6WBS0010(ONL)/6WBS0011(SDL) Strategic Collaboration Assignment 2 Essay: Case Study on Risks and Benefits in the Technology Sector

Detailed Brief For Individual / Team Assignment

For this assignment, you should select ONE of the following two options provided below.

It is strongly advised that before you make a final choice, you research carefully to explore a suitable subject matter to work with, ensuring that there is plenty of quality research material available on the business for enhanced discussions.

Option A – Risks And Benefits Of Strategic Collaboration

Introduction To the Task

The term ‘strategic collaboration’ (SC) refers to a deliberate, long-term agreement between two or more organisations. Strategic collaborations are pursued by organisations seeking to achieve shared goals that would otherwise be difficult to accomplish alone. Some forms of strategic collaborations include partnerships, strategic alliances, and joint ventures.

Some key features of strategic collaborations include:

• Shared strategic objectives (e.g., innovation, market expansion)
• Companies remain legally independent (e.g,. not mergers or acquisitions)
• Can include factors such as resource sharing, technology exchange, co-developmen,t and joint marketing
• Often involves mutual benefit with clearly defined roles/ responsibilities
• Can be formal or informal

A strategic collaboration can develop in areas of innovation when it is based on mutually desired outcomes, which is useful in today’s ever-advancing digital and technological landscape. In recent years, businesses in the technology sector have formed strategic collaborations (either within the same sector or with other sectors) to accelerate and enhance innovation, bringing new products and services to the global marketplace. Some examples of these strategic collaborations include (but are not limited to):

Apple and IBM (2014) whose goal was to bring IBM’s enterprise expertise to iOS devices
NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz (2020) ,who aimed to build software-defined vehicles using AI and autonomous driving technology
Google and Salesforce (2017) which combined Google’s productivity tools e.g., Gmail, Docs, etc, withthe  Salesforce CRM platform to improve customer experiences

Uber and Spotify (2014) aimed to enhance to user experience by integrating Spotify’s music streaming capabilities into Uber rides

Tasks

You are required to carefully review a strategic collaboration within the technology sector. You may select one of the above or choose another suitable SC as the basis for this essay. You may select an SC that has failed or one that has succeeded, but be guided to select one where you can answer all tasks given below fully before continuing.

Within your discussion, you must explore the following:

Task A: Discuss The Growth Of Strategic Collaborations Within The Technology Sector As A Whole And Explain Why This Has Continued To Grow, What Benefits It Offers, And What Risks It Reduces. (25%)

Guidance

• Use reputable sources to discuss growth in strategic collaborations within the technology sector.
• Explore external factors that have promoted the growth of strategic collaborations in this sector and investigate the reasons that organisations are pursuing this method of expansion.
• You should use industry examples to evidence your understanding.
• Ensure your references are academic, valid, and appropriate for this level of study.

Task B: Discuss The Advantages And Disadvantages That The Strategic Collaboration Offers To The Parties In Your Selected SC. (30%)

Guidance

• Explore these carefully and use good-quality academic reference sources for this.
• Some examples of advantages can include the individual business risk reduction and cost savings through sharing the costs, it can offer speedier market access, and it can build the image of each company within the collaboration.
• Disadvantages can include the risk of SC failure through poor management, lack of commitmen,t and work culture barriers.
• Whatever areas you discuss, use good academic sources and business examples to exemplify the points you wish to make.

Task C: Evaluate The Success Or Failure Of Your Selected Strategic Collaboration And The Reasons For This, Using Detailed Discussions And Comparator Collaborations To Exemplify Your Discussion. (25%)

Guidance

• This section allows the student to explore the details of the specific SC that they are reviewing. Before starting the assignment, students should ensure they have enough research material to really explore the relative success or failure
• Include discussion against comparator organisations and SC’s so that a measure of the success or failure can be understood by the reader.
• Presentation & Structure – follows essay structure & keeps tothe  word limit of 1800 words with evidence of an articulate and fluent writing style. (10%)

Intellectual Curiosity – follows Harvard style for in-text citation & reference list – students should minimally use 12-15 quality academic sources, including recommended and essential reading, and at least FIVE relevant journal articles. (10%)

Option B – Risks Associated With Vertically Integrated Companies

Introduction To The Task

Companies that are vertically integrated either own or control their own supply chain. Typically, companies either acquire or establish their own supply chain in a backwards and forwards direction, until they manage everything from raw material growth/production through to final sales and delivery of their product and/or service.

Examples of this working successfully includes companies like Ikea, McDonalds, Apple and Netflix (not least because they stream films directly from production studios but they also make their own original content).

This brings organisations particular advantages in that they can draw profit from each stage of the process their “product” goes through and they have absolute control over their operations, product/service from inception through to final client delivery. It does howeve,r bring substantial risks in that the overall organisation now manages a series of disparate operations, and overall management can become a problem. In addition, some of the supply chain may be highly profitable and others less so, making these complex models of supply chain management difficult to operate.

Tasks

Students are required to select a vertically integrated organisation from either Ford Motor Company, Ikea, McDonald’s or Zara and undertake the following tasks.

Task A: Explore How The Organisation Under Review Became Vertically Orientated. (25% Of Marks)

Guidance

• Students should start with an introduction to the business, its history, its size, and the number of employees within the different companies/divisions of the organisation.
• Explore whether the vertical integration came about through organic growth of the organisation, through acquisition or through another reason.
• Explore how this compares to other comparator organisations within the sector (or similar style of organisation) so the reader understands how the organisation has grown to its current state.

Task B: Move On To Review How The Overall Vertically Integrated Organisation Is Managed (30% Of Marks)

Guidance

• Students should start this section by discussing how the organisation is established. What we mean by this is, is each company a Strategic Business Unit under the umbrella of the parent organisation, responsible for their own profit targets or is it one large company and each supply chain partner is a division within the overall business?
  Explore this against comparator organisations covering the advantages and risks this brings your business compared to others in the sector so as to explain the rationale for the company structure.
  Investigate whether any of these supply chain member organisations also supply products/services to other businesses, or do they only serve the immediate organisation.

Task C: Finally, Explore What Difficulties Have Been Encountered By Your Selected Organisation Within The Sector They Operate In. Explore How Quickly Your Organisation Has Adapted To The Shifting Environment Which It Operates And Whether Its Vertical Integration Has Helped Or Hindered It. (25% Of Marks)

Guidance

• Students should consider how their selected organisation has adapted to environmental change (such as the pandemic, war, Trump’s Tariffs, global inflation negatively affecting disposable income, or other) and how they have navigated such environmental changes. How has the organisation adapted, and has its supply chain helped or hindered in this?
• As an example, Amazon took full advantage of the pandemic globally to gear up its supply chain to respond to the massive uptakes of online shoppers. Alternatively, inflation in the UK means that streaming service subscriptions are in decline (this will start to follow in a number of European countries due to the conflict). How has/can the company adapt, and can their vertically integrated supply chain help them through this?
• Presentation & Structure – follows essay structure & keeps to the word limit of 1800 words with evidence of an articulate and fluent writing style. (10%)

Intellectual Curiosity – follows Harvard style for in-text citation & reference list – students should minimally use 12-15 quality academic sources, including recommended and essential reading, and at least FIVE relevant journal articles. (10%)

Grading Criteria

Assessment Criteria

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge And Understanding Assessed In This Assignment:

• Discuss, evaluate and apply a given theoretical framework that underpins the research.
• Identify and analyse selected contemporary issues/concepts in the field of business and management.

Learning Outcomes: Skills And Attributes Assessed In This Assignment:

• Demonstrate advanced research skills by analysing and evaluating contemporary business concepts and/or issues and applying them to the given framework.
• Analyse and critically evaluate contemporary business issues/concepts to communicate own views and understandings.

Reflect on selected business scenarios or concepts to assess their impact and outcome on the business.

Transformational Opportunities:

E.g., Use LinkedIn Learning to improve skills

Follow the module content and the assignment briefing when announced.

Feedback /Marking Criteria For This Assignment

Performance will be assessed using HBS Grading Criteria (Rubric)

Feedback for improvement will be given in writing via your Canvas module site within 4 weeks of submission

Lateness Penalty: For each day or part day up to five days after the published deadline, coursework relating to modules submitted late will have the numeric grade reduced by 10 grade points until or unless the numeric grade reaches the minimum pass mark (UG 40). Where the numeric grade awarded for the assessment is less than the minimum pass mark, no lateness penalty will be applied. If the coursework is submitted more than 5 days after the published deadline, it will not be marked and a grade of zero will be awarded.

Extensions: Students do not have an automatic right to an extension. If you require an extension, this must be requested 7 days in advance of the submission deadline. Please give your reason(s) for needing an extension and provide supporting evidence.

Core Text For This Module:

Daft, R. L., Benson, A., and Henry, B. (2020). Management, Second Edition. Cengage Learning.

Your Specific Instructions:

Your essay should include the following:

• Clear identification of sources using the Harvard referencing system, as you are required to read widely on your chosen topic.
• Ensure you critically analyse the company’s approach to the issue under review.
• Your essay should be up to a maximum of 1800 words (+/- 10%)

Approach To The Assignment:

The essay should be written in your own words. When you have referred to a text, this must be referenced. If you quote short phrases directly from textbooks these MUST be referenced correctly following the Harvard style of referencing. The Centre for Academic Skills Enhancement (CASE) provides a sample of this form of referencing. It is unlikely that these short quotations will exceed ten words.

An essay that contains lengthy quotations will be marked down. Where you quote techniques and theories, they must be supported through adequate and rigorous referencing. It is expected that you will refer to both the suggested texts and further self-researched sources.

You may wish to check your draft for plagiarism by using the Turnitin system. This checks the originality of your work. Instructions will be provided on the Studynet Module site in the Assignment section. University regulations are strictly applied in the area of plagiarism.

When you submit your essay, you will confirm the following: ‘I certify that this piece of assessment is my own work, that it has not been copied from elsewhere, and that any extracts from books, papers, or other sources have been properly acknowledged as references or quotations’.

Use Of AI Tools For This Assessment

In this assessment, you are permitted to use genAI tools (or a proofreader or proofreading service) to proofread your work, but not permitted to use AI tools in the creation of content for your work. This category will apply irrespective of the fact that the grading criteria include credit for English and grammar.

To what extent can you use genAI tools or a proofreader ,or a proofreading service to help you with your assessment?

Neither a proofreader nor a proof-reading tool (whether genAI or not) can ever be used to make changes to your work directly; the proofreader or proof-reading tool must only identify and draw attention to possible changes, which you can then choose to accept or reject; this will ensure that you remain the author of your work.

For clarity, where a proofreader, proofreading service, or genAI tool is used, they/it may only:

• identify spelling and typographical errors;
• Identify poor grammar;
• highlight formatting errors or inconsistencies;
• identify errors in the labelling of diagrams, charts, or figures;
• identify areas for possible improvement;
• highlight a sentence or paragraph where the meaning is not clear; or
• draw attention to repeated phrases or omitted words.

Additionally, you are required to reference the proofreader, proofreading service, or genAI proofreading tool you have used.

Any Specific Instructions:

The HBS Grading Criteria (rubric) will evidence how marks are awarded for individual parts of the assignment i.e. Presentation and Structure, Intellectual Curiosity and Referencing, Content, Analysis, Discussions.

Tips: always refer to the Assessment and grading criteria

You will be assessed on:

• Coverage and application of relevant theory
• Explanation, illustration, and description of the benefits of the suggested techniques
• Evidence of reading and research (including sourcing and referencing using the Harvard referencing system throughout, accompanied by a reference list)
• Overall structure and presentation of an essay

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, And Essay Mills

• You are NOT allowed to copy any information into your assignment without using quotation marks and a reference – this is ‘plagiarism’ (a type of academic misconduct).
• You are NOT allowed to copy from other students (or allow other students to copy from you) – this is ‘collusion’.
• You are NOT allowed to copy from your own assignments on other modules – this is ‘self-plagiarism’.
• You must NEVER buy assignments from websites (essay mills) – this is called ‘contract cheating’ and it is now illegal in the UK.
• If you commit academic misconduct, your mark will be reduced, and you will face disciplinary action for repeat offences.

Student Support And Guidance

• For further help on module content and assignment details, contact your Module Leader in his or her drop-in/office hours or by email.
• Use the Learning Outcomes and HBS Grading Criteria (Rubric) to help inform you of the expectations of the assessment.
• Use CASE (Centre for Academic Skills Enhancement) website resources: http://go.herts.ac.uk/CASE. Attend CASE workshops and drop-ins to develop academic skills to meet HBS expectations (see timetable on CASE website homepage or drop-in to CASE in L064, in the LRC).
• Visit the Academic English for Business Programme Site for tips on developing your academic English and contact hbsacademic-english@herts.ac.uk if you have any questions.
• For help with Turnitin, look for the “Check your work (Turnitin Originality Report)” practice assignment in the Assignment section of all of your modules. For help with understanding plagiarism and how to make changes to your assignment, contact hbsacademic-english@herts.ac.uk.
• Use the Online Library to access quality business information resources:
  • Library Search will help you find books, journal articles, and more.
  • Use the Subject Toolkit for Business to access industry standard databases.
  • Use Library SkillUP for guidance on searching and referencing.
  • Get help: use SkillUP module chat, visit the Study Success Hub, or book a 1:1 with a librarian.

The relevant HBS Grading Criteria (Rubric) for your assignment should be added as a table immediately below the assignment description. If you are unable to find the Grading Criteria (Rubric), please contact your Module Leader.