analyse and evaluate a Business Strategy

Individual Assignment

Each student is required to prepare individually a report of up to 1,800 words (and there is no allowance for going over this limit) using course concepts and theories derived from personal reading to analyse and evaluate a Business Strategy of a real life business venture.

The Assignment Task:

Analyse and evaluate the business strategy that BMW has pursued using either Bowman’s strategic clock or Porter’s Generic Strategies framework.

Identify the unique resources and capabilities that underpin the value chain and support the identified strategy.

Assess BMW Group prospects in terms of the criteria ‘suitability, acceptability and feasibility’.

You should look at the total business for cars, motorcycles and financial services (which are primarily used to support the sale of vehicles).

Your attention is directed to the fact that there are three parts to this task carrying roughly equal weight and each of which must therefore be answered properly. Each part feeds into the next and so your work will be marked as a whole as well as for the individual parts. A key component of the challenge is to identify what are the core issues and to present them succinctly within the word limit. Please look carefully at the marking criteria included in this module guide.

 

You are expected to find information from multiple sources. To complete this assignment you are required to use only information from academic sources and the quality press. If in doubt, please consult with your seminar leader.

Attending all of the lectures and workshops will be pivotal to addressing this assessment.

You MUST submit your work in person to your seminar leader at the beginning of the lecture in week 11.

This assignment must be submitted through Turnitin before hand-in.

Assignment reports must be presented in the following format:

q Word-processed in 11 Font Arial or 12 Font Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing’s.

q All pages must be numbered

q The assignment must have a front cover stating:

o Module number

o Module name

o Title of the assignment

o Your name and student number

o Submission date.

o Word count

q A signed copy of the ACO individual coursework coversheet must be attached.

Additional guidance:

q Research: We expect you to have completed a substantial amount of relevant research to support your analysis and findings. This might typically include identification of key competitors (or strategic groups of competitors), key groups of suppliers and groups of customers, performance indicators that analysts use to review success in the sector, analysis of the concentration of market shares, etc. It is important that your research enables you to understand the sector, the trends, and the drivers of change that influence it – please ensure that you consider trends over the last five years.

q The importance of using course concepts, models and frameworks: The module is designed to teach you about the tools of strategic management and how to use them. Work which is essentially “descriptive” in nature will fail, so please evaluate and prioritize your findings in all cases.

CriterionA B+ B C Refer/ Fail 1 Presentation of assignment Shows a polished and imaginative approach to the topic Carefully and logically organised Shows organisation and coherence Shows some attempt to organise in a logical manner Disorganised/ Incoherent 2 Clarity of expression incl: – accuracy, – spelling, – grammar, -punctuation Fluent writing style appropriate to document. Grammar and spelling accurate Language fluent. Grammar and spelling accurate Language mainly fluent. Grammar and spelling mainly accurate Meaning apparent but language not always fluent. Grammar and/or spelling contain errors Meaning unclear and/or grammar and/or spelling contain frequent errors 10 Content and range Comprehensive/detailed knowledge of topic with areas of specialisation. Shows depth and awareness of provisional nature of knowledge Reasonable knowledge of topic and an awareness of a variety of ideas / contexts / frameworks Has given a factual and/or conceptual knowledge base and appropriate terminology Evidence of limited knowledge of the topic and some use of appropriate terminology Lacks evidence of knowledge relevant to the topic and/or significantly misuses terminology 11 Use of literature / evidence of reading Has developed and justified using own ideas based on a wide range of sources that have been thoroughly analysed, applied and discussed Able to critically appraise the literature and theory gained from a variety of sources, developing own ideas in the process Clear evidence of reading and application relevant to the subject; uses indicative texts identified. Literature is presented uncritically, in a purely descriptive way and indicates limitations of understanding Either no evidence of literature being consulted or irrelevant to the assignment set

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Criterion	Comment
Providing an effective response to the stated tasks(Criterion 10) (Guide 45%) Grade:
Critical evaluation and analysis(Criterion 18) (Guide 25%) Grade:
Theoretical content and use of supportingliterature (Criterion 11 & 12) (Guide 20%) Grade:
Presentation andreferencing (Criterion 1 & 2) (Guide 10%)