Pearson BTEC Level 5
HND Diploma in Business

Business Strategy
Assessment
Date for Submission: 11th January 2016 (The submission portal will close at 23:59 HKT)
Assessor Name: Paul Wong ([email protected])
Remarks: Please note that all assignment must submit through iLearn before the given deadline.

Assignment Brief

As part of the formal assessment for the HNC/D programme you are required to submit an assignment for each module. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

After completing the Business Strategy module you should be able to:

LO1 Understand the process of strategic planning

LO2 Formulate a new strategy

LO3 Understand approaches to strategy evaluation

LO4 Understand how to implement a chosen strategy

Assignment Task

Students are required to read the article How Adidas Found Its Second Wind (pdf version available on the module page)
The article can also be found at http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00352
Published Strategy+Business website August 24, 2015 by Nicholas Ind, Oriol Iglesias, and Majken Schultz Accessed 30/9/15

You are required to apply the theories / concepts studied in the QCF Business Strategy module to the Adidas organisation throughout your answers.

Alternatively, students may select an organisation that they are familiar with on which to base their assignment answers e.g. current employer, if they wish to.

Please contact the module tutor by email at the earliest opportunity to gain approval if you wish to select your own choice of organization.

Assignment Tasks

Based on your understanding of business strategy from the completion of this module, from reading the article, and any of your own research that you have done into the Adidas or chosen organisation you are required to respond to the following tasks:

Task 1 (suggested word count of 800 words)
Assess and analyse how ‘Mission’, ‘Vision’, ‘Objectives’, ‘Goals’ and ‘Core Competencies’, and other factors such as strategic planning systems, have to be considered when formulating strategic plans. You should provide examples of each of these strategic terms from Adidas in your analysis.
(Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2)

b) Evaluate the effectiveness of two different strategic planning techniques for Adidas or chosen organisation when developing its strategic plans.
(Assessment Criterion 1.3)

Task 2 (suggested word count of 800 words)
a) Conduct an environmental and organisational audit for Adidas or chosen organisation. You should analyse the strategic position of the business and also assess the significance of executing stakeholder analysis when formulating a new strategy.
(Assessment Criteria 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)

Task 3 (suggested word count of 800 words)
a) Analyse the appropriateness of alternative strategies (e.g. Market entry, limited growth, retrenchment etc) for Adidas and using the results of your analysis suggest an appropriate future strategy for the Adidas or chosen organisation taking care to justify the choice of strategy
(Assessment Criteria 2.4, 3.1, 3.2)

Task 4(suggested word count of 600 words)
Imagine that you are now part of the senior management team of Adidas or chosen organisation and that you have to implement the recommended business strategy from Task 3.

a) Assess and analyse the roles and responsibilities of personnel who are charged with strategy implementation and also estimate resource requirements e.g. HR, time, finance, materials that would be required to implement the future strategy.
(Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.2)

b) Identify TWO appropriate SMART targets that could be used in the implementation process and evaluate why such SMART targets are important to the achievement of the strategy?
(Assessment Criterion 4.3)
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
If you would like feedback to assist with your learning, please produce an outline or a plan by making some brief notes/bullet points (or a mind-map/diagram if you prefer) under each task heading as to what you intend to include & discuss on or before 21st December, 2015(Monday) by email ([email protected]) and you will receive feedback within seven days. It is advisable to join the Discussion Forum or Live Chat at iLearn about the tasks of the assignment

This is optional and does not contribute to the grading for the module and whether you choose to use this opportunity for early feedback or not you must still submit your answers to all assignment questions on or before 11th January, 2016.

Student Guidelines

1. You should write this assignment in an informal report format and should respond to each task directly and in turn. You should produce a coherently written document i.e. ‘bullet points’ alone or other ‘note’ format will not be acceptable as the final submission, and you should write your answers taking care to explain, justify and evaluate your ideas and knowledge of how the theories and concepts studied in the QCF Business Strategy module apply to the chosen organisation. You should also underpin your analysis with relevant references to theory whilst at the same time ensuring that you write your assignment in your own words as far as is possible.

You should refer to the ‘assessment criteria for a pass grade’ to ensure that each criteria has been covered in your responses to the assignment tasks.

2. You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice. (See the Student Handbook which is in the Induction Area). Please also refer to the ‘Guide to Unfair Practice in Assessment’ on the module page on ilearn.

3. You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the Harvard system. The ‘My Study Skills’ area contains the following useful resources; Study Skills Guide (containing a Harvard Referencing section) and a Harvard Referencing Interactive Tutorial. You must use the Harvard Referencing method in your assignment.

4. You should use diagrams and tables of figures where appropriate ensuring to reference their source using the Harvard Referencing method.

5. You are required to write your assignment within 3000 words in order for your research and summarising skills to be developed, and for effective time management. You are required to ensure that the assignment addresses all of the assessment tasks. In the interests of good academic practice, an assignment submitted with excessive word counts (i.e. more than 10% in excess of the limit) will be returned to you. You will be given a maximum of 48 hours to edit the work to reduce the word count to the permitted maximum. In the event that the submission is still regarded as excessively long then, in line with advice received from Pearson, we will be unable to accept it for marking and you will receive a Refer grade for Non-Submission.

The word count excludes the title page, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count. Printed words include those contained within charts and tables.

6. Your assignment should be submitted as a single document. For more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page on iLearn.

Recommended Additional Resources

Textbooks
Online CORE E-Book recommended for this course –
Davies, J. 2010 BTEC Level 4/5 HNC in Business. Pearson Higher Education (UK), 2010. ‘Vitalsource Bookshelf’ file.
(Access to this E-Book is provided via the Vitalsource Bookshelf software – contact the Student Support Team for access code)
Online ‘library’ resource available via ilearn

MyiLibrary

Johnson, Gerry; Whittington, Richard; Scholes, Kevan. 2011., Exploring Strategy. [online]. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall. Available from:<http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=327537> 30 September 2014

Johnson, Gerry;Whittington, Richard;Scholes, Kevan;Angwin, Duncan;Regnér, Patrick. 2013., Exploring Strategy Text & Cases. [online]. Pearson. Available from:<http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=552234> 1 October 2014

Lynch, Richard. 2013., Strategic Management : Middlesex University. [online]. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall. Available from:<http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=463040> 30 September 2014
EBSCO – ‘E book collection’ database
Search for ‘strategy’ ‘corporate strategy’ ‘business strategy’ etc.
MacLennan, A 2011, Strategy Execution : Translating Strategy Into Action In Complex Organizations, London: Routledge, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 1 October 2014.
EBSCO – Business Source Complete
accessed via ilearn for journals / company profiles / magazine articles etc

Magazines, journals and newspapers
Any strategic management magazines and journals

Websites
www.strategyplus.org/ : The Association for Strategic Planning strategicmanagement.net/ Strategic Management Society –

www.performance-measurement.net/ : Performance Management –

www.bpir.com/ : Benchmarking
www.balancedscorecard.org/ : Balanced Scorecard Institute

www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com/stakeholder_management.html :Top 10 on stakeholder management

www.bloomberg.com : Bloomberg, provider of worldwide financial information

www.emerald-library.com/ : EMR provides access to journals

www.ft.com : The Financial Times

How Adidas Found Its Second Wind (pdf version available on the module page)
The article can also be found at http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00352
Published Strategy+Business website August 24, 2015 by Nicholas Ind, Oriol Iglesias, and Majken Schultz Accessed 30/9/15

Assessment Criteria for Pass
To achieve a pass you must meet all of the assessment criteria as stated below. Failure to cover all of the assessment criteria will result in a Refer grade and you will be required to re-submit your assignment.
Further guidance on completion of your assignment can be found in the guidance notes which are posted on the group learning space by your module tutor. For additional support please post questions onto the group learning space, or email [email protected]
Learning Outcomes/
Assessment Criteria Criteria Met
For tutor use
(you may wish to use this in your preparation for your assignment submission)
LO1 Understand the process of strategic planning
1.1 assess how business missions, visions, objectives, goals and core competencies inform strategic planning Task 1
1.2 analyse the factors that have to be considered when formulating strategic plans Task 1
1.3 evaluate the effectiveness of techniques used when developing
strategic business plans Task 1
LO2 Be able to formulate a new strategy
2.1 analyse the strategic positioning of a given organisation by carrying
out an organisational audit Task 2
2.2 carry out an environmental audit for a given organisation Task 2
2.3 assess the significance of stakeholder analysis when formulating new strategy Task 2
2.4 present a new strategy for a given organisation Task 3
LO3 Understand approaches to strategy evaluation and selection
3.1 analyse the appropriateness of alternative strategies relating to market entry, substantive growth, limited growth or retrenchment for a given organisation Task 3
3.2 justify the selection of a strategy Task 3
LO4 Understand how to implement a chosen strategy
4.1 assess the roles and responsibilities of personnel who are charged with strategy implementation Task 4
4.2 analyse the estimated resource requirements for implementing a new strategy for a given organisation Task 4
4.3 evaluate the contribution of SMART targets to the achievement of strategy implementation in a given organisation. Task 4

Assessment Criteria for Merit
To achieve a Merit all of the Pass criteria need to be met, then the tutor will assess whether you have met the Merit Criteria. Each of the Merit criteria must have been met at least once within the assignment.
The following statements are examples of how a merit may be achieved, if you do meet the Merit Criteria by showing you have reached this level in other ways then credit will be awarded for this. You will need to meet M1, M2, M3 at least once.
M1 – identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions

• Strategic planning processes have been understood with some application to a real business / scenario. (Task1)

• Possible strategies have been explored in relation to a specific organisation and appropriate recommendations made. (Task 3) M1
M2 – select/design and apply appropriate methods/techniques

• Audits have been completed with application to an organisation using relevant techniques (Task 2)

• Stakeholder analysis completed for the business (T2)

• Appropriate strategic techniques have been used in order to determine an appropriate future strategy for the business. (T3)

• Appropriate roles / resources & targets / timescales have been identified with some application to the organisation. (T4) M2
M3 – present and communicate appropriate findings

• Appropriate structure i.e. informal report and NOT essay style, and approach has been used

• Logical and coherent analysis included

• Technical / strategic language is accurately used throughout all answers

• Range of methods of presentation has been used including use of diagrams where appropriate.

• Good attempt has been made to use Harvard referencing throughout the report and a correctly constructed reference list produced at end of report.
M3

Assessment Criteria for Distinction
To achieve a Distinction you have met all of the Pass and the Merit criteria. Each of the Distinction criteria must be met at least once within the assignment.
The following statements are examples of how a Distinction may be achieved, if you do meet the Distinction Criteria by showing you have reached this level in other ways then credit will be awarded for this. You will need to meet D1,D2,D3 at least once.
D1- use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions

• Contexts and strategic planning processes / issues have been fully understood and evaluated in terms of the organisation (T1)
• The validity of results of audits/ analysis has been evaluated (T2)
• Selected future strategy for the organisation is fully explored / explained with detailed justification. (T3) D1
D2 – take responsibility for managing and organising activities

• Independent research, much of which is outside of what has been provided in the study materials / assignment brief, has been utilised to prepare a thorough, detailed and very well structured and excellently presented report. Research activities have been carried out which result in detailed and coherent analysis of the organisastion’s likely strategic processes. (all Qns)
• Clear links are established between the organisation, student’s answers and academic literature, providing a sound academic basis. (all Qns) D2
D3 – demonstrate convergent/lateral/ creative thinking

• Audits have been comprehensively completed using a selection of techniques (PEST/ SWOT / McKinseys/ Porters 5 forces etc) showing creativity and with a high degree of detailed application to a specific organisation (Q2)

• Assignment is completed fully and on time
Understand how day to day routines promote children well-being in home based childcare in England UK

Using current frameworks, produce an information explain that;
-considers children’s well-being in relation to current frameworks (eyfs).

produce a plan that meets the needs of children aged between 0 to 7 years and 7 years and older in relation to;
-diet,
-personal physical care needs,
-rest and sleep provision,
-personal hygine routines.

explain strategies to encourage healthy eating,
identify reasons for special dietary requirements.