SIM336 Strategic Management Report
Assignment Task:
Deliverable: One written individual report; Submission; You must submit the assignment as a word-compatible document.
You are required to conduct a strategic analysis and construct strategic recommendations for your chosen company based on current information. A key outcome with this report is to ensure that you are able to construct plausible strategies grounded on solid research, thorough analysis and logical argument, all presented them in a report that is persuasive and clear.
This report, as is obvious from the mark allocation, is going to require considerable work from you. In addition to the use of all matrices and strategic tools taught in the course, you will also be expected to seek out data on your own. The report is expected to be clear and concise. Length is NOT an indicator of quality. Any padding will be frowned upon. The format of the report is given below. The maximum length of the report is 3,000 words, excluding cover sheet, executive summary, contents page and references. In addition, you are permitted to have up to 5 pages of appendices. Your appendices are to be comprised of tables, figures, charts and diagrams only.
One often neglected aspect of case studies is the inclusion of the theoretical underpinnings of your recommendations. This aspect will be covered in the lectures but it is worth mentioning that this unit, while recognising the role of trade publications, places special emphasis on refereed journal articles.
- citations from trade journals and the like will be acceptable only to provide examples to support your argument;
- theory must be cited from textbooks and refereed sources;
- Wikipedia, CIA, essay site fee or free and blog references are banned
Required format for case report:
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Current Company Situation
- Company profile
- Financials
- Manpower strength
- Turnover
- Country/countries of operation
- Number of divisions
- etc
- External analysis:
- identify trends, opportunities and threats
- If necessary, define the scope of (a): e.g., Asia only or B2B only
- Internal analysis;
- Identify the capabilities behind the competencies that create value
- Will this endure into the future?
- Issue/Problem definition:
- What issue/s is/are you trying to resolve?
- Given this issue what goal(s)/objective(s) must be set?
- From (6), briefly describe your recommended strategy, based on your SWOT analysis, that will resolve the issue/s
- Appendices:
- g. Ratio analysis (place conclusions stemming from this analysis in your main body)
- Tabulate your Porter’s analysis, SWOT, PEST.
- Others as appropriate
Objectives and Requirements
This assignment is to be undertaken individually. It is primarily designed for you to demonstrate your understanding of key concepts, theories, or models covered in this unit and apply/link them to business reality/your personal experience to facilitate your learning. Be assertive to draw conclusions for your analyses and evaluations. You are strongly encouraged to reflect on your own managerial experience, if you have, in developing business strategy in your organisation. Using secondary data in the form of literature or publications is expected. The length of this part of the assignment should NOT exceed 3,000 +/- 10% word count, double spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, 2.5 cm margins all sides.