Describe E.ON’s main corporate level strategies and evaluate the suitability of these strategies.

Coursework Task

Guidance Notes

The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have learned from this module. There are many, equally valid ways to fulfil the assignment tasks. You will therefore have to make many choices of your own. For example, you have to decide what you define as E.ON’s main corporate level strategies, what time span to include, and which tools and concepts to apply.

You need to conduct your own research into the company, its strategies, and its environment. Internet search, in particular the company website, news articles, and journal articles will be useful for gaining information about the company and its environment. To define the tools you use and to back up theoretical claims, you have to refer to academic journal articles and/or books.

You should first describe the most important features of E.ON’s corporate level strategies. The main focus is on corporate level strategies, but you can refer to business level and operational strategies when they are closely linked to corporate level strategies. You need to include E.ON’s current and recent strategies, but you can choose how far back to go into the past. You will have to look at least slightly back into the past in order to describe the strategies, but you are NOT required to provide a detailed history of E.ON’s strategies.

To describe strategy, you should use strategy concepts such as the Ansoff matrix, the strategy clock, or Porters generic strategy options. Please note that you should not use all of these concepts, but you should be parsimonious. You can use other concepts instead (regardless of whether they were mentioned in the lectures) as long as they are relevant.

To describe strategies, you should also use the information that you get on E.ON’s particular activities (such as mergers, marketing campaigns), but you should analyse these activities in relation to the strategy that you described, using strategy concepts. Do not describe strategy just by listing activities.

You then have to evaluate the strategies with regard to their suitability. You should use only the criterion of ‘suitability’ for your evaluation, not other criteria such as feasibility, validity and consistency.  Please use the definition of ‘suitability’ from the Johnson et al. textbook that is presented in the lectures. To examine suitability, you will therefore have to analyse how the strategies match (a) E.ON’s remote and operating environments, (b) its capabilities, and (c) its stakeholders’ expectations (Stakeholder expectations will however be smaller point than the other two). Make sure you include not just shareholders as stakeholders.

Please do not provide an extensive analysis of the environment, capabilities, or stakeholder expectations without linking this analysis to your strategy evaluation. In other words, focus only on those factors in the environment and on those capabilities and stakeholder expectations that are relevant for evaluating whether a strategy is suitable or not.

To highlight the relevant factors in the environment, the capabilities, and stakeholder expectations, you again have to use theoretical concepts (such as core capabilities, environmental forces) and analytical tools (such as PESTEL, SWOT, and/or stakeholder mapping). You should briefly define the concepts and tools you use (no critical evaluation of the tools is needed), and then apply them to the case. You are expected to demonstrate that you have understood the concepts and tools in theory, and that you are able to use them to analyse the case.

There is no set number of tools and concepts that you should use, but you have to make a choice of which concepts or tools to apply. Please note that you should not use all concepts and tools discussed in the lectures. Do not use too many tools, as this could make your analysis too superficial. Also, do not use a tool if it does not provide relevant additional information, and avoid overlapping tools. The fewer concepts/tools you use, the more depth and detail you are expected to provide for each one. When choosing analytical tools, please make sure you have access to the data you need for applying them.

Word Count and Format

The word count guide is not more than 5,000 words.  We will disregard anything you write above 5500. Please state the word count on the first page of your assignment.

The word count excludes any title page, the reference list at the end of the report, or any appendices. However, resist the temptation to put material that really should be in the main text into appendices. All material (academic and other) that you cite should be properly referenced in the text and in the reference list (in Harvard style) at the end of your report.

All material (academic and other) that you cite should be properly referenced in the text and in the reference list (in Harvard style) at the end of your report.

You should make certain that there is a complete reference for every citation in the text and wherever you present someone else’s views, rather than providing the references only in the list at the end of your assignment. There should not be more references in the list than in the text. Moreover, the cited dates and the spellings of authors’ names in the text and references have to match. Make sure you use authors’ second names, not first names.

Coursework Marking Rubric

Concepts/analytical tools:

You have to demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the theoretical concepts and analytical tools that you use to analyse the company case.

Analysis of the company, evidence:

You have to apply the concepts/analytical tools to the company case showing your understanding of the company case and using relevant evidence.

Reading:

You will be marked on the amount and your understanding of relevant reading you have done, in particular reading beyond the textbooks.

Relevance to assignment task

It is important that you fulfil the task in depth. You therefore have to avoid presenting irrelevant material or arguments. Irrelevant information will not contribute to your mark.

Citations and references:

The correctness of the citations and referencing style will be marked.

Presentation

This refers to the transparency of the assignment structure, clarity of ideas and arguments, the quality of language and spelling, and general format

Please see the rubric at the end of this coursework brief for further details of the criteria against which you will be assessed, and descriptors of performance on the coursework for each assessment criterion.