MPM703 Business Strategy And Analysis

Description

Purpose

This task provides you with opportunities to learn the theories and frameworks (ULO2 & GLO1, 5) and hone your skills to apply these theories (ULO1 & GLO1, 5) to the real-life business context in teams. By doing so, you will be able to solve important strategic issues of the organizations (ULO3 & GLO5; ULO5 & GLO2) in collaboration with others (ULO4 & GLO7). This will foster your skills in researching, understanding, applying, evaluating, and presenting information required of business professionals.

Context/Scenario

Your team will analyse the strategic situation of an existing company of your choosing. The objective of your team is to select a company and conduct a thorough analysis of its business to develop a written report. Through the report, your team will identify the company’s strategic issues and give recommendations as if an external consultant or an internal task force. These deliverables should be crafted as though they are being presented to the senior management team of the division or corporation under study. When choosing a company, you may want to consider a public company that is mid-sized and primarily based in Australia (more will be covered during the Assessment 2 overview – Week 2 seminar; recordings will be provided).

This assignment is an opportunity for you to apply your knowledge of Business Strategy and Analysis theories, concepts, models, frameworks and analytical tools. You will demonstrate your skills in systematically analysing a company’s internal and external environment.

You are expected to draw on our classroom discussions, learning and teaching materials provided in CloudDeakin (case and reports), online academic journal articles and research databases that are accessible through our Deakin library.

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Specific Requirements

GROUP PROJECT (30%) consists of:

• Group Consulting Report (25%)
• Individual Reflection on Teamwork (5%)

In this assignment, your group is expected to engage in research work in order to present a well-written report. We recommend that you utilise legitimate and relevant sources to provide substantial insights into your report. You are required to complete the assignment in a group, not individually. Submitting individually completed assignment may result in 0 mark.

1. Group Consulting Report (3000 words) (25%)

Your team’s task in this assignment is to work together in conducting research that will inform your report. There are specific questions that you will need to answer that will guide you in your task. A template is provided below. The maximum number of words is 3000 words (there is NO + or - %). A critical factor in your preparation of the report is that all sections must be cohesive and integrated. In other words, all sections should be consistent and should build on one another.

Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, double space and 1-inch margin in all sides. If you cite any reference, the reference list is NOT counted in the maximum number of words. You are free to attach appendices (not included in the word count) to support your report. However, please use appendices sparingly and strategically because these will not be marked.

Structure of the Report:

1. Cover page/Front Page (Not included in word count; REQUIRED)
2. Executive Summary (Approx. 300 words) – Include main objectives, findings, and suggestions
3. Issue statement (Approx. 200 words)
4. 4~5 Strategic analyses (,Approx. 1500 words)
   1. Analysis 1:
   2. Analysis 2:
   3. Analysis 3:
   4. Analysis 4:
5. Strategic recommendations fo r the company (What should they do in the current state?) (Approx. 800 words)
6. Conclusion (200 words)
7. References (Not included in word count; REQUIRED)
8. Appendices (Not included in word count)

The details of each section are discussed below.

1.  Cover page/Front Page (not counted in the word limit)

Please provide the following details in the cover page of your report:

• Title of the group research report: You can simply say, Business Consulting Report for Atlassian (example). You may want to be creative and add a running title if your team wishes
• Group Number and List of Team Members with their corresponding ID
• Member Contribution. Please INDICATE which member worked on which section of the report using bullet For example, “Albert conducted Porter’s 5 force analysis and drafting of recommendation section or Jessey conducted the VRIN analysis, etc”. Be specific to what each member has done rather than generic comment that everyone contributed equally.

2.  Executive summary 

The executive summary should present what the report is all about and should highlight the main components of the report. By reading the executive summary, the reader should have an overview of what the report is all about and be enticed to read the rest of the report.

3.  Issue statement

Issue statement will address a major strategic issue that the firm is currently confronting and that has not been identified or worked on by the management. State a strategic issue AND explain why it is a core issue. This can be learnt from the strategic analyses you conducted or from the recent news articles or company reports. Issue statement should be strategic and not operational. For example, studying Nestle’s adoption of safety measures in manufacturing facilities will not be considered a good example of an issue statement.

3.  Strategic analyses

Analyses can be used either to reveal the strategic issues hidden behind the surface-level issues or to come up with the recommendations. Present four to five analyses that provide useful insights for your strategic issue identification or recommendation. For example, VRIN framework would give you sense of whether the company of your choosing can be successful in the long run. CAGE framework, for example, can help you identify which country the company should enter.

Your goal here is to articulate whether the company of your choosing is strategically well-positioned and has the strategic resource or capability to exploit further opportunities.

4.  Strategic recommendation

Using the finding from your analysis, please suggest what the company should do to resolve the strategic issue at hand (i.e., issue statement).

In your recommendation, be specific with your recommendation. Do not simply explain and rely on research data to back up your recommendation. Make sure you anchor your arguments on our topics and the data/arguments that you have presented in the analyses section.In other words, once youhaveassessed the competitive position of the firm and the key risks that need to be addressed or be aware of, this section is where you will recommend a strategy that will build on that competitive position and at the same time will enable the company to deal effectively with the key risks. That is, we will expect to see recommendation builds on the results of strategic analyses.

5.  Conclusion

In this section you may want to include a brief summary or synthesis (key points/arguments) of your analysis. You can include a call for action for the top management given the results of your research and recommendations.

6.  List of references

8. Appendices (not counted in the word limit)

You place here any supporting analyses/graphs, tables, etc. that you think will add value to the main points that you have presented in the report. You can use this section in a strategic way by placing supporting information (e.g. tables, figures, graphs, etc) which you think will provide more details about some critical information that you have provided or highlighted in the main body of the report.

II.  Individual Reflection on Teamwork (400 words – Submitted to a separate Dropbox folder) (5%)

Teamwork is a fundamental aspect of academic and professional success. By learning how to effectively run a team, you can develop the skills and qualities necessary to thrive in today's world where learning from others’ diverse perspectives, knowledge, and skills is important.

In this part of the assignment, you have a chance to reflect on your role in the success (or failure) of your team. Fill out your responses on MPM 703 Assessment 2 Part B Template, which you will be able to locate under the Assessment 2 folder on CloudDeakin.

You are also expected to reflect on how your teammates have contributed to the completion of project. This will be completed using the online survey posted to the Unit Site: Content > Assessment resources > Assessment 2 > Peer evaluation survey. The survey will be available a week prior to Assessment 2 deadline, May 10.

Every student is anticipated to equally contribute to the completion of project. To support what you are claiming in your reflection, you can provide evidence such as screenshots of the sections of the report you have worked on, meeting minutes, and a copy of feedback email from the teammates. Evidence must be included as an Appendix to your reflection.