General
Instructions – Please read carefully
1. You are required to complete the Final Assignment outlined below and
submit your completed final paper through the RKC Online Campus by the end of
Unit 6. Your grade will be based 100% on
this final paper, to which you will also receive written feedback.
2.
Please ask any questions about the Final Assignment in the Forum.
The Final Assignment is a 4500 words paper.
It is strongly advised to start working on it early in the course. Actions:
1. Identify
an organisation whose strategies you will examine. We strongly suggest
you review your own organisation as it is easier to collect data about it. If
that is not possible, for example if you are not working at the moment, then
examine an organisation you are personally familiar with. Do not choose
a famous name organisation like Google, IBM, Nestle, etc. unless you work for
them. Depending on the concept selected in point 3, you may want to reduce the
scope to a strategic business unit in a particular geography, as emphasised
already in the interim assignment.
2. Using
the SWOT you prepared for the Interim Assignment – you should update it based on the feedback
we gave you to your Interim Assignment – write a short evaluation of the current
position
of the organisation, its environment and the degree of uncertainty and change
going on, its strategies in use and the strategic issues it faces.
3. From the
evaluation, you need to propose future strategies for the organisation. There
may be many alternative options open to the organisation, what are they? Then
choose one direction you recommend the organisation goes in? Choose ONE
concept from the following list that you argue is the number one priority
concept the organisation should focus on:
o
Core competencies
o
Generic strategies – either cost leadership or
differentiation, or focused cost leadership or differentiation, or outpacing.
o
Mergers and acquisitions
o
Alliances
o
Outsourcing
o
CSR and shared value
o
Blue ocean strategy
o
BSC
o
Capability development and agility
o
Culture change
Make an argument to justify your choice.
4.
You must demonstrate you have a deep understanding of
the concept you apply. You must do this by critically examining the concept.
Research a minimum of 10 peer-reviewed articles about the concept from the
research literature. Examine what
different researchers say about how the concept is used in practice, what its
strengths and weaknesses are, and how the concept can be adapted or
strengthened to make it effective.
The paper should
answer the following questions in a three-part structure:
1.
SWOT
and its explanation – Where is the organisation
now, i.e. its SWOT? What are its current strategies and how effective are they?
What are the organisation’s main challenges and opportunities?
(Approximately
1000 words, 20% of the marks)
2.
Recommended
strategy – Of the alternative futures for
the organisation, which direction do you recommend the organisation go in, and
what needs to be done to go in that direction? What is your argument for your
recommendation?
Within that
recommended strategy for the desired future, which ONE concept do you recommend
the organisation focuses on, as its number
one priority? Exploiting its core competencies? Or adapting its choice of
generic strategy; or changing its value chain through M and A or alliances or
outsourcing; or improving its relationship to society and the environment
through better CSR strategies; or developing its own new and unique market
through BOS; or carrying on doing what it is doing but improving the way it implements
its current strategies through a BSC or similar framework; or developing its
current capabilities to become more agile and robust? What is your argument for
your recommendation?
(Approximately
1500 words 30% of the marks)
3.
Academic analysis – What do the
different researchers say are the strengths and weaknesses of the ONE concept
you recommend is the main priority, and what is the best way to make the
concept work in practice? What does your chosen organisation need to pay
attention to make the concept work? (You MUST critically examine the
academic literature about the concept, including at least 10 peer-reviewed
articles.)
(Approximately
2000 words 50% of the marks)
All sources should be correctly referenced
using the Harvard system, as for any professional academic document.
Your report for the Final Assessment will
be graded using the University’s grading criteria of: Knowledge and Clarity of
Reasoning; Interface between Theory and Practice in the Professional Context;
Use of literature; Organisation of Material.
Papers that are excessively long (i.e.
exceeding the 4500 word limit of the main report by more than 10%) will not be
read beyond the point of the word limit; there is no minimum word limit. Do not
put your name on the paper.
The overall structure should be as follows:
1.
Cover Page
(1 page)
2.
Table of
Contents/List of Appendices (1 page)
3.
Executive
Summary
4.
Main
Report in 3 sections – SWOT,
Recommendations, Academic analysis
5.
Appendices
6.
List of
references
Submit only one document.
WC is committed to fight plagiarism, and we use
Turnitin anti-plagiarism software. Do not use external sources without
referencing them. Do not cut and paste the work of others. Do not copy the work
of others
