Strategic Management – Strategy Formation And Implementation

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BUSM3200 Strategic Management

Detailed assignment guide

Semester 1, 2017

Assignment 2 (Group Assignment): Strategy Formation and

Implementation

Weighting This assignment accounts for 45% of the assessment in this Course.

Due Date Monday, Week 12

Due Time By 7.00pm (Local time)

Place via RMIT Blackboard electronic submission

Format Report

Length 7,500 words (Maximum), 1.5 line spaced, 12 point Times New Roman.

Note: The word count does not include references or appendices

 

You will work in a group of five (5) with those in the same tutorial class to propose one strategic initiative

and develop its implementation plan based on the strategic analysis of your individual assignment (Assignment

1). Your group formation will be completed by Week 7 either by yourself or by your local lecturer.

 

The assessment will be discussed in the Modules 2, 3 and 7. Write a 7500 word (Max) report, including 200

words of Executive Summary, but excluding references and appendix. You will use the findings from your

first assignment of all your group members to propose one strategic initiative for the organization

encompassing a three-year time horizon. Your focus should also be on integrating the findings and feedback

from your first assignment and then building upon these to create an actionable strategy implementation plan.

The plan has to be achievable and realistic. You have to clearly demonstrate what the strategic initiative is,

why your plan can help the organization achieve and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage, and how

this plan can be implemented. In this report, you are required to perform the following tasks:

 

1. Identify and discuss the current generic type of business strategy the organisation implements by

examining its strategy statement and/or its value chain activities.

2. Propose ONE new strategic initiative for the organisation to implement. This initiative can be a major

functional initiative, such as marketing, use of technology, product innovation, and M&A. Describe

its contents in details. Justify why your initiative is strategic and how it can enhance the

organisation’s competitive advantage.

3. Develop a strategy implementation plan that primarily focuses on the following areas:

a. What needs to be changed to implement the strategy?

b. Why the proposed changes should be made?

c. How will the changes proposed be managed and implemented?

4. Explain how the organization will measure and evaluate the strategic initiative you proposed. Focus

specifically on:

 

a. A set of key success measures for the strategic initiative, using Balance Scorecard.

b. Draw a strategy map that indicates the key success measures and their hierarchical

relationships.

 

 

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c. The suitability of the strategic initiative you proposed in the light of the external environment,

the organisation’s strategic capability, and its current business strategy.

 

References should be utilised within this Report to validate the information presented, and should be drawn

from academic sources and organisational information such as the website and annual reports. The business

press may be used sparingly to identify relevant issues.

 

Learning outcome/s and capability development

This assessment is deliberately designed not only to test what you know, but to also build lifelong

learning skills. It has been developed to give you the best possible opportunity to help the

organization to survive and thrive into the future. The skills that you will be developing include:

 cognitive conceptualisation skills

 critical thinking and analysis skills

 creative application skills.

All these are valuable skills you will need in future employment. How well you are able to

demonstrate these skills and knowledges will impact not only on you and your group (in terms of a

mark) but also has the potential to influence the future of the case study organisation. Your work

matters.

 

Advisory notes for this assignment

• You should conduct an extensive information search on the organisation selected.

• Company websites, annual reports, and media reports are important sources of such information, but their

objectives, and thus credibility, should be carefully analysed and evaluated.

• You should use appropriate concepts and analytical tools in your report.

• The report should be written in prose; however limited use of dot points is acceptable.

• This advice should be read in conjunction with RMIT assessment policy and the course guide.

 

Guide for assignment presentation

Written assignments must be presented in a professional format. Quality of presentation, especially literacy,

will be considered in the marking criteria. Written communication skills are an essential component of RMIT

University’s courses. In line with RMIT policy, all sources of information must be fully referenced using

standard Harvard or APA referencing systems. You are encouraged to use referencing software such as

Endnote for referencing and formatting. The assignment should be in report format and use Times New Roman

font size 12, 1.5 line spacing.

 

Assignment submission

You are required to submit your assignment online. It should be attached with a coversheet, which can be

downloaded from the Course Blackboard and signed. Please submit it via the course Blackboard and not:

 

 

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• Use only ONE student log-in account for your group/pair to submit the group/pair assignment into the

Turnitin, and then to the course Blackboard. Otherwise your Turnitin report will have a high similarity

percentage.

• Staff have access Turnitin information

• Further submission instructions will be given in the seminars.