SG7001 Strategy, Operations and Partnerships Assignment Brief Apr 2025

Assignment Brief

Background

This assignment allows you to think strategically and apply your understanding critically to the operations of a real-world organisation facing a changing contemporary environment. For Task 1, you will undertake a series of quizzes during the module seminars and based on previous weeks’ learning. The knowledge you acquire during this process will support you in the substantial Task 2 assignment of producing a strategic report. The knowledge, application, problem-solving and strategic thinking acquired in this module are relevant to the current graduate job market.

Assessment Tasks

You will complete two different assignment tasks. You will carry out the tasks throughout the term and finally you will submit these as one piece of coursework.

Details of the tasks

Task 1: Classroom Quizzes (30%)

During the lecture sessions, you will complete quizzes on Moodle to assess your knowledge of the previous week’s learning. The quizzes will be mostly multiple-choice questions (MCQS) based on case studies. The seminar tutor will allow you a set amount of time to complete each quiz. The quizzes will help you to apply the theory you have learned and will support you in Task 2.

You will be able to use your mobile phone to take these quizzes on Moodle, but a laptop will be more convenient.

There will be 2 quizzes worth 30% of your total assessment.

Task 2: A Strategic Report (70%): 4500 words

Taking the role of a strategy consultant, hired to help a given organisation achieve sustainable competitive advantage, produce a succinct and compelling report for the attention of the CEO.

• Read the consultant’s brief and identify the strategic problem of the organisation.
• Using appropriate models and frameworks, analyse the company’s external environment. This includes understanding the company’s industry, competitors, and macroeconomic environment.
• Evaluate the company’s core competencies. These are the resources and capabilities that give the company a sustainable competitive advantage.
• Based on your analysis, develop a set of strategic options that the company can pursue to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
• Evaluate strategic options in terms of feasibility, attractiveness, and risk.
• Based on your evaluation, recommend a set of realistic and evidence-based options that the company should pursue.
• Write a report for the CEO that outlines your analysis and recommendations. Your recommendations should be logical and feasible, and they should be supported by evidence.

Formative Submission: Week 10.

You will have the opportunity to get feedback multiple times from your tutor. So, always bring your work to the seminar sessions.

Finally, in week 10, you will have to submit a brief 500-word abstract of your proposed evaluation. The abstract should detail the following:

• The nature of the external forces that will be analysed.
• The strategic frameworks that will be deployed.
• The operational resources that will be evaluated.
• Your tentative recommendations.

Grading:
 
To pass this module, you need to identify, analyse and prioritise key strategic challenges that the organisation faces. You can use evidence from the organisation's past performance, its industry, and the competitive landscape to inform your report. You also need to use appropriate tools, models, and theories of strategic management to structure your analysis. Explain why you chose to use these tools and models, and any potential limitations of their use. You will need to consider the operational resources of the organisation and how they can be deployed.

Assignments attracting higher marks will be sophisticated and critical in their analysis by way of considering the impact of the challenges on the organisation's performance, its resources and capability to compete, and its long-term sustainability. You will draw on a range of quality academic and professional sources to evidence your work.

Assessment Criteria

Module Aims and Learning Outcomes of SG7001 

In this module, you will learn how to create, evaluate, and improve a business strategy and its operations. You will also learn about the challenges and practices of a strategic manager and how organisations manage their day-to-day activities.

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

Knowledge

• Demonstrate critical understanding of the theory and practice of strategic development and operations.
• Evaluate the impact of current and emerging trends on organisations.

Thinking skills

• Demonstrate the ability to effectively analyse problems and issues employing a range of appropriate concepts, theories and approaches.
• Analyse and synthesize contextual information.
• Think strategically and assess the impact of strategic change processes.

Subject-based practical skills

• Apply tools and techniques of strategic and operations analysis.
• Explain how to influence the strategic direction of an organization. Skills for life and work (general skills)
• Developing succinct business reports.
• Judging complexity, diversity, and a multiplicity of perspectives accommodated in management decisions.