​​​ Module Title : Strategic Management (Assignment) Programme : MBA for Executives Date of Completion and Submission : 27/06/2015 Submission Method : Turnitin Assessment Type : Individual Written Assignment Table of Contents: • Assessment type • Maximum word limit and assessment weighting for each aspect within the assessment • Description of assessment requirements • Learning Outcomes • Summary of marking scheme • Grading Criteria • Notes on Plagiarism & Harvard Referencing SECTION 1 Assessment Type: • Individual Report (100%) SECTION 2 Maximum Word Limit and Assessment weighting for each aspect within the assessment: • Individual Report: 4000 words SECTION 3 Description of Assessment Requirements As a strategy consultant, imagine that you have been approached by the Board of Directors of a company of your choice to advise them on their future strategic direction. You are required to present your opinion, fully grounded in researched evidence, in the form of a report covering: Task 1 The strategic trajectories that the company has followed in the past and the way in which strategic thinking is developed within the company. (10 marks) Task 2 A detailed analysis of the industry in which the company is operating including: • PESTLE analysis • an identification and critical discussion of the competitive advantage of its direct competitors • the probable industry scenarios facing the company • the impact of globalisation and innovation on the company (20 marks) Task 3 A fully justified internal analysis with regard to: • the relationship between their current strategy and history • whether their espoused mission and vision statements are consistent with the demands of the market.. • and the company's strategic capabilities (20 marks) Task 4 Drawing on strategic choice models, identify and discuss the possible strategy routes that the company could follow to defend its core business and strengthen its competitive position. (30 marks) Task 5 In the light of your discussion in tasks 1-4 analyse and evaluate the resource implications of your recommendations and the management of change the company has to address. (10 marks) 10 marks for presentation (Total: 100 marks) You may use appendices. These do not affect the word count. SECTION 4 : Learning Outcomes Learning outcomes tested: Task 1 • Critically analyse a case situation in terms of strategic issues and make justified recommendations Task 2 • Demonstrate, understand and critically explain the importance of integrational thinking in their understanding of strategy and its formation and development in complex organisations Task 3 • Evaluate and develop the ability to identify strategic issues and design appropriate courses of action • Identify and explain the importance of how the synthesise of knowledge gained from other business modules may be brought together into a comprehensive understanding of the concepts underpinning competitive advantage. • Understand and be able to critically analyse the strategic position and the interrelated functions of Production and Operations Management (POM) in organisations Section 5: Marking Scheme Task 1 Understanding of the types of strategy in relation to schools of strategy and strategy concepts (10 marks) Task 2 Use of relevant models and concepts exploring competitive drivers and impact on the competitive position of the company (20 marks) Task 3 Use of relevant internal analysis tools to draw appropriate conclusions (20 marks) Task 4 Exploration of strategic choice models to sustain company's competitive position (30 marks) Task 5 Resource implications of the selected strategy Use of academic concepts and models to demonstrate relationship among key resource areas: HR, operations, finance, technology Critical analysis and application of change management (10 marks) models Overall Presentation, referencing, and visual aids (10 marks) Total: (100 marks)/value=100 % Section 6: Grading Criteria MARK 29 or less 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59 60 - 69 70 + CONTENT: Has the question been answered? Vague, random, unrelated material Some mention of the issue, but a collection of disparate points Barely answers the question – just reproduces what knows about the topic Some looseness/ digressions Well focused Highly focused TOPIC KNOWLEDGE Is there evidence of having read widely and use of appropriate and up to date material to make a case? No evidence of reading. No use of theory – not even hinted at implicitly. No evidence of reading. An implicit hint at some knowledge of theory, etc. No evidence of reading. Very basic theories mentioned but not developed or well used. Some reading evident, but confined to core texts. Good reading. Good range of theories included. Excellent reading. Well chosen theories. UNDERSTANDING & SYNTHESIS Are ideas summarized rather than being reproduced, and are they inter-related with other ideas? No theory included. Vague assertions/poor explanations. Long winded descriptions of theory. Some long winded sections. Some quotations, but stand alone. Some inter- connections. Good summary of theory. Good use of quotations that flow with narrative. Good inter-connections. Succinct, effective summaries of theory. Excellent choice and threading of quotations into argument. Good counterpoising of a range of perspectives. APPLICATION Does it show appropriate use of theory in a practical situation? No examples No/limited/ inappropriate examples Few examples Uneven examples Good examples Excellent range of examples. ANALYSIS Does it identify the key issues, etc in a given scenario, proposal or argument? Vague assertions about issues. Largely descriptive with no identification and analysis of central issues. Limited insight into issues. Some good observations. Good, detailed analysis. Comprehensive range of issues identified and discussed fully. EVALUATION & CONCLUSION Does it critically assess material? Are there a workable and imaginative solutions? No evaluation. Uncritical acceptance of material. Some evaluation but weak. Little insight. Good interpretation. Some but limited sophistication in argument. Good critical assessment. Independent thought displayed. Full critical assessment and substantial individual insight. REFERENCING Thorough and accurate citation and referencing No referencing No referencing Limited/poor referencing Some inconsistencies in referencing Appropriate referencing Appropriate referencing PRESENTATION Logical and coherent structure to argument and effective presentation No structure apparent. Poor presentation. Poor structure. Poor presentation. Acceptable, but uneven structure. Reasonable presentation. Reasonable structure. Good presentation. Good argument. Well presented material. Excellent argument. Very effective presentation format. SECTION 7:Notes on Plagiarism & Harvard Referencing General Guidelines • The submission of your work assessment should be organized and clearly structured in a report format. • Maximum word length allowed is 4000 words, excluding words in charts & tables and in the appendixes section of your assignment. • This assignment is worth 100% of the final assessment of the module. • Student is required to submit a type-written document in Microsoft Word format with Times New Roman font type, size 12 and line spacing 1.5. • Indicate the sources of information and literature review by including all the necessary citations and references adopting the Harvard Referencing System. • Students who have been found to have committed acts of Plagiarism are automatically considered to have failed the entire semester. If found to have breached the regulation for the second time, you will be asked to leave the course. • Plagiarism involves taking someone else's words, thoughts, ideas or essays from online essay banks and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously. Notes on Plagiarism & Harvard Referencing Plagiarism Plagiarism is passing off the work of others as your own. This constitutes academic theft and is a serious matter which is penalized in assignment marking. Plagiarism is the submission of an item of assessment containing elements of work produced by another person(s) in such a way that it could be assumed to be the student's own work. Examples of plagiarism are : • the verbatim copying of another person's work without acknowledgement • the close paraphrasing of another person's work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation without acknowledgement • the unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another person's work and/or the presentation of another person's idea(s) as one's own. Copying or close paraphrasing with occasional acknowledgement of the source may also be deemed to be plagiarism is the absence of quotation marks implies that the phraseology is the student's own. Plagiarised work may belong to another student or be from a published source such as a book, report, journal or material available on the internet. Harvard Referencing The structure of a citation under the Harvard referencing system is the author's surname, year of publication, and page number or range, in parentheses, as illustrated in the Smith example near the top of this article. • The page number or page range is omitted if the entire work is cited. The author's surname is omitted if it appears in the text. Thus we may say : "Jones (2001) revolutionized the field of trauma surgery." • Two or three authors are cited using "and" or "&" : (Deane, Smith, and Jones, 1991) or (Deane, Smith & Jones, 1991). More than three authors are cited using et al. (Deane et al. 1992). • An unknown date is cited as no date (Deane n.d.). A reference to a reprint is cited with the original publication date in square brackets (Marx [1867] 1967, p. 90). • If an author published two books in 2005, the year of the first (in the alphabetic order of the references) is cited and referenced as 2005a, the second as 2005b. • A citation is placed wherever appropriate in or after the sentence. If it is at the end of a sentence, it is placed before the period, but a citation for an entire block quote immediately follows the period at the end of the block since the citation is not an actual part of the quotation itself. • Complete citations are provided in alphabetical order in a section following the text, usually designated as "Works cited" or "References". The difference between a "works cited" or "references" list and a bibliography is that a bibliography may include works not directly cited in the text. • All citations are in the same font as the main text. Examples Examples of book references are : • Smith, J. (2005a). Dutch Citing Practices. The Hague: Holland Research Foundation. • Smith, J. (2005b). Harvard Referencing. London: Jolly Good Publishing. In giving the city of publication, an internationally well-known city (such as London, The Hague, or New York) is referenced as the city alone. If the city is not internationally well known, the country (or state and country if in the U.S.) are given. An example of a journal reference : • Smith, John Maynard. "The origin of altruism," Nature 393, 1998, pp. 639-40. An example of a journal reference : • Bowcott, Owen. "Street Protest", The Guardian, October 18, 2005, accessed February 7, 2006.