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Strategy for Managers Assignment 2020-21

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Strategy for Managers Assignment 2020-21
 
Task: You are required:
 
To produce a detailed analysis of a multinational or an organisation active in global trade (governmental, commercial, professional services, or an NGO) and its strategy during the last decade. Please do not select an organisation which has been discussed in detail during lectures and seminars (i.e. where materials about the organisation have been provided).
Steps:

  1. Define your (chosen) industry (be sure to identify your specific industry segment within this broadly defined industry).
  2. Conduct (i) a Five-Forces analysis of your chosen industry and (ii) a PESTEL analysis to identify the key drivers for change over the next 5-10 years (see guidance note 1 and Appendix A for sources of data).
  3. Assess your chosen firm’s current strategy and its ability to both create and capture value. You may draw on any frameworks you believe appropriate to the data you have identified (e.g. can draw on VRIN, Value Chain Analysis, Strategy Canvass, strategy Canvas (Blue Ocean Strategy), Business Model Canvass. Do not try to use all these frameworks! (see guidance notes 2 and 3 below).
  4. What impact has COVID-19 had on your chosen firm’s strategy? Critically evaluate your chosen company’s response to the pandemic. For example, has the firm developed new products/services and are these likely to be retained in a post coronavirus environment? What strategic issues has the pandemic raised for your chosen company or organisation? (see guidance note 4).

Word limit: 2,000 words (+/- 10%) (excluding references and appendices). This limit is to be strictly observed.
 
Submission date:  Friday, 18 December 2020 by 4.00pm at the latest.
 
Feedback date: Friday, 29 January 2021.
 
Component of module: 100%
 
Guidance Notes
This assessment tests the following capabilities:

  1. Your capacity to produce an analytically structured narrative of an organization. This requires researching the organisation over the last decade, using publicly available sources. This will involve trying to reconstruct the strategy adopted by the organization over the last decade. This relies on the information and data available to you from: Business Data Platforms such as Statista and Mintel Marketing Intelligence; government data and statistics publications; international governmental organisations, industry sources, company accounts, and the internet archive sections of the business press.

 

  1. Having produced a narrative, you must analyse the strategy of the organisation using theories / concepts / viewpoints covered in the Strategy for Managers module. This can range from using a single theory through to using a small range of concepts from the module (do not use too many). The concepts used will frame the type of narrative produced.

 

  1. Your analysis should include a critical evaluation of the strategy (strategies) adopted by the organisation under study. Use the academic literature to develop and support analysis of the strategy. To what extent have they been successful? What might you have done differently? What can we learn from their implementation?

 

  1. You will need to ask yourself questions like: what impact has the pandemic had on the company/organisation’s finances and resources? Has the company/organisation developed new products/services? Has the coronavirus impacted on entry barriers, or buyer/supplier power? What other strategic issues have arisen and how has the company/organisation responded? What strategy should the company/organisation pursue going forward?

 
To produce a high-quality strategic analysis of an organisation’s strategy and to ensure maximum marks, it is important that you argue your choices, backing these up with clear data from authoritative sources. We would like to see evidence of research on the subject going beyond “what you simply know”. A high-quality analysis should include an excellent application of the academic literature to analyse and critique the strategy.
 
 
Helpful Tips from Discussions on Assesment
 
 
The questions and feedback from the two groups of students was very helpful. My aim is to respond to the questions and clarify any confusion there is about how to answer the questions as following:
 
The assignment could be written in the way that you suggest. However, it would still be helpful to use sub-headings.
 
Step 1. You are required to select an organisation that is competing in the industry where you are conducting your analysis. This is stated in the task but there was some confusion about this, as it was not stated in Step 1. (e.g. Coca-Cola in the soft drinks industry). You can select an organisation from any country. Further, your analysis can focus on an organisation and industry in a single country(e.g. UK, China, Nigeria, India, etc). For example, you could analyse Apple’s strategy in the UK. I would suggest that for most students, this is the best approach to take.
 
Step 2. There is some confusion here about what is required. It would have been more helpful if I had put the PESTEL analysis before the 5 Forces analysis. (I will make this change on the assignment brief).(a) PESTEL analysis is about identifying the main environmental factors that are likely to impact on your chosen industry, and the strategies of firms operating in this industry (including the firm that you have chosen). You need to identify those key factors from the PESTEL analysis that are most likely to impact and shape industry conditions. It is a means of identifying the threats and opportunities that an organisation faces now and in the future. A simple PESTEL analysis focuses on the main political threats (e.g. global instability) the main economic threats (e.g. Bexit), etc. Alongside this, you can identify the main opportunities that arises from the political (e.g. more UK government support for industry), economic (e.g. new markets in growth regions), social elements, etc of the analysis for your industry. It is likely to be the case that for each of the PESTEL elements, there will be 1 or 2 elements that will have a major impact now and in the future. Try and develop an understanding of how these main macro-environmental factors are impacting on the industry and will do so over the next 5-10 years. Identify the main threats and the main opportunities for each of the PESTEL elements. Managers need to understand what is happening at the macro-level and how it will impact on their industry now and in the future. (b) Five Forces analysis. We are now moving down to the industry level. This is to give you an understanding of the changes that have been occurring in the industry. The Five Forces Framework is to help you to identify the attractiveness of the industry. How powerful are each of the forces? How should the company position itself to defend itself against the strong forces and exploit the weak competitive forces? For example, how can a company protect itself again low barriers to entry? The next step is to consider how the industry is likely to change over the next 5 years or so. Are new competitors likely to enter the industry? Is technology changing. Are there any changes in consumer trends and tastes? This provides you with information on any potential changes in industry structure. Porter only refers to 5 forces. However, in my video recordings, I do mention other forces, specifically complementors (e.g. App suppliers) and network effects in platform industries.**I have realised that I have caused some confusion here. I should have stated ‘see Appendix A for sources of data’). I did NOT intend for you to conduct: ‘an analytically structured narrative of an organization. This requires researching the organisation over the last decade, using publicly available sources. This will involve trying to reconstruct the strategy adopted by the organization over the last decade’ in this section. This is for step 3. (I will correct this in the assignment brief)
 
Step 3. We are now moving down to the level of the company. This is where you are required to conduct ‘an analytically structured narrative of an organization. This requires researching the organisation over the last decade, using publicly available sources. This will involve trying to reconstruct the strategy adopted by the organization over the last decade.’ The sources of data are listed in guidance note 1 and Appendix A.To analyse your organisation’s strategy in step 3, you can draw on the various framework that we have covered: VRIN/O; Value Chain; Business Model Canvas, etc. Do not use more than 1 or 2 frameworks to conduct your analysis.
 
Step 4. This is concerned with assessing the impact of COVID-19 on your chosen organisation’s strategy. How has the firm’s strategy changed in response to the pandemic? What strategy is the organisation likely to pursue post-pandemic? We need to consider any permanent changes in environmental factors such as more people working from home. How would this impact on transportation and the restaurant sector?  Is the structure of the industry likely to change? Which of the five forces is going to be stronger or weaker? From your analysis in step 3, will the organisation need to develop new resources and capabilities to compete in a post-pandemic environment?Synthesis and Critical AnalysisThe wordcount is 2,000 words +/- 10%. You can put your detailed analysis in the appendices. You need to synthesise this analysis for the main text. The main text should contain your key points.General questionsStudents raised questions about the application of theory. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate the depth and breadth of your reading. You can cite the books and articles that you have used to conduct and support your analysis in each of the four steps. For example, if you are taking a resource-based approach in step 3, you can cite articles that you have used to critically assess the organisation’s resources and capabilities.Sub-headings: you can use sub-headings. This is a good way of structuring your analysis.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marking Criteria:
Marks will also be based on coverage of all areas specified in the brief. As a guide, you should spend approximately equal amounts of the essay on each of the four topic areas:
 
 

Assignment Element Weight (%)
1. External analysis – Industry and PESTLE 30
2. Assessment of current strategy 40
3. Impact of COVID-19 on organisation’s strategy and
evaluation of the strategic response		 30
Total 100

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marking Criteria

  Descriptor Marks /weight: Industry & PESTLE Analyses (30) (x.3025) Assessment of strategy (x.40) Impact of COVID-19 (30) Total
PASS WITH DISTINCTION
(70% +)
 
Very good analysis, all material that would be expected, originality or extras		 Original contribution to knowledge that would potentially be worthy of publication. Few if any areas for improvement. Extremely thorough and authoritative execution of the brief. Containing evidence of significant independent research, reflective, providing original perspectives or insights, well-structured showing significant originality in ideas or argument, aptly focused and very well written. Use of appropriate illustrative examples and data. Materials utilised and applied to the empirical setting in a sophisticated manner, with advanced critical assessment of the evidence arising from the application of theory to practice. 90-100%        
Thorough execution of the brief, well-structured and well-written with a logical flow of argument. Signs of originality and/or independent critical analytical ability. Well-focused and displays mastery of the subject matter and of appropriate theories and concepts but providing few or no original perspectives or insights. Materials well utilised and applied to the empirical setting, with critical assessment of the evidence arising from the application of theory to practice. 80-89%        
Very good execution of the brief; well-focused, knowledgeable, evidence of reading beyond the basic texts and displays a very good knowledge of the subject matter. Good critical grasp of relevant theories and concepts. Materials well utilised and applied to the empirical setting, with mainly critical assessment of the evidence arising from the application of theory to practice.
 		 70-79%        
PASS WITH MERIT (60%- 69%)
Good analysis, material as expected		 Well-structured and well-focused answer. Comprehensive, although not complete. Showing understanding based on an ability to marshal information and to support arguments with appropriate examples. Goes beyond the lecture material and core reading in either depth or breadth in some areas. Sound grasp of relevant theories and concepts. Approach generally analytical but with some parts remaining descriptive or some reasoning unexplained. Materials are mostly utilised and applied to the empirical setting, with some form of critical assessment of the evidence arising from the application of theory to practice. 65-69%        
As above but either occasionally lacking accuracy or with few examples or with some lack of evidence or application of theory to practice. 60-64%        
PASS (50%-59%)
Adequate analysis, minor omissions, minor errors		 Concise but accurate. Based largely on core lecture material and limited evidence of reading beyond the basic texts. References to advanced texts do not show that they have been adequately read and understood. Information presented clearly but tending to be descriptive in approach. May contain excessive use of quotations. May fail to address all areas of the brief appropriately. Some attempts to apply theory to practice, but without demonstrating critical assessment of either. May have evidence but may not be critically applied. 55-59%        
As above but with occasional lapses of accuracy or logic. Remains at surface descriptive level. Tends to be largely descriptive of data, or the empirical setting is described but not applied to theory. May have evidence but is not critically applied. 50-54%        
FAIL (40%-49%)
Major errors and/or omissions in understanding of materials
 		 Answer incomplete, with lapses in accuracy, understanding, reasoning or logic. Limited knowledge and understanding of the subject matter displayed; partial and/or containing significant errors and/or irrelevancies, poorly structured. May contain excessive use of quotations. May rely heavily on lecture materials.  Examples are either not used or their relevance is not adequately explained. Almost entirely descriptive in approach, involving description of theory and practice without clear understanding of theory or application to practice explained. 45-49%        
As above but with serious omissions or major errors. Presentation poor. Some material relevant to the question. Evidence that the task has been understood in part at least. Examples inadequate.
 		 40-44%        
FAIL (30%-39%)
Complete omission and/or error in understanding materials; lack of relevance		 Inadequate execution of the brief. Highly partial understanding of subject area and containing serious errors. Sections partly or substantially irrelevant. Poorly structured. Displays little knowledge of the subject matter. Some key words or phrases repeated but without displaying understanding.  May contain excessive use of quotations. Remains at descriptive level without explanation of relevance to practice. Utilises vague general knowledge or unsupported assertions; may fail to support argument with appropriate evidence or evidence is not clearly made relevant to the question. 30-39%        
FAIL <30%
 		 Seriously inadequate execution of the brief. Failure to focus upon the question.  Seriously short or even devoid of theoretical under-pinning of understanding of subject area. Rudimentary knowledge of the subject area.  Serious and fundamental errors in understanding. Claims to knowledge not supported or explained. Large sections irrelevant. May contain excessive use of quotations. Errors serious and fundamental. Little or no relevant evidence of practice related to assignment task, or application of theory to practice. 20-29%        
Little hint of any relevant knowledge. May be an answer to the “wrong” question. 10-19%        
No knowledge relevant to the question 1-9%        
Nothing written. 0%        

 
 
 
 
 
Assessment guidance

  1. Format and limits. Your work must comply with the assessment word limit +/- 10% (excluding reference bibliography and appendices). Work that does not comply will not be marked. You MUST include a word count on the front of your essay. The assignment should be word processed, double spaced and with a font of no less than 11 point. All pages should be numbered. Use headings and sub-headings appropriately to make clear the structure of your essay.

 

  1. You should demonstrate your reading in the subject area in your work through reference to work from appropriate sources such as journals, books, reports etc. THESE MUST BE CLEARLY REFERENCED IN YOUR ESSAY USING THE HARVARD SYSTEM (for guidance see http://libguides.ncl.ac.uk/referencing and http://www.ncl.ac.uk/right-cite/Student/ ). Do not simply reproduce diagrams or extensive general information from the textbooks or articles. You must submit your own work not the work of someone else.  You should assume that we know the workings of basic theoretical or analytical models and will not allocate marks for lengthy descriptions of the models but will allocate marks for the way you apply them to the question and use them to support a line of argument that helps you to answer the question.  Where you use direct quotations or show diagrams, try to keep them short and ensure that they make a direct and clear contribution to your argument. All quotes MUST be clearly cited with a page number.

 

  1. Sources of research information. You will find information from a variety of sources, including academic and popular journals, press reports and web-based information.  Remember to consider the validity of the information and the writer’s viewpoint in the sources that you use in your final text.

 
You should use scholarly books and academic articles (rather than the internet and newspapers etc) as reference sources of theory and argument to support your analysis of your data.
 
As a general principle, you should treat the internet and non-academic publications primarily as sources merely of ‘data’ on which you will base your analysis. When you use such data, it is important to demonstrate awareness and judgment as to its possible partiality, bias or inaccuracy.
 
This is especially important when using data from the internet. As an information resource, it can be very powerful and can quickly guide you to useful sites, if you carry out a disciplined search.  The greatest value of internet information is its richness – anyone can deposit information about whatever they want on the world-wide-web. For students, however, this richness is also its greatest potential weakness.  Web-based information is of highly varying quality and can at times be very misleading or even inaccurate.  The information that you find might be aimed at any kind of constituency, sometimes for the general user, sometimes more specialized in nature. Therefore, it is often difficult to discriminate about which information is most suitable for your purpose. Always use web-information carefully. As with any source of information, take care not to assume that what you are reading is reliable and check out its origin.  Finally, make sure that you cite the full web address with any information to which you refer in written work.
 
Remember to credit all sources of information that you use, in your text and in the bibliography using the required Harvard citation system.
 

  1. Use diagrams and brief tables if appropriate to illustrate points and to support your arguments. Ensure that these are relevant, based on your reading, and that their significance to your argument is clear.

 

  1. Style and content. Your work should discuss and appraise the findings from your study and research and, in doing so, should provide analysis that is relevant to the question posed. Your style should be analytical, interpretative and informative. The content should be focused, relevant to the question and clearly structured.

 

  1. Combining evidence and theory. The aim of the assignment is to answer the question in a well-structured, consistently referenced and clearly analysed manner. We will give marks for a well-supported argument and discussion of the question that draws on relevant evidence, applies evidence and theory intelligently and shows insight and judgment in drawing conclusions. Avoid merely descriptively reproducing factual information – ask yourself: Why am I including this information? How does it relate to the assessment question? What argument or insight that I am making does it help to support?

 

  1. Structure and development. Try to ensure that the structure of your work follows a clear pattern and that the themes develop in a way that is appropriate to your line of argument. Ensure that what you write makes a direct contribution to the question and try to avoid including general or irrelevant information in your answers. Please include appropriate headings, sub-headings and other ‘sign-posts’ so that we can see the direction of your thinking and analysis.

 

  1. You may attach appendices to your work which will not be included in the word-count.  Appendices may include, for example, certain tables or analyses, the conclusions or outputs of which you have included in the main text. They should not be the sole location for any information that is essential to your argument. While appendices can provide supporting evidence for your argument it must be possible to understand and assess the validity of your argument without reference to the appendix (for example, where statistics are drawn from data in an appendix make sure that the key statistics on which your argument depends are summarised or reproduced in the main text of your work). Just as appendices do not influence the word count, so they will not affect the mark you are awarded for the work.

 
 
 
 
 
Appendix A
Sources of Data
 
Sources of data from governmental, industry and other sources
Sources of data from Newcastle University Library
Databases on industries and companies

  • Statista – industry data
  • Mintel Marketing Intelligence – UK market research
  • Lexis (Lexis@Library) UK national and regional newspapers
  • Nexis – International and business news, company information, etc in various languages
  • Financial Times
  • Passport – business information on countries, consumers and industries
  • Business Source Complete – overview of company information, industry profiles, company profiles, market research reports
  • Mergent Intellect – US and international business data
  • Mergent Archives – corporate and industry documents from over 100 countries and industries (1998-2014)
  • UK Data Service – Office of National statistics
  • International Statistics –
    • Eurostat (EU growth, unemployment, inflation, etc);
    • United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE);
    • Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – range of datasets;
    • United Nations (UNData) – economic performance, innovation, etc
    • Quandl – economic, finance, markets, health, etc datasets (free access, but you will need to sign up and create an account)

 
Financial databases

  • Fame – UK companies
  • Amadeus database – European companies
  • Oriana – companies in Asia-Pacific region including China

 
 
Sources of data from governmental, industry and other sources (available online)
Measures of freedom and democracy
 
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2019
Entrepreneurship and business statistics
https://www.oecd.org/sdd/fin-stats/
National accounts and householder debt, loans, etc
https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.htm
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/HH_LS@GDD/CAN/GBR/USA/DEU/ITA/FRA/JPN
Office of National Statistics (ONS) UK data
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/debt/datalist
World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2019
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/archive/united-kingdom/
International Monetary Fund (economic data)
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets
Bank of International Settlement (economic & financial data)
https://www.bis.org/
World Bank (income, demographics, etc)
https://data.worldbank.org/
https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators
US Government Open data
https://www.data.gov/
EU Open data
http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data/
UK Open data
https://data.gov.uk/
Open Knowledge Foundation
https://opengovernmentdata.org/data/
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
World Health Organization
https://www.who.int/en/
Registry of open data on AWS
https://registry.opendata.aws/
Facebook
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api
Google datasets
https://www.google.com/publicdata/directory
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore
https://www.google.com/finance
Gap Minder (variety of datasets)
https://www.gapminder.org/data/
UK Data Service (Social, economic, population)
https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/
ICAEW (Company reports)
https://www.icaew.com/library/company-research/company-reports-and-profiles/annual-reports
Yahoo (Finance, market data,etc)
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/
Annual Reports
http://www.annualreports.com/
Morningstar (Financial and market data)
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/
Motor Industry
https://www.smmt.co.uk/
National Health Service (UK)
https://www.nhs.uk/about-us/nhs-website-datasets/
 

 
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