Strategy and Innovation

Unit 4’s second activity serves as the second marked coursework assignment for this module and accounts for 50% of the module’s overall grade. If in any doubt whatsoever, consult your module tutor for clarification. Be warned, work presented late cannot be assessed.
This task is about demonstrating your understanding of applying models in Units 1-6. Hence, you are now in a position to start this assignment but might not be able to complete it until you have completed the whole module.
TASK:
You are asked to conduct a strategic analysis of your own organisation, or one with which you are familiar, using relevant models and concepts covered in the main course material. Your aim is to use some of the tools and concepts you have learned throughout this module to develop some strategic options and make final recommendations regarding the organisation’s strategy looking forward. In your answer, ensure you have considered the strategic importance of innovation in relation to your recommendations.
In terms of marking, the breakdown will be along the following lines where these show the order in which you are likely to present the various elements of your strategic report:
(1) Strategic analysis and evaluation (50%) (Note that this should include both an external and an internal analysis of your organisation).
(2) Development of strategic options and recommendations (20%) (Note that your recommendations should always logically flow from your analysis and evaluation)
(3) Consideration of innovation in relation to your strategic recommendations (20%)
(4) Consideration of any implementation issues including the implementation timeline (10%)
It is not necessary to use all tools from the book and curriculum. Rather you should choose what tool or tools to use and defend your analysis. Reports will mainly be judged on the ability to apply the correct tools and frameworks, and the quality of the underlying research and analysis. You will be judged also on how your recommendations follow the logic of your analysis. You will though not be judged on your recommendation per se (i.e. there are no right or wrong recommendations), but rather on your over-all argument and quality of the document. And, of course, marks will be awarded for the presentation of your report and correct referencing used.
You need to present your work as a report with a title and a table of contents. The report showing your analysis of particular models in the main body of the text where you can use tables and diagrams to help with this. You can also use appendices to show detailed application of models if needed as appendices do not count in terms of your overall word count. Remember though that someone should be able to read the main body of your report and follow it without constantly referring to the appendices.
Please note that applied diagrams, tables and references and appendices do not count towards your word limit. All references should use formal Harvard style referencing.
This is a piece of individual work, but you can work with your peers to gain information about concepts in general. Where it becomes totally your own is when you think about how your analysis plays out for your organisation specifically.