Business Management and Strategic Management Discussion
Each company has a corporate website from which you can extract the company’s Annual Report and Accounts, in addition to other reports (usually indicated under the ‘Investors’ tag). We suggest that this is your starting point for your research.
The companies and their industries are:
| Name of Company | Corporate Website | Business Sector | |
| 1 | Easy jet | https://www.easyjet.com/en | Aviation |
| 2 | Choice Hotels | https://www.choicehotels.com/en-uk | Hospitality |
| 3 | Burberry | https://www.burberryplc.com/en/index.html | Fashion |
| 4 | Mondelez | https://www.mondelezinternational.com/ | Manufacturing |
| 5 | Nissan | https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/ | Automobile |
| 6 | Goldman Sachs | https://www.goldmansachs.com/ | Finance |
| 7 | John Lewis | https://www.johnlewis.com/ | Retail |
| 8 | Total | http://www.total.com/ | Energy |
COURSE WORK BRIEF/INSTRUCTIONS
For the Strategy Report, you are required to carry out a critical analysis of the Business Environment of the organization you’ve selected as case study as well as evaluate the strategies implemented by the organization.
Please note that we want you to have the mind-set that you are submitting this Management Report to the Board of Directors for their consideration and understanding. Therefore it must be professional both in content (depth of research and analysis) and presentation (layout and writing style).
This assessment will entail engaging with the business models and frameworks typically employed to undertake an environmental audit and effectively evaluate strategic options available to organizations in terms of appropriateness, feasibility and sustainability. When presenting the frameworks do not simply re- create the diagrams. Your role is to apply the frameworks. It is perfectly acceptable to use a series of subheading to delineate the points that you wish to make.
Structure of the Strategy Report
Anonymous cover sheet: This must contain the module title and code, assignment title, your
ID number, name of your specific seminar tutor, submission date and word count
Executive summary: This should present a ‘snapshot’ of the report What did you find out?
What conclusions have you drawn? [This will help you to start formulating the Executive Summary for your Summative.]
Introduction: An introduction to the company’s operations in other words ‘setting the scene’. This to include an overview of the organisation’s operations, their proposed strategy, its financial situation, general state of the sector/industry (for example, is it in growth or decline) and its key competitors. It is expected that elsewhere in the report you will apply the models/concepts and frameworks to the organisation. This approach should underpin your knowledge and understanding of the organisation and the environment in which it operates.
An analysis of the organisation’s external business environment macro factors (PESTEL framework).
An analysis of the sector/industry through Porter’s Five Forces model.
Analysis of the organisation’s strategic position in its industry- by using relevant business KPIs in comparing the performance of the organization with that of its main competitors
An analysis of the organisation’s internal business environment specifically the capabilities of the organisation. This will include the use of the VRIO framework.
Analysis of the organisation’s strategic direction: This needs to be undertaken with a clear identification of the methods by which the organisation’s strategies have been pursued. You must use Ansoff and either BCG or GE/McKinsey.
Formulation and critical evaluation of strategic measures for the organisation based on an assessment of the organisation’s internal and external business environment using the appropriate frameworks SWOT/TOWS
Critical evaluation of the strategic measures formulated: This is in terms of its suitability, acceptability and feasibility (SAF Framework).
Conclusions: What conclusions have you drawn from analysing this organisation?
Recommendations: These are what you have derived from examining the organisation. These should link back to the material that you have critically reviewed within the previous sections. There must be a clear rationale for the recommendations. Read your recommendations carefully and ask yourself the following questions:
Are your recommendations rational?
What evidence can you provide in support of these recommendations?
How would the various stakeholders react? How would you react if you were a shareholder?
Is it logical that the company would or need to take these specific actions?
Do they make sense?
Would you be prepared to discuss them at a Board meeting?
References: These must be in the APA Referencing Format. There must be appropriate in-text citations throughout your submission. [NOTE: You must seek out credible and validated sources of information for your assignments Please refer to comments elsewhere in this document and other guides on the M115LON Aula pages.] The references (both in-text and within the reference list) are not included within the overall word count.
Appendices: If required and no more than four pages. If there are more than the stipulated four pages those additional pages will not be read.
Conducting and applying research is crucial to this module. Additionally there is a mark awarded for the level of research demonstrated. You will be expected to read and apply information (as an absolute minimum) from the core text, the company’s most recent Annual Reports & Accounts, two news items (from reliable sources) and four journal articles.
Please note that marks will be deducted for the use of such sources as (though not exclusive to): ‘Wikipedia’, ‘Business balls’ ‘essays UK’ (or any site that states the word ‘essay’ in its title or introduction), QuickMBA and ‘tutor2u’. These are not Level 7 reading and should be avoided. If you have any doubts regarding the reliability and validity of sources please ask either your seminar tutor or the module leader.
Please refer to the guides on the M115LON Aula site for further information. It is expected that every student will comply with good academic practice. Any suspicion of a breach of good academic practice will be investigated.
When presenting the frameworks do not simply re-create the diagrams. Your role is to apply the frameworks. It is perfectly acceptable to use a series of subheadings to delineate the points that you wish to make.
Presentation of Strategy Report
The Management Report must be professionally presented and appropriately referenced. As stated above we want you to develop the mind-set that this is for the Board of Directors of your chosen company. Even though you are submitting this electronically we want you to follow the format stated below.
