Business Strategy – Assignment 2 (up to 2000 words)

This module is about making and implementing business strategies within organisations. This has always been a challenging task for managers. This is because there are many factors which affect how we go about conducting strategy projects and which affect the success these projects. Some factors are ancient and have been around for hundreds of years years. For example, competition between organisations, the state of the economy, the culture within the orgnanisation, the difficulties of implementing change and so on. Some factors are more contemporary, like globalisation, the growth of the internet, the growing power of social media, new manufacturing methods, digital media and so on.

Look through the content of the module and the core text book and choose a factor which you find interesting and relevant. I’ve attached the course contents below, you must choose the factor from the course materials. You might be interested in the methodology of strategy (how we do projects) or features of the business context. You might be interested in environmental factors or internal factors. You might be interested in the financial side of businesses or the people side of businesses. You might be interested in the creative side of strategy making or the analytical nature of business modelling. The choice is yours.

Your Task:

Once you have chosen your factor, you need to write an academic essay. In the essay you will discuss how the factor impacts upon the practice of making strategy. Remember, the purpose of this module is to develop your knowledge and capability in the practice of making business strategy. This assignment gives you the opportunity to reflect upon and critically review how a particular factor affects this practice.

When thinking about the practice of making strategy, you might want to consider one or more of the following aspects:

• Conducting strategy projects: for example, think about the steps of the Assignment 1 method.(Introduction, methodology, analysis, recommendation, final remarks)1. Introduction – give a little CONTEXT; explain the PURPOSE of your project; and explain the CONTENT of the report;2. Methodology – explain your understanding of the task and your approach to the project; a project diagram which shows the steps of your analysis would be useful;3. Analysis (Steps 1 – 4) – present your analysis of the situation; explain the logic of your analysis in a way the client can understand; use figures to show some of the outputs (for example your rich picture and your Business Model Canvas);4. Recommendations (Step 5) – discuss the results of your analysis and generate recommendations for the business. Address horizons 1, 2 and 3.5. Final Remarks – summarise the main points of your project in relation to the client’s needs – i.e. so what?
• The implementation of strategy: for example, making action plans and change management.
• Business strategies: the actual strategy that a business chooses to enact. For example, to pursue cost leadership, to sell online to end customers, to export products. This assignment is an Academic Essay. An academic essay is a specific type of document. An essay is an argument which is supported by relevant scientific evidence from the literature. More support on writing essays will be provided in the lecture slides.