HOLMES
INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF
HIGHER
EDUCATION
ASSESSMENT DETAILS AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Trimester T1 2021
Unit Code HC3141
Unit Title International Strategic Management
Assessment Type Assessment 2: Group Assignment Group Size: 4 Persons
Assessment Title Strategic Company Report
Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) Students are required to demonstrate theoretical and practical knowledge of strategic management in an international context.
Weight 40% of the total assessments.
Total Marks 40 Marks.
Word limit Not more than 2000 words.
Due Date
The written report is due in Week 10 on Saturday dated 29th May 2021 at 11:59 PM.
Late submission incurs penalties of five (5) % of the assessment per calendar day unless an extension and/or special consideration has been granted by Student Services prior to the assessment deadline.
Submission Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page.
• The students are required to work in a group of 1-4 students. However, there is no minimum limit for a group. In certain circumstances, a student can work in a Solo Group.
• The assignment must be in MS Word format, double spacing, 12-pt Arial font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings and page numbers.
• Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using the Adapted Harvard Referencing style. Please see the section Assignment Design – Adapted Harvard Referencing Section below.
•
A minimum of ten (10) references, at least five (5) from peer-reviewed journal relevant to the unit.
ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICATIONS
Purpose
This assignment aims at demonstrating theoretical and practical knowledge towards identifying various strategies adopted by companies in a global environment.
Requirements
The requirements of this assignment are elaborated in three steps, including (1) selecting a company, (2) conducting analysis, and (3) making recommendations.
Step 1: Company Selection
You are required to select a company from one of the nine sectors, including (1) Agriculture, (2) Tourism, (3) Pharmaceutical, (4) Health, (5) Organic food, (6) Wine, (7) Sports/Events, (8) Information Technology, and (9) Communication. Please ensure that the chosen company must be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Further, you are not allowed to choose fast food or retail industries for this assignment.
Step 2: Environmental Analysis and Growth Strategies
In the second step, you are required to examine (1) the environment in which this company is operating, and (2) the growth strategies of your selected company. Your analysis should be based on the concepts and theories taught in this unit.
Step 3: Recommendations on Alternative Growth Strategies
Based on your examination in step 3 above, make specific recommendations on alternative growth strategies for the selected company.
ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE
1. Executive Summary
The Executive summary should be concise and not involve too much detail. It should make commentary on the main points only and follow the sequence of the report. Write the Executive Summary after the report is completed, and once you have an overview of the whole text.
2. Contents Page
This needs to show a logical listing of all the sub-headings of the report’s contents. Note this is excluded from the total word count.
3. Introduction
Typically, the introduction is a short paragraph that includes background, scope and the main points raised in the order of importance. There should be a brief conclusion statement at the end of the introduction. Ensure that this section presents the introduction of your report, not the company/industry.
4. Main Body Paragraphs with Numbered Sub-headings
This section contains detailed information on the main points raised in the introduction. Each paragraph should begin with an exact topic sentence, then supporting sentences with facts and evidence obtained from research and finish with a concluding sentence at the end. For your convenience, I am providing you with the framework of analysis for this section.
4.1 Introduction – Industry and your company.
4.2 The micro and macro-environment in which this company is operating – briefly discuss main factors.
4.3 Company’s competitive advantage over its rivals.
4.4 Is this company following any Generic Strategies of Porters (Cost leadership, Focus or Differentiation)?
4.5 Discuss the company’s growth strategies like diversification or Integration or if the company is using the Ansoff matrix to grow in their market.
4.6 Strategic recommendations at the functional and business level.
5. Conclusion
This section contains a logical and coherent evaluation based on a thorough and objective assessment of the research performed.
6. Appendices
This section includes any additional explanatory information which is supplementary and/or graphical to help communicate the main ideas made in the report. Refer to the appendices in the main body paragraphs, as and where appropriate. (Note this is excluded from the total word count.)
Note: The report should be grounded on relevant literature, and all references must be cited appropriately and included in the reference list. The Adaptive Harvard Referencing guidelines are provided below.
ASSESSMENT DESIGN – ADAPTED HARVARD REFERENCING
Holmes will be implementing as a pilot program a revised Harvard approach to referencing. The following guidelines apply:
1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources which provide full text access to the source’s content for lecturers and markers.
2. The Reference list should be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: References.
3. It should include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname. In addition, it MUST include a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source.
For example;
P Hawking, B McCarthy, A Stein (2004), Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of
Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf
4. All assignments will require additional in-text reference details which will consist of the surname of the author/authors or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page number of content, paragraph where the content can be found.
For example;
“The company decided to implement a enterprise wide data warehouse business intelligence strategies (Hawking et al, 2004, p3(4)).”
Non-Adherence to Referencing Guidelines
Where students do not follow the above guidelines:
1. Students who submit assignments which do not comply with the guidelines will be asked to resubmit their assignments.
2. Late penalties will apply, as per the Student Handbook each day, after the student/s have been notified of the resubmission requirements.
3. Students who comply with guidelines and the citations are “fake” will be reported for academic misconduct.
MARKING CRITERIA
MARKING RUBRIC
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
(80-100%) (70-79%) (60-69%) (50-59%) (0-49%)
Introduction [4 Marks] Excellent background of the company and
the industry with all relevant information. Detailed background of the company and the industry. Background of the company and the industry
lacks relevant information. Brief
Introduction. Unclear discussion. Does not provide any background information.
Macro/micro
Environment
[5 Marks] Detailed explanation of macro/micro
environment with examples. Micro/macro environment explained. Lacking either micro or macro environment. Micro/micro environment discussed
theory but no relevance to company. Unclear, irrelevant discussion.
Company’s competitive advantage [5 Marks] Competitive advantage against the rivals
explained well with examples. Competitive advantage against the rivals explained. Brief discussion of competitive advantage,
lacking discussion about rivals. Competitive advantage discussed theory but no relevance to the chosen company. Unclear, irrelevant discussion.
Company’s generic strategies
[7 Marks] Generic strategies for the chosen company are explained well with examples. Generic strategies for the chosen company are explained. Generic strategies: inadequate discussion. Generic strategies discussed in theory.
However, the relevance to the chosen company is missing. Unclear, irrelevant discussion.
Growth strategies [7 Marks] Clear discussion of growth strategies with relevant examples. Growth strategies are discussed well. Few growth strategies are discussed. Inadequate discussion of growth strategies. Growth strategies not discussed, not aligned with the chosen company.
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Recommendations [7 Marks] Appropriate recommendations,
aligning the chosen
strategies are discussed well with examples. Good, realistic recommendations are explained well. Recommendations are discussed adequately. Theoretical discussion of recommendations is not aligned with the chosen company. Recommendations are not aligned with the chosen strategies.
Research quality [5 Marks] An extensive amount of high-quality evidence
from peer-reviewed
journal articles and other
sources is included and used effectively to support discussion. A broad range of quality peer-reviewed journal references and other
sources is included and used effectively to support discussion. An adequate range of peer-reviewed journal references is included and used to support discussion. An adequate range of peer-reviewed journal references is included
and used to a basic extent to support discussion. Little or no peerreviewed journal
references are
included, and these are rarely used to support discussion effectively.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Holmes Institute is committed to ensuring and upholding Academic Integrity, as Academic Integrity is integral to maintaining academic quality and the reputation of Holmes’ graduates. Accordingly, all assessment tasks need to comply with academic integrity guidelines. Table 1 identifies the six categories of Academic Integrity breaches. If you have any questions about Academic Integrity issues related to your assessment tasks, please consult your lecturer or tutor for relevant referencing guidelines and support resources. Many of these resources can also be found through the Study Sills link on Blackboard.
Academic Integrity breaches are a serious offence punishable by penalties that may range from deduction of marks, failure of the assessment task or unit involved, suspension of course enrolment, or cancellation of course enrolment.
Table 1: Six categories of Academic Integrity breaches
Plagiarism Reproducing the work of someone else without attribution. When a student submits their own work on multiple occasions this is known as self-plagiarism.
Collusion Working with one or more other individuals to complete an assignment, in a way that is not authorised.
Copying Reproducing and submitting the work of another student, with or without their knowledge. If a student fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent their own original work from being copied, this may also be considered an offence.
Impersonation Falsely presenting oneself, or engaging someone else to present as oneself, in an in-person examination.
Contract cheating Contracting a third party to complete an assessment task, generally in exchange for money or other manner of payment.
Data fabrication and falsification Manipulating or inventing data with the intent of supporting false conclusions, including manipulating images.
Source: INQAAHE, 2020
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