Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 EduQual Diploma in Business and Marketing Management (SCQF Level 8) COMBINED ASSIGNMENT SIX: Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship and InnovationPage 1 of 8 BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Contents Assessment Guidelines 2 Context 2 Confidentiality 2 Assessment Criteria and Mark Sheets 2 Tutor Guidance 2 Word Count 2 Referencing and Professionalism 3 Plagiarism and Collusion 3 Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and Innovation 4 Task 1 4 Task 2 4 Task 3 4 Task 4 5 Task 5 5 Assignment Word Count 5 Combined Assignment 6: Criteria and Mark Scheme 6 Assessment Criteria for all Assessments 8Page 2 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Assessment Guidelines Learners of EduQual qualifications must complete the tasks given in the assignment brief approved by EduQual. Learners are able to request assistance from tutors about completing the tasks, mark schemes and grade descriptors. Learners are expected to adhere to policies and guidelines set out by the centre, which includes word/page/slide count and plagiarism/collusion. Context Learners are required to refer to the guidance notes and assignment brief in order to present an answer that would fall within the required context. Confidentiality Learners must seek permission and advice when using organisational/business information that would be considered sensitive or confidential within their assignments. If the organisation’s consent is given, and anonymity is a given requirement of the organisation, then the learner must respect this. Assessment Criteria and Mark Sheets The assignment brief will include the mark scheme along with grade descriptors for learners to refer to if needed. The guidance notes before the assignment questions should be used for reference in order to ensure that learners are equipped with the information and formats required. Learners are requested to obtain necessary advice on assignment context, format and other supporting information to clarify and help understand the requirements. The assessment criteria and the mark sheets will help learners identify how and where themarks have been allocated and allow them to structure their answers accordingly. Please note that learners must achieve a minimum of 40% of the marks allocated for each task and that the average mark awarded to all tasks of an assignment must be a minimum of 40% of the overall marks awarded. Tutor Guidance Learners are allowed one piece of feedback for draft answers they present. Any subject-related questions relating to the module can also be directed to the tutor. Word Count It is mandatory that learners adhere to the specified word count given in the assignment brief within a margin of -/+10%. For certain tasks, the assignment brief may specify the page count depending on the task requirement and, although a word count may not always be applicable for these, the page count must be adhered to at all times. All tables, charts, diagrams, referencing (in-text) will be considered a part of the assignment word count.Page 3 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 If the task requires learners to make a presentation, the word count will only be applicable to the notes provided. The assignment questions may also specify the number of slides, in which case the learners are also required to adhere to this. Any supporting documents used to reinforce a learner’s answer need to be attached at the end of the report as appendices. Such supplementary material will equip the examiner with the required background knowledge on the information provided within the report. However, these will not be considered for grading nor as part of the word/page count. All assignments submitted with clear disregard for the stipulated page/word counts may be discounted, and the learners may have to resubmit his/her work for assessment pending revision/review of their work. Referencing and Professionalism To ensure that they follow a professional stance at all times, learnersmust:  Use the Harvard system of referencing for all citations and references (including in-text)  Use professional, formal English in presenting theirwork  Refrain from writing in a first-person perspective (i.e. ‘I’, ‘We’, ‘Me’, etc. should not be used within the answer). Learners should bear in mind that marks are awarded for professional format and presentation, and that considerable marks can be awarded for validity and quality of referencing. Therefore, referencing and professionalism will be assessed in every task. Plagiarism and Collusion Plagiarism and collusion will be considered an academic offence and will be dealt with as a serious issue. Plagiarism can be defined as: the presentation of the work of another author without appropriate referencing and/or attribution (leading to the false assumption that the learner is the originator of the text). Collusion can be defined as a circumstance in which: two or more learners present work with distinct similarities in concept and ideas. Learners must have access to valid plagiarism software (i.e. Turnitin) to assess ‘similarity index’ between their work and work that has been published elsewhere. This Turnitin report must be submitted along with their final assignment scripts for reference purposes.1 Excessive referencing (i.e. where unneeded/irrelevant) will also be considered an academic offence, which will lead to learners being penalised in marks awarded for structure and format of their work or, in serious cases, leading to the work of learners being discounted as unfit for assessment. Such matters will be decided by academic panel along with EduQual. 1 Note that centres must provide their learners with access to Turnitin software or else submit learners’ work for analysis via Turnitin upon receiving learner assignment scripts. In either case, the Turnitin report must be included with the submission of any learner work for assessment.Page 4 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and Innovation The five tasks shown below constitute 90% of the overall mark. 10% of the overall marks for the assignment must be given to ‘Structure and Format’. You are Head of Strategy for an organisation of your choice. Prepare a report, for the attention of your CEO, and which is to meet the following requirements: Task 1  Evaluate the role of organisational values, mission, vision, goals and competencies in strategy formulation.  Choose/select an organisation and analyse factors to be considered when deciding its strategic planning and monitoring of effectiveness. Strategic Management: LO 1 (pcs 1.1, 1.2) Task 2 Generate ideas for an innovative product or service. Focus on the following keysteps:  Idea generation  Opportunity evaluation and SWOT  New product/service planning  Market research for the new idea. Entrepreneurship and Innovation: LO 1 (pcs 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) Task 3  Identify, then evaluate a target market for the new product and select an appropriate market segment.  Construct a sound business proposal for the new product/service.  Work in teams to prepare a presentation for a business pitch for the new product/service. Deliver the presentation and evaluate feedback from your audience. Entrepreneurship and Innovation: LO 2 (pcs 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4), LO 3 (pcs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)Page 5 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Task 4  Carry out an environmental audit of a selected organisation and evaluate its strategic position, using PESTEL and 5 Forces analyses.  Use stakeholder analysis to identify stakeholder needs and influence. Construct a new strategy for the organisation. Strategic Management: LO 2 (pcs 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4), Entrepreneurship and Innovation: LO 2 (pcs 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4) Task 5  Assess the roles of staff and the different departments in your organisation when implementing the newstrategy.  Select and evaluate SMART targets to use in monitoring progress of the newstrategy. Strategic Management: LO 3 (pcs 3.1, 3.2) Assignment Word Count 6000 maximum across all tasks.Page 6 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Combined Assignment 6: Criteria and Mark Scheme Assessment Criteria Marks allocated Comments Mark Given Task 1: Strategic Management LO 1 1.1: Evaluate the role of organisational values, mission, vision, goals and competencies in strategy formulation. 1.2: Choose an organisation and analyse factors to be considered in strategic planning and monitoring. 20 Role of strategy: Missions; visions; strategic intent; objectives/goals; core competencies; strategic architecture; strategic control. Strategic thinking: Future direction of the competition; needs of customers; gaining and maintaining competitive advantage; Ansoff’s growth-vector matrix; portfolio analysis. Planning systems: Informal planning; topdown planning; bottom-up planning; behavioural approaches; impact on departmental managers, targets, planning techniques (BCG and Ansoff matrices). Task 2: Entrepreneurship and Innovation LO 1 1.1: Employ brainstorming techniques to generate new product/service ideas. 1.2: Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of proposed new products/services, and select a new product/service idea to develop. 1.3: Conduct market research for the proposed new product/service. 30 Business sectors: Products; services; country of operation; selecting sector to target. Generating and selecting ideas: Brainstorming; idea screening (funnelling); concept development and testing; involvement of staff; external sources of ideas (customers, competitors, suppliers, distributors). Market research for new proposals: Market share; growth; SWOT analysis; competitors. Task 3: Entrepreneurship and Innovation LO 2& LO3 2.1& 2.2: Analyse the environment and select a target market using market segmentation. 2.3: Apply Porter’s 5 forces to evaluate the proposed new product/service. 2.4: Construct a sound business proposal document for the new product/service. 3.1: Operate in teams to prepare a presentation for a business pitch for a new product or service. 3.2: Communicate effectively in a formal presentation, verbally and visually. 3.3: Obtain feedback from your audience to evaluate the success of your pitch in meeting business objectives. 60 Analysis of market. Selection of target markets: Market segmentation and positioning. Construction of business proposal documents. Team working skills: role allocation and coordination; task delegation. Verbal communication: Presentation skills; time management; use of language; team working. Visual communication skills: Graphics; slides; videos; charts; advertising leaflets; body language. Evaluation of pitch and group and individual roles.Page 7 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Task 4: Strategic Management LO 2 2.1: Evaluate an organisation’s strategic position. 2.2: Carry out an environmental audit of the organisation. 2.3: Use stakeholder analysis to identify stakeholder needs and influence. 2.4: Construct a new strategy for the organisation. 30 SWOT analysis: Porter’s 5 forces, Ansoff matrix PESTEL: benchmarks; product positioning; value- chain analysis; demographic influences; mergers and acquisitions; entering new global markets. Stakeholder analysis mapping and grids Strategies for market entry: substantive growth; diversification; limited growth; disinvestment; turnaround. Appropriateness: feasibility and desirability of each alternative strategy. Task 5: Strategic Management LO 3 3.1: Compare and discuss the roles of staff and departments in implementing the new strategy. 3.2: Evaluate and select SMART targets to use in monitoring progress of the new strategy. 20 Resource allocation to achieve the strategy: Allocation of finance, human resources, time and materials. Setting SMART targets and milestones: benchmarking, operational and individual targets and sequencing Structure and Format  Relevance to the tasks, professional tone and format of response (2 marks). Harvard Referencing (8 marks)  In-text citation  Bibliography, listed correctly and correlates to references made  Accurate, correctly-formatted footnotes  Integration of: supporting concepts, frameworks, critical thinking. 15 Total Mark 175Page 8 of 8 Back to Contents BMM Combined Assignment 6: Strategic Management, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016 Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCQF), April 2016 Assessment Criteria for all Assessments Marks Criteria 70-100  The answer submitted has an outstanding result with negligible amount of mistakes.  The answer shows an appreciative level of knowledge and clear understanding of related models, theories and frameworks. Analytical techniques used show the wide area of knowledge the learner has.  The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is clearly recognisable.  The analysis and the use of research data, as well as the ability to use the data to reach acceptable and accurate conclusions, is exceptional.  Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner has led to an overall focused and evaluative answer.  The answer has followed proper Harvard referencing. 60-69  The answer shows an above average standard with few errors.  The answer shows a decent level of knowledge and fairly clear understanding of related models, theories and frameworks. There is a very good level, and use of, analytical techniques that is obvious throughout the answer.  The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is of a good standard.  The analysis and the use of research data, as well as the ability to use the data to reach acceptable and accurate conclusions, is above average level.  Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner answer has led to an overall focused and evaluative answer with little inconsistency.  The answer has followed proper Harvard referencing. 50-59  The answer shows an above average standard with errors.  The answer shows a general level of knowledge and a fairly clear understanding of related models, theories and frameworks. There is a good level, and use of, analytical techniques that is obvious throughout the answer.  The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is of a reasonable standard. However, the link between theory and practical knowledge appears to be restricted/limited.  The answer shows more assumptions than conclusive deductions/evidences and valid arguments. However, the ability to interpret and evaluate is evident.  Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner answer has led to an overall focused and evaluative answer with some inconsistencies.  The answer has followed Harvard referencing at an acceptable level. 40-49  There are several shortcomings throughout the answer.  The knowledge level reflected in the answer is limited, especially in understanding of related models, theories and frameworks.  The case material has been repeated instead of evidencing knowledge.  The use of analytical techniques is inadequate.  A certain level of relevance is evidence in Harvard referencing. 30-39  Answer submitted is quite weak and lacks proper focus.  The answer shows a number of spelling errors and/or poor grammar/syntax.  The lack of understanding in subject knowledge, related models, theories and frameworks is evident.  Contextualisation, interpretation, and evaluation are of a poor standard.  Reflects only basic levels of Harvard referencing. 0-29  Requires more work on answering skills; overall output is well below the required standard. Answer has little relevance to the assignment briefs. Spelling/syntax poor.  Little or no evidence of appropriate subject knowledge.  Use of models, theories and frameworks is quite poor.  Little to no evidence of, and/or unacceptable mistakes in, Harvard referencing. A mark of 40% or greater can only be given where all assignment learning outcomes for all tasks have been met.