Case analysis: Situation analysis, stakeholder analysis, and Communication plan

This case has two parts:

1. Situation analysis and stakeholder analysis
2. Communication plan

Assume that John Fahey, National Geographic Society’s (NGS) CEO, has actually hired someone to assume the e-commerce role described in the case study. You are the communication adviser to this new senior vice president, who will be reporting directly to Fahey.

Part 1: Situation Analysis (20 points)

Your first task is to perform a situation analysis. What are the primary communication challenges, internal and external, that must be addressed by the new senior vice president? This is not a research paper, so you should not do any research on NGS! Rely only on the information in the case as the factual basis for your analysis. Be sure to reference material from the Gillis text, as well as the articles I’ve posted to help frame your analysis.

Part 1: Stakeholder Analysis Matrix (20 points)

Then conduct a stakeholder analysis using the attached matrix: Stakeholder Analysis Matrix(2).docx

You should decide on the 5-8 key internal and external target audiences for the e-commerce initiative.

Word length for all of Part 1: 1000-1200 words

Part 2: Communication Plan (40 points)

The SVP has asked you to draft a communication plan in support of the e-commerce initiatives for the coming twelve months. Your plan should support two primary business objectives:

1) Strengthen the relationship with NGS subscriber/members in order to drive revenue growth;

2) Coordinate web-based offerings and outreach across NGS’s various departments in order to drive efficiency and promote cross-functional innovation.

You plan should include:

• A narrative description of your strategic approach, referencing appropriate course readings, including the principles of persuasion that you will apply
• 1 communication objective for each business objective
• Target audiences/influencers for each communication objective
• One communication tactic to help achieve each of the communication objectives, including a description of each tactic, the channels/media to be used to implement the tactic, and 2-3 success measures

Just like with Helix, you should use the below expanded outline (do the below for each business objective).

• Business Objective 1
• Communication Objective 1
• Target Audience 1
• Influencers Impacting Target Audience 1
• A narrative description of your strategic approach
  • Know, Think, Feel – Where is your focus? How are you hoping to impact your audience with your communication efforts?
  • Reference appropriate course readings
  • Include principles of persuasion
• Tactics You Will Use to Accomplish Objective
  • What channel(s) will you use to accomplish this tactic ?
  • What Principles of Persuasion relate to the tactics?
  • What are your success indicators? Make sure your metrics are SMART (reference SMART goals in the textbook if you need additional information)

Word length: 1000-1200 words

This is not a research paper – you should only reference (follow APA guidelines for in-text citations) readings from courses. No reference list is required.