7WBS2011 Strategic Management Research (MBA SDL) CW1 Assignment Brief 2026 | PSB Academy

7WBS2011 Assignment Brief 

CW1 Assignment Brief – Strategic Analysis of [organisation name] – Video Presentation

Assessment Criteria

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge And Understanding Assessed In This Assignment:

• Demonstrate a critical awareness of current strategic issues facing managers in a chosen
• Understand how to apply a range of strategic tools, theoretical frames, and perspectives to enhance decision making in a complex
• Demonstrate understanding of strategic options and develop an ability to critically evaluate these in relation to the internal and external analyses of an organisation.

Learning Outcomes: Skills And Attributes Assessed In This Assignment:

• Research, analyse, and evaluate information from a range of sources, synthesising this to investigate the current issues in a business context that shape strategy formulation.
• Critically evaluate the application, relevance, and impact of different approaches to strategic thinking within a business context.
• Reflect on practical experiences of leadership or management, and how these impact on organisational outcomes.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate ideas and findings in an effective manner through a range of methods

Transformational Opportunities:

E.g. Use LinkedIn Learning to improve skills

• Conduct research that will help gaining deeper understanding of an industry/sector of personal interest.
• Develop and use reflective skills to identify transformational experiences.

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/PG 50).  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. Please note: Referred coursework submitted after the published deadline will be awarded a grade of zero (0).
• Extensions: Students do not have an automatic right to an extension.  If you require an extension, this must be requested in advance of the submission deadline.  Please give your reason(s) for needing an extension. Not all Assessments are eligible for an extension. Please check above.
• Retrievable Assessment: Students who fail a retrievable assignment have the opportunity to act on the feedback in a timely manner and to resubmit the same assignment within a specified deadline set by the Module Leader. Marks for resubmitted work will be capped at 40% for UG and 50% for PG. Students who resubmit work and go on to Fail the module will still be able to do the referred coursework (capped at 40% UG or 50% PG).

Detailed Brief For Individual Assignment

Assignment Title: Internal and External Analysis of [enter your organisation name here] – Video Presentation.

Task: Present critical strategic analysis of an organisation of your choice through appropriate academic and non-academic research and the application of models and frameworks in a presentation of no longer than 12 mins.  

The fast-paced development of technology, economic and geo-political concerns are forcing many organisations to rethink their business models. 34% of CEOs believe their business won’t be economically viable within 10 years on current course — up from 21% in 2024 (PWC, CEO Survey 2025)

The CEO of your chosen organisation has called for a strategic review of the organisation. Knowing that you are undertaking study at the University of Hertfordshire, they have asked for you to demonstrate your understanding of strategy and make a recorded presentation to the board. This is a chance for you to demonstrate your understanding of the topic and impress the board members who are looking to select the business leaders of the future to implement the new strategy.

You have been told that

• The board are very busy people, and you must not exceed 12 mins for your presentation.
• The board are looking for you to provide evidence through research to support your discussion and justify your opinions.

Choice Of Organisation For The Task

You can choose to study your own organisation or an organisation with which you are familiar through research. You should bear the following information in mind when choosing your organisation.

• You are expected to use citations from high quality academic and non-academic texts in the public domain to evidence your discussion and justify your opinions/recommendations. You should spend some time using the University online library to make sure that you will have enough information available to you before making your choice, particularly if you are considering a smaller organisation or a startup.
• For large organisations, you are recommended to choose one specific business unit rather than the whole organisation e.g. Amazon AWS. Airbus Commercial Aircraft etc.

Note that this assignment must be completed using secondary research only i.e. that available in the public domain. You must not contact anyone at the organisation e.g. conduct a telephone interview as you do not have ethical permission to conduct primary research. If it is the organisation you work for, you must not disclose any confidential information.

If you are having trouble selecting an organisation, please consult your tutor who will be able to advise.

Submission Materials

Your Submission should include the following items

• Your maximum 12-minute video presentation in MP4 format
• An Appendix with your full Porters Five Forces with citations and references for the Presentation and the Appendix (.docx format)
• Your completed and signed AI declaration form (.docx)
• A copy of your reference list in Harvard Academic Style (including links) in .docx (Word format)

Structure And Formatting:

Your presentation should be presented professionally and contain the following, in this order:

• A front slide identifying the organisation
• A table of contents with slide numbers
• The body of the report to address the task below
• A full reference list (following the Harvard referencing system)

The assignment should be submitted as a video presentation and must be no longer than 12 mins. Marking of content will be stopped at this point and you will not be credited for any subsequent work except your reference list.

Description Of The Assignment, Task, Content, And Structure

You should adhere to the following structure and suggested timings:

1. Introduction (2 Minutes)

An introduction to your presentation containing an outline of the selected organisation and the context of your analysis – i.e., the scope / boundaries in terms of the geography and industry they operate within and their current mission and vision statements.

If the organisation operates in multiple industries, you must clearly state which individual business unit and therefore single industry you are focusing on for the purpose of this assignment. For example, rather than all of the different Tesco businesses, you would select just one of Tesco mobile, Tesco bank, or their retail operations.

2. External Analysis Using PESTEL Or SCANSTEP (5 Minutes)

Using either the PESTLE or the SCANSTEP framework, identify threats and opportunities in the external environment, discuss the long-term implications for your selected organisation and what the country needs to address.

3. Industry Analysis Using Porter’s Five Forces Framework (5 Minutes)

You are required to conduct a full Porter’s Five Forces analysis for the selected industry in which the organisation operates, which is justified by supporting evidence (with references). This should be supplied as an appendix in .docx format.

Your presentation should provide a summary of the analysis and a discussion of the most important force, or forces, that the organisation needs to pay closest attention and an explanation of why.

4. Reference List

Relevant references for your evidence supporting your analysis must be provided on any visual aids used (“in-text referencing”) AND in a separate document in .docx format. The time displayed on screen is not counted as part of your presentation.

Citations used and the reference list must conform to the “Cite Them Right” Harvard style. Please review the guidance available from HAS-Business here: https://herts.instructure.com/courses/104807/pages/harvard-referencing-and-academic-integrity-2023-24?module_item_id=3000601

You should include a minimum of twelve (12) credible sources including seven (7) academic sources, making use of core-text and recommended sources. Note that general articles containing discussion of academic theory and models and frameworks are not counted as academic sources.

Failure to include a reference list will result in a deduction in marks

Appendix 1 – A Full Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

You should present a full Porter’s Five Forces Analysis appropriate for a busy Board Member in .docx format with full use of citations and references. 

Any Specific Instructions:

You are required to be visible on camera for the duration of your presentation. You may use any visual aids but note the requirement for in-text references to be visible.

Submission Guidance:

Four files are required for this assignment:

• Your maximum 12-minute video presentation in MP4 format
• An Appendix with your full Porters Five Forces (.docx format)
• Your completed and signed AI declaration form (.docx)
• A copy of your reference list in Harvard Academic Style (including links) in .docx (Word format)

Instructions on how to load files into Panopto are included on the assignments page. A penalty of 5% of the assessment mark will be applied for non-submission. Penalties up to that may be applied for failure to complete the form correctly and/or in sufficient detail.

Late penalties will apply, as outlined on page 1 of this assignment brief, even in situations where issues may be encountered with uploading files to canvas (with the sole exception of any recognised technical issues on the Universities behalf, evidenced by a service status message at the following link: https://status.herts.ac.uk/)

You are strongly advised to ensure that you can submit your work in good time before the submission deadline.

The HBS Grading Criteria (rubric) below evidence how marks are awarded for individual parts of the assignment.

Referral / Deferral

Where any referral/deferral for this assignment is required, students will be asked to resubmit the same assessment. For referral – students will be requested to revise the original submission and resubmit the work in accordance with the feedback provided for the first submission.

Use Of Generative AI

Students must comply with the category selected for this assessment. Improper or undeclared use of AI tools may be considered academic misconduct. For further guidance, please visit: https://ask.herts.ac.uk/ai-tools

Use Of AI Tools For This Assessment 

You must complete the Assessment Cover Page ‘Declaration of AI Use’ template and upload this completed form with your submission. This template can be found in the CW1 Assignment area and is also included below

Failure to do this will result in a reduction of marks awarded.

This Assessment Is A Category 2 Assignment.

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 includes 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 proof-reader nor a proof-reading tool (whether genAI or not) can ever be used to make changes to your work directly; the proof-reader 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 labelling of diagrams, charts or figures
• identify areas for possible improvement
• highlight a sentence or paragraph where the meaning is not clear
• 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. A copy of the AI declaration form is attached here in Appendix 1 and in the assignment section on Canvas.

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, Essay Mills And Other Academic Misconduct Offences

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.

• Contract cheating is a serious academic misconduct offence and also includes arranging for help with an assessment such that there is also reasonable doubt as to whose work the assessment represents. It extends to input from a fellow student, friend, relative, or any other person, artificial intelligence with or without payment of any kind.
• For all references use Cite it Right Harvard style.- Harvard Referencing (see video for support)
• Unauthorised use of artificially generated material (AI) in researching or presenting material for an assessment is an academic misconduct offence if you use AI tools in producing your assessment unless the use of AI tools is expressly permitted. However, even if expressly permitted, where you do not declare that you have used an artificial intelligence tool(s) in the production of your assessment, or you are dishonest about the extent to which such tools have been used, you will have committed academic misconduct.
• If you commit academic misconduct, your mark will be reduced, or, depending on the severity of the offence you may get 1% for the assignment in question or 1% for the module, and get a disciplinary warning. Repeat offenders normally face disciplinary action.

Student Support And Guidance

• Contact academic-skills@herts.ac.uk if you are unsure of the rules or how to avoid academic misconduct, and you will receive help.
• Please see the UPRs relating to Academic misconduct here.
• Ask Herts information on the use of artificial intelligence tools https://ask.herts.ac.uk/ai-tools.
• For further help on module content and assignment details, co

Detailed Brief For Individual Assignment

Assignment Title: Internal and External Analysis of [enter your organisation name here] – Video Presentation.

Task: Present critical strategic analysis of an organisation of your choice through appropriate academic and non-academic research and the application of models and frameworks in a presentation of no longer than 12 mins.  

The fast-paced development of technology, economic and geo-political concerns are forcing many organisations to rethink their business models. 34% of CEOs believe their business won’t be economically viable within 10 years on current course — up from 21% in 2024 (PWC, CEO Survey 2025)

The CEO of your chosen organisation has called for a strategic review of the organisation. Knowing that you are undertaking study at the University of Hertfordshire, they have asked for you to demonstrate your understanding of strategy and make a recorded presentation to the board. This is a chance for you to demonstrate your understanding of the topic and impress the board members who are looking to select the business leaders of the future to implement the new strategy.

You have been told that

• The board are very busy people, and you must not exceed 12 mins for your presentation.
• The board are looking for you to provide evidence through research to support your discussion and justify your opinions.

Choice Of Organisation For The Task

You can choose to study your own organisation or an organisation with which you are familiar through research. You should bear the following information in mind when choosing your organisation.

• You are expected to use citations from high quality academic and non-academic texts in the public domain to evidence your discussion and justify your opinions/recommendations. You should spend some time using the University online library to make sure that you will have enough information available to you before making your choice, particularly if you are considering a smaller organisation or a startup.
• For large organisations, you are recommended to choose one specific business unit rather than the whole organisation e.g. Amazon AWS. Airbus Commercial Aircraft etc.

Note that this assignment must be completed using secondary research only i.e. that available in the public domain. You must not contact anyone at the organisation e.g. conduct a telephone interview as you do not have ethical permission to conduct primary research. If it is the organisation you work for, you must not disclose any confidential information.

If you are having trouble selecting an organisation, please consult your tutor who will be able to advise.

Submission Materials

Your Submission should include the following items

• Your maximum 12-minute video presentation in MP4 format
• An Appendix with your full Porters Five Forces with citations and references for the Presentation and the Appendix (.docx format)
• Your completed and signed AI declaration form (.docx)
• A copy of your reference list in Harvard Academic Style (including links) in .docx (Word format)

Structure And Formatting:

Your presentation should be presented professionally and contain the following, in this order:

• A front slide identifying the organisation
• A table of contents with slide numbers
• The body of the report to address the task below
• A full reference list (following the Harvard referencing system)

The assignment should be submitted as a video presentation and must be no longer than 12 mins. Marking of content will be stopped at this point and you will not be credited for any subsequent work except your reference list.

Description Of The Assignment, Task, Content, And Structure

You should adhere to the following structure and suggested timings:

1. Introduction (2 Minutes)

An introduction to your presentation containing an outline of the selected organisation and the context of your analysis – i.e., the scope / boundaries in terms of the geography and industry they operate within and their current mission and vision statements.

If the organisation operates in multiple industries, you must clearly state which individual business unit and therefore single industry you are focusing on for the purpose of this assignment. For example, rather than all of the different Tesco businesses, you would select just one of Tesco mobile, Tesco bank, or their retail operations.

2. External Analysis Using PESTEL Or SCANSTEP (5 Minutes)

Using either the PESTLE or the SCANSTEP framework, identify threats and opportunities in the external environment, discuss the long-term implications for your selected organisation and what the country needs to address.

3. Industry Analysis Using Porter’s Five Forces Framework (5 Minutes)

You are required to conduct a full Porter’s Five Forces analysis for the selected industry in which the organisation operates, which is justified by supporting evidence (with references). This should be supplied as an appendix in .docx format.

Your presentation should provide a summary of the analysis and a discussion of the most important force, or forces, that the organisation needs to pay closest attention and an explanation of why.

4. Reference List

Relevant references for your evidence supporting your analysis must be provided on any visual aids used (“in-text referencing”) AND in a separate document in .docx format. The time displayed on screen is not counted as part of your presentation.

Citations used and the reference list must conform to the “Cite Them Right” Harvard style. Please review the guidance available from HAS-Business here: https://herts.instructure.com/courses/104807/pages/harvard-referencing-and-academic-integrity-2023-24?module_item_id=3000601

You should include a minimum of twelve (12) credible sources including seven (7) academic sources, making use of core-text and recommended sources. Note that general articles containing discussion of academic theory and models and frameworks are not counted as academic sources.

Failure to include a reference list will result in a deduction in marks

Appendix 1 – A Full Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

You should present a full Porter’s Five Forces Analysis appropriate for a busy Board Member in .docx format with full use of citations and references. 

Any Specific Instructions:

You are required to be visible on camera for the duration of your presentation. You may use any visual aids but note the requirement for in-text references to be visible.

Submission Guidance:

Four files are required for this assignment:

• Your maximum 12-minute video presentation in MP4 format
• An Appendix with your full Porters Five Forces (.docx format)
• Your completed and signed AI declaration form (.docx)
• A copy of your reference list in Harvard Academic Style (including links) in .docx (Word format)

Instructions on how to load files into Panopto are included on the assignments page. A penalty of 5% of the assessment mark will be applied for non-submission. Penalties up to that may be applied for failure to complete the form correctly and/or in sufficient detail.

Late penalties will apply, as outlined on page 1 of this assignment brief, even in situations where issues may be encountered with uploading files to canvas (with the sole exception of any recognised technical issues on the Universities behalf, evidenced by a service status message at the following link: https://status.herts.ac.uk/)

You are strongly advised to ensure that you can submit your work in good time before the submission deadline.

The HBS Grading Criteria (rubric) below evidence how marks are awarded for individual parts of the assignment.

Referral / Deferral

Where any referral/deferral for this assignment is required, students will be asked to resubmit the same assessment. For referral – students will be requested to revise the original submission and resubmit the work in accordance with the feedback provided for the first submission.

Use Of Generative AI

Students must comply with the category selected for this assessment. Improper or undeclared use of AI tools may be considered academic misconduct. For further guidance, please visit: https://ask.herts.ac.uk/ai-tools

Use Of AI Tools For This Assessment 

You must complete the Assessment Cover Page ‘Declaration of AI Use’ template and upload this completed form with your submission. This template can be found in the CW1 Assignment area and is also included below

Failure to do this will result in a reduction of marks awarded.

This Assessment Is A Category 2 Assignment.

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 includes 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 proof-reader nor a proof-reading tool (whether genAI or not) can ever be used to make changes to your work directly; the proof-reader 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 labelling of diagrams, charts or figures
• identify areas for possible improvement
• highlight a sentence or paragraph where the meaning is not clear
• draw attention to repeated phrases or omitted word

Additionally, you are required to reference the proofreader, proofreading service or genAI proofreading tool you have used. A copy of the AI declaration form is attached here in Appendix 1 and in the assignment section on Canvas.

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, Essay Mills And Other Academic Misconduct Offences

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.

• Contract cheating is a serious academic misconduct offence and also includes arranging for help with an assessment such that there is also reasonable doubt as to whose work the assessment represents. It extends to input from a fellow student, friend, relative, or any other person, artificial intelligence with or without payment of any kind.
• For all references use Cite it Right Harvard style.- Harvard Referencing (see video for support)
• Unauthorised use of artificially generated material (AI) in researching or presenting material for an assessment is an academic misconduct offence if you use AI tools in producing your assessment unless the use of AI tools is expressly permitted. However, even if expressly permitted, where you do not declare that you have used an artificial intelligence tool(s) in the production of your assessment, or you are dishonest about the extent to which such tools have been used, you will have committed academic misconduct.
• If you commit academic misconduct, your mark will be reduced, or, depending on the severity of the offence you may get 1% for the assignment in question or 1% for the module, and get a disciplinary warning. Repeat offenders normally face disciplinary action.

Student Support And Guidance

• Contact academic-skills@herts.ac.uk if you are unsure of the rules or how to avoid academic misconduct, and you will receive help.
• Please see the UPRs relating to Academic misconduct here.
• Ask Herts information on the use of artificial intelligence tools https://ask.herts.ac.uk/ai-tools.
• 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 HAS-BUS(Centre for Academic Skills Enhancement) website resources: http://go.herts.ac.uk/CASE . Attend HAS-BUS workshops and drop-ins to develop academic skills to meet HBS expectations (see timetable on HAS-BUS website homepage or drop-in to HAS-BUS 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 to industry standard databases.
  • Use Library SkillUP for guidance for searching and referencing.
  • Get help: use SkilIUP module chat, visit the Study Success Hub, or book an 1:1 with a librarian.
  • Library Search will help you find books, journal articles and more.

• • Use the Subject Toolkit for Business to access to industry standard databases.
  • Use Library SkillUP for guidance for searching and referencing.
  • Get help: use SkilIUP module chat, visit the Study Success Hub, or book an 1:1 with a librarian.