Subject: Strategy Question – Earth’s General Store
Public
Strategy Question – Earth’s General Store: Balancing
People, Planet, and Profit in Organic-Food Retailing
If you think you need information about this company and its
operations not included in the case to formulate your Strategy
question answers, you may make assumptions. State those
assumptions at the start of the paper.
Information about the company after February 2016 is not relevant to
the Strategy question and should not influence your analysis or
recommendations.
Part 1 (60%)
Systematically analyze Earth’s General Store’s resources and
capabilities using the most appropriate framework of your choice from
Strategic Management (STMT-500). Draw from this analysis to
describe the company’s five most salient sources of competitive
advantage (which can also include sources of competitive
disadvantage and competitive parity as you deem relevant).
Your full analysis may be placed partially or wholly in an appendix if
word count becomes an issue, but material in the appendix will not be
marked.
Part 2 (40%)
State which of Porter’s generic strategies best characterises Earth’s
General Store’s current direction, and briefly explain your choice. What
generic strategy do you think they should use moving forward?
Prepare a persuasive summary of the reasons for your choice, using
information from your Part 1 analysis. Discuss cost and differentiation
in your response, regardless of your choice of strategy. Finally,
describe two new specific actions they can take to grow company
revenues and advance the generic strategy you recommended for
them.
Answer Formatting Guidelines:
 Use APA formatting for any references used, other than the
case study itself.
 You have 1000 words (plus the usual 5% overage) to answer
Parts 1 and 2. Plan your word count accordingly.
Made Public: 16-Nov-17 10:51