its 4000 words and should be plagarism 100% free and the business strategy analysis of case study is Virgin Airline Australia. reference is Havard style. due date is 30 april.

Assessment 2: Business strategy report

A key concern of strategic management is making prudent and effective use of an

organisation’s resources and capabilities to achieve the organisation’s goals in light of prevailing

external conditions. Thus, for this assessment you are required to choose one of two prescribed

case study organisations and conduct an analysis of that organisation’s internal and external

environments, then make recommendations as to how the organisation might maintain or

improve its competitive advantage.

 

Specific Instructions

This assessment is designed as an experiential learning exercise by having you apply theoretical

concepts to real-world situations in a critical manner. You should adopt the mindset of a

business strategist for the organisation you have elected to base your report on. Your business

strategy report must be presented using academic report format. It should conform to the

format set out below, and should also include a professionally laid-out table of contents prior

to the executive summary.

 

A penalty of 5% of available marks will be applied for every 100 words over this

limit.

Format

Executive summary

An executive summary of a report is just that, a summary (and is not included in your total

word count for this assessment). It contains a statement of report purpose and an overview of

the actual and specific findings. For this assessment, it should be no longer than one page. The

summary can only be written after you have completed your report. Write in ‘past’ tense (e.g.

The purpose of this report was to … ). If an executive summary is well written the reader

should be able to understand the main points, findings, and conclusions of the actual report

without having to read the full report.

 

Section One – Introduction (~100 words)

This is a brief statement of the purpose of the report, what its objectives are, and an overview

of how the report is structured.

 

Section Two – Analysis of the internal environment (~900 words)

In this section you are required to critically analyse the organisation’s internal environment.

You should critically evaluate the organisation’s resources, competences, and strategic

capabilities (a.k.a. distinctive competencies), and how these contribute to that organisation’s

competitive advantage. In compiling this section you must:

 

1. a. critically discuss the organisation’s key resources, competencies, and how those resources

and competences combine to form strategic capabilities. You should also briefly discuss

What you believe is the organization’s key competitive advantage, and comment on its

durability.

1. b. incorporate and discuss at least two (2) ‘applied literature’ references into your analysis to

Demonstrate wider reading on the organization you are analyzing.

It is strongly suggested that you address each concept (i.e. resources, competences, strategic

capabilities, competitive advantage) separately. Remember that the marker is looking for you

to demonstrate an understanding of each concept – if you present an integrated discussion,

how will the marker know when you are referring to resources v competences v strategic

capabilities etc.?

Section Three – Analysis of the external environments (~1100 words)

Here you are required to analyse the organisation’s external environments. There are two

components to this section: an analysis of the macro-environment, and an analysis of the

industry environment.

3.1 Analysis of the macro-environment

In compiling your analysis of the organisation’s macro-environment you must:

1. discuss two (2) contemporary macro-environmental trends pertinent to the

organisation you are analyzing

1. b. incorporate at least two (2) ‘applied literature’ references into your macroenvironmental

analysis to demonstrate wider reading on such issues.

 

3.2 Analysis of the industry environment

In compiling your discussion on the organisation’s industry environment you must:

1. analyse the organisation’s industry environment using Michael Porter’s Five Forces

of industry competitiveness model (refer to Topic 3) to frame your analysis

1. address all five elements of Porter’s Five Forces model
2. incorporate and discuss at least two (2) ‘applied literature’ references into your

industry environment analysis to demonstrate wider reading on such issues.

Again, it is suggested that you present a separate analysis of each of the five forces. You

should also present a brief summary regarding the broader implications of your five

forces analysis.

 

Section Four – Recommended strategic direction (~800 words)

The purpose of this section is for you to make recommendations regarding the strategic

direction of the organisation at the business-level. That is, are the organisation’s current

strategies prudent? And, should the organisation change its strategies? You should make

recommendations regarding business-level strategy by discussing the organisation’s current

generic strategy (i.e. cost leadership, differentiation, focus, or combination of the strategies –

See Topic 5) and critically discuss why the organisation should retain or change its current

generic strategy in order to maintain or improve its competitive advantage.

In this section you must draw upon the analyses you have compiled in Sections Two and

Three. That is, there should be a logical link between your discussions in Sections Two and

Three and the recommendations you make in Section Four. Failure to make this logical link

will result in only minimal marks being awarded for this section.

Assessment | 11

Adopting a critical demeanour is essential. You should critically discuss why different strategic

approaches may or may not work. For example, if you recommend that the organisation

changes to a ‘focused differentiation’ strategy, then you should discuss the benefits and pitfalls

of a focused differentiation strategy, and also discuss how a focused differentiation strategy will

enable the organisation to maintain or increase its competitive advantage.

It is important that you make use of applied (i.e. newspaper, trade journal articles etc.) and/or

academic literature to support your recommendations in this section. Failure to adequately

support your argument with pertinent literature will result in only minimal marks being

awarded for this section. Note that you must discuss the literature you refer to. Merely citing

sources in the text without verbal discussion will reduce your mark.

 

Section Five – Conclusion (~100 words)

Within this section restate the purpose of the report, then provide an overview of main points

covered in your analysis. Ensure that you do not include any new information, only that which

has been discussed within the main body of the report.

 

Reference list

All works cited must be included in your reference list. Citations must conform to the

referencing style adopted by the School of Business and Tourism,

 

Appendices

This is an optional section in which you are able to place relevant material which would have

otherwise disrupted the logical flow of your report (e.g., business data reports). Material

included in this section will not count towards the overall word count for this assessment. Be

conservative with the volume of information you include in your appendix. Inserting vast

volumes of material here will not necessarily earn you extra marks.

 

Other considerations

Being an “advanced” level unit, demonstrating an ability to critically analyse the material you

read and present is an important marking criterion for this assessment. Merely re-stating

information will generally result in a low mark.

Under no circumstances are you to approach any organisations to obtain information. Your

analysis must be based entirely on secondary information from sources such as academic or

applied literature and other web-based sources.

Please note that due to the complexity of this assignment, return of marks and feedback may

be subject to a slightly longer timeframe than is normal. Your lecturer will provide updates if

this is the case.

Turnitin and submitting your Business Strategy Report

All business strategy reports must be submitted electronically via the specified Turnitin

dropbox

Please be aware that your initial Turnitin submission will generate an originality report

instantaneously. However, any subsequent submissions can take up to 24 hours for an

originality report to be generated. For this reason, it is recommended that you undertake your

plagiarism check well before the due date. Assignments will not be marked in the absence of a

final originality report, and this will not be accepted as an excuse for late submission of an

assignment.

Each group member must submit a copy of their group’s report. Take care to ensure you both

submit the same final version. Teaching staff will not accept responsibility for marking the

“wrong” version.

 

General marking criteria

The marking criteria for this assessment can be categorised as general – which apply to the

report as a whole; and specific – which apply to specific sections of the report. Below is the

general marking criteria that will be used to mark your report:

 

Demonstrated ability to critically analyse sources

You are expected to ask critical questions of the material you read. Only minimal marks will be

awarded in cases where you have merely re-stated what the authors have already said. Can you

identify any potential flaws in the concepts? Is there a difference in opinion between scholars

on a particular theory relating to strategic management? Who do you think is right, and why?

These are potential areas of critical analysis you could focus on.

 

Evidence of original thought and creativity

You must show that you have developed an ability to think about how the theories and

concepts covered might be applied in the real world.

 

Quality of presentation structure; overall content; quality of bibliographic details; written

expression

You should present your work in a logical, easy to read format. It should also conform to the

structure outlined previously. Students will be marked down for poor written expression, bad

grammar, and spelling errors. Being a third-year student, the expectation is that you have the

ability to hone your writing skills, and should thus present well-written and presented work.

 

Correct referencing, both in-text and reference list, is essential. You should ensure that your

referencing conforms to the referencing Harvard style

Specific marking criteria

Below are the marking criteria specific to each section that will be used to mark your report:

 

Table of contents

• Professionally laid-out table of contents.

 

Executive Summary

• Quality of executive summary, i.e. summarises the objectives of the report along with its

key findings and recommended strategic direction.

Section One: Introduction

• Quality of introduction, i.e. sets out the objectives of the report, gives a brief overview of

the organisation, and gives an overview of how the report is structured.

Section Two: Internal environment

• Quality of your critical discussion regarding the organisation’s internal environment

(resources, competences, strategic capabilities) and competitive advantage.

• Understanding of relevant theoretical concepts.
• Use of at least two (2) ‘applied literature’ references in the analysis.

Section Three: External environments

• Quality of your critical discussion of two (2) pertinent macro-environmental trends.
• Use of at least two (2) newspaper and/or industry/trade journal article references in the

macro-environmental analysis.

• Quality of your critical discussion relating to all five (5) elements of Porter’s Five Forces of

industry competitiveness model.

• Use of at least two (2) ‘applied literature’ references in the industry analysis.

Section Four: Recommended strategic direction

• Quality of synthesis in drawing together your analyses of the organisation’s internal and

external environments and subsequent recommendations for the organisation’s strategic

direction to maintain or improve competitive advantage.

• Quality of business-level strategy recommendations.
• Effectiveness of your use of applied and/or academic literature in critically evaluating why

the recommended strategies are a prudent course of action.

Section Five: Conclusion

• Quality of conclusion, i.e. closes the report and reiterates the key findings in light of the

report’s objectives.

• No new information included.

Reference list

• Correctly laid out reference list with all citations formatted according to the referencing

style adopted by the School of Business and Tourism.

Distribution of marks

14 | MNG00114 Competitive Strategy (Session 1, 2018)

Section One

• Introduction: 5

Section Two

• Analysis of the internal environment: 20

Section Three

• Analysis of the macro-environment: 10
• Analysis of the industry environment: 20

Section Four

• Recommended strategic direction: 20

Section Five

• Conclusion: 5

Referencing

• In-text referencing: 2.5
• Reference list: 2.5

Report Presentation

• Table of contents, executive summary: 7
• Physical presentation (spelling, grammar, punctuation, layout): 8

1. A total mark /100 will be calculated and then scaled to a mark /40 commensurate with the

weighting of this assessment.

 

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