7015MHR – Strategy and International Business

Learning Outcomes (LOs) Assessed by this Assignment: 

Critically review research on external and internal environmental factors for a critically  informed understanding of the strategic decisions that are crucial for organisations and  projects in particular situations  Critique knowledge and make practical use of the mainstream strategic management  concepts and tools in simulated/real business situations  Critically evaluate knowledge in unfamiliar contexts, synthesise ideas or information in  innovative ways, and formulate strategies or generate transformative solutions based on  informed judgement  Evaluate effective written skills to enable the presentation of key results and recommend  appropriate strategic action

Assignment Guidelines: 

The aim of this coursework is to conduct strategic analysis using appropriate tools/techniques for  an international organisation of your choice. The analysis should evaluate the strategic position of the  organisation and its current competitive strategy, identify current or potential challenges, and accordingly set directions for strategic development (i.e., strategic recommendations) to address the  challenges. The analysis should be structured and presented in a business report format. 

Three tasks are required in this report in order to meet the basic LOs, including: 

Task 1: Analyse the internal environment (capabilities) and external environment (at both macro and  micro level) of your selected international organisation. Appropriate tools/models/frameworks should  be used in the analysis (e.g., VRIO, Value Chain, PESTEL, Porter’s Five/Six Forces etc.). 

Task 2: Describe and evaluate the organisation’s competitive strategy in relation to its related industry.  Relevant concepts/theories should be used in the evaluation (e.g., Porter Generic strategies, Ansoff,  BCG, GE/McKinsey etc.). 

Task 3: Draw on the output of Tasks 1 and 2 to identify and discuss major challenges which may be  positive and/or negative for the organisation, then suggest a set of strategic recommendations to  address these challenges (e.g., SWOT/TOWS). Finally, critically evaluate the suggested  recommendations in terms of their suitability, acceptability, and feasibility (e.g., SAFE framework).