Coursework Information Sheet

Coursework Information Sheet

To be supplied to students when they receive the coursework assignment task

Unit Co-ordinator

Unit Name

Strategy

Unit Code

SHR019-6

Title of Coursework

Assignment 1

% weighting of final unit grade

100

Feedback details

The university policy is that you will receive prompt feedback on your work within 15 working days
of the submission date. Exceptionally where this is not achievable (for example due to staff sickness)
you will be notified as soon as possible of the revised date and the reasons behind the change.

Submission Date

Week 14 – Date to be confirmed.

Please submit your assignment through BREO unit site by the stated deadline. You are
allowed a single submission only, so make sure you are happy with your work and
that you submit the correct document.
The tutor will submit your work through Turnitin once you have downloaded it. This is
to check for authenticity.
Feedback Date

Fifteen working days from the due date shown above

Details of how to access the feedback

BREO. Feedback will appear in the ‘My Grades’ section of BREO. A short
instructional video of how to access this is on your Student Gateway page of BREO

The Task
Your task is to produce a management report providing Strategic Solutions for an issue or Strategic
issue or issues that you have identified in your own organisation or Strategic Business Unit.

The solution(s) should be based on thorough analysis and should involve critical evaluation of a
range of potential solutions. The emphasis must be aiming to achieve competitive advantage. The
choice of the final strategic decision should be justified. The solutions must not be descriptive of
what the organisation is actually doing but analytical and proposing what it could and should do.
This may be different to the actual decisions made by your organisation. It may however be a
justification of what is actually proposed by the organisation but must justify it in the light of other
options and through analysis. Which approach you take depends on the circumstances of your
organisation.

Important Note:

As Masters Students and senior business people you should look critically at your organisation.
This is not disrespectful but a way of developing your business skills (which is the point of the
Exec MBA). You should not therefore merely accept that what is being done is the only potential
option. You should look at it from a critical perspective and think if there are different or better
options. In business this approach forms part of a healthy discussion which leads the company
forward.

The nature of Strategic Issues:

 Identification of the issue(s) is essential to the success of your assignment. You must
therefore avoid operational issues such as Marketing, HR etc.
 Success depends on you being able to understand the difference between operational and
strategic issues and actions

Choosing the Strategic Issue. Below are some examples of the sorts of issues that might be
investigated. Please note that this is not a complete list and that different ones may be relevant.
(Generally you would only focus on one but there may be more that you could consider). The
emphasis on the options that are considered should be on achieving competitive advantage:

 Decision about which markets to enter

 Decisions about potential product or service development
 Decisions about which business units to invest in and grow and which to reduce
 Growing a new business
 Finding a new source of differentiation in the face of competitive pressure
 Finding innovative ways to compete hence avoiding competition
 Decisions about trade-offs
 Decisions about continuing on the current path

Non-Profit or Government Agencies. Despite the fact that some of these may be quite inflexible you
should not let this restrict your thinking. You should be prepared to think about the following types
of issues:
  Development of new services for different segments
 Better Value Propositions to satisfy stakeholder groups

The Analysis:

This should be based on extensive study and use of data. The analysis must appear in your
appendices. It is not necessary to do this in full report form but should be in the form of a series of
annexes which will contain your notes. These must identifiably be your own work and will also be
examined through Turnitin. The analysis and appendices must be referred to in your report as
evidence and justification for your options and decisions.

Things to avoid:

 Descriptions of the tools and frameworks. You are not writing a text book and you will be
assessed on your ability to think strategically rather than providing a lit review. This style of
writing will lead to a low grade or failure.
 Inappropriate referencing. Any evidence must be properly referenced within the text of the
main report.
 Out of date evidence. Business moves quickly, so a report that uses old data is not valid.
 Descriptions of the current situation. This assignment must look at future potential options.
 Focusing on operational issues. This is a strategy report and should focus on strategic issues
and solutions.

1 You may not choose companies which feature in the large case studies in the Johnson & Scholes
and Grant textbooks, or companies used for in-class teaching. Please confirm your choice of
company with your tutor before proceeding. Collecting information can be done in groups.

Core learning outcomes

Assessment
On completion of this unit you should be able to:
number

1 Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the tools and frameworks of strategy in order to 1

select the appropriate ones with which to perform meaningful analysis to generate
coherent strategic options and choice.

2 1
Select and apply a range of strategy tools, concepts and frameworks to analyse
unstructured problems based on the issues presented by the external and internal
business environment and use the analysis to evaluate and design appropriate
strategies.