Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT COURSE ASSESSMENT 1 The final date for submission of this assessment without penalty is 21st April 2014 Assessment will be accepted for marking 14 days prior to the due date Late Penalty System Please refer to the Student/Programme Handbook This module is being delivered through the Manchester Blackboard virtual learning environment. All assessments must be submitted through Blackboard at: http://online.manchester.ac.uk/ If you have any technical difficulties using blackboard, please visit our support pages at: http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/blackboard Submitting your Assignment 1. Assignments should be typed, 10 or 11 point font size (Times Roman or similar if possible) double spaced with a 4 cm margin on the right side of the page with the page size specified as UK A4. All pages must be numbered. 2. Assignments should be submitted in either Microsoft Office and/or PDF format (.doc, .docx, .pdf etc.). File names should be kept simple and only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z0-9), spaces and underscores (e.g. Valid_filename_1.doc). Files with other characters such as apostrophes, brackets or commas may not be accessible by markers. 3. Assignments may be uploaded only once; substitutions are not permitted and students should therefore ensure that the version uploaded is their final submission. 4. Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned 5. If you are experiencing any difficulty in uploading your assignment to Blackboard, please email a copy of the assignment and a screenshot of the error message immediately to your local centre/Student Adviser. IMPORTANT: ALWAYS RETAIN A COPY OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT WARNING: Once submitted no substitute assignments will be allowed Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT COURSE ASSESSMENT 1 Individual Assessed Assignment 1: Business Strategy – 30% of Course Grade Select a business or part of a business that you are very familiar with. The business must already exist. This is not an assignment to evaluate a new venture proposal. Hints:  Students who select a company, even if it only has one business area, are likely to score poorly. The marker is looking for a very specific management agenda at the end of the assignment; this is difficult to develop for a company. Even when the company only has one business area (i.e.: a budget airline) our advice would be to narrow down the assignment to a part of the company (i.e.: a route).  The assignment can be based on an internal department or service. Assignment Structure Guidelines (1300 words maximum, 15 pages maximum – The assignment flysheet, contents page and bibliography are not part of your word count or page length guidelines) 1. 100 words maximum Provide background to the business, or part of a business, you are basing your assignment on (this is to familiarise your marker with your subject matter). Hints:  A tabulation showing sales, profits etc. for the business over time is usefully employed (Note: Company data can be included but you should primarily provide business data/background)  What is the role of the business within the company (or part of a business) you are basing your assignment on? How is performance evaluated?  What percentage of portfolio sales/performance does the business account for?  In 2. below you identify a customer target. How important is this customer target to the business and what are current levels of performance? 2. 100 words maximum Select customer target. Outline the customer ‘job to be done’, what they want, crystallise customer needs. Hints:  Quantify, stress relative importance (weights) of customer needs in a tabulation  If different customers have very varied needs it may be appropriate to focus in on one market segment with similar needs or even just on one customer Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned  Once you have considered and weighted customer needs consider how well you (and competitors if you have them) satisfy them. Consider Price vs. Needs – this starts to address elasticities and Value.  You do not have to accept current customer needs; they change over time; your desired strategy may be to re-educate customers to a novel set of requirements you can uniquely satisfy. Note: customers may not be able to articulate their needs.  You may wish to reflect on the Decision Making Unit, Decision Making Process, Influencers (Marketing course) 3. 100 words maximum Outline your current and desired position/core value proposition in broad terms (a positioning statement outlines how you intend to meet the ‘job to be done’/customer needs in a distinctive manner). Your current and desired position may be the same. If the position is the same your assignment is primarily concerned with how you can execute that position more effectively, efficiently and build for the future. Note: You cannot decide on your desired position until you have conducted your Audit in Section 5. Your desired positioning in this Section informs the marker of the outcome of your subsequent analysis. Hints:  Ensure your desired positioning is consistent with your Audit analysis in Section 5.  Normally a positioning statement outlines how you intend to satisfy customer requirements better than competitors. For an internal service how you could deliver better value more cost effectively, or, better than potential external providers  Business Strategy Workshop readings include: M.E. Porter’s Generics, Need/Access/Variety; the Value Map; Distinctive Tag Line and Strategy Canvas. These can be used to help illustrate your desired position (as well as Workshop content: The Discipline of Market Leaders, Zig-Zag Positioning, Spider Graph, SNAP charts). Grant’s chapter 7 considers, ‘The Sources and Dimensions of Competitive Advantage’  Your desired position should link closely to step 5 (your Audit) and step 8 (the Management Agenda). 4. Optional tabulations: Marketing P’s and Key Success Factors You may wish to audit: a) How well you translate your desired position in the Marketing P’s: Product/service, Price should have already been outlined in Section 3 – Positioning, your core value proposition. These can be recapped and Promotion, Place and other P’s audited. b) How well you compare to your Key Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators, Key Result Indicators? Your audit aims to identify areas for improvement, given your desired core value proposition – your final management agenda outlines how to improve in these areas. Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned 5. 500 words maximum Audit how well the business, or part of a business delivers its position currently in the operating model Hints – an audit:  Initially you need to explain/describe what is done currently (stressing quantification – use diagrams/tabulations for this.)  You should outline what are the core activities, costs and resources at each stage of your operating model – quantify.  Detailed diagrams tend to score better.  If information is not readily available provide best estimates and press on  Diagrams and text should consider Fit: Consistency, Reinforcement and Optimisation of the business or part of the business being considered  Emphasise Fit with customer requirements – from current and desired positions  Compare/contrast against best practice/Key Success Factors. The aim being to find gaps in performance – areas for improvement  In auditing the business, or part of a business, USE ONLY ONE of the following frameworks:  The Strategy Canvas  The Business System  The Value Chain  The Activity System Map (pre-Workshop readings are provided on each) 6. Optional tabulations: Resource & Capability evaluation After explaining and describing the core activities, costs and resources in your operating model, a resource and capability audit is an optional application followed by a strength/weakness versus strategic importance evaluation. (R. Grant chapter 5 considers resource and capability analysis.) If you decide to have these optional tabulations include them straight after your description of your operating model in section 5 – before your 500 word audit.(Note: in the Workshop team 3 will apply this methodology twice to Unilever and Ice Cream) 7. 200 words maximum. Linkage internally to other areas of the company and to the external ecosystem. The assignment’s focus is on your business or part of a business. This Section allows you to reflect, and comment on how well key internal and external linkages are aligned, areas that can be improved. Focus on one internal linkage you would like to create or strengthen and one external linkage you would like to create or strengthen 8. 300 words maximum Management Agenda – for the next 18-36 months A management agenda is a blueprint for action, describing in detail how you Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (SM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments are paginated. Failure to do this may lead either to a grade not being assigned or being wrongly assigned intend to move from the current to the desired position (A to B). 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