Digital Commons Network^™

A Strategic Audit Of Seaworld, Thomas Wolfe

Honors Theses

A strategic audit of SeaWorld

Strategic Audit Of Amazon.Com, Inc, Sarah E. Kenny

Honors Theses

Amazon has recently grown as a company, surpassing many other online retailing websites. However this success is threatened by Amazon's reputation as an evil company. Amazon faces numerous lawsuits for unlawful termination and inhumane warehouse conditions. This current generation of consumers dislikes supporting companies that they view as evil, meaning that if a company entered the market that had better business practices, consumers would quickly leave Amazon. The audit suggests that Amazon combats these views by improving warehouse conditions, increasing minimum wage at their workplaces, and increasing benefits for workers. This audit also suggests that Amazon improves one of their …

Google Ads: A Strategic Audit, Jessee Zhang

Honors Theses

Google began as an internet search product, allowing users to find relevant sites based on a search query. Over the past several decades, Google has become an extremely large and profitable business though online digital advertisements. While Google has a diverse product mix, the overwhelming majority of its revenue is generated through ads. This strategic audit first looks at the current external environment, looking at the political, economic, social, and technological changes and opportunities relevant to the industry. Then, it looks at the current competitive environment and shows the profitability of the business because of the large barrier to entry. …

A Strategic Audit Of Boston Beer, Jake Lindvall

Honors Theses

The Boston Beer Company ("Boston Beer") is an American brewery founded in 1984 whose mission is "to seek long-term profitable growth by offering the highest quality product to the U.S. beer drinker." Headquartered in Boston, the company is well-known for its flagship brand bearing the name of founding father Samuel Adams. This and other Boston Beer products have become popular across the United States in the past few decades; the Brewers Association ranks Boston Beer as the sixth largest brewery nationally. However, when subsetting to breweries defined as "craft," Boston Beer ranks even higher as the second largest brewery nationally. …

Strategic Audit: Target Corporation, Andee Capell

Honors Theses

Target Corporation is a notable publicly traded discount retailer in the United States. In recent years they have gone through significant changes including a new CEO Brian Cornell and the closing of their Canadian stores. With change comes a new strategy, which includes growing stores in the United States. In order to be able to continue to grow Target should consider multiple strategic options. Using internal and external analysis, while examining Target’s profitability ratios recommendations were made to proceed with their growth both in profit and capacity. After recommendations are made implementation and contingency plans can be made.

Strategic Audit Of Proxibid, Maxim Van Klinken

Honors Theses

Proxibid is a platform for connecting buyers and sellers of high-value items. As part of their continued growth, they are running into issues with the categorization of their goods into their hierarchy since the classification of these items is becoming a monumental task that will become unreasonable for humans to do. They have dedicated employees to manually classify well over 10,000 incoming items into over 2000 categories every week. The bulk of those items come in the later half of the work week. This paper will focus on how to tackle this problem while remaining competitive and preventing future growth …

Strategic Audit: Starbucks, Madison Clements

Honors Theses

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee brand that is expanding operations. There are many obstacles to this level of growth, and the company needs to take great care in the differentiating the way stores are built in the United States and internationally. In order to establish brand longevity, the company should examine several strategic options. A final strategy can be chosen based on the results of a situational analysis, financial analysis, and company goals. After a final strategic recommendation has been made, a contingency plan will be created to ensure long-term success.

A Strategic Audit Of Microsoft Azure, Lee Fitchett

Honors Theses

This paper looks at Microsoft Azure's current strategies and proposes possible options for the future. It looks at several competitors and explores how Azure will affect and react to Microsoft’s vision.

A Strategic Audit Of Microsoft, Alexander Eitzman

Honors Theses

This paper provides an analysis of Microsoft’s current market placement and performance, based off external and internal factors, as well as tools such as SWOT analysis. The goal of this audit is to provide an understanding of Microsoft’s current positioning and strategy, as well as a look into possible paths going forward. Additionally, alternative strategies are discussed, and a recommendation is made to which Microsoft should pursue to continue its success. The recommendation reached is that Microsoft should focus on keeping numbers of active Windows users up, as well as pursue a subscription-based model for Windows updates and pricing. The …

Nvidia Corporation: A Strategic Audit, Daric Teske

Honors Theses

NVIDIA is company that has been involved with the production of computer hardware known as a graphics processor units (GPUs) since the turn of the century. Over the past decade, NVIDIA has begun to explore other applications of its proprietary technology, including the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated computing. Looking from a business perspective, this strategic audit analyzes the history of the company and its current state, as well as industry outlooks to provide a strategic recommendation. Annual reports, market reports, and press releases were all utilized to provide the best perspective of the industry possible. Though NVIDIA …

A Strategic Audit Of Tesla, Abigail Hoelzlhammer

Honors Theses

This strategic audit will examine the problems Tesla is currently facing, do a Porter’s Five Forces analysis of the company, review environmental factors affecting Tesla, state Tesla’s current strategy, evaluate their distinguishing resources and competitive advantages, and end with a strategic recommendation along with implementation requirements.

One of Tesla’s vehicles crashed in March 2018 while on autopilot, which caused their stock to drop significantly. They’re also experiencing issues with the production of the new Model 3. The current political situation and growing demand for the parts Tesla needs are environmental factors that are having a negative effect. On the other …

A Strategic Audit Of Chegg, Jacob Melcher

Honors Theses

The paper researches and discusses the strategy of Chegg in the past and future with regards to what was taught in UNL’s MNGT 495H course. The data was compiled from online resources including the company’s website and financials along with insights learned during an internship and interviews done in the Summer of 2016 and Spring of 2018. The insights of how Chegg went from a textbook rental company to the student learning hub it is today include experienced leaders, acquisitions and mergers, and being ahead of the curve in the industry. The final recommendation for Chegg’s strategy is to widen …

Intuit Strategic Audit, Tara Brookhouser

Honors Theses

Intuit is a financial technology company located in Mountain View, California. Intuit’s goal is to “power prosperity around the world”. The company does this by building software to help everyday people manage their money. Intuit has three main business segments: Small Business, Consumer Tax, and ProConnect.

Intuit’s Small Business Segment focuses on creating software to help small businesses in their accounting. This segment generates the most revenue for the company, but it lacks a global presence. The Consumer Tax Segment creates tax filing software for the general public. It is facing an uncertain future, as competing free software is becoming …