6WBS0011: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages that the strategic alliance offers to the parties in your selected SA: Contemporary Issues in Business and Management, Individual Assignment, UOH, Singapore

Task

Students are required to carefully review a strategic alliance within the automotive sector. This could be anything from VW and Ford working to develop a new commercial vehicle through to “lonity” (charging points) working with various car manufacturers in developing an EV car charging infrastructure.

Students may select an SA that has failed or one that has succeeded, but be guided to select one where you can answer all tasks given below fully before continuing.

Within your discussion, you must explore the following:

A. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages that the strategic alliance offers to the parties in your selected SA. (30 marks)

Guidance

Explore these carefully and use good quality academic reference sources for this. Some examples of advantages include the individual business risk reduction and cost savings through sharing the costs, it can offer speedier market access and it can build the image of each company within the alliance. Disadvantages include the risk of SA failure through poor management, lack of commitment and work culture barriers. Whatever areas you discuss, use good academic sources and business examples to exemplify the points you wish to make.

B. Discuss the growth of strategic alliances within the automotive sector as a whole and explain why this has continued to grow (what benefits it offers and what risks does it reduce). Within this, explore the rationale for the expansion and whether this is specific to only certain manufacturers or certain regions around the world. (25% of marks)

Guidance

Use reputable sources to discuss the value of and growth in SA’s within the automotive sector, preferably within the context of global SA’s. Explore whether any global SA’s have grown significantly more than others. Are some auto makers more open to SA’s than others? Explore why this has been the case and review the possible reasons for this (cultural? Lack of corporate trust? etc). As for the above task, use business examples or maps and charts to evidence your understanding. Ensure your references are academic, valid and appropriate for this level of study.

C. Explore the success or failure of your strategic alliance and the reasons for this, using detailed discussions and comparator alliances to exemplify your discussion.

Guidance

This section allows the student to explore the detail of the specific SA that they are reviewing. Before starting the assignment, students should ensure they have enough research material to really explore the relative success or failure and this would normally include some discussion against comparator organisations and SA’s so that a “measure” of the success or failure can be understood by the reader.

D. Presentation & Structure – follows essay structure & keeps to word limit of 1800 words with evidence of an articulate and fluent writing style.

E. Referencing – follows Harvard style for in-text citation & reference list – students should minimally use 10-12 quality academic sources, including recommended and essential reading, and at least TWO journal articles.