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SM0374 Strategic Management and Leadership. 2013-14 Semester 2 Assignment Briefing Warning! You must read all of the Assignment Brief that was issued earlier in the semester!. The Question.
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SM0374 Strategic Management and Leadership 2013-14 Semester 2 Assignment Briefing Warning! You must read all of the Assignment Brief that was issued earlier in the semester!
The Question • For [your chosen] company, explain how successful you think it is and discuss the strategic reasons behind that success. Your explanation should include something about the contribution of leadership to the company. Go on to suggest strategies and/or actions for ensuring success in the future.
Preparation • Research the company and its business environment using a variety of sources • You’ll need to look at how the company has developed over time so don’t look at only the current situation • Answers based on company documentation only will not receive high marks because much of the information will be incomplete and biased • Carry out a full strategic analysis of the information you collect • BUT: we only want the important outputs of the analysis in the assignment
What are we assessing? • Your ability to evaluate the success (or otherwise) of a given company • Your ability to apply your general business knowledge to explain the success (or otherwise) of a given company • Your ability to use appropriate analytical tools to explain the key strategic reasons for that success (or otherwise) and through this demonstrate that you understand relevant theory, concepts and frameworks and can apply these to your chosen company • Your ability to critically evaluate the strategic capability of the given company as a basis of competitive advantage • Your understanding of the role that leaders have to play in company success (or failure) • Your understanding of external and internal factors that may cause companies to underperform in the future and your suggestions about how to address (or prevent) these • Your ability to write clear, concise and well-argued answers
Marking Scheme • The marking scheme at the end of the brief takes the form of a feedback sheet that will be included when you receive your marked assignment • It shows the criteria by which we shall judge your answers • We strongly suggest you structure your answer to fit the scheme • A suitable structure is shown on Page 2 of the Assignment Brief and is used in this presentation
Successful? [10 marks] • In what way(s) can we evaluate the success (or otherwise) of a company? • How would different groups or individuals judge success? • Could be measures such as • Size • Profitability • And so on…. • Look at different areas – finance, market … • Look at trends over time – at least 4 years • Cite all sources of data and explain their relevance
Reasons underpinning success?[10 marks] • An outline of 6 to10 business reasons behind the success • State each reason in a simple, straightforward way with a brief (no more than five sentences) explanation of each reason • Avoid strategy “jargon” • No analysis is required – this is a test of your broad business knowledge and understanding.
Analysis and Interpretation of the company’s capabilities [30 marks] • A detailed analysis of the company’s strategic capabilities based around the both the Value Chain and VRIN tools. Your interpretation of the analysis must clearly show how the company has been able to build competitive advantage • You need to show strong evidence of understanding of how the Value Chain and VRIN tools can be applied to the research data and be able to draw conclusions from your analysis • Your answers must clearly show how the company has developed and maintained its strategic capability to support its competitive advantage.
Analysis and Interpretation based on another topic area [20 marks] • A detailed analysis and interpretation based on one further topic area beyond Value Chain and VRIN • Hint – each lecture is a “topic area”! • Data analysis is not sufficient – you must use the analysis as the basis of conclusions you draw about what has driven the company’s performance • Your answers must clearly show how the company has been able to compete successfully.
Be careful…. • Some companies take years to be successful • Others achieve success quickly • Your answer must demonstrate appreciation of timescales • But we don’t want a year-by-year history of the company! • PESTEL or 5F analyses will receive NO marks as they cannot explain company success
Contribution of Leadership[15 marks] • This is a very broad area which could examine many aspects of the company. Focus on no more than two aspects, such as: • Who were the key leaders at different stages in the company’s development? What was “special” about them? What was their contribution? • Type of leadership – e.g. visionary, architectural • Leadership styles? • What about organisational culture? Did this make the organisation distinctive? • What type(s) of decision-making have been used? How effective have these been? • How are leadership and decision-making delegated? • Don’t trust the company literature – you will need to do very careful research to gather useful data to analyse • You must have some analysis based on appropriate theory
Continuing (regaining?) success[15 marks] • Identify (with a brief explanation) important internal and/or external factors which may have an impact on the future performance of the business • Suggest how the company can address these • You need to justify your proposals (i.e. provide a rationale) – for example, suggesting that the company should offer a wider range of products is entirely useless unless you can explain why this is necessary • This is a test of your problem-solving skills. We want your own ideas (nobody else’s) about strategic responses to the factors you have identified.
What do we expect? • Look at the examples posted on Bb • Look at the feedback sheet at the end of the Brief • The best answers: • Are based on very thorough research, properly cited • Have rigorous analysis based on theories outlined in lectures • Present conclusions, based on the analysis, that show a clear understanding of the business • Are easy to read
Example: Apple Corporation (iPhone)Successful? • Measures of success? • Market share (data) • Incredibly profitable (data) • Huge sales revenue (data) • Global scale • So many people have iPhones • Well-known brand name • Yes, it’s (still) a very successful company!
Example: Apple Corporation (iPhone)Reasons why it has been successful? • Could be: • The company has been able to drive and exploit the growing desire for smartphones • The company has made use of technological opportunities to develop products that are very easy to use (building technology and design capabilities) • A clear competitive strategy based around well-designed products (easy to use, fashionable) • Brand management capability – using marketing competencies to build an amazing global brand • Until recently, Steve Jobs driving relentless, disruptive innovation
Example: Apple Corporation (iPhone)Analysis and Interpretation? • Strategic Capabilities: • The value chain – a systematic analysis to help identify the activities/capabilities that really do make a difference (but notice that most of the key activities are support activities) • VRIN to look at each of the company’s capabilities and see how they contribute to (sustainable) competitive advantage • Other topics? Examples include: • Competitive strategy (differentiation) and show how this is supported by the capabilities • Innovation strategy – technology disruption and the advantages of being a first mover
Example: Apple Corporation (iPhone)Leadership? • Much has been written about Apple Corporation over the years. You could look at: • Steve Jobs (one of the original founders who left the company then returned); lots of things about his leadership attributes and style • The culture of innovation inspired by Jobs • The highly autocratic, intuitive decision-making style of Jobs • Technical leadership of Jonathan Ive and the relationship with Jobs • Etc., etc.,
Example: Apple Corporation (iPhone) What might cause problems? • Growing competition • Market saturation? • The departure of Steve Jobs – can the company keep the innovations coming? • The combination of these threatens the ability of the company to continue to generate such huge profits • Make “strategic” suggestions for how the company could deal with these problems
General Points 1 • Address the question as set (not the question you want to answer) • Sources must be cited and included in the Reference List • No appendices permitted • Tables of data are excluded from the word count (total 3600 words) BUT tables that include sentences are included in the word count
General Points 2 – help us! • Do not include your name anywhere in the assignment, but do include your ID as a footer or header on every page • Number the pages • Use 1½ spacing • Leave at least 5cm between each section • Print double-sided, if possible • Do not staple pages together • Submit in a polypocket (only!!!!)
