Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Case Analysis Outline[1]
Remember you are not to become an expert on the organization but rather an expert on the tools used to analyze the strategy.
I. Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose:

Identify the key facts of the case and show how they lead to a particular focus for your case analysis. List the key elements of the situation: people, places, activities, and contexts, and discuss the level of uncertainty associated with the information about the case.

Briefly discuss the organization you are studying. Include the Board of Directors, is the CEO also Chairman? What is going on with the organization now, any issues, lack of financial performance? Great financial performance? Litigations? Mission, vision, core values.
II. Situation Analysis – External:
Review all seven of the general environmental categories (technological, demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, global, and physical environment trends), looking for opportunities and threats that could impact the organization. Use Porter’s Five Forces model to analyze the company’s industry. Identify key competitors and analyze their strategies, core competencies, and competitive response.
Include ALL of the following. If you cannot find something for each, explain what you would be looking for and how it could be an opportunity or threat. Demonstrate why each category is important.
Remember to not include any reference to the organization which you are examining in the external environment. Doing so suggests you are conducting a SWOT and not laying out O/T. Not mentioning your organization will allow you to think broader and come up with more creative alternatives.
A. General Environment (O/T)
Political/Legal
Economy
Global
Demographics
Sociocultural
Technology
Sustainability (optional)

B. Porter’s Five Forces Industry Environment (O/T) [15 points]
Discuss why and when each are powerful or not. When each becomes a Threat.
Threat of Buyers
Threat of Suppliers
Threat of New Entry
Threat of Rivalry
Threat of Substitutes

C. Overview of All O/T
A nice summary of O/T is good here. Remember you cannot add any other O/T to your strategic alternatives below that has not been discussed here.
III. Situation Analysis – Internal:
Review factors within the company that are critical to the strategy of the firm and classify them as strengths or weaknesses. Use a value chain analysis to determine which parts of the company’s operations add value, and which do not.
Brief Overview of company
1. Analyze Value Chain and Fit for support
Do not forget to discuss Leadership (CEO, Board) and company culture in Firm Infrastructure. Any recent issues? New leadership, old leadership? Conflicts?
Draw a value chain for one business unit.
Fill in as many of the activities as possible
Do the activities reinforce or contradict one another. If reinforce you likely have FIT
If they do not reinforce one another, this would be a weakness
What is the business unit doing best? Do they have a core competence?
How does what they are doing best meet the VRIN criteria?
Does your organization have a core competence that will lead to a competitive advantage?
This becomes their Strength.

2. Business Level
Briefly analyze the same business unit’s Value Chain
What business level strategy are they following?
Cost leadership strategy or Differentiation strategy

3. Corporate Level Strategy
Pick another business unit. Briefly analyze that unit’s activities
Do you see any shared activities or transfer of core competences between this unit and the first? If so, then related diversification. Or do you see more of an internal capital markets (i.e., Berkshire Hathaway). If so unrelated diversification. If neither, you have a weakness. Do you need to spin out a business unit?

4. Overview of S/W
Summarize all S/W
Remember do not add any new S/W that are not analyzed here to the next sections below

IV. SWOT Analysis:
Compare strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the company, and show how they are related. What actions should the company take to maximize the strengths and opportunities, while minimizing the weaknesses and the threats?
Create a summary chart, draw arrows to connect Strengths that would mitigate a threat or exploit an opportunity. Draw arrows to connect Weaknesses that could be eliminated by an opportunity or threat (if the company is weak in technology and technology is a huge threat and or opportunity)
V. Strategy Formulation:
Identify three business-level or corporate strategies that will help the company to develop a competitive advantage in the future. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, select the strategy that you feel is most likely to benefit the company, and explain the reason for your decision using facts from the case, outside research, and theoretical information.
Explicitly match only previously identified Opportunities and Threats (External Environment and Industry Analysis) with Strengths and Weaknesses (Internal Analysis). What can the company do?
SW = OT
If the firm was weak in technology and technology was an opportunity or threat, could the firm purchase a technology firm to mitigate the threat and exploit the opportunity?

I provided the instructions on the uploads and I provided an example of how the internal analysis part should look like.