Strategic Management Assignment
The report is focused on Better Beer – https://www.betterbeer.com.au/Links to an external site. As the company of choice.
Overview
The aim of the assessment is to provide strategic advice to the senior leadership of an organization (e.g. the Board of Directors or Owner) about a distinct new competitive or strategic move that the organization could make.
This is an individual research project with two components:
- Written Report: 2,000-2,500 words, excluding the cover page, references and appendices.
- Recorded Presentation / Pitch Video: Maximum of five (5) slides with audio recording of not more than 2 minutes per slide (i.e. a 5-10min presentation).
The purpose of the report and pitch video is to convince the senior leadership of the chosen organization to follow your advice and embark on the new strategic move, including giving them confidence in its chances for success.
You are expected to go beyond the modes of analysis in Assessment 1 to include concepts such as:
- Porter’s Generic Strategies for Business
- Generic Strategies for Resource Constrained Firms
- Integration and Defensive Strategies
- Ansoff’s Product-Market Grid and the Blue Ocean Strategy
- The Boston Consulting Groups Growth-Share Matrix
- Strategic Evaluation and Corporate Governance
- Stakeholder Analysis, Engagement & Strategic Alliances
- CSR, CSV and ESG
Suggested Elements
It is strongly recommended that you cover the following elements through your report and presentation. How you do so is up to you and may require different structures in different circumstances. These are not necessarily the section or subheadings which you should use.
- Critical Strategic Issue and Objectives: Think of this as an overview. You need to introduce and contextualize the challenge the organization is going to address. For example, to which particular external or internal factors is your report responding? You should also offer the goals which the organization can achieve through implementing your approach, preferably in the form of SMART goals.
- Competitive Position Analysis: You need to contextualize your chosen organization within their industry, including against competitor or comparator organizations. Depending on which organization you choose, this could involve a variety of internal and external environmental analysis tools, for example those which you used in Assessment 1.
- Strategic Recommendations: These need to sit in two interdependent areas: 1) the Corporate Strategy– a business’s high level plan of action, with goals over 3-5 years, which speak to the entire organization and includes elements such as market entry, business unit value and growth strategy; and 2) the Business Strategy (or Business Work Plan) – which is typically a yearlong plan of action for a specific unit of the business. It should involve subset goals that support and lead to the organization’s higher-level goals.
- Stakeholder Analysis: in your report, you need to consider the organization’s various stakeholders and consider their interests and expectations while conducting your analysis, as well as how they might be involved in implementing your recommendations. This is particularly true if your organization connects with First Nations communities, or populations that are experiencing disadvantage or discrimination. A typical stakeholder analysis might involve the stages of Information Gathering, Categorization, Prioritization and then an Engagement Plan.
- ESG Considerations: You need to take into consideration the Environmental, Social and Governance factors relevant to your organization, and how they might enable, inhibit or need to change in relation to your analysis and recommendations. This may interact with the stakeholder analysis and your evaluation and control system.
- Strategic Evaluation & Control System: It’s essential for organizations to have systems in place to measure and evaluate their progress against their strategic objectives. Not only do your goals need to be SMART, but you also need to have an appropriate series of indicators and data collection tools. Depending on your analysis and recommendations, this may interact with an organization’s existing systems, or it may require something completely different.
- Logistics:These elements are important but are not included in the word count. They include a Title Page / Cover Sheet, a Reference List and any Appendices. It might also include the use of a Table of Contents, Images or Diagrams. It is recommended that people use APA7 footnotes or endnotes for the report. There are no requirements for references for the presentation.
21715 Assessment 2 Individual Project |
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| Criteria | Ratings | Pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Identification of strategic issues for company or industry and provision of appropriate evidence |
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10 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Critical analysis of strategic issues and related objectives |
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30 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Development of recommendations and relevant advice (including strategy for engagement in Indigenous contexts) |
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30 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Consideration of the ethical, social, and environmental aspects of strategic issue and how this shapes the recommendations (including articulating on how the firm with communicate and engage in Indigenous contexts) |
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10 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Consideration of strategic implementation challenges of recommendations, including required stakeholder consultation and collaboration (including the strategic considerations in communicating with and engaging in Indigenous contexts) |
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10 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Communication and pitching of strategic issue and advice, including clarity of pitching, citation of evidence, audio explanation, professional presentation |
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10 pts | ||||||
| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome 1.1
Synthesis critical thinking and advanced analytical skills to develop creative solutions that address strategic business issues in complex contexts threshold: 3.0 pts |
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| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome 2.1
Communicate business information effectively to various stakeholders to achieve desired business outcomes threshold: 3.0 pts |
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| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome 3.1
Evaluate and apply principles of ethics, sustainability, social responsibility, and Indigenous values, to decision-making in business threshold: 3.0 pts |
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| This criterion is linked to a learning outcome 4.1
Demonstrate advanced skills in professional business practice by researching and analyzing complex information and concepts to support business decisions in local and international contexts threshold: 3.0 pts |
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| Total points: 100 | ||||||||
Word Count: 25000-2600
No. of Pages: 11