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日期：2024-01-10 09:19

Assignment Brief

Students are asked to develop a strategy for the Co-Op groupfor the next 3-5 years.  

The individual report should consist of the following 6sections. For each section I will provide suggestions on what students couldcover but these are not restrictive. I will outline all the frameworks and tools you have in your disposal but that does not mean that you have to use all of them. What you need to have in mind is that each section has a goal that you need to meet. For each section thereof you need to draw some “conclusions”, take them with you and complete the next sections. These “conclusions” need to be justified. So the key word here is justify your findings/arguments in each section.

Your end Strategy needs to be informed by all the previous sections. So the strategy that the company should implement needs to be justifiable by all the previous analysis.

(1) Introduction

Introduce the company, its products, the market it operates, define your industry, define your target market

Briefly assess whether the company is doing well or bad at the moment.

(2) Internal Analysis

The Goal of the Internal analysis is to identifyyour company’s; (1) Capabilities/Strengths and value adding activities (2) Weaknesses (3) Internal Competitive advantage.

To achieve this goal you can use all or a combination of the following frameworks/suggestions (marks are not allocated based on how many models/frameworks you have used rather if you have used them correctly and if you have achieved the goal of the internal analysis):

- Value Chain

o Identify your company’s primary and supplementary activities

o How these activities add value to your company

o Incorporation of these activities/resources in the Resources & Capabilities table and any weaknesses in the Weaknesses table

- Resources & Capabilities table

o Identify your company’s resources and briefly discuss the corresponding capabilities (you can use a table if you wish)

- Test the Distinctive Capabilities through VRIO model to identify your company’s competitive advantage

o Briefly discuss the conclusions from VRIO – What is your competitive advantage and why you believe so?

- Weaknesses table

o Identify your company’s weaknesses and provide a short term or long term solution (you can use a table if you wish)

(3) External Analysis

The Goal of the External analysis is to identify how the industry and the country/countries your firm operates can affect the development of its strategy. The Goals of the External analysis are; (1) Assess the attractiveness of the industry you operate (2) perform a Competitors’ analysis (3) identify Macro – economic factors affecting your industry and consequently your firm

To achieve this goal you can use all or a combination of the following frameworks/suggestions (marks are not allocated based on how many models/frameworks you have used rather if you have used them correctly and if you have achieved the goal of the external analysis):

- The external analysis is conducted at an industry level – Define your industry – Be specific

- Five forces to identify the attractiveness of the industry you operate

o Identify the forces (low-medium-high)

o Discussion on the attractiveness of the industry (is it attractive yes/no why?)

o What does this mean for your company? (opportunities and threats)

- Identify your company’s strategic position AND your Competitors strategic position

o Porter’s 3 generic strategies OR

o Bowman’s clock

o Position your firm and the competitors, justify why you think they follow this strategic position, discuss if this positioning is an opportunity or threat for your company

- Competitors’ Benchmarking to identify the Competitors strengths and weaknesses

o Critical evaluation of your findings – any opportunities or threats for your firm?

- PESTEL

o You can use a table to identify as many RELEVANT macro-economic trends taking place at the moment in the country/countries your firm operates, that can affect your industry and consequently firm

o Select a 3 KEY trends to discuss further – discuss their impact to your industry, to your firm and your future strategic planning (opportunities/threats?)

(4) SWOT analysis

In this module SWOT analysis is used as a summary tool – meaning that you use it to summarise existing information.

Strengths & Weaknesses: Should come from your internal analysis ONLY.

Opportunities & Threats: Should come from your external analysis ONLY.

SWOT should NOT include any new information – you need to populate the SWOT table using existing information from you previous analysis.

You don’t have to explain the SWOT analysis in a separate paragraph the table should suffice.

(5) TOWS matrix

In the TOWS matrix you are going to combinethe data you gathered from the Internal and External analysis and you will come up with tactics/ideas. It is the brainstorming stage.

The way you are going to combine the data is as follows:

Strengths & Opportunities: To pursue one or more of the opportunities you identified what strengths do you need to utilise? You combine these information and you come with one or more tactics/ideas

Strengths & Threats: To overcome one or more of the threats you identified what strengths do you need to utilise? You combine these information and you come with one or more tactics/ideas

Opportunities & Weaknesses: By pursuing one or more of the opportunities you identified what weaknesses you fix? You combine these information and you come with one or more tactics/ideas

Threats & Weaknesses: Come up with ideas that at the same time help you fix some of your weaknesses and overcome some of your threats.

All these tactics/ideas can be included inside the TOWS matrix. One/two sentences for each idea/tactic clearly showing which opportunities + strengths etc you combined. You don’t have to explain the TOWS matrix in a separate paragraph the table should suffice.

(6) ANSOFF matrix

In the ANSOFF matrix you need to position your tactics/ideas from the TOWS matrix inside the right strategy i.e Market penetration, market development, product development, diversification.

From the 4 strategies and corresponding tactics you need to select 2 to analyse further. Which 2 you are going to select is up to you. One (amazing) paragraph for each strategy (and corresponding tactic). These 2 paragraphs are going to be the “selling point” of the report. Indicative these paragraphs can discuss the following but are not limited to:

Does this strategy and corresponding tactic addresses any opportunities and/or overcomes threats? How the Industry forces/ Competition/ Macro-factors will affect your strategic option?

By following this strategy and corresponding tactic do you capitalise on your competitive advantage? Yes? No? How? If you haven’t identified a competitive advantage in the internal analysis, does this strategy and corresponding tactic helps you build one?

Implementation plan: how are you going to implement this strategy and corresponding tactic? Have you implemented this strategy before (as a company)? Yes/no? was it successful? Is there a reason why you haven’t implemented it before?

Market penetration - explain how you will retain and increase your market share. Ideas: how you will deal with the competitors, additional services you may offer to attract new customers, maybe an advertisement you want to run.

Product development – explain the process of developing new product/service and how this will add value to the company. Ideas: invest in R&D, or acquire a company that has the knowledge/technology you are after, how and why customers will value the new product

Market development – explain which country you plan to enter and provide discussion on how you will enter it.

Diversification – combine the discussion from product development and market development. If you are entering a new industry with a new product, provide some additional information about the new industry such as is it attractive, is it competitive, has room for investment etc.

Based on the assessment of your firm’s current conditions (doing good or bad from the introduction section) what this strategy and corresponding tactic does? Turns around the bad performance? Builds upon current success?

The main discussion should be in paragraphs but feel free to use tables/ graphs/ images to support your arguments.

(7) SAFe criteria

From these 2 strategies and corresponding tactic you now need to assess which ones are viable, using the SAFe criteria. Which one(s) are you going to select? The one(s) that will best pass the SAFe criteria.

You need to test both strategies and corresponding tactic via the SAFe criteria and the strategy that pass ALL SAFe criteria is/are the one(s) that you are going to suggest to the board of directors. In 2 separate paragraphs (one for each strategy and corresponding tactic) you need to explain/justify why this strategy and corresponding tactic is or isn’t suitable, acceptable and feasible.

NOTE 1: If more than one strategies and corresponding tactic pass the SAFe criteria when assessed individually, you should consider how well these options relate to each other and make a clear recommendation of how your board of directors should proceed: should they chose one (which one and why), should several options been pursued – if so why does that makes sense (e.g. how do they enhance each other), should one come before the other (suggesting sequential implementation and why) etc.

SAFe

(1) Suitability check list:

Does it capitalise (uses effectively) on your firm’s strengths and capabilities?(as identified in your internal analysis)

Fixes a weakness?(as identified in your internal analysis)

Does it exploit the opportunities you identified (as identified in your external analysis)

Does it overcome the threats?(as identified in your external analysis)

Yes or No and why? Please remember that, as with all SAFecriteria, the answer is typically not a clear yes or no but every option will address some points mentioned above very well, others less well and some not at all. Therefore, it is up to you considering all points to make an overall assessment if you believe the suitability criteria is sufficiently met and can pass (yes) or the option is not suitable, overall (no).

Check Lecture 6  as well for additional criteria.

(2) Acceptability check list:

There are three key aspects of acceptability – the “3 R’s” (Risk – Return – Reactions):

1. Is the level of risk acceptable? Risk can be assessed using, for example: Sensitivity analysis, Financial risk, Break-even analysis.

NOTE: I do NOT expect a detailed risk analysis - I expect you to demonstrate that some general risk considerations have been taken into accountand to use your critical thinking and make an informed decision (based on arguments/data etc) on whether a strategy is acceptable in terms of the involved risks or not. A narrative discussion.

2. Is the likely ROI acceptable? ROI can be assessed using: Financial analysis, Shareholder value analysis, Cost–benefit analysis, Real options.

NOTE: Same as above -  I expect a narrative analysis/judgement on whether or not this strategy will generate profits and how soon.

3. Will stakeholders’ reaction be positive?

You need to go back to your stakeholders’ mapping and discussion – explain if your key stakeholders will have positive reactions or not.

Yes or No and why? Consider the risk level, the ROI and add them to the stakeholders’ discussion.

(3) Feasible check list:

Three core questions to consider:

Can the strategy be financed? Do we have the money?  Financial statements/balance sheets that prove the profitability of your company. In plain words, do you have the money or any money generating assets that you can use to pursue your selected strategy?

Do people and their skills exist to implement the strategy OR they should be obtained? Do you have the personnel you need to pursue this strategy (ex. Scientists if you invest in R&D etc) (yes/no are they enough?) OR you will have to recruit? (can you do it? Money? Time?)

Do the capabilities exist to implement the strategy OR can they be obtained?

Value chain – Are our processes effective and efficient? Can we support this strategy?

Yes or No and why? Again, remember that the answer is typically not a clear yes or no but every option will address some points mentioned above very well, others less well and some not at all. Therefore, it is up to you considering all points to make an overall assessment if you believe the feasibility criteria is sufficiently met and can pass (yes) or the option is not feasible, overall (no).