Strategic Management

Strategic Management Assignment Tasks:

1. Drivers of Change

There are many external drivers of change for businesses today, particularly in the area of technology. Analyse 3 such external drivers for change for your chosen organisation as they seek to compete in the global, dynamic and fast changing world of business. Analyse and critically evaluate the impact that each of these drivers is having upon both the relevant industry sector and upon the selected company. (30 marks)

2. Competitive Environment

For 1 of your company’s business units, conduct a competitive analysis utilising the five forces of competition analysis as outlined by Michael Porter. You must also classify whether the overall threat/power of these forces is low, medium or high, justifying your points. (20 marks)

3. Internal Analysis:

Conduct each of the following tasks:

3.1 A Resource Audit, distinguishing between Basic and Distinctive Resources

3.2 An Analysis of Capabilities (Analyse a maximum of 5 capabilities distinguishing between Threshold and Distinctive Capabilities)

Justify your answer by conducting a VRIO analysis for both Distinctive Resources and Distinctive Competences. (30 marks)

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

Draw conclusions as to the key issues that you have analysed. Put forward key recommendations as to how your selected organisation should proceed in the future in terms of their strategic direction. (10 marks)

Structure of Report and Presentation (5 marks)

Referencing (5 marks)

Total Marks (100 marks)

Strategic Management Assignment Guidance

* Important note: Students are not permitted to choose Starbucks for this task as assessments for this organisation have been conducted before. If students do so they have not fulfilled the assignment brief and will have deemed to fail the assignment.

Word Count

Please note that the word count does not include the executive summary, tables, diagrams, appendices (if required) or reference list. Please include a word count on your table of contents page.

Report Structure

· Table of Contents Page

· Executive Summary (1 page maxiumum)

· Introduction (very brief introduction to the company)

· Main Body

– This covers task 1, 2, and 3 of your assignment. You can include graphs and charts here but they can also be placed in the appendices

· Conclusion and Recommendations. This covers task 4 of your assignment

· Reference List

· Appendices (if required)

Please see the Powerpoint slides on moodle for more information on preparing a report.

Assessment Criteria

Where you are asked to: analyse and recommend in a task it is important that your answers are not descriptive in nature but should provide clear evidence of a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding the task under consideration. Your answers to these tasks must be supported by evidence of wider academic reading, industry reports, UN reports, Regional reports from the World Bank or Development banks etc.

The assignment also requires you to demonstrate various skills such as Intellectual, Practical and Transferable skills. These skills include aspects such as intellectual originality, imagination, presentation and communication. Please see the Grading Criteria sheet below for more detail about what skills are expected at each grade.

Your paper must comply with the business report format and the Harvard referencing guidelines. There is no correct number of academic references to be utilised as the student must draw on as many references as required to provide a high quality answer. However, a minimum of 10 academic and professional sources are expected, and a majority of these should be current, internationally peer reviewed articles/reports or accredited textbook references. Sources such as Wikipedia or study revision or essay websites e,g ukessays are not acceptable to use.

Further Details:

· This assignment must be completed individually.

· Assignment submissions will be made via Turnitin. Please ensure you have your user login and password well before the submission date.

· If you share your work or, parts of your work, with another student this is an academic offence (collusion) and will result in a fail grade.

· You must use Harvard Referencing (Citations in-text) to acknowledge your sources of information and provide a reference list. Failure to do this is considered academic misconduct.

· Marks will be awarded for the professionalism of the report.

Strategic Management Grading Criteria

Indicative Grade	% marks	Characteristics
First class	70%+	Very high standard of critical analysis using appropriate conceptual frameworks Excellent understanding and exposition of relevant issues. Clearly structured and logically developed arguments Good awareness of nuances and complexities Substantial evidence of well-executed independent research Excellent evaluation and synthesis of source material Relevant data and examples, all properly referenced. Excellent Presentation skills evident
Upper Second	60-69%	High standard of critical analysis using appropriate conceptual frameworks. Clear awareness and exposition of relevant issues Clearly structured and logically developed arguments Awareness of nuances and complexities Evidence of independent research Good evaluation and synthesis of source material Relevant data and examples, all properly referenced. Good presentation skills in terms of style and delivery
Lower Second	50-59%	Uses appropriate conceptual frameworks. Attempts analysis but includes some errors and /or omissions Shows awareness of issues but no more than to be expected room attendance at classes Arguments reasonably clear but underdeveloped. Insufficient evidence of independent research Insufficient evaluation of source material Some good use of relevant data and examples but incompletely referenced Satisfactory presentation skills in terms of style and delivery, with some minor problems evident
Pass	40-49%	Adequate understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks Answer too descriptive and or any attempt at analysis is superficial containing errors and omission Shows limited awareness of issues but also some confusion Arguments not particularly clear Limited evidence of independent research and reliance on a superficial repeat of class notes Relatively superficial use of relevant data sources and examples and poorly referenced Adequate presentation skills, certain problems evident in style and delivery
	PASS MARK=40%
E	30-39%	Weak understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks. Weak analysis and several errors and omissions Establishes a few relevant points but superficial and confused exposition of issues No evidence of independent research and poor understanding of class notes or no use of relevant data, sources and examples and no references Poor presentation skills, numerous problems evident in style and delivery
F	Below 30 %	Little or no understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks. Weak analysis and several errors and omissions Few if any relevant points but superficial and confused exposition of issues No evidence of independent research and poor understanding of class notes or no use of relevant data, sources and examples and no references Very Poor presentation skills, numerous problems evident in style and delivery