MGX3110

Strategic Management

Strategy Report Part A & Part B:

Strategy Annotated PowerPoint Written Presentation (Part A)

and

In-Class Oral Presentation with PowerPoint slides (Part B)

MGX3110 Strategy Report Guidance Part A & Part B

PART A. STRATEGY ANNOTATED POWERPOINT WRITTEN PRESENTATION

Part A is an individual assessment. It is about competitive (business) strategy. It is worth

40%. You are required to submit an annotated PowerPoint presentation (3000 words saved as PDF, *A 10% + or - tolerance applies) before 11.55 pm (Melbourne time), Friday Week 7    of the semester^.

The file for Part A should be saved and submitted as Yoursurname Companyname A.pdf (so if you choose Qantas and your surname is Familyname and it should be saved and submitted as Familyname Qantas A.pdf]

PART B. IN-CLASS TEAM ORAL PRESENTATION WITH POWERPOINT SLIDES Part B is a team assessment. It is about corporate strategy. It is worth 30%.

Week 12 of the unit is dedicated to team presentations. They will happen during your

allocated tutorials. Each team is required to both prepare an oral presentation lasting 10-12 minutes maximum and submit the PowerPoint slides of this presentation before Sunday

11.55 pm Week 11. Notes are not required.

The team is the team composed for the Case Debrief report (see Managing Team

Dynamics, Challenges and Issues at the end of this document)

The file for the Powerpoint Presentation (Part B) should be saved and submitted as Teamname Companyname B.pdf (so if you choose Qantas and your teamname is Strategos and it should be saved and submitted as Strategos Qantas B.pdf]

Please note: It does not matter if team members completed a different organisation for Part A, as a team you will choose which organisation you will focus on in Part B.

^Penalty for late submission: 10% of the marks allocated to the assessment task will be

deducted for each 24hrs (or part thereof) that any part of the assessment is late. This also applies to weekends and public holidays.

Part A: What is an Annotated PowerPoint?

•     It is a PowerPoint presentation that has the notes included.

•     The notes are the basis of the speaking part in a presentation.

•     You should submit both parts of your Strategy Report as a PDF with the slide format set to ‘notes’ (hint: goto print, not save as and then select print to PDF).

Structure for Part A & Part B

Title Page: Organisationselected, your name, Team Name (Part B only), and ID, the word

count of your presentation (Part A only) (including tables and figures but not the references). The title page does not count in the total word count.

Structure of the written annotated PowerPoint presentation and in-class team oral presentation: Similar to a contents’ page, but no page numbers are needed.

Introduction: Sets up the presentation (what is it about?) and briefly introduces the organisation.

Body: See below and next for details.

Conclusion: Summarises key points from previous sections and brings the presentation to a close.

References: See below

Body of Part A & Part B

The body (content) of your written annotated PowerPoint presentation and oral presentation with PowerPoint slides should cover

Part A:

Background, History and Culture External Analysis

Internal Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis

Overall Strategic Position

Part B:

Strategy Options

Strategy Evaluation

Final Strategy Recommendations

Part A (body of the report)

Current Strategic Position

Part A is about competitive (business) strategy. You are required to focus on the following aspects in the body of Part A:

In the Background, History and Culture, please provide a summary of the background, history and culture of your organisation. This brief descriptive section sets up an understanding of the organisation. 

In the Analysis sections of your report, use all the following tools to analyse your organisation’sstrategic position:

•         PESTEL – including a summary of key findings of this analysis

•         Porter’s Five Forces analysis- including a summary of key findings of this analysis

           VRIO Analysis - including a summary of key findings of this analysis

           Stakeholder Mapping: Power/Attention Analysis - including a summary of key findings of this analysis

This means that you can pace your work for the assessment. You can do various sections each week as we move along the topics. If you do so you will only have to finesse your assessment on week 7.

For the Organisation’s Overall Strategic Position, drawing from your previous analysis,

conduct a prioritised SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).

State overall what should be considered when developing strategic options in Part B of the   strategy report. For example, based on my analysis, the organisation should be aware of the following important insights.

(Hints: Use academic research and commercial information, as well as theories, concepts

and frameworks in each section to support, evidence and justify each section. Do not use any appendices, the markers are aware that some assumptions might need to be made).

Part B

Strategic Choices and Action

Part B is about corporate strategy. Part B presentation should cover the following

Strategy Options. They should be corporate strategies studies in Chapter 8/ Corporate  Strategy and Diversification. To enhance your argument, you can also use support from Chapter 11 on Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances.

Two (2) strategies are required, with insight into the proposed strategies (what is it/how will it work?). How will it utilise the organisation’s strengths and opportunities and/or minimises their weaknesses and threats (refer to Strategy Report Part A)? Use relevant theory and frameworks as evidence to support.

This means

1.   you start from the SWOT and conclusion you drew in Report A. You do not need to conduct again the analysis you did in report A (so for instance there is no PESTEL, 5 Forces or VRIO in report B).

2.   You only consider two of the possible strategies discussed in Chapter 8 (for instance two strategies from the Ansoff Growth matrix-figure 8.2 in your book)

Strategy Evaluation. This is the analysis of each of the proposed strategies to determine    whether they are suitable, acceptable and feasible. Please make sure you read chapter 12 Evaluating Strategies (and read/watch the relevant materials in Moodle)

Final Strategy Recommendations. Based on the previous sections, which ONE of the two strategies should the organisation adopt or prioritise? Why? Provide a rationale based on

previous sections. Do the recommendations have the potential for real impact and is relevant? Is it realistic to implement/operationalise? How will it contribute to the

organisation’s competitive advantage and long-term success (profitability)?

Following the presentation there will be time for questions and feedback. The order of the teams’ presentation will be randomly determined on the day. You are required to attend    the entire tutorial otherwise 20% marks will be deducted to your report B final mark.

General Hints

•    Please make sure you use imagery/visuals (not just words) to communicate your key points in your PowerPoint. Colour, tables/ diagrams and images are good. Your slides must be engaging!

•    Point form. on the slides is fine. For part B, your talk and for part A, your notes should

expand beyond the points made on the slide (i.e. explain what are the implications or key   insights that should be inferred from the slides). For part A, the notes are the equivalent of the speech you would give to the management team.

•   Your report should be consistent throughout (same fonts/writing style etc.).

•    In the body of your presentations, one section does not equal one slide, you will most likely need multiple slides (watch the word/time limit though).

Part A Referencing

•    For Part A, academic referencing must be adhered to. This includes in-text references where required, including visual references, and a reference list (APA format only).

•    References (in-text and the reference list) do not count in the word count. All the rest counts (notes; words on slides; tables and figures)

•   You do not have to have references on the slides or in the notes, but you should use at least

5 academic journal articles in Part A. They should be listed at the end of your PowerPoint presentation.

•    If you do not have in-text references please present a bibliography *, if you have in-text references please present a reference list.

•    For each part, five (5) marks will be deducted from the total if the bibliography or reference list is missing.

* A bibliography includes all the sources consulted even if they not directly cited (referred to) in the assignment. A reference list is for those directly cited.

Part A and B: Other aspects assessed

The following areas will be assessed as proof of professionalism:

Slide Quality - communicates appropriate and relevant information clearly and succinctly to your managerial audience- written and visual quality.

Notes Quality (part A) expands on the content of the slides and is communicated succinctly

and appropriately (Why is the information on the slide important? What does the information on the slide mean for the organisation?).

Oral Presentation Quality (part B) - All aspects (written and spoken) are communicated

succinctly and are appropriate. It is professional, consistent with audience expectations, has energy, is engaging and well prepared. Spoken information is not repeating what is on the slides, but rather expands on it, review points made for Part A’s notes section too (Part B only).

Structure and format - a flow that makes sense, is cohesive; the sections are connected overall, and are appropriate to the managerial audience.

Part B (only)

EVERY team member has to present, and everybody is expected to answer questions.

Managing Team Dynamics, Challenges and Issues

•    Once placed in a team, it is up to each student to contact other team members ASAP. The Chief Examiner reserves the right to remove students from a team where they

have not made effort to contact other team members in a timely manner.

•    Please be aware that as a team you should all be working on this assessment at a

minimum from week 8 onward (preferably earlier. Do not leave starting it too late as this will most likely result in team issues - you have been warned!).

•    By week 8, you should have contacted your team and started planning your work. If you have not done so by then, please contact your tutor immediately. No individual presentations will be allowed, and a zero will be given.

•    If issues surrounding the performance of one or more team members is raised by the team, this must occur via email to the teaching team ASAP. This must be done by

Week 10. You are required to provide evidence to support your issue.

•    The teaching team may ask the student team to provide further information to

evaluate the performance of each team member (including themselves). Furthermore, the Chief Examiner or teaching team may either email the student team or ask them to meet (via an online meeting) to discuss issues raised (if meeting as a team, all team members must be present, individual team members not in attendance may receive a zero for this assessment).

•    Where it is found that one or more students have not contributed an equitable

amount of work toward this assessment (based on the evidence presented),a lower result may be recorded for the student. The Chief Examiner will make this decision based on the information and evidence (or lack of) provided.

•    Students who ghost the team will be awarded zero (0) for this assessment (ongoing

evidence of the team's attempts to contact the missing team member will be required, so please ensure you keep a track of this and advise the teaching team ASAP if you

notice this becoming an issue). There will be no opportunity for alternate assessments in this instance.

•    Due to privacy regulations, the teaching team cannot advise other team members of individual student results.