STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT COURSEASSESSMENT1 IndividualAssessedAssignment1:BusinessStrategy-30%ofCourse Grade Selectabusinessorpartofabusinessthatyouarevery familiar with.Thebusiness mustalreadyexist.This is not an assignment to evaluatea newventure proposal. Hints: •?Studentswhoselectacompany,evenifitonlyhasonebusinessarea,are likely to score poorly. The marker is looking for a very specific management agendaattheendoftheassignment;thisisdifficulttodevelopforacompany. Even whenthecompanyonlyhasonebusinessarea(i.e.:abudgetairline)ouradvice would betonarrow downtheassignment to apart of thecompany(i.e.: aroute). •?The assignmentcanbebasedonaninternal department orservice. AssignmentStructureGuidelines(1300wordsmaximum,15pagesmaximum–The assignmentflysheet,contentspageandbibliographyarenotpartof yourwordcount orpagelengthguidelines) 1. 100 wordsmaximum Providebackgroundtothe business, orpartofabusiness,youarebasingyour assignment on(this istofamiliarise your marker with your subjectmatter). Hints: •?Atabulationshowingsales,profitsetc.forthebusinessovertimeisusefully employed(Note:Companydatacanbeincludedbutyoushouldprimarily providebusinessdata/background) •?Whatistheroleofthebusinesswithinthecompany(orpartofabusiness) youarebasingyourassignment on? Howisperformanceevaluated? •?Whatpercentageofportfoliosales/performancedoesthebusinessaccount for? •?In2.belowyouidentifyacustomertarget.Howimportantisthiscustomer target tothebusinessand whatarecurrent levelsofperformance? 2. 100 wordsmaximum Selectcustomer target.Outlinethecustomer‘jobtobedone’,whatthey want, crystallise customerneeds. Hints: •?Quantify, stress relative importance (weights) of customer needs in atabulation •?Ifdifferent customershave veryvaried needsitmaybeappropriatetofocusin ononemarket segment with similarneedsoreven justononecustomer •?Onceyouhaveconsideredandweightedcustomerneedsconsiderhowwell you(andcompetitorsifyouhavethem)satisfythem.ConsiderPricevs. Needs-thisstartsto addresselasticities andValue. •?Youdonothavetoacceptcurrentcustomerneeds;theychangeovertime; yourdesiredstrategy may betore-educate customers toanovelsetof requirementsyoucanuniquely satisfy.Note:customersmay notbeableto articulatetheir needs. •?You may wish to reflect on the Decision Making Unit, Decision Making Process, Influencers(Marketingcourse) 3. 100 wordsmaximum Outlineyourcurrentanddesiredposition/corevaluepropositionin broadterms(a positioningstatementoutlineshow youintendtomeet the‘job to be done’/customerneedsin adistinctivemanner). Yourcurrentanddesiredposition may bethesame. If thepositionis thesame your assignmentisprimarily concernedwithhowyoucanexecutethat positionmore effectively, efficientlyand build for thefuture.Note: Youcannot decideonyourdesiredpositionuntilyou have conductedyourAuditin Section5. Your desiredpositioninginthisSection informsthemarkerof theoutcome of your subsequentanalysis. Hints: •?Ensure your desired positioning is consistent with your Audit analysis in Section 5. •Normally apositioningstatementoutlineshowyouintendtosatisfy customer requirementsbetterthancompetitors.Foraninternalservicehowyou could deliverbettervalue morecosteffectively,or,betterthanpotential external providers •?Business Strategy Workshop readings include: M.E. Porter’s Generics, Need/Access/Variety; the Value Map; Distinctive Tag Line and Strategy Canvas. Thesecanbeused tohelpillustrateyourdesiredposition (aswell as Workshopcontent: The DisciplineofMarketLeaders,Zig-ZagPositioning, SpiderGraph,SNAPcharts). Grant’schapter7 considers,‘TheSources and DimensionsofCompetitive Advantage’ •?Yourdesiredpositionshouldlinkclosely tostep5(yourAudit)andstep8 (the ManagementAgenda). 4. Optionaltabulations: Marketing P’sand Key Success Factors You maywish toaudit: a)How well youtranslate your desiredpositioninthe MarketingP’s: Product/service,Priceshould have alreadybeen outlined in Section3– Positioning,yourcorevalueproposition.Thesecan berecappedandPromotion, Placeandother P’saudited. b)How well youcompare toyour Key Success Factorsand Key PerformanceIndicators,KeyResult Indicators? Youraudit aimstoidentifyareasforimprovement, givenyour desiredcorevalue proposition–your finalmanagementagendaoutlineshow to improve in these areas. 5. 500 wordsmaximum Audithowwell thebusiness,orpart ofabusinessdeliversitspositioncurrentlyin theoperatingmodel Hints–anaudit: •?Initiallyyouneedtoexplain/describewhatisdonecurrently(stressing quantification –usediagrams/tabulationsfor this.) •?Youshouldoutlinewhatarethecoreactivities,costsandresourcesat each stageofyouroperatingmodel–quantify. •?Detaileddiagramstendto scorebetter. ??Ifinformationisnotreadilyavailableprovidebestestimatesand presson ??DiagramsandtextshouldconsiderFit:Consistency,Reinforcement and Optimisation of the business or part of the business being considered ??Emphasise Fit with customer requirements – from current and desiredpositions •?Compare/contrast againstbestpractice/KeySuccessFactors.Theaimbeing tofindgaps in performance- areasforimprovement •?Inauditingthebusiness,orpartofabusiness, USEONLYONEofthe following frameworks: ??TheStrategy Canvas ??TheBusinessSystem ??TheValueChain ??TheActivity SystemMap (pre-Workshopreadingsareprovided oneach) 6. Optionaltabulations: Resource & Capabilityevaluation Afterexplainingand describing thecoreactivities,costsandresources inyour operatingmodel, aresource andcapabilityaudit isanoptional application followedbyastrength/weaknessversusstrategic importanceevaluation. (R. Grantchapter5considers resourceand capabilityanalysis.) If youdecideto have these optional tabulationsinclude them straightafteryour description of your operatingmodel in section 5–before your500word audit.(Note: in theWorkshop team 3will apply thismethodologytwicetoUnileverandIceCream) 7. 200 wordsmaximum. Linkageinternallyto otherareasof thecompanyand totheexternal ecosystem. The assignment’s focus isonyourbusinessorpart of a business.This Section allowsyoutoreflect,andcommentonhowwell key internaland externallinkages arealigned,areasthatcanbeimproved.