Assignment – Strategic Management
Task:
Critically evaluate the key issues that strategic analysis plays in a business or organization that you are familiar with (I am from India and I want a telecommunication company – (Reliance Jio Info Comm Ltd)- as the company for this analysis).
In this assignment, you are required to write a 3,200 word report and an executive summary is not required. Do not include a Table of Contents or a Reference List in your word count. Your report should be based on but not exclusively limited to the following tasks:
- Describe briefly the background information of the organization (or SBU) assigned. This information should be brief and relevant to the discussion of your assignment and thus may include ownership, history, size, business scope, major products/services, and major markets of the organization (or SBU) selected.
- Conduct external environment analysis including a macro-environment analysis and Porter’s 5 forces analysis:
(1) Conduct a macro-environment analysis for the entire industry within which the organization (or SBU) operates. You should use PESTEL model and focus on the understanding of the purpose of this analysis, the identification of key factors and their implications in terms of key opportunities and threats, and the discussion of their overall impact on the industry growth in the future. Draw your conclusion based on your macro-environment analysis.
(2) Undertake a competitive analysis using Porter’s 5 forces model. You are required to pay attention to the purpose of this analysis, the inter-disconnectedness of different aspects of the competitive forces, and their overall impact on the industry and the organization selected in terms of main driving forces in the competitive environment. Draw your conclusions based on the five-force analysis.
- Conduct internal environment analysis. You should identify key resources and competencies of the organsation (or SBU) that are likely to provide sustainable competitive advantage.
- Summarize your findings based on your external and internal environment analysis. Identify the key issues that the organization (or SBU) faces and give your recommendations.
- Draw your conclusion.
Guidelines for this task:
https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/book/10.1057%2F978-1-137-54468-1
Ensure that you read widely and address key components of the strategic management process addressed in the literature from Module 1. The link above is an example of a sound research source.
You should seek to complement the readings from Module 1 by accessing books and relevant journal articles from the sources listed under ‘Recommended additional reading’ in this Subject Outline.
Use your reading to inform your critical evaluation of the key issues of strategic analysis within the business, public sector or not-for-profit organization where you work.
While you are required to name the organization that is the focus of your research, you may wish to make a case for maintaining the anonymity of the organization (e.g. due to political or commercial sensitivities). Contact your subject coordinator before you start on the assignment if you need to do this.
Note that this subject uses a due date system for assignments; i.e., the stated date is the last date for acceptance for that assignment. You must timetable your work schedule so you have plenty of time to ensure your work arrives on time.
Rationale
This assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s:
- be able to identify and explain the key components of strategic management such as strategy analysis, strategy formulation and strategy implementation, and their interrelationships.
- be able to review and evaluate the evolution of ideas and practices leading to the development of strategic management and its relationship to other management practices and principles.
- be able to identify and differentiate between functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations and human resource management and evaluate how they should act conjointly toward the attainment of the organization’s strategic aims and objectives.
- be able to evaluate the importance of developing strategically appropriate relationships between people, processes, functions, structures and even organizations.
The prescribed textbook for this course is by Hubbard, Rice and Galvin (2015). Strategic Management.
This text offers a good breadth of coverage and does not conceive of strategic management as a sequential and linear process.
Supplementary reading / resources
The prescribed text and collection of readings provide a good introduction to key issues in strategic management. The chapters and articles in your reading materials have been written by a diverse group of leading Australian and international academics and scholarly practitioners.
The following books and journals are recommended for those of you who wish to further extend your understanding of strategic management thought and practice. These resources will prove useful when you are writing your assignments.
Whilst these are a good starting point make sure that you include material that you have researched yourself as well as some of these resources.
Books:
David, F.R. (2015). Strategic management concepts: A competitive advantage approach. (15th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Dess, G., McNamara, G., & Eisner, A. (2015). Strategic management: Text and cases. (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Grant, R. M., Jordan, J. (2015). Foundations of strategy analysis (2nd ed.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Grant, R., Butler, B., Hung, H. & Orr, S. (2014). Strategic management: An Australian perspective (2nd ed.). Milton: John Wiley & Sons.
Hamel, G. (2002). Leading the Revolution. New York: Plume.
Hanson, D., Hitt, M., Ireland, R., & Hoskisson, R. (2014). Strategic managment : Competitiveness and globalisation. (5th, Asia-pacific ed.).South Melbourne: Cengage.
Hunger, J. D., and Wheelen, T. L. (2011). Essentials of strategic management.(5th ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.
Johnson, G., Whittington, R., & Scholes, K. (2014). Exploring Strategy:Text & cases. (10th ed.). Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., and Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy safari: A guided tour through the wilds of strategic management. New York: The Free Press.
Further readings from below text books and journals are also recommended:
Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M.A.,Gamble, J. E and Strickland, A. J. (2016). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. (20th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Wells, J.R. (2012). Strategic IQ: Creating smarter corporations.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
You will find many useful articles in the following journals. They may also offer the opportunity to find articles with examples drawn from industry areas in which you work or have a strong interest. Some of these offers web-based access.
- Academy of Management Journal
- Academy of Management Review
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Advances in Strategic Management
- Harvard Business Review
- Journal of Management Studies
- Journal of Business Strategy
- Journal of Strategic Change
- McKinsey Quarterly
- Organization Studies
- Long Range Planning
- Strategic Management Journal
Other requirements to be adhered to:
All assignments must be typed and they should be at least 1.5 line spaced with 12pt font size.
Use of headings and subheadings are recommended to help focus your work.
The use of headings and sub-headings does not mean that you can dispense with the need to create a coherent discussion.
This is always critically important.
Please note that in all assignments the following are expected:
Careful analysis
Evidence of wide and careful reading (beyond what has been provided)
Coherent argumentation and structure
Correct spelling
Appropriate use of English grammar
Appropriate citation of references
Correspondence with the given word length
Referencing presented in the APA system adopted by the Faculty of Business
When using material taken from the Collection of Readings provided by the University please refer to the original sources which is fully listed
A Reference list must appear at the end of the paper.
Requirements
To complete your report for Senior Management you will need to include the following sections:
- Introduction as to the structure and content
- Background – Give a brief account of the background of the company/organisation
- External Analysis – Conduct an analysis of the organisation’s external environment and competitive landscape
- Internal Analysis – Conduct an analysis of the organization’s internal environment including its resources/capabilities identify the company’s core competencies and resulting ability to outperform competitors
- Identify and analyse the issues in the internal and external environments and prioritize them in the order you feel are most critical
- Conclusion – Summarise your findings.
You are required to citea minimum of 10 refereed journal articles for a passing grade and more for a credit and above.
