Essay Applied Corporate Strategy Assessment: Strategic Analysis Report – Business Environment – Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

The module is assessed (100%) by an individual Strategic Report (maximum 3,000 words) involving an in-depth, strategic analysis of a large organization. The subject of the report will be decided by the module convenor but students will be able to choose from a list of several examples. 

Instructions for assessment 

This assignment is focused on the selected organization, its industry, and the business environment. By week 2 you will be given a list of organizations (cases) to choose from. Please choose one case (featuring an organization) for the purposes of this assignment. 

Formative work in weekly seminars will guide students through analytical techniques and processes required to complete the task.

The Strategic Report should address the following:

1) Carry out external analysis (business environment and industry) to identify a set of Opportunities and Threats and assess industry attractiveness. (30%)

2) Analyze the resources and key competencies of the organization and identify core competencies (key factors that may give the company its competitive advantage). (30%)

3) Choose one strategy that the company implemented recently and evaluate it using SAFe criteria. (30%)

Your work will be assessed by a subject expert who will use the marking scheme indicated below.  Feedback will be given in the Turnitin/Grademark system with script comments plus overall points. When you access your marked work it is important that you reflect on the feedback so that you can use it to improve future assignments.

In this Strategic Report, high marks come from using strategic concepts and analysis from the module clearly applied to the organization. Harvard referencing, a professional report style plus appropriate diagrams/tables are also required. Outline marking expectations are as follows:    

Q1: External analysis. 
Discuss the business environment and identify a number of Opportunities – Os and Threats – Ts (we expect 6 issues from the business environment to be discussed in total each of which concluded as an O or a T). Industry analysis (5 Forces) should be applied to assess industry attractiveness (each force should be discussed and assessed as High, Moderate or Low and industry attractiveness should be assessed having those forces in mind).

Q2: Internal analysis. 
Identify and discuss the organisation’s resources & unique capabilities (at least 6 Strengths and Weaknesses should be covered in total). Demonstrate how unique capabilities link to competitive advantage (use VRIO to identify Core Competencies for the organization).

Q3: Strategy Evaluation
Choose a recent strategy that the company undertook and evaluate it using the three SAFe tests.

PRESENTATION: We expect a professional report with a clear report style (not an essay) e.g. front sheet, contents, clear sections, tables & diagrams and relevant Harvard referencing. The word count should not be exceeded by more than 10%.