BM085: Students are to Identify a Business Sector, and for a Specified Number of These Organizations, Develop a Comprehensive Strategic Profile: Strategic Management Assignment, QMU, Singapore

Aims:

•  To provide students with an introduction to key formal and informal processes involved in strategic management.
• To develop students’ ability to engage with theory and concepts in thinking and acting strategically.

Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of key theories and concepts in the process of making and implementing strategy, and of thinking strategically.
• Develop an analysis of an organization’s competitive situation and assess its current and future prospects.
• Critically assess potential sources of competitive advantage and evaluate the importance of context and the suitability of different options for the delivery of organizational objectives.
• Identify and analyze the problems, strategic threats, and opportunities of organizations, based on their internal capabilities and external environments.
• Demonstrate insight of the systems perspective that supports strategic thinking and critically differentiate between process-based and creative elements of strategic management

Diet 1:  Assessment 1

Group Presentation: Strategic Profile & Context Analysis

Group Task:

Students are to identify a business sector, and for a specified number* of these organizations, develop a comprehensive strategic profile of each, along with a context analysis of the common business environment in which they operate.

Based upon the strategic profile of each organization, a critical evaluation should be developed in terms of its strategy development and direction, over the recent past and present. This should be linked to the organization’s specific added value proposition and value-creating activities, and business model. The evaluation should also focus upon a critical comparison of the organizations through the lens’ of the context analysis and profiles, to establish the relative strengths and weaknesses of recent performance.

Diet 2 and 3:  Assessment 1

For diet 2 or 3 submissions, students are asked to rework and represent the original presentation in line with feedback from the program team. If necessary, students may be asked to work alone and to give an individual presentation, please talk with your module leader to agree on arrangements

DIET 1: ASSESSMENT 2

The Assessment Exercise:

1.Building on Assessment 1, the organizations are to be divided between the group members whereby each student is allocated a different organization to focus upon for this second assessment task. Based upon that organization, prepare a strategic management report addressing the following terms of reference:

• Based on the information in assignment one and any further reach required. Develop a detailed SWOT to TOWS matrix and accompanying narrative that reflects the current position of your organization.
• Based on the outcomes of these frameworks, select what you feel is the most important strategic issue for the future of the organization, analyzing its importance to stakeholders, and develop a strategic recommendation/option that you would then advise in response to the key issues identified in this analysis.

Guidance Note: It is important for students to appreciate that this second task is informed by the content and findings from Assessment 1 but is NOT a simple restatement of them in addressing the requirements set for Assessment 2.