Case Study, Stage 1: Business Environment Analysis
Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the “UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center Case
Study.”
Business Environment Analysis for UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center
The UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center has been in business since 1980 and has seen an increase in
competition from small fitness centers, Cable TV and Internet Exercise channels and sites, WII and other
TV Game Console, various exercise equipment infomercials and increasing supply of Exercise DVD’s .
One of your fitness instructors told you that she saw a sign announcing the construction of Gold’s Gym (a
well-known national fitness franchise) a few blocks away. Your staff is worried and is looking to you to
provide reassurance that the competition will not affect the business. In addition, you have decided to
develop your strategic direction for bringing the UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center into the 21st century.
You know that Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is a useful tool for analyzing a business, understanding
the importance of the five competitive forces and helping to develop its Generic Strategy. It is also used
to aid organizations facing the challenging decisions of dealing with changes made by existing
competitors, entering a new industry or industry segment or developing a strategy for dealing with new
competition. The Five Forces Model helps determine the relative importance of the forces affecting
competitive position that could affect the future success of a business and includes:





Buyer Power
Supplier power
Threat of substitute products or services
Threat of new entrants
Rivalry among existing competitors
The Five Forces and the Generic Strategy are fully described and discussed in the textbook, and the
Business Model and Competitive Advantage are covered in Module 1. In order to analyze the Fitness
Center’s current competitive position and develop a Generic Strategic direction, you have decided to use
the Five Forces Model to analyze your Fitness Center business.
Purpose of this Assignment
This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts of the Porter Five Forces model to a
specific business, and develop a strategic direction for your business. This assignment specifically
addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:


analyze business strategy to recognize how technology solutions enable strategic outcomes
analyze internal and external business processes to identify information systems requirements.
Assignment
Using the textbook and external resources, write a short paper 2-3 pages in length, not including
References page and cover sheet, responding to the bulleted items below. Remember to use the APA
formatting rules and correctly cite and reference your sources with APA format. Use the Grading Rubric
to be sure you have covered everything. Submit your paper via your Assignment Folder as a Microsoft
Word document with your last name included in the filename.
Create a document that includes the following:



Brief introduction providing the background of the case, why you are writing and what is to come
in your paper. This should only be 3-5 sentences.
Perform a Porter's Five Forces analysis for your UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center, addressing
each force in one or two sentences and defining the force, its impact (Positive, Negative or
Neutral) on the Fitness Center and whether it should affect your strategy (Yes/No). (See
Textbook, pp. 15-18 and Course Module 1.) Do not identify solutions or things that you are doing
that would affect the factor. (The idea is to identify how the different forces affect the UR UMUC
Healthy Fitness Center and how much.) This provides you with a view of the business that will
allow you to develop a Generic Strategy and a Strategic Business Area on which to focus your
efforts.
Determine which of Porter's Three Generic Strategies (see textbook page 20) that you will use to
improve your UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center for the 21st century and explain why you selected
it and tie it into the significant forces that you have identified

Using your analysis of the Fitness Center’s Business Model (based on what you learned in Module
1), identify an important Strategic Business Area (they correspond to direct variables) that needs
to be improved so that we can implement our Generic Strategy and briefly explain your choice
(Refer to the Walmart Case example).that needs to be improved. The Strategic Business Areas
relate to the direct variables (explained in Module 1 and illustrated in the Walmart Example Case
Study). Explain why you have selected that Strategic Business Area and how improving it will
improve operation of the Center, including how it relates to the Generic Strategy you selected.

Within the selected Strategic Business Area, identify and select a single daily process that is
within and supports the Strategic Business Area that needs improvement . Note: A
process is defined in your textbook as “a standardized set of activities that accomplish a specific
task, such as processing a customer’s order.” (Baltzan, 2012, p. 20) (In Stage 2 you will model
the AS IS process and the TO BE Process, and propose a technology solution to improve the
process you identify here, so select a process that is appropriate for a technology solution.)

At the end of your report with your References enter the following headings and complete the
information using one concise sentence for each. You will be starting each subsequent stage by
including this information as a method to keep us focused on the objectives.
GENERIC STRATEGY:
STRATEGIC BUSINESS AREA:
PROCESS TO BE IMPROVED:
In determining which process you select for improvement, be sure to keep in mind the remaining projects
within this Case Study. You should review Stages 2-5 to get an understanding of the future projects that
build on this initial stage and to aid you in selecting a process (and later proposing a technology solution)
that can support the requirements of the follow-on assignments.
Do not start on Stage 2 until you receive feedback on this Stage as the Process that you select is crucial
and I may recommend that you change processes so that you can successfully complete the case. You
MUST incorporate the recommended changes in all subsequent Stages.
The "right" and "wrong" answers have to do with whether or not you correctly incorporated the course
concepts from the textbook and addressed all parts of the . You need to do some external research on at
least one aspect of the assignment - your choice - and incorporate it and cite/reference it in APA format
in your response. The specific strategic area you select for a technology solution is not as important as
that it makes sense in light of the course content and the Case Study and is well supported with your
application of the course concepts and your external research. Use the Rubric below to be sure you
have covered all aspects.
GRADING RUBRIC:
Attribute
Full Points
Partial Points
No points
Five Forces
Analysis
Analysis covers all
5 forces, defining
them and their
impact on the
Fitness Center
t(Positive,
Negative or
Neutral) and
whether it should
affect your
strategy (Yes/No),
demonstrates
understanding of
course concepts,
analysis and
critical thinking.
Analysis covers
1-5 forces,
and/or lacks
definitions
and/or affect on
the Fitness
Center or
strategy
(Positive,
Negative or
Neutral)
(Yes/No); and
may be lacking
in demonstration
of understanding
of course
concepts,
analysis, and/or
critical thinking.
Analysis not
included, or
does not
address any of
the 5 forces.
Generic strategy
identified,
explained and tied
to the 5 forces
analysis; and
demonstrates
understanding of
course concepts,
analysis and
critical thinking.
Generic strategy
not identified
and/or not
defined; and or
not tied to the 5
forces analysis,
may be lacking
in demonstration
of understanding
of course
concepts, tie in
Generic strategy
not included.
Possible
Points
30
COMMENTS:
Generic
Strategy
15
Points
Earned
to the 5 forces
analysis and/or
critical thinking.
COMMENTS:
Strategic Area
for
Improvement
Strategic Business
area is selected
based on the
analysis of the
Business Model
and is adequately
described
demonstrating
understanding of
course concepts,
analysis and
critical thinking.
Strategic
Business area
does not come
from analysis of
the Business
Model and/or is
not adequately
described and/or
is lacking in
demonstration of
understanding of
course concepts,
analysis and/or
critical thinking.
No identification
and discussion
of strategic area
for improvement
is provided.
20
Business Process
identified is
aligned with
strategic business
area above;
process is
applicable to the
Case Study and is
appropriate for a
technology
solution
improvement.
Business Process
identified is not
aligned with
strategic
business area
above and/or
process is not
applicable to the
Case Study
and/or is not
appropriate for a
technology
solution
improvement.
Process for
improvement is
not identified.
10
COMMENTS:
Process for
Improvement
COMMENTS:
External
Research
At least one
source other than
the textbook is
incorporated, is
substantive and
used effectively.
Source(s) used
are relevant and
timely.(not a
definition of
terms) and
contribute to the
analysis and
support
conclusions.
A source other
than the
textbook may be
used, but is not
properly
incorporated,
substantive or
used and
contribute to the
analysis and
support
conclusions,
and/or is not
effective or
appropriate
and/or is not
relevant or
timely.
No external
research is
incorporated.
10
Report reflects
effective
organization;
correct sentence
structure,
grammar and
spelling;
presented in a
professional
format; references
are appropriately
incorporated and
cited using APA
style.
Report is not
well organized,
and/or contains
grammar and/or
spelling errors;
and/or does not
follow APA style
for references
and citations.
Report is
extremely poorly
written and does
not convey the
information.
15
TOTAL Points
Points
Recorded
(total points x
.10)
100
COMMENTS:
Report Format
COMMENTS:
100 points
=10% of final
course grade
RECOMMENDATIONS: