Assignment rationale You are a member of a syndicate group that will complete the assignment as a team but you will be marked only on your individual contribution to the assignment. This safeguards against shirking, "free-riding", or social loafing (a topic in and of itself !). You will collectively select an organisation and consider a critical issue(s) affecting the performance of this organisation i.e. its effectiveness or efficiency from an Strategy perspective. The issue may be something positive in or outside the organisation, or else it maybe something negative or a "horror story". Your job as individuals and as a team is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the issue(s) utilising knowledge and skills developed from MGNT812 i.e. by applying topics from the unit.

The purpose of the assignment is to enable you to: • undertake independent research • apply topics from the unit • communicate the findings of a formal piece of work and meet a deadline and enhance written communication skills

Your individual contribution to the group assignment should be about 1500-2500 words, 12pt font size with double spacing.

Each member of the syndicate group must clearly identify which element of the group assignment is their individual contribution by putting their names in brackets next to the heading of their section (which should be the titles of topics in the unit).

Assessment criteria: • ability to interpret and analyse the organisation’s situation • ability to apply unit knowledge (i.e. theories, models, concepts, etc.) to analyse the company • thoroughness of research undertaken, extent of reading, collection of relevant data, etc. • ability to logically arrange and present the materials • full acknowledgment of sources consulted, references used etc. including the bibliography • written presentation to an acceptable postgraduate standard

Guide to the assignment This assessment task is to gauge how well you can apply 4-5 (depending on numbers in the syndicate group) relevant topics/concepts from the unit to a ‘real-life’ organisation. What you need to do early on is to select an organisation - either domestic or international - for detailed analysis. The organisation may be of any size and it is likely that data availability will vary with size and international recognition.

What I am trying to get at in this task is how well you understand the ideas presented in this unit and how well you can articulate this knowledge by applying it to an actual situation. The emphasis is on understanding, rather than presentation. You are not describing, but analysing situations/behaviour. Assignments that are excessively descriptive or make excessive use of point-form, will not achieve a very high grade.

Basic issues to be addressed MIGHT include (in no particular order):

• Brief overview of the organisation
• Purpose and Strategic Leadership
• The organisation’s external environment: PESTEL, Industry Analysis, Competitor Analysis
• The internal environment of the organisation: does your firm have any distinctive strategic resources/assets? HOW/WHY?
• Corporate Strategy: is the organisation diversified? WHY/WHY NOT? How did it diversify i.e. organic v. merger or acquisition? Is the diversification related or unrelated? HOW/WHY?
• The organisation’s value chain and vertical boundaries: what value chain activities does it perform in-house, what activities are outsourced, HOW/WHY?
• Any cooperative arrangements (alliances, JV’s, etc.) it has in its value chain and WHY? Relationships with suppliers, distributors, retailers, etc. and WHY?
• International/global strategy: is the organisation a global firm? HOW/WHY?
• Competitive Strategy: how is it competing against rivals? Market “tipping”; network effects; positive feedback
• Does your firm have a competitive advantage? HOW/WHY?
• If yes, is this advantage sustainable? HOW/WHY?
• Is your firm executing well? HOW?WHY?

Not all of these issues will be relevant for every organisation. Notice that I emphasise HOW & WHY issues because if you do this, then you will be analytical, rather than descriptive. Students are required to use their initiative in what issue they address, and what issues they ignore. Likewise, you are required to use your initiative in how you structure/organise and present the issues addressed – there is no model answer or blue-print for success in this exercise, though some examples of both good and bad past assignments will be provided. These should be regarded as indicative of style and structure rather than of content.

The assignment should include the following:

• Executive summary (one page, single-spaced)
• Brief introduction to the organisation and overview of topics or unit material applied in the assignment
• Analysis (the bulk of the assignment)
• Conclusions/findings, together with any recommendations and lessons learned
• Appendices, if any

Submission details One student from each group will submit a soft-copy of this assessment on behalf of their syndicate group in the class iLearn page on the due date as specified by the lecturer in class. The soft-copy submission will be submitted to Turnitin via the Macquarie University iLearn portal, a program used to ensure the originality of the work undertaken by the submitter/s. Please also ensure that the filename of your assessment is appropriately titled (MGNT812-Group#.docx), and that you only save your document in Microsoft Word format. No hard-copy is needed to be submitted.

The assignment should have the following structure:

1. A title page with all student names and student numbers, allocated group number, title, and word count of the text. 2. A one page (single-spaced) executive summary that outlines the assignment’s structure, the organisation studied (as appropriate), the key issues according to the group, how the group has demonstrated analysis, what the group has found, and recommendations, lessons, insights as appropriate. 3. Body of the assignment with appropriate headings and citations. 4. Reference list (Harvard referencing style) 5. Appendices as appropriate.

Late assignments will be penalised up to 10% per day unless you have applied for special consideration, and that application is considered acceptable. Applications for extensions must be made before the submission date, and will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. Since most of us suffer from constant pressure of work, it would not be considered an ‘exceptional circumstance’.

The final exam is open book, and will consist of 3 questions relating to a case study made available to you on the day of the exam. In the space available to communicate your ideas and reflections, you are required to demonstrate your understanding of unit material via reflective application to the case. More details on the exam will be provided in Session 10.

You can use books, notes, laptops, iPads, or tablets,. 

You are expected to present yourself for examination at the time and place designated in the MGSM examination timetable. The timetable will be available at https://students.mgsm.edu.au/sydney-students/units/exams/.