Higher National Diploma in Business and Law Unit 7: Business Strategy Edexcel BTEC Level 5 HND Business and Law Unit 7 Assignment: Business Strategy Useful Websites: www.strategy-business.com www.change-management.com www.thechangeblog.com www.managingchange.com www.mystrategicplan.com www.managementhelp.org www.mindtools.com www.businesslink.gov.uk Section 1 Understand the process of strategic planning You will need to:  assess how business missions, visions, objectives, goals, core competencies inform strategic planning Here, for each of these terms, you need to: give a definition, give one example, and explain what their purpose is (why are they used) and what their contribution is to strategic planning activity.  analyse the factors that have to be considered when formulating strategic plans Many of the factors involved in strategic planning are common to all planning – for example: the availability of/constraints of physical resources, time, funds, expertise, etc – but there are others which you must also discuss, such as the influence of competitor activity, trends developing in the external business environment, and so on.  evaluate the effectiveness of techniques used when developing strategic business plans Here you need to describe and comment on the effectiveness of planning techniques such as: Forward Planning, Backwards Planning, the STP Model, Scenario Planning, and so on.Higher National Diploma in Business and Law Unit 7: Business Strategy Section 2 Be able to formulate a new strategy You will need to:  analyse the strategic positioning of a given organisation, by carrying out an organisational audit The most commonly used organisational audit tool is the SWOT Analysis – which usually requires a considerable amount of data gathering and analysis activity before the actual analysis is prepared. However, for this assignment, you need to gather as much information as you reasonably can, and then prepare a relatively simple SWOT analysis on a specific organisation (ideally your own, or one typical of your business sector – if that is not possible, please consult with your tutor) so that it identifies the current strategic position of that organisation.  carry out an environmental audit for a given organisation "Environmental" can be confusing, but in the context of business strategy it means the external business environment – political, social, legal, technological, economic (including competitor activity), and yes, environmental (as in pollution etc) – which is summed up in the acronym PESTLE – which used to be STEEP. You will need to prepare a PESTLE analysis on the given organisation selected above.  assess the significance of stakeholder analysis when formulating a new strategy Most organisations have a wide range of stakeholders – individuals and groups who have a legitimate interest in, or role in, the organisation – for example: employees, unions, shareholders, funding organisations, suppliers, customers/clients, local communities, and so on. Referring to the stakeholders in the given organisation you have selected, explain why it is important to be aware of the needs of each of these, the influence that they could have on the success of the organisation, and why their needs should be considered when formulating a new strategy.  present a new strategy for a given organisation Here you will need to draw on your understanding of different strategies gained from your study of the core and supplementary study materials. For the given organisation selected above: describe an appropriate new strategy – focusing on one approach - such as: market entry, growth, diversification, sustaining competitive advantage.Higher National Diploma in Business and Law Unit 7: Business Strategy Section 3 Understand approaches to strategy evaluation You will need to:  analyse the appropriateness of alternative strategies relating to market entry, substantive growth, limited growth or retrenchment For this - compare and contrast the different strategies relating to the approaches listed - and explain why each of these would be/would not be suitable for an organisation – in certain situations and-or stages in the organisation's life cycle.  justify the selection of a strategy Select one of the strategies which you discussed in the criteria immediately above, and justify the organisational/business environment situation, conditions, circumstances, in which that strategy should be selected and implemented. Section 4 Understand how to implement a chosen strategy You will need to:  assess the roles and responsibilities of personnel who are charged with strategy implementation The focus here is on "roles and responsibilities" and "implementation" (not the planning activity, but the implementation after a strategic plan has been approved). This stage is carried out by different people/individuals/teams, depending on the type, size, business sector, public/private, etc. To illustrate this - consider the massive differences in who has responsibility for implementing strategic plans in a local authority, a small private commercial business, a global company such as Microsoft, a charity such as Oxfam, or the Armed Forces. You will need to briefly describe such differences, but then focus on the given organisation which you selected earlier.  analyse the estimated resource requirements to implement a new strategy for a given organisation Using the given organisation you selected above, you will need to give an outline/summary of the time, funds/budget, people, skills, and equipment, needed to implement the strategy that you have selected, and comment on the issues involved in selecting and obtaining those resources.  evaluate the contribution of SMART targets to the achievement of strategy implementation in a given organisation Again, here you should focus on the given organisation you selected above. Every strategic plan – minor or major - for a small or large organisation, in the private or public sector – needs careful planning, careful implementation, and then careful monitoring and control - to ensure that what was planned – meant to happen – actually happens (or at least happens as closely as possible to the original plan). Therefore, as with any plan, there must be an overall timescale, stage targets, quality levels, and resources utilization, to achieve – as planned.Higher National Diploma in Business and Law Unit 7: Business Strategy You will need to discuss how implementation activities which are presented as SMART targets/objectives, help to ensure that the implementation stage of the strategy is successful