ASSIGNMENT TASKS
Assignment Task 1: Strategic Report [70 Marks-Max 3500 words]
“Experts have opined for decades on the reasons behind the spectacular failure rates of strategy execution. In 2016, it was estimated that 67% of well-formulated strategies failed due to poor execution. There are many explanations for this abysmal failure rate, but a 10-year longitudinal study on executive leadership conducted by my firm showed one clear reason. A full 61% of executives told us they were not prepared for the strategic challenges they faced upon being appointed to senior leadership roles. It’s no surprise, then, that 50%–60% of executives fail within the first 18 months of being promoted or hired.”
The above extract has been taken from the article published in Harvard Business Review titled “Executives fail to execute strategy because they are too internally focused” by Ron Carucci.
https://hbr.org/2017/11/executives-fail-to-execute-strategy-because-theyre-too-internally-focused
In the context of the above extract, learners should write a strategic report to help save a company that is on the ropes: it is losing money, it is losing market share, and it seems to have lost its identity. Unless you intervene, the company will have to fold. The company should be a real company that is encountering the above-mentioned scenario, it can be a multinational company or a small or medium enterprise.
Your first assignment is to help save a company that is on the ropes:
You will write a formal report and you may use graphics and charts in the report that will be sent ahead of the Board meeting to each member of the Board. The report should include full citations for all references (using the Harvard Referencing System format), to support your claims and approach. The body of the report should be clear, concise, and compelling. The report should be written in Word and should not exceed 3500 words.
GET INSTANT HELPYour report should include the following aspects:
- Executive Summary and Introduction. (5 marks- Max 150 words)
- Focus on the relationships between strategy, stakeholder expectations, and organizational performance, choosing a theory of strategic management to explain those relationships and expectations. Justify to the Board why you settled on this approach rather than some other one. (12 marks- Max 600 words)
Identify the organization and start drafting Q2 following below guidelines.
2.1 Identify – Relationship – Strategy – stakeholder -expectations – org performance
2.2 Theory of strategy mgmt. – explain relationship and expectation (Tabular form / subheading)
2.3 Justify – recommendations – WHY did you choose this approach – why not any other theory ( Advan. – Disadv / Pro and Con) (Secondary data / graphs / comparison of other organisation with similar problem )
- Identify and evaluate the impact of external factors on strategic management in international context, particularly economic, political, and cultural factors. (12 marks- Max 650 words)
Identify and evaluate the impact of external factors on strategic management in international context, particularly economic, political, and cultural factors. (12 marks- Max 650 words)
Tabular form AMAZON – PESTEL
| Identify what are the external factors | Evaluate the impact |
| Political | Consumer Rights – why – explain what – explain how – explain when- explain |
| Technology | Online – why – what – how – when |
| Socioeconomic | Culture – why – what – how – when |
| Environmental | Package – – why – what – how – when- Wastage with packaging – oversized packing for small objects |
| Legal | Litigation / Privacy / Taxes/ Laws / Consumer Data |
- Based on the analysis of the environments (internal and external) use relevant tools and formulate a new strategy to face the challenges and meet organizational objectives. Critically evaluate the strategy and justify why this is the best way forward. (12 marks- Max 650 words)
- Explain how your business strategy encourages and supports innovation and change, and evaluate your strategy against competing strategies based on its contribution to the success of your organization. (12 marks- Max 650 words)
- Develop an implementation plan for the strategy you have developed and document how your plan will fulfill major stakeholder expectations. (12 marks- Max 650 words)
- Recommendations and Conclusion (5 marks- Max 150 words).
Assignment Task 2: Organizational redesign [30 Marks-Max 1500 words]
For the above strategy how would you restructure the organization which enables it to overcome the challenges and improve innovation, collaboration and coordination? The report should not exceed 1500 words
Develop and submit a strategic restructuring plan. Include current organization charts and proposed organizational charts and describe the changes in detail.
- Analyse the current organizational structure and evaluate its effectiveness in meeting organizational objectives. Describe the reasons why a restructure is required to enable the new strategy implementation. Include current organization chart and proposed organizational chart. Describe the proposed structural changes and its benefits in detail. (15 Marks-Max 750 words)
- Critically evaluate the restructure plan addressing possible issues and negative consequences and ways to overcome them. (15 Marks-Max 750 words).
(START WRITING YOUR ANSWER FROM THE NEXT PAGE)
