UMACTW-15-M Corporate Governance and Strategy Assessment Brief 2024-25 | UWE

Published: 07 Jul, 2025
Category Assignment Subject Law
University University of the West of England Module Title UMACTW-15-M Corporate Governance and Strategy
Word Count 2500 words
Assessment Type Task B individual written report
Assessment Title Written Assignment
Academic Year 2024-25

UMACTW-15-M Module Learning Outcomes Assessed by this Task:

  • Explain the development within organisations of appropriate policies and strategies within a changing environment to meet stakeholders’ interests.
  • Develop alternative perspectives of strategy relating to different industry contexts and the globalisation of competition.
  • Understand and apply theoretical concepts and techniques to complex strategic problems.
  • Analyse and interpret data and information, evaluate their relevance and validity, and generate a synthesis to aid the interpretation of situations.
  • Think critically about alternative strategic options and propose feasible and sustainable lines of managerial action.
  • Understand and critically examine key aspects of organisational and financial governance requirements.

Completing Your Assessment 

What am I Required to do on This Assessment?

The coursework will take the form of an individual submission.  You will undertake research and prepare a business report analysing Whitbread plc (the company), outlining your expectations of the company’s corporate governance and strategy.  

You will need to undertake research and prepare a business report that considers the following: 

  • Provide a brief Introduction to your business report. (weighting 10%)  
  • Critically analyse and evaluate the company’s sustainability activities using the creating shared value theory, including a specific company example for each social issue (generic, value chain, and social dimensions of competitive context) (Porter and Kramer, 2006 and 2011). (weighting 30%)
  • Analyse the competitive strategy of the company by identifying the value proposition, conducting a Porter (1985) value chain analysis, and identifying trade-off choices the company has made. (weighting 30%)
  • Explain and Analyse recommendations to improve the company’s Sustainability and Strategic performance. (weighting 20%)
  • Use professional writing based on academic and business conventions. (weighting 10%) 

Report Format for Assessment Task (Please also see Appendix 1: Marking Scheme) 
 
Executive Summary 

  • A synopsis of the key points (what is the scope of your report and main findings) of your report. 

Brief Introduction 

  • What are the business activities of the company?
  •  Identify the main governance characteristics and mechanisms used by the company.

Sustainability and Creating Shared Value 

  • What CSR or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) information does the company disclose?
  • What seems to be the driving force for the company’s CSR activities?
  • How does the Board discharge its accountability through the company’s sustainability activities?
  • What are the strategic and managerial decision-making processes that are influenced by the company’s sustainability activities (link with creating shared value)?
  • What specific examples can you see from the company’s activities that prioritise social issues as either generic, value chain, or social dimensions of competitive context?

Competitive Strategy

  • Identify the value proposition of the company based on the three elements of “which customers served”, “which needs are met”, and “what relative price”.
  • Conduct a Porter’s (1985) value chain analysis and identify activities that show the value chain being ‘tailored’ to the company’s strategy.
  • Identify the most significant trade-off choice the company has made. Show why the choice is considered a trade-off and discuss your reasoning.

Future Prospects 

  • Is the company’s sustainability and strategy performance adequate in the face of expected business environment/industry development (with supporting explanation)?
  • What is the scope/type of change(s) that you expect the company would need to undertake? 

Remember the required standard of this business report is one that you should be able to present unedited to either your direct Manager or a potential employer; therefore, a professional standard of presentation and writing is expected. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Table of contents
  • Executive summary – provides senior managers with an accurate picture of key issues and findings; appropriate length (more than the introduction).
  • Report contains no, or only minor, errors that do not interfere with a professional level of communication, such as spelling, punctuation and grammar, and sentence structure.
  • Professionalism (format, voice, purpose), cohesiveness, flow, summaries. Avoids the use of casual language and correctly uses subject terminology.
  • Avoids the use of the assessment questions as report headings.
  • Appropriate use of tables and diagrams that are correctly labelled.
  • Complies with UWE Bristol Harvard Referencing in-text and end of text.

Where Should I Start?

Make sure that you undertake research to complete your report and apply theoretical frameworks used during the module in your answers, including academic referencing. Reference all sources used when developing your assessment, using the UWE Harvard system.

You should familiarise yourself with the company, which includes reviewing their corporate website, particularly the Investors, Governance, and Sustainability sections.  

Here are some guidelines to enable you to ensure that your business report is written professionally and to complete the assignment: 

  • Bullets vs paragraphs: neither rely on short bullet points which have no self-standing meaning, nor on extensive and rambling sentences and paragraphs.
  • Planning answers: plan the structure and arguments to be contained within your answers properly. Be sure you know what your ‘storyline’ is before writing sentences. Sentences should be no longer than four (4) lines.
  • CEO document: Imagine that the CEO of the company has asked you to provide advice against the issues/questions raised: Justify your line of argument accordingly and provide evidence to support such arguments. A business report rather than a purely academic discussion is required.  
  • Critical analysis via your Application, Analysis, Evaluation, and Synthesis using the relevant theory:  
  • Draw out arguments and recommendations based upon your research and analysis
  • Be prepared to critique the relevant theory and frameworks:  
  • Discuss if they are fit for purpose?  
  • How well do they work under the particular conditions in which you seek to apply them?   

What do I need to do to pass? 

A minimum mark of 50% is required in this assessment to pass.

Research the coursework assessment questions on the company more broadly, including financial press, academic papers, industry pronouncements, etc.

How do I achieve high Marks in this Assessment? 

It is better to examine a specific issue regarding the company in detail than to list many related issues and not critically analyse the issue.

Refer to Bloom's taxonomy, which demonstrates knowledge and understanding, and applying the appropriate theory to draw well-reasoned conclusions. Critiquing the relevant corporate governance and strategy theory/ies and synthesising across multiple sources is required to achieve high marks in this assessment.

Make sure that you present your report professionally and remember to proofread (edit) your work; this means that your business report should not contain any spelling and grammatical errors. Use the Editor function in Word to proofread your submission to check for spelling and grammatical errors.

How Does Learning and Teaching Relate to Assessment? 

The purpose of this assessment is to explore several study units covered in the module in more detail to consolidate your understanding of the module concepts and to practise the application of the module concepts in a real-world setting. 
This assessment relates to multiple study units covered in the module, including:

  • Study unit 1 – Introduction to Governance, theories, and regulation
  • Study unit 2 – Corporate governance in practice
  • Study unit 3 – Risk management and audit function
  • Study unit 4 – Ethics and corporate social responsibility
  • Study unit 7 – Activity-based Strategy

Note that each of the study units mentioned above a relevant to varying degrees for the coursework assessment, and simply restating the module materials will not achieve a passing grade for this assessment.

The module workshop activities are designed to assist you in preparing for the assessment, particularly the use of a case study company and researching company information using publicly available information.

What Additional Resources May Help me complete this Assessment?

Formative feedback and support during the module 
Formative feedback provides opportunities to reflect on your ongoing work and preparation for your coursework assessment.  

Further information about this assessment is available on the Blackboard site for this module and includes: 

  • Lecture slides
  • Reading list
  • Slides relating to the library industry research session
  • Lecture recordings on report writing and UWE referencing. 

What Do I Do if I Am Concerned About Completing This Assessment?

It is recommended that you review all of the relevant materials on Blackboard. You can also speak to your module leader for advice and guidance.  

UWE Bristol offers a range of Assessment Support Options that you can explore through this link, and both Academic Support and Wellbeing Support are available.

For further information, please see the Student Study Essentials.

How do I avoid an Assessment Offence on this Module? 

Use the support above if you feel unable to submit your work for this module. 

One of the most common Assessment Offences for this type of assessment is plagiarism, where supporting references are not correctly referenced either in-text or at the end of the text reference list.

Any submission that references (either in-text or end-of-text) or is text matched to a known academic cheating website or resource will constitute a failing submission, and a mark less than the passing grade will be awarded.

Any submission that shows evidence of cut and paste of text, diagrams, tables, and images will be considered to be an Assessment offence.  

Other types of Assessment offences include the use of essay mills such as Fern Fort University, Essay 48, etc. Avoid the use of essay mills and remember that multiple text-matching software programs are used in the module. 

Warning - Remember to submit your work. This includes referencing all sources both in text and end of text using UWE Bristol Harvard referencing conventions. Failure to do so may result in an Assessment Offence Allegation.

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Marks and Feedback

Your assessment will be marked according to the following marking criteria (see Appendix 1 – Marking Scheme below).

You can use these to evaluate your work before you submit.

The individual assignment represents 50% of the overall module mark.  

The following criteria will be used in evaluating this assessment: 

Marks will be allocated for professional writing and using a report format, including an Executive Summary and Introduction. 

Refer to the marking scheme for weighting and further details – see Appendix 1.

In line with UWE Bristol’s Assessment Content Limit Policy (formerly the Word Count Policy), word count includes all text, including (but not limited to): the main body of text (including headings), all citations (both in and out of brackets), text boxes, tables and graphs, figures and diagrams, quotes, lists. 

UWE Bristol’s Assessment Offences Policy requires that you submit work that is entirely your own and reflects your learning, so it is important to:

  • Ensure you reference all sources used, using the UWE Harvard system and the guidance available on UWE’s Study Skills referencing pages.
  • Refer to peer-reviewed primary sources, rather than using AI or secondary sources
  • Avoid copying and pasting any work into this assessment, including your previous assessments, work from other students, or internet sources
  • Develop your style, arguments, and wording, so avoid copying sources and changing individual words but keeping, essentially, the same sentences and/or structures from other sources
  • Never give your work to others who may copy it
  • If an individual assessment, develop your work and preparation, and do not allow anyone to make amends on your work (including proofreaders, who may highlight issues but not edit the work), and 

When submitting your work, you will be required to confirm that the work is your own, and text-matching software and other methods are routinely used to check submissions against other submissions to the university and internet sources. Details of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it can be found on UWE’s Study Skills pages about avoiding plagiarism.

Appendix 1: Marking Scheme

Section 

(<30) 

Fail 

(40-49) 

‘Narrow Fail’ 

(50-59) 

Pass 

(60-69) 

Merit 

(70+) 

Distinction 

Introduction – 10% 

Business activities and corporate governance mechanisms inadequately defined.

Vague definition of business activities and corporate governance mechanisms to be discussed not defined well enough. Outdated information used.

Some description of business activities and corporate governance mechanisms. Company basics set out adequately. 

Good understanding of business activities and corporate governance mechanisms. Industry sector boundary divergence / convergence considered. 

Drivers of business activities and corporate governance well considered in a coherent and articulate discussion of company status. 

CSR and ESG Performance – 30% 

 

 

CSR and ESG disclosure inadequately outlined. Factors contributing to the company’s CSR activities not discussed. 

Vague explanation of CSR and ESG disclosure and factors driving the company’s CSR activities to be discussed not defined well enough or related to creating shared value theory. 

Some description of CSR and ESG disclosure and factors driving the company’s CSR activities set out adequately related to creating shared value theory. 

Good understanding of CSR and ESG disclosure and multiple factors driving the company’s CSR activities considered related to creating shared value and other sustainability theories. 

Coherent and articulate discussion of CSR and ESG disclosure and driving forces for CSR activities with clear linkages to the creating shared value and other relevant sustainability theories and contemporary best practice. 

Environment / background Competitive Strategy – 30% 

 

Generic headings provided with no application or discussions based on value propositions, Porters’ (1985) value chain or trade off choices. No synthesise of any data into a cohesive view. 

Generic value proposition that lacks clarity based on the three elements taught in class. Limited or incomplete analysis using the value chain framework in the taught sessions. Able to explain strategic choice but not demonstrating a trade-off. Limited synthesise of any data.

Value proposition discussed based on the three elements taught in class. Evidence of application of value chain analysis with identification of activities based on different categories. Trade-off choice identified. Some evidence provided to support discussion and analysis.

Clear discussion of the three elements of value proposition with some details in justification. Able to apply value chain analysis to identify specific activities of the company and show how the value chain is ‘tailored’. Relevant trade-off choice identified, with justification on the trade-off and why its relevance to the competitive strategy. Some key points are supported with evidence and data, Synthesised into a consistent and cohesive view.

Highlighted unique value proposition of the company. Value chain activities are with details and specific. Emphasis of the discussion is on how the company has tailored its value chain according to the strategy. trade off choice clearly identified and discussed in terms of its relevance and significance.  All argument and discussions are well supported with evidence and data, synthesised into a consistent and cohesive view.

Recommendations and Future prospects – 20% 

No relation of ideas about company’s future to foregoing analyses. Changes in sustainability and strategy performance not alluded to. 

Descriptive and vague description of future direction of the company only partially drawing on an understanding of future sustainability and strategy performance context. 

Limited consistency between understanding of future sustainability and strategy performance and plans for the company itself.  

Topics generally well-covered but there may be some omissions: for example, failure to outline any changes required to sustainability and strategy performance or reasons why this is not required. 

Very good discussion of future prospects and opportunities for sustainability and strategy performance. Uses the company’s existing disclosure and practices to support analysis and arguments.  

Professional Report Writing – 10% 

 

Extremely poor standard of communication with an inappropriate writing style and report format not followed in places or throughout.

Weak / poor standard of communication with a casual writing style and report format not following in places or throughout, including missing one suggested element of a written report. 

Communication is generally adequate and largely avoids casual language. Report format is generally followed, but there are some inconsistencies and occasional faults such as errors in syntax, spelling and punctuation, referencing and minor formatting errors.

Clarity of communication is very good overall. Report format is of a professional standard although there may be a few/occasional typographical errors such as syntax, spelling, and referencing.

Consistently excellent standard of professional communication and presentation throughout. Highly creative and extremely professional report presented with no typographical or formatting errors. Referencing of literature and other sources is of a high standard.

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