Strategic Management 2023 Term 2

9001SMGT Assessment 2 instructions

 

Summary

In the first assessment, you used Porters Five Forces, VRIN and SWOT analyses to identify strategic issues and priorities that need to be addressed for the organisation to be competitive.

 

It is now time to think about the strategy development and implementation process that will deliver superior value to customers more efficiently than rivals.

 

Referencing is Australian Harvard (AGPS) and outlined in the AIB Style Guide .

 

Learning Outcomes (LO)

Demonstrate advanced understanding of contemporary strategic management theory, concepts, and principles (LO#1).

Demonstrate advanced knowledge of how strategy formulation & strategy implementation processes work in contemporary organisations (LO#2).

Conduct an in-depth analysis of the internal and external environment using appropriate strategic management concepts and tools (LO#3).

Evaluate different strategic alternatives and suggest an appropriate and ethical pathway for a business to build and sustain competitive advantage (LO#4)

Demonstrate ability to synthesise a range of business and management concepts when undertaking strategic analysis (LO#5)

Task

Building on your analysis in the first assessment, recommend competitive strategies (e.g., broad low-cost strategy, focused low-cost strategy, broad differentiation strategy, focused differentiation strategy, best cost strategy) for the current competitive conditions.

 

Then, identify complementary strategic actions to maximise the overall strategy.

 

Finally, examine the role of ethics, culture, sustainability, or leadership in relation to your recommended competitive strategy and strategic actions.

 

Procedures

Your report needs to address the following requirements:

 

Recap the organisational and industry context (250 words).

Briefly explain the strategic issues from your analysis in the first assessment and identify the key issues the organisation should prioritise and why (450 words).

Recommend and justify competitive strategies to address the prioritised strategic issues for the organisation in the current competitive conditions (500 words).

Identify and evaluate complementary strategic actions that should be taken to strengthen the organisation’s competitive position and overall strategy (e.g., offensive, defensive, first mover strategy, blue-ocean strategy, merger, acquisition or strategic alliance) (800 words).

Select and discuss two areas the organisation should consider in the implementation of the recommended strategy and complementary strategic actions (800 words):

Ethics

Organisational culture

Leadership

Sustainability

Conclude the report (200 words).

Requirements

Note: All written assessments should be submitted as Word files (.docx) (Word is available from your AIB Office 365 account).

 

The required word length for this assessment is 3000 words (+10% tolerance)

In terms of structure, presentation and style you are required to use:

AIB standard report format (Report template)

AIB preferred Microsoft Word settings – see the AIB Style Guide

This assessment requires you to use a minimum of six (6) credible academic sources in addition to your textbook. You may also use current company, industry, government and media sources to support your statements, but these will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. Most web-based sources are not sufficiently rigorous and credible for use in academic assessments and will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. For further guidance, refer to Scholarly, academic & peer-reviewed journals.

You must appropriately acknowledge all sources of information in your assessment with the AIB Harvard author-date style of referencing – see the AIB Style Guide and Assessment Policy.

The title page, executive summary, table of contents, reference list and appendix are not included in the word count.

Assessment example

The purpose of the example is to stimulate your critical thinking. Comments indicate areas of strength and opportunities for improvement for you to consider. However, the example does not provide a model answer. You must follow the assessment instructions with regard to content.

 

Assessment 2 example

 

Grading criteria and feedback

Your assessment will be marked according to the following grading criteria:

 

Criterion 1: Overview 10%.

Criterion 2: Recommendations 25%.

Criterion 3: Discussion 25%.

Criterion 4: Critical evaluation 20%.

Criterion 5: Theory, concepts principles 10%.

Criterion 6: Communication, presentation, structure, and language 5%.

Criterion 7: In text-citations and referencing 5%.