There are two components to this Units application assignment. First, you will be considering adaptive, market entry, and competitive strategic alternatives. Second, you will be constructing a Boston Control Group (BCG) or Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) analysis.

Strategic Alternatives

Now that the situational analyses of the students identified healthcare department has been completed, its time to formulate the strategy. This is to be accomplished by considering strategic alternatives. The student, in Unit 5, has examined the directional strategy of the department by looking at the vision, mission (purpose), core values, and goals. Now, it is time to consider appropriate adaptive strategies, market entry strategies, and competitive strategies. In Unit 7, the student will tackle the implementation strategies, so it is purposely excluded from this assignment. To complete this assignment, the student will need to refer to the documents labeled Decision Logic for Strategic Formulation and Strategic Thinking-Hierarchy of Strategic Decisions and Alternatives, which can be located under the tab Doc Sharing in the course shell.

The Internet provides rich sources for defining the specific strategic alternatives, identifying the pros and cons of each, and under what circumstances would each alternative be considered a viable option. An understanding of each alternative will be necessary as the student formulates the healthcare departments comprehensive strategy.

To complete this assignment, the student will need to download the table from the link below.

Strategic Alternatives TablePreview the document

BCG and SPACE Analyses

Once the strategic alternatives have been identified and decided upon, its equally important that management take time to evaluate these strategic decisions and choices. To accomplish this, there are several techniques that can be utilized (e.g., external/internal  strategy matrix, product life cycle (PLC) analysis, Boston Control Group (BCG) portfolio analysis, extended portfolio matrix analysis, strategic position and action evaluation (SPACE) analysis, and program evaluation). By performing one or more of these analyses, management is able to validate the appropriateness of their strategic decisions.

While evaluating strategic decision and alternatives is an important step in the strategic planning process, if there is a misalignment between the strategic decisions and the outcomes of the evaluation analyses, this doesnt mean management has to go back to the beginning and start again. It simply means that management should take another look at their decision process. For this portion of the application assignment, you are to perform a SPACE or BCG analysis and determine if there is alignment with the strategies you previously formulated.

To aid you in completing your SPACE or BCG analyses, you are encouraged to utilize the many resources available through the Internet and elsewhere. A few Internet resources have been identified and made available to you through the supplemental materials for Unit 6. Since both forms of analysis will involve the use of visual images (the SPACE matrix will have a diagram and the BCG will have a 2 X 2 table), you will need to link the analysis to your initial posting.