Background
You should approach this assignment from the perspective of a Business Consultant engaged to critically evaluate the challenges facing a selected organisation in developing and deploying strategy for sustainable competitive advantage. This will require you to apply a range of models and concepts in exploring strategic issues, processes, and resources, plus the recommendation of plausible and evidence-based options suitable for your selected organisation.
Important! Before undertaking any work on this assignment, select an appropriate organisation within which to contextualise your work and seek written confirmation from your module tutor (or tutorial leader) that this is suitable for your paper. submit this written confirmation (normally an email) as an appendix to your written work.
Minimum Secondary Research Source Requirements:
Level HE7 – It is expected that the Reference List will contain between fifteen to twenty sources. As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include four refereed academic journals and five academic books.
Assignment Tasks
Using the selected organisation, you have agreed with your tutor, undertake a critical analysis of key strategic challenges it faces, using an evidence-based approach to inform your assessment. Where you use tools, models or theories of Strategic Management to structure your analysis, you must include commentary setting out your rationale for adopting these, and explaining any key critical issues associated with their use in exploring strategy.
From your analysis, present a prioritised summary of the organisation’s key strategic challenges, supporting this with an explanation of how these priorities were arrived at.
Next, for each of the two highest ranked strategic priorities from your analysis, explore the strategic options potentially available to your selected organisation, providing theoretical support to frame your discussion.
As a practical output from your assessment, draw appropriate and logical conclusions and recommendations that would, in your view, best enhance your organisation’s competitive position, using evidence set out previously in your analysis to support your proposals.
Finally, comment upon the effectiveness of the tools and techniques of strategic management in supporting your investigation, evaluation and building recommendations.
include a short reflective assessment of your overall learning journey in completing the assignment, using an appropriate framework (e.g. Gibbs Reflective Cycle) to set out insights and their chronology.
Your report should contain as a minimum the following content (N.B. this is NOT a suggested structure for your paper):
1. An introduction setting out your understanding of the task, your planned approach. (150-200 words) 5 marks
2. An outline of the organisational context selected for the report and key milestones in its development. (200-300 words) 5 marks
3. Evidence of your engagement with relevant academic sources and literature. You should aim to demonstrate balanced critical evaluation of relevant theoretical concepts drawn from a range of appropriate sources (2000-2500 words maximum) 40 marks
4. Application of theory in the context of your selected organisation, as directed above, and using insights and examples from your literature review to provide support for any observations and arguments (1200-1500 words maximum) 30 marks
5. A short concluding section drawing conclusions about the relevance of Strategic Management theory in informing organisational strategy (400-500 words maximum) 15 marks
6. A short ‘Reflective Assessment’ of your key learning from undertaking the assignment (150-300 words) 5 marks
7. A reference list for all resources used in compiling your report. This element is not part of your word count.
8. Appendices (if appropriate) including evidence of approval for your selected organisation – not part of the word count for the assignment.
