Posted: June 10th, 2015

Strategic Analysis & Planning

Strategic Analysis & Planning

The analysis should be set at the date of the article on which this analysis is based.

The coursework is an individual piece of work. It will be 3,000 words, inclusive of appendices (+/- 10%). Please note that text in diagrams or tables will count towards the word count. References and a bibliography (reference list) will not count against the word limit for the assignment.

It is important that attention be focused on a strategic appraisal of the company as opposed to providing lots of interesting facts over what interests you or what you find on the internet. Assessment will focus on students? abilities in applying strategic models and frameworks in a coherent manner that enables them to develop a clear strategic view of the strategic position being studied. You do not need to (should not) reference any academic sources in this element of the assessment, but you should reference sources of company or market information. Please note that is an exception and not the normal practice in assignments. Assessment criteria are detailed below.

Submission will follow the conventions normally expected of a business report. There must be no evidence of plagiarism, and the paper must clearly identify incorporated material from outside sources. The use of the Harvard style referencing is a requirement, as is word processing and the printing on white paper in black ink. It is suggested at the font is Times New Roman size 12. To retain anonymity the student(s) reference number(s) is to be on the top of each page, and each page is to be numbered on the bottom.

The following structure is suggested:
Introduce the case event and the main organisations that feature in the situation being examined (Suggested words 750)
An evaluation of the key stakeholders (Suggested words 250)
Identification of the main external factors driving the strategy/ ies being explored (Suggested words 1,000)
An examination of the value adding activities being examined in the case (Suggested words 1,000)