| Course | STR 581 Strategic Planning & Implementation (STR/581) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Graduate internal analysis |
| Length | about 1,161 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for STR 581 Week 2
What Cascade Does Better Than Rivals: An Internal Analysis of a Coffee Roaster and Cafe Chain
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
STR/581: Strategic Planning & Implementation
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Cascade Bean Roasters, its cafes, people and figures are composites written for a model paper.
Week 1 found that Cascade Bean Roasters, a composite Portland roaster and cafe chain with $142 million in revenue, is squeezed by costly beans, thinner downtown crowds, crowded cafe markets and grocery chains that hold the upper hand. This paper asks what Cascade brings to that environment: which resources and capabilities could support an advantage and which are weaknesses.
The Resource-Based View
Barney (1991) held that an edge endures only when the resources behind it are useful, uncommon, expensive for others to reproduce and lacking close substitutes, adding that copying is hardest when resources depend on unique history, causal ambiguity or social complexity. Grant (1991) proposed a resource-based approach to strategy formulation: identify the firm's resources and capabilities, appraise their potential to generate returns, select a strategy that best exploits them and identify gaps that need filling. These ideas are often summarized in the VRIO test: value, rarity, imitability and organization to capture value.
Inventory of Resources
Tangible resources include a 60,000-square-foot roasting plant in Portland running at about 55 percent of capacity, 48 cafe leases, delivery trucks and about $9 million in cash. Intangible resources include the Cascade brand, recognized by about 70 percent of coffee drinkers in Portland and Seattle in a company survey, direct sourcing relationships with six farmer cooperatives in Colombia, Ethiopia and Guatemala built over 15 years, a loyalty app with 210,000 active members and a team of nine roasters, two with international cupping certifications. Capabilities include consistent roasting of specialty coffee at scale, sourcing and quality control, cafe operations and grocery account management.
The Value Chain
Mapping activities shows where value and cost arise (Grant, 2019). Upstream, sourcing and roasting create distinctive quality: Cascade's coffees score above 85 on specialty grading scales, and its sourcing story is a reason customers and grocery buyers choose it. Midstream, packaging and distribution are standard. Downstream, cafe operations account for about 70 percent of company labor costs; service quality is good but not different from competitors', and store designs are similar to other specialty cafes. Marketing relies mostly on the brand and app.
Applying VRIO
Direct sourcing relationships: valuable, since they secure high-quality coffee and a credible ethical story; rare, since few regional roasters have 15-year direct ties; costly to imitate, since trust built over years cannot be bought quickly; and organized, with a sourcing director and quality lab. A potential sustained advantage.
Roasting expertise: valuable and rare among regional competitors; hard to imitate because it rests on tacit skill; organized through a quality program. A potential sustained advantage.
Regional brand: valuable and somewhat rare, but brands can erode and competitors can build regional recognition. A temporary advantage.
Loyalty app: valuable but not rare; national chains have better apps. Competitive parity at best.
Cafe network: valuable for distribution, but locations and formats are easily matched, and downtown locations now underperform. Parity or disadvantage.
What competitors cannot copy is fifteen years of trust with farmers in Huila and Yirgacheffe, not a cafe layout or an app.
How the Sourcing Advantage Was Built
The sourcing relationships did not appear by chance. Fifteen years ago, Cascade's founder began visiting cooperatives in Huila, Colombia, paying above-market prices for higher-quality lots and funding drying beds and cupping training. Over time, the cooperatives began reserving their best lots for Cascade and sharing harvest forecasts early. In last year's poor harvest, when many roasters could not secure specialty coffee at any price, Cascade received its full contracted volume. That history illustrates Barney's point about path dependence: a rival with money cannot simply buy fifteen years of trust, shared investment and reliable behavior.
The People Behind the Capabilities
Capabilities rest on people. Cascade's head roaster has been with the company for 12 years and trained most of the current team; two roasters hold international cupping certifications. The sourcing director speaks Spanish and has personal relationships with cooperative leaders. These individuals are a strength and a risk: if the head roaster or sourcing director left, part of the capability would leave with them. The internal analysis therefore flags succession and knowledge sharing as gaps the strategy must address.
Cafe Operations in Detail
A closer look at the cafes explains their thin margins. Labor accounts for about 38 percent of cafe revenue, above the 30 to 32 percent typical for efficient chains, partly because Cascade's cafes are larger and staffed for peak hours that downtown no longer reaches. Average ticket size is in line with competitors, and customer ratings are good but not exceptional. Suburban cafes with drive-through windows, three of the 48, earn margins near 11 percent, more than five times the cafe average, which suggests that format, not the Cascade brand alone, explains much of the difference.
Financial Performance by Segment
Segment results sharpen the picture. Cafes generated $91 million in revenue but only about 2 percent operating margin, with eight downtown cafes losing about $1.9 million combined. Wholesale generated $51 million at about 8 percent margin despite grocery buyer power, and online subscription sales, reported within wholesale and small at $2.4 million, earned the highest margin of any channel at about 19 percent. Roasting plant overhead is spread across both segments; spare capacity means each additional pound roasted costs little.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths: long-standing direct sourcing relationships, roasting quality, brand recognition in two metropolitan areas, spare plant capacity and a strong balance sheet.
Weaknesses: costly, undifferentiated cafe operations with high labor costs and oversized stores; underperforming downtown locations; dependence on four grocery buyers; an app weaker than rivals'; and limited marketing capability beyond the home region.
A Combined View
Bringing Week 1 and Week 2 together, a SWOT summary shows how internal strengths meet external conditions. Sourcing and roasting strengths match the opportunity in traceable coffee and could offset the threat of high bean prices through long-term contracts. The cafe network's weakness meets the threat of reduced downtown traffic and rising wages. Spare roasting capacity meets the opportunity of growing wholesale and online sales, if Cascade can reduce dependence on four grocery buyers. These pairings will frame the strategic alternatives in Week 3.
Implications for Strategy
The internal analysis points upstream, toward sourcing and roasting rather than retail service. Cascade's most defensible capabilities are sourcing and roasting, while its cafes, the largest part of revenue, are its least distinctive and least profitable activity. Strategic choices in Week 3 should consider ways to exploit sourcing and roasting more widely, through wholesale, online subscriptions or partnerships, and to reshape the cafe network rather than expand it as before.
Conclusion
Cascade's resource base is stronger upstream than downstream. Direct sourcing relationships and roasting expertise pass the VRIO test as potential sources of sustained advantage, while cafes and the app offer parity at best. Segment financials confirm that wholesale and roasting create more value per dollar than cafes. These findings, combined with Week 1's external analysis, set up the formulation of strategic alternatives.
References
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108
Grant, R. M. (1991). The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: Implications for strategy formulation. California Management Review, 33(3), 114-135. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166664
Grant, R. M. (2019). Contemporary strategy analysis (10th ed.). Wiley.
What the STR 581 Week 2 instructions ask
For the second STR 581 paper, MBA students look inward at what an organization has and does well. Prompts may ask students to identify tangible and intangible resources and capabilities, apply frameworks such as the resource-based view, VRIO or value chain analysis, assess financial performance with ratios and determine strengths, weaknesses and core competencies. Some versions ask students to complete a SWOT that combines internal and external analysis. Analyze the organization from the previous week with specific evidence, apply each framework to particular resources rather than in general and cite strategy research in APA. State which capabilities could support an advantage that lasts and which the plan must strengthen.
How this STR 581 Week 2 example is built
The model paper inventories Cascade's resources: a roasting plant with spare capacity, 48 cafe leases, a regional brand with strong recognition, long-term relationships with farmer cooperatives in Colombia and Ethiopia, a loyalty app with 210,000 members and experienced roasters. Value chain analysis shows that sourcing and roasting add the most distinctive value, while cafe operations are costly and similar to rivals'. The VRIO test finds that direct sourcing relationships and roasting expertise are valuable, rare and hard to imitate, while the app and cafe layouts are easily copied. Financial analysis shows that cafes earn thin margins and downtown cafes lose money, while wholesale is steady. The paper concludes that Cascade's advantage lies upstream, in sourcing and roasting, not in its cafes.
STR 581 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
Graduate graders reward internal analysis that distinguishes ordinary strengths from sources of advantage. Strong papers inventory resources and capabilities specifically, apply the resource-based view and VRIO test to each and use the value chain to locate where value is created. Credit goes to supporting judgments with operating and financial evidence, to identifying weaknesses honestly and to drawing implications for strategy. Graders also value research on resources and capabilities rather than definitions alone. Graders also look for weaknesses stated as plainly as strengths, with numbers where possible. Specific evidence, clear lists and properly cited strategy research finish the analysis.
STR 581 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
Internal analysis papers often list strengths such as good employees and a strong brand without evidence or tests. Apply VRIO to each and show why it is or is not hard to imitate. Another frequent gap is ignoring financial performance; segment margins often reveal which parts of the business create value. Include them. Students also confuse resources, what a firm has, with capabilities, what it can do with them. Distinguish them. Some papers list weaknesses vaguely; be specific about costs, gaps and their effects. Finally, connect findings to strategic choices, since the internal analysis should narrow the options. A tutor can help you organize evidence for each resource and test each one honestly against the VRIO questions.
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STR 581 Week 2 questions, answered
What does STR 581 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers analyzing internal resources and capabilities with the resource-based view, VRIO and value chain analysis, along with financial performance and strengths and weaknesses.
Where can I find a free STR 581 Week 2 sample paper?
The Week 2 paper above sizes up what Cascade owns and does well, and anyone can open the whole analysis.
What is the VRIO framework?
Four questions asked of each resource: does it add value, do few rivals have it, would copying it be costly and is the firm set up to use it? Passing all four suggests a lasting edge.
What is the resource-based view of the firm?
The idea that a firm's lasting edge comes from what it owns and knows how to do, when those assets are scarce among rivals and hard to copy or replace.
What is value chain analysis?
A method of breaking a firm into its activities, from inputs to after-sale service, to find where value is created and where costs are incurred.
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