (This includes Walmart, gas stations, Publix, etc.).Consumers: These are the people who actually drink the soft drinks (i.e., you and me). The consumers buy from the customers. (The consumers are actually the retail or wholesale organizations who buy from the companies that produce customers, not customers of the manufacturing industry). Note: Do not use the terms “buyer” or “supplier” because they are ambiguous. Rather, use the term “consumer” or “raw material supplier”. WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 Go online and get the latest couple of annual report (10K filing) for your company, as well as the other companies in the strategic grouping that your instructor assigned (see ablve). Read through it and take some preliminary notes. Note: YOU MUST USE THE SEC’S EDGAR DATABASE AT https://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml TO GET THE LATEST 10K AND COMPANY FINANCIAL DATA. OTHER SITES AND DATABASES GIVE ADJUSTED INFORMATION THAT IS OFTEN INCORRECT. Compare your firm’s strategies and strategic objectives to those of the other competitors in your strategic group. What issues do you note? Is it struggling toward the same markets, similar objectives, and similar business models, or, are they completely different? (NOTE: What you are doing here is comparing the areas, strategies, markets, etc., in which your company is actually competing with other companies.). NOTE: Check to make sure your company has mission and vision statements that look reasonable. If they don’t and other companies do, it’s a weakness. Do some non-academic research (i.e., use “Google”) and find out what you can about any serious issues the members of the firm’s Board of Directors might have (for example, a CEO arrested for something, turnover within the Board of Directors, vacant positions, etc.). What did you find? Note: What you are looking for here are ethical and legal violations committed by members of the Board of Directors, which would be listed as a weakness for your company if it has more than its competitors. Based on information from the annual report and/or 10K, how would you describe your firm’s current financial condition? Normally, one would use financial ratios and other pertinent income and balance sheet data to support an analysis. However, because many of you have not had any financial analysis courses in your educational program, it is acceptable to stick with those that are being reported by the company that you are reporting on, or those that are reported by other competitors in the industry. Remember, the information you are looking for is almost definitely in the annual filings (10Ks) for the competitors in your strategic group. Make sure you discuss Net Income, Quick Ratio, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Total Revenue. If you don’t know how to calculate one of the ratios, you should be able to Google it fairly easily or just ask the instructor. (i.e., Just Google something like, “Acme’s Quick Ratio” and you will get it quickly with several references. Use the most reputable and recent source). Create Table 1 for your financial analysis in the format shown in the sample submission. Make sure all cells across each row are in the same units of measure, format, etc. The Net Income and Total Revenue lines are normally in billions (i.e., “$3.456B” or “$3,456M”). The Quick Ratio is always a decimal number, but the ROA and ROE are a bit odd. If you just do the math to calculate the ROA and ROE, then only the number goes in the cell. However, if you multiply by 100 in doing the math, then you need to add “%” (i.e., “0.42” or “42%” would both be correct). Either way, make sure your formatting is consistent across each row. Note: Don’t get the Group Average column from anything online. Once you complete the other cells in the table, manually calculate the averages across the row and enter that in the “Group Average” column. I generally double-check the math when I grade, so make sure you get it correct. Not averaging correctly is a Major issue and will result in a larger point penalty. Look at the table and compare your company to the other companies and to the group average. Where is it stronger than, or weaker than, the others? Take notes here. Note any items you find in your list of strengths and weaknesses (see below). Go back to the information you discovered when doing your PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces analyses, only this time reconsider these models in light of the company you have been assigned, as well as the other companies in the strategic group. Based on the information you have for your firm, plus what you have for your firm’s competitors, note any areas where your company might be stronger or weaker than the competitors mentioned earlier, or the group average. Again, these will be used when you build your list (below). For example, you might find that currency exchange rates are unfavorable for companies doing business in certain areas, but might not be bad for companies doing nearly all of their business in the US. So, a company doing business in the US is stronger than companies in the strategic group doing business overseas in terms of its vulnerability to currency exchange rate fluctuations. Finally, just as you did in Writing Assignment #1, use your notes to create a list that contains at least one strength and one weakness for each of the 11 model factors (11 strengths and 11 weaknesses, all in one list). Keep in mind that strengths and weaknesses apply to your firm in particular, as they compare to other companies (remember, strengths and weaknesses are only factors if they cause your company to be significantly different from another company, companies, or the group average.). Note: Begin each with the name of the company, then “is stronger than” or “is weaker than”, then either “the industry”, “the strategic group”, or a particular competitor’s name, and (finally), HOW they are stronger or weaker (“in terms of net income”, “in terms of total revenue”, etc.) For example, one might say that “Acme Anti-Roadrunner has a stronger ROA than the strategic group average” or “Roadrunner-Defenses-R-Us is stronger than the average company in the strategic group in terms of consumer loyalty”. Again, make sure that EVERY item in your list of strengths and weaknesses is properly cited with an outside source. Remember, Strengths and Weaknesses are similar to Opportunities and Threats, except… They do NOT apply to the entire group, but rather apply mostly to YOUR company.They are clearly under the control or influence of your company.They are discussed ONLY as they relate to other competitors and/or strategic group averages.They are NOT something the company can choose to do. That is, they are not actions a company can take, has taken, or is currently taking.They are not events that have happened in the past, though the lasting effects of those events might be suitable to describe (in PRESENT TENSE grammar!). Go back and look at your list of opportunities and threats from Assignment #1. Is your company any stronger or weaker in terms of one of the phenomena you listed? If so, then you should have them listed here as strengths and weaknesses as well (i.e., “XYZ company is stronger in terms of adapting to currency exchange rate fluctuations than most of the other companies in the strategic group”). Add your references to Source Manager, as you did with Writing Assignment #1, make sure every item in your list of strengths and weaknesses has a valid citation (added using Source Manager), and then update your references section. Don’t forget to correct the formatting (font type, size, line spacing, font color, etc.). You should end up with a single, complete references section.
