Individual Assignment
The Assignment Brief:
Select one multinational enterprise (MNE) with any nationality that is active in one or more than one industry. This MNE can be small, medium, large or very large. This company can be famous or unknown, but the information about this MNE should be publicly available in English. Collect required data about this company and its environment from valid sources such as the company’s annual reports, the company’s press release, the company’s website, industry databases (such as Mintel, Euromonitor Passport, or GMID), academic case studies, market research reports or news by reliable broadcasters.
You need to write an analytical report regarding this company that covers the following strategic issues:
A) Analyse the outer-organisational environment of this company in its home country to identify the major factors that influence this company
B) Suggest corporate-level strategies for the company
C) Propose business-level strategies for this company
It is expected from you to use any theoretical frameworks or theoretical discussions that can help you in strategic analyses of your chosen company. So, you need to combine theoretical discussions with the factual data about the company. Every theoretical discussion and every provided information about the country or the company should be supported by relevant referencing (citation) from valid academic, international or the company sources. Thus it is normal to expect citations in every paragraph.
Recommended Structure:
The structure of your work has its own mark. There is no need for an executive summary for this report. The recommended structure for this assessment is as follow.
Coversheet: Use the usual template for coversheet for assignment. This coversheet is available in SurreyLearn in the Assessments folder.
Table of Contents: Provide the list of headings and their page number in one separate page from the cover sheet and the introduction.
1. Introduction:
In one paragraph say what are you going to discuss in your work. You may mention the
list of main headings would be discussed in your work.
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2. Background to the chosen company:
In one or two paragraphs, give some short information about what your chosen company does and why you selected this company. You may provide some graphs or/and tables to show the company’s market share and position among the competitors in the same industry. Indicate in how many countries this company do business. If you can find, you might write the company’s vision, mission, and objectives. Do not worry if you cannot find.
3. Analyse the outer-organisational environment of this company in its home country
Use any suitable theoretical framework such as Porter’s Five Forces to analyse the external environment of the selected company only in its home country. You need to focus on only or mainly industry-related factors that may have noticeable effect on effective formulation and development of the strategy in this company. If your selected company is activated in more than one industry, you need to analyse only one industry that is the main source of the income for this company. There is no need for analysing inside of the company.
4. Suggest corporate-level strategies for the company
4.1. First you may explain briefly main corporate-level strategies. It would be helpful if you compare two or more classifications of the corporate-level strategies by two or more different scholars such as the classification by Wheelen et al. (2017) and the one by Dessler (2016). Using a table would assist you in this comparisons (you may allocate one column in the table for each classification) and the written words in the table do not count as part of the 2000 word limit.
4.2. Then by considering the results of the outer-organisational environment, you are expected to suggest the most suitable corporate-level strategies for this organisation. You should justify your suggested strategies by considering the external environment as well as functions and impacts of the proposed strategies. The suggested corporate-level strategies can be the strategies that are already being used by the company or the strategies that have not been used.
5. Propose business-level strategies for this company
5.1. Initially discuss briefly main business-level strategies. It is recommended to compare two or more classifications of the business-level strategies by two or more different scholars such as the Generic Strategies by Porter (1980) and the Ansoff’s Matrix. Using a table would assist you in this comparisons (you may allocate one column in the table for each classification) and the written words in the table do not count as part of the 2000 word limit.
5.2. After that you should propose the most suitable business-level strategies for this company based on A) the outputs of analysing the outer-organisational environment, as well as B) your suggested corporate-level strategies. It is necessary to have direct and meaningful relationship between the business-level strategies that you are recommending and the corporate-level strategies that you suggested for this organisation. The recommended business-level strategies can be the strategies that are already being used by the company or the strategies that have not been used.
6. Conclusion:
Summarise your findings and suggestions in one or two paragraphs.
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References: It is mandatory to have a full list of all sources you used directly in your work. Please do not mention the sources that you did not use directly in your work. Referencing should follow the Harvard Referencing system only.
Appendices: It is better not to have any appendices. Every necessary information and discussions should be provided within the main text between the introduction and the conclusion sections. If you really need to have an appendix, remember that the contents in appendix do not have any mark. I will not be reading what you put in this section, appendices.
Important Issues:
1. The deadline for the submission is 23rd April 2018 at 16:00.
2. The assignment should be submitted via SurryLearn.
3. You should avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is
4. The length of the assignment is 2000 words. The written words in the coversheet, table of contents, any tables in the main text, references, and appendices would not be considered as part of the 2000 word limit.
5. Trytohaveatleastonecitationineveryparagraph,forexample:Accordingto Porter (1990)
6. Having more than one citation in each paragraph would increase your mark. For the first class mark you need to have three citations in average in every paragraph.
7. Having multiple citations would improve your mark. You can have multiple citations if only one opinion or finding is supported or mentioned by more than one scholar (or co-scholars in one publication). For example, if scholars of three separate publications are agree on the importance of connectivity between the corporate-level and business-level strategies, you can write something like this: It is necessary to have a direct relationship between the corporate-level and business-level strategies (Aboutalebi, 2016; Smith, 2015; Zhong, 2013).
8. You are expected to use at least 15 different sources in writing your assignment. These sources can be annual reports of the company, essential reading provided on SurreyLearn or any other academic or professional sources. To receive a top mark you should use at least 20 different sources.
9. To receive a top mark you need to use resources beyond lecture notes or the essential readings.
10.Try to have citations from relevant papers from top academic journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Long Range Planning, Global Strategy Journal, or Strategic Organization.
11.Use graphs and tables in your discussions. Tables are great tools to help you compare two or more perspectives to each other. You may use a table with three columns to compare three perspectives of three different scholars regarding alternative business-level strategies.
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the practice of taking someone else’s
work or ideas and passing them off as your own.

12.Try going beyond description of theories or current strategies used in your chosen company. Analyse and criticise the theories or/and the utilised strategies in the company by findings their weaknesses.
13.Try not to rely solely on your personal opinion in criticising the theories. Find the criticism made by scholars regarding your mentioned theory, then you can add your perspective to these criticism.
14. Use the Harvard Referencing System correctly.
Formatting Issues
1. It is recommended to use one of the readable and academic fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman.
2. It is suggested to use fond size 11 for the general body of the text.
3. You might use font size 13 or 14 in bold for main headings.
4. Font size 11 in bold would be suitable for sub-headings.
5. Any default page margins (e.g. 2.54 for all sides or 2 for all sides) would be
acceptable.
6. Try to have headings for every tables or graphs in your assignment. Put the
heading above the table or the graph.
7. It is recommended to number all table or graph headings.
8. Mention the source of your tables or graphs under the table or graph. If you
developed the table or graph just write ‘Source: Developed by the Author for
this work’.
9. The recommended line spacing is either 1.2 or 1.5.