Assignment Details The assignment is made up of a number of sequential parts, detailed below. Please ensure you number each part of the final report. Case Details MOOster was formed from the merger of a number of dairy cooperatives and the, and is based largely in and around Bairnsdale, Victoria. It has a Head Office (administrative) in Melbourne, and small presences in New Zealand, China, Singapore and London. One business unit (Animal Husbandry and Production) is involved in the production of milk (oversight of all the dairy farms they own, and transportation of fresh milk to processing plants), while another business unit (Dairy Processing) has been formed to manage all dairy processing (including cheese and yogurts, ice creams, dried milk products, and baby formula). Another part of its business, MOOster Services, looks after the marketing, export and distribution of all its dairy products across Australia, New Zealand, and has already established a small office in the UK hoping to capitalise on BREXIT. MOOster services also liaises very closely with the Victorian Dairy Marketing Board (VDMB), and frequently seeks the latest research and marketing information from VDMB, and works closely with them whenever reviewing its own marketing initiatives and whether or not it should enter into new export markets. Over the years MOOster Services has established a strong relationship with VDMB, and to a large extent MOOster’s decision to enter into collaborative business arrangements with local agents in Singapore and China to manage distribution of goods in those markets was based on sound advice from VDMB.
MOOster has, for many years now, been a significant employer in the Gippsland region in particular, and hence has been well-regarded by local communities. However with government initiatives to increase housing affordability by encouraging the growth of regional centres supported by fast rail links to Melbourne, there is increasing pressure to develop land for new housing. New residents do not hold any great affection for MOOster, do not appreciate MOOster’s history and contribution to the local economy, and instead, MOOster is starting to receive increasing complaints about milk tankers near new housing estates, smells, polluted waters close to dairy farms, and so on.
It is fair to say that while all the affected dairy cooperatives were supportive of the decision to merge and form MOOster, life seems much more complex and uncertain now. There is no deep management experience in MOOster, with many Board members previously owning and managing their own individual farms, but finding it difficult to think more strategically, and at times are seen as representing the interests of their previous cooperatives, rather than acting in MOOster’s best interests. The Board did however agree that they needed to put in place a strong management team to take the company forward, and appointed a new CEO, Janet Kingdom, to take over the management of MOOster, and move the organisation forward as it faces numerous challenges to its current sound position in the market. It is facing increasing competition from organisations in New Zealand and Canada, who produce and export very similar products to MOOster.
Amongst Janet’s first tasks was to try to understand the challenges facing MOOster, and from this to create a strategic plan for the organisation that has the support of the Board and other key stakeholders. There is no strong strategic plan in place, and Janet is concerned that a plan is now needed to ensure that coherent decisions are made across the organisation and that all actions and initiatives serve to promote the interests of customers and of MOOster itself. She is worried about the growing complaints from new residents moving into the Gippsland region, as she believes that having the strong support from local communities is very important to the success of the business. In looking at some of the data presented to her from the business units, she notes with concern that spoilage of dairy products being shipped to the northern areas of Western Australia, Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory has been increasing, especially during the summer months, and learns that a poor relationship has developed between MOOster Services and Long Haulage, the company they rely on to deliver products by truck all around Australia.
Janet also learns that Mooster is regarded as having reasonable, reliable IT, but has not invested in what might be described as recent leading edge technologies. Coming from the Banking sector where ICT is regarded as critical to long term strategy and success, Janet is surprised by this, and makes a mental note that this needs to be examined in a lot more detail. She briefs the Board on her concerns and seeks their support for an organisation-wide analysis of current ICT capabilities and business opportunities.
In response to Janet’s voiced concerns about increasing competition and challenges in their business environment, MOOster Board agree to support a business analysis initiative, performed by external consultants, to analyse their current situation and offer advice as to possible strategies and technology solutions that might help them achieve improved business outcomes, such as reduced operating costs, increases in revenues, help ‘green’ their operations, and/or position them to better respond to the initiatives of their competitors.
You work for an external consultant, Marron Strategic Services, and have been asked to undertake a number of initiatives to contribute to the overall business analysis. Your tasks are detailed below:
- As part of the Strategic Analysis, analyse the external and internal business environment of MOOster using PESTLE and SWOT analyses. Briefly report and reflect on the findings from these analyses.
- Use Soft Systems Methodology to undertake a preliminary definition of the MOOster-Gippsland Community problem, explaining how you might apply SSM. Using the tools and techniques from SSM, develop and discuss potential solutions/resolutions to this problem.
- The Board decides that it is critical to address the spoilage issue during the transportation to remote markets, and has asked the Business Analysis Team to investigate the feasibility of considering the implementation of and IoT (Internet of Things) system, including smart sensors, communications, and so on. You are asked to identify the stakeholders for this initiative, produce a Harm-Help analysis for each, and plot each stakeholder/stakeholder group on a power/Interest grid. Briefly justify your positioning on the grid.
Be sure to explain and justify your analyses in (i), (ii) and (iii) above. Please use a standard business report format to present your analyses. There are equal marks given to each of the three questions. 9 marks will be awarded to each question, and 3 marks will be allocated to report structure, coherence, written expression, referencing and so on.
Assessment Criteria Criteria that will be used to assess your work are as follows:
- Depth and extent of research and evidence of wider reading
- Evidence of thoughtfulness, insights, analysis and critical reflection gained from engagement with appropriate literature and the details of the case
- Assertions and arguments made are grounded in researched data and/or supported by compelling argument
- Extent of understanding demonstrated of strategy analysis tools, problem identification, and stakeholder identification and analysis.
- Ability to apply your knowledge to new business problem contexts
- Structure, coherence and presentation of the report
- Referencing according to tertiary standards based on the Harvard system
Referencing
- The work you submit must be your own original work i.e. not a cut and paste job drawing heavily on whatever you can find on the Internet, or an assignment or paper written wholly or partly by someone else, or by yourself for another unit.
- Demonstrate your knowledge by using references to show that you know who some of the key thinkers on the topic are. Quoting from them without acknowledging the source indicates academic naivety and will result in a lower mark, quite possibly zero.
- Use the “Harvard System Style Guide: In-text references, reference lists & bibliographies” to learn how to reference appropriately and properly. It’s an important post-graduate skill. The library has a number of online resources to assist you if you are unfamiliar with requirements. The librarians may also be able to assist you in understanding plagiarism, and in how to avoid it.
- You must include an accurate and complete reference list at the end of your assignment.
- Penalties may apply if evidence of plagiarism is found in your work.
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