SIM336 Strategic Management Assessment Question

Module Leader: Tatah Amenonyoh

Learning outcomes.

Upon successful completion of this module, students will have demonstrated:

Knowledge

K1. Understanding of the origins and various approaches to strategy

K2. Understanding of the complexity of the relationships between the organisation and its environment

K3. Understanding of international/global strategic thinking

K4. Understanding of the application of strategy ideas in practice

Skills:

S1. The ability to analyse the complexity of organisations and their environments

S2. The ability to synthesise earlier, diverse and possible piecemeal studies of the organisation and assimilate new theoretical models and offer solutions relative to strategic issues

S3. The ability to evaluate existing models and methodologies against observations of the practices of real organisations

Please read carefully the following instructions:

All students are required to submit their assignment via the module in Canvas and JIRA. The penalty for students that do not submit their assignments through the module in Canvas and JIRA is that they will fail the assignment.

Students may submit assignment drafts prior to the submission date to generate originality reports. The last submission of the assignment prior to the submission date will be deemed as the final submission for assessment purposes.

All work submitted must adhere to the University Policy on ‘Cheating, Collusion and Plagiarism’

You must not submit an assignment that analyses the mobile phone industry and or a mobile phone company.

Task:

You are required to submit an individual report of 3,000 words, which can be based on an organization or idea of your own choice. The strategic analysis must be related to a recognised aspect of business policy, strategic management or the philosophical underpinning of a particular methodology within the public or private sector strategic management domain.

Therefore If your analysis is of an organisation then do not submit a functional analysis . for example do not submit a strategic marketing analysis or a strategic human resource analysis. You should be applying the concepts and models from the topics that are within the module to your chosen organisation.

The report must be written in a recognised style. Table of contents, introduction, main analysis, conclusions, recommendations, references and bibliography. You must apply the Harvard system of referencing in your report.  The word count includes the front page, executive summary and or abstract, contents page, introduction, main analysis, conclusions, recommendations, diagrams, tables, figures and graphs.

Objectives

To analyse a business policy or strategic management topic, to carry out individual research or evaluation of an organization.

Requirements

Meet the learning outcomes listed above, identify and critically analyse fundamental issues related to strategic management. Undertake a study that shows clear evidence of synthesis and evaluation.

• Use a theoretical model to reflect upon the reality (practice) of a situation.

There are a number of ways you might carry out this assignment. Here are a few ideas:

• Compare theory with theory: Using practical examples, compare two theories from two different schools of thought and examine success  or failure.
• Compare theory and practice: Does M.E. Porter’s (1985) model of competition support the experience of practitioners?
• A case study approach: Is Satya Nadella, C.E.O. managing Microsoft as effectively as he might? Since do an analysis of Microsoft’s performance in relation to declared (or undeclared) strategy and the efficacy of his strategy.
• A recovery plan: My advice to the Chief Executive Officer of the Toshiba Corporation is
• A risk management strategy: Therefore the advice to Tesco’s Chief Executive Officer in light of their 2014/5 £6.4 Billion trading loss.

These are merely examples of approaches you might take; thinking up your own ideas might be more productive and fun. You are encouraged where practical to discuss your ideas with your tutor prior to commencing the assignment.

Assessment Criteria

This seminar tutor on the basis of the following general criteria will assess the paper:

• The university generic assessment criteria
• Discretion – additional credit may be awarded to a student who tackles a difficult subject well.

Please access your reading list from the library website. To access it, please go to https://moduleresources.sunderland.ac.uk/ and search for your module.

Submission guidelines

There are currently two steps that you need to follow to ensure that you successfully submit your work for marking. Your submission links will become available approximately 3 weeks prior to your submission deadline, along with detailed instructions on how to submit your assignment, but in the meantime please feel free to also watch this Assignment Submission Instructions video.

Grading

The assessment criteria covers; Relevance, Knowledge, Analysis, Argument and Structure, Critical Evaluation, Presentation, Reference to Literature.