Business Managent

Busin" rel="nofollow">iness Managent Order Description Scenario: You are goin" rel="nofollow">ing to be a Senior Analyst in" rel="nofollow">in the related of the beer in" rel="nofollow">industry. You have been asked to do an in" rel="nofollow">independent strategic review report for the CEO of Cobra beer. The CEO will ask you to cover the followin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the analytical report: Sections: 1. Provide an in" rel="nofollow">in-depth analysis of the competitive forces and strategic elements of the external environment shapin" rel="nofollow">ing the Cobra beers in" rel="nofollow">industry. (beer/brewin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">industry) Advisory notes: • Approximately 600 words excludin" rel="nofollow">ing use of supplementary appendices • You should use any relevant strategic models to complete your analysis in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing macro-frameworks, Porter’s 5 forces and Industry (ILC) theory. Please avoid listin" rel="nofollow">ing and descriptive content. It must contain" rel="nofollow">in structured critical evaluation. Here you are analysin" rel="nofollow">ing the external environment of COBRA BEER market/in" rel="nofollow">industry– thus the focus is not COBRA BEER – the focus is the micro (5 Forces) and macro (PESTEL) environment. That means both PESTEL and 5 forces should not be about COBRA BEER but for the in" rel="nofollow">industry that COBRA BEER Preferably I would like to see either an external environment analysis for Europe, mentionin" rel="nofollow">ing also some essential global trends. Also, here you will need first to analyse PESTEL – just mention only those relevant trends to the in" rel="nofollow">industry . You don’t have to go in" rel="nofollow">into describin" rel="nofollow">ing every dimension. If you want to then use tables and/or appendices and mention in" rel="nofollow">in the text only the most important trends. 5Forces: Use the “Structural Determin" rel="nofollow">inants” slide from the external environment lecture slides – 1st semester. Please mention whether every force is high, moderate or low and in" rel="nofollow">in the end conclude whether the in" rel="nofollow">industry is attractive and profitable or not. As to in" rel="nofollow">industry life cycle (ILC): You can either clearly in" rel="nofollow">incorporate it within" rel="nofollow">in the “existin" rel="nofollow">ing competition” force of 5 forces, by sayin" rel="nofollow">ing whether the in" rel="nofollow">industry is in" rel="nofollow">in a development or maturity stage along with the market growth rate (which a structural determin" rel="nofollow">inant of the particular force) OR you can make a short section only for the in" rel="nofollow">industry life cycle theory. In any case, you will need to reference every sin" rel="nofollow">ingle concept and model used above both in" rel="nofollow">in text and in" rel="nofollow">in the fin" rel="nofollow">inal list of references. 2. Undertake an in" rel="nofollow">internal strategic analysis of Cobra beer company usin" rel="nofollow">ing appropriate organisational & strategic models to complete your critical assessment. Advisory notes: • Approximately 1,100 words excludin" rel="nofollow">ing use of supplementary appendices. • Your strategic analysis should concentrate on the in" rel="nofollow">internal aspects of Cobra as an organisation. This can in" rel="nofollow">include fin" rel="nofollow">inancial & resource appraisal (RBV) and/or value chain" rel="nofollow">in lin" rel="nofollow">inkages and other relevant learnin" rel="nofollow">ing • Aspire to bein" rel="nofollow">ing critical. Do not outlin" rel="nofollow">ine any theories in" rel="nofollow">in an explicit fashion. Simply apply them to the context of the case. In this question we expect you to use resources and capabilities theory (R+Cs or else Resource Based view of the Company) and/or Value Chain" rel="nofollow">in . Yes, please, mention both theories and reference them of course. However, if you feel comfortable usin" rel="nofollow">ing only one then it is still fin" rel="nofollow">ine – just state it clearly. So, I would like you to: present the key strategic resources. Within" rel="nofollow">in the fin" rel="nofollow">inancial resources you must mention some key fin" rel="nofollow">inancial in" rel="nofollow">indexes either of COBRA BEER’ Strategic Busin" rel="nofollow">iness Unit (SBU) that you can fin" rel="nofollow">ind from Google, published statements, Min" rel="nofollow">intel or Bloomberg databases. As for mentionin" rel="nofollow">ing comparative measures from a key competitor, yes you can do it. More than that, you will need to state clearly what are the core capabilities/competencies of COBRA BEER and why they are core? E.g. fin" rel="nofollow">inancial control and economies of scale-are they core? Also do they lead to competitive advantage? If yes, is it cost leadership or differentiation or a bit of both (hybrid strategy)? In this way you are actually describin" rel="nofollow">ing COBRA BEER’ existin" rel="nofollow">ing busin" rel="nofollow">iness level strategy that you need in" rel="nofollow">in the last question. As for Value Chain" rel="nofollow">in. You don’t need to analyse highly descriptive every sin" rel="nofollow">ingle activity. If you want to or have done so, please use appendices and tables to avoid the word count. Here, you need to show those lin" rel="nofollow">inkages (combin" rel="nofollow">inations of primary to support activities) that either in" rel="nofollow">increase the customer value or reduce the operatin" rel="nofollow">ing cost. In this way, again" rel="nofollow">in you can conclude in" rel="nofollow">into what competitive advantage(s) are created for COBRA BEER and how. The outcomes of Resources+Capabilities and Value Chain" rel="nofollow">in should agree. 3. The CEO is concerned about various PR crises that have impacted Cobra Beer sin" rel="nofollow">ince 2008. Therefore, you are required to identify the external stakeholder issues that X faces and critically assess their impact on the corporate reputation and brand equity of X. Advisory notes: • Approximately 350 words excludin" rel="nofollow">ing use of supplementary appendices • This requires the critical application of organisational ethics theory, CSR concepts, stakeholder applications & reputation management concepts/metrics. In this question you are required to identify one, two or three issues that affected the image of the company, either in" rel="nofollow">internal or external. You will need to briefly analyse what happened applyin" rel="nofollow">ing theories on organisational ethics theory,, corporate governance CSR concepts, stakeholder applications & reputation management concepts/metrics. Not all of them are required, but the more you apply and reference in" rel="nofollow">inside the PR crisis/issue the better it is. We want you to demonstrate application of relevant theories. 4. Based on sections 1-3, you are required to summarise the strategic options (strategies) that are appropriate to Cobra beer and make defin" rel="nofollow">initive recommendations for Cobra to sustain" rel="nofollow">in its future position in" rel="nofollow">in the its in" rel="nofollow">industry. Advisory notes: • Approximately 1000 words. No supplementary appendices should be used in" rel="nofollow">in this section. It is not appropriate. This is the most important question. Here you need to: a) Identify the busin" rel="nofollow">iness level strategy of COBRA BEER (this could be also been found/lin" rel="nofollow">inked from question 2. That is either cost leadership or differentiation or hybrid (both). Of course you will need to reference all concepts such as “Porter, 1985”. In Q2 you conclude justifyin" rel="nofollow">ing the competitive advantages --> thus, if they are mostly on uniqueness (differentiation) then the competitive strategy is most probably differentiation leadership and so on :-). b) Identify the corporate level strategies. These could be growth: e.g. market penetration, market development, product development, vertical/horizontal in" rel="nofollow">integration, related/unrelated diversification. Here you can use the Ansoff’s matrix/directional policy table (it is essentially the same). Of course there are turnaround corporate strategies (e.g. downsizin" rel="nofollow">ing, liquidation, divesture etc) and stability strategies ( no-change strategy, pause, etc) So in" rel="nofollow">in a) and b) you can identify/record plenty of strategies but please use the termin" rel="nofollow">inology and reference properly every concept. c) Suggest strategies: Either you can suggest sustain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the existin" rel="nofollow">ing ones, or developin" rel="nofollow">ing the existin" rel="nofollow">ing ones, or developin" rel="nofollow">ing new. d) Choose two (advisable)-three (max) strategies to evaluate them accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to certain" rel="nofollow">in criteria. These can be: - suitability – acceptability – feasibility, that is SAF (highly recommended, simple and straightforward) -STAIR model -SUITS model -RACES model - or any other properly referenced model. You don’t need to use more than one of the above. Questions and Evaluation Explain" rel="nofollow">ined ? In Q.1. have you looked at in" rel="nofollow">industry level usin" rel="nofollow">ing macro & relevant 5 forces analysis? ? Q.2. Have you analysed relevant in" rel="nofollow">internal issues usin" rel="nofollow">ing appropriate strategic and organisational concepts & models? These should in" rel="nofollow">include the application of fin" rel="nofollow">inancial, value chain" rel="nofollow">in & organisational concepts. ? Q.3. Have you critically examin" rel="nofollow">ined X’s stakeholder engagement usin" rel="nofollow">ing appropriate ethical, CSR & reputation management concepts? Quality of strategic options analysis and fin" rel="nofollow">inal recommendations: ? Have you used precedin" rel="nofollow">ing issues from Q.1- Q.3. to justify a set of possible options (ideally 4-6 options) ? Have you thoroughly applied the SAF or STAIR (or any related) evaluation model? ? How specific and well justified are your fin" rel="nofollow">inal recommendations for X?