Maximum 15 pages/2,000 words + diagrams and tabulations which are not part of the word count. The Assignment cover sheet, contents page and bibliography are not part of the page length/word guidelines. Appendix data is not wanted. The Assignment pulls on your Business Strategy/Business Model preparation for the Workshop and Workshop materials. For the core SM Course we provide detailed Assignment guidelines. For the ASM Course we leave you to structure your Assignments as you see appropriate. However, you should start your Assignment with:  A managerial question  A justification of why the question is important for you to address  Give the marker enough background to your Business or new Business Model idea so they can read the script in context  Stress quantification, 'hard analysis' in your Assignment and utilise tabulations and labelled diagrams You have two options for Assignment 1: A) Existing Business Model Assignment The managerial question should stress the 'How':  How to grow market share? (or improve financial performance/boost productivity/reduce cycle time/improve innovation capability etc. etc.) – get the Business Model working better in one key area. The SM Course asks you to systematically audit your Business Strategy/Business Model to deliver improvement. The ASM Course asks you to address a specific managerial question; the emphasis is much more on 'how to do' for the selected managerial question. The mindset of a consultant or an advisor may be appropriate to adopt. In answering the managerial question you may include analysis from the Manual Sections on the Competitive Environment, Company Strategy, Aspects of Implementation as well as the Workshop materials. You can pull on other MBA courses (especially the SM Course), your own research, experience and references from the literature. B) New Business Model Assignment The managerial question is to investigate the potential for a new Business Model and what needs to be done to launch it successfully (or why the Business Model should not be pursued at this time). Here we would recommend you apply the Workshop Business Model materials, especially the 9 Building Blocks of Osterwalder & Pigneur's Business Model Canvas (your Course text). All 9 Building Blocks should be covered to provide a holistic overview – but you may want to dwell on certain Blocks longer than others. Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (ASM/Student Number/Jan16/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned In outlining your New Business Model you may include analysis from the Manual Sections on the Competitive Environment, Company Strategy, Aspects of Implementation as well as the Workshop materials. You can pull on other MBA courses (especially the SM Course), your own research, experience and references from the literature. The Management Agenda/Action Plan Whichever Assignment 1 you select you should finish with a solid section that outlines what to do and how to move forward specifically (i.e.: key actions, milestones, associated costs, resource allocation, responsibility, etc.) Assignment Protocol Assignments in excess of 15 pages/2000 words + diagrams and tabulations will be penalised. Note: In the ASM pilot and subsequent roll-out we were pleased that many students clearly enjoyed the Assignment stage and 'went the extra mile'. But this resulted in: a) Many Assignments being considerably longer than the length guidelines (Project Stage has a guideline of 10,000 words which some Assignments approached!) b) Some students changed format to adhere to page length guidelines but not word count guidelines COULD WE STRESS – the brief is the brief, we are looking for incisive managerial Assignments that leverage the concepts/literature with the SM/ASM style of diagrams and tabulations (which are not part of the word count). The normal protocol for submitting assignments is adopted: "The Assignment should be typed, 10 or 11 point font size (Times Roman or similar if possible) double spaced, with a 4cm margin on the right side of the page with the page size specified as UK A4. All pages must be numbered." The Assignment is limited to 15 pages with the protocol specified above. Assignments that adhere to the 15 page length guideline but 'squeeze' too much in will be penalised (i.e: smaller font size; single spacing; shorter margin)- as with normal layout the Assignment has exceeded the length guidelines.