Assignment 1: Discussion—Predicting and Developing a Long-Term Growth Strategy

To develop a strategic plan, as a nonaccounting manager, you need to analyze and link management accounting data and performance information with business strategies. You also need to extend the scope of management accounting beyond the organization. For this perspective, you will need to focus on variables that are external to the firm, such as variables relating to markets, customers, and competitors. This external focus will help you develop a sustainable competitive advantage, which is the primary element of your long-term growth strategy.

In this assignment, you will analyze the factors that affect the long-term growth strategy of a company.

Tasks:

Respond to the following:

• What can you learn from the financial statements of competitors that determine the relative cost position of your company?
• What are some of the ways in which you can secure a sustainable cost advantage over the competition?
• How does maintaining a strong understanding of relative costs help you maintain the competitive advantage?
• How do you use cost structure to differentiate products? Do you think product differentiation is a successful growth strategy? Why or why not?
• What is the usefulness of conducting a customer profitability analysis?

Submission Details:

By Saturday, March 4, 2017, post your response to the Discussion Area. Through Wednesday, March 8, 2017, read and respond to at least two other classm

Module 5 Discussion

Order Description
Stress has been related to low fecundity (reproductive success) in all animal populations. Evolutionarily, the stress pathway that enables prey to escape predators and animals to evade danger can have harmful effects when activated over long periods of time. In populations of animals, limited resources and low nutrition trigger pathways of response to the long-term stressors associated with overcrowding that result in low reproductive success. Do a little research on infertility in the United States. How does the stress response relate to infertility in our modern population?