Assessment

Type of assessment:

This analytical essay requires students to identify a recent disruptive change in an industry, discuss the implications of this change for a particular firm in that industry, and develop a unique plan to manage the changed situation.

Aims:

To propose a feasible strategy for a company experiencing disruptive change.

Assessment task:

1. Identify and describe a recent disruptive change impacting upon a publicly listed company, and discuss the approach the company took in dealing with the disruption.

The disruption does not have to be technological in nature - it may be so, but it may also be the result of some other factor such as: the signing of a trade agreement, a change in state or federal government legislation, the sudden arrival of an international competitor, the change in regulations or in the informal treatment of foreigners in another country, a collapse in the price of oil, a realignment of exchange rates, the impact of a man-made or natural disaster, etcetera.

Examine the impact that the company thought the disruption would have on three to five of the following areas, and discuss the way the company dealt with those anticipated impacts. A case study or narrative format is appropriate for this question. The areas for examination and comment are:

The sources of the company's competitive advantage;
The company's pricing policy;
The scale of the company's operations;
The range of the company's portfolio of products or activities;
The company's supply chain (i.e., buy in/contract out decisions, etc.);
The networks of alliances and partnerships that the company has;
The business-level and/or corporate level strategy-making processes of the company;
The company's structure and architecture (i.e., culture and modes of control);
The company's financial arrangements;
The company's corporate governance (the constitution and nature of the Board, etc.).
(The value of this part of the assignment relative to the total is: 20/50.)

2. Identify and characterize the fundamental strategic issues for the company. In this section, use should be made of one or more of the analytical frameworks dealt with in the texts, the lectures, or otherwise in the literature - for example: Porter's five forces model; value chain analysis; industry key success factors; resource and capability analysis; corporate matrix analyses; the value net; game theory; Mintzberg's principles of organizational design; etc. - so as to identify the critical issues created by the disruption for the company.
(The value of this part of the assignment relative to the total is: 10/50.)

3. This question has two elements: first, provide a strategy to address the fundamental issues identified in the previous questions; and, second, briefly explain why the strategy is better than the next best option available (the next best plan may be the one adopted by the company itself).

The preferred strategic plan should specify:

Clear aims and objectives for the company;

The values and ethics according to which the aims might permissibly be pursued;

A feasible path to achieve those aims (including a timeframe and task allocation);

The allocation of resources - human, materiel, and financial - that are sufficient to meet the aims (this criterion includes specifying where those resources are to be found and what trade-offs and constraints might be faced in securing them);
Milestones and targets to measure progress; and,

Stakeholder relationships that are to be drawn on to facilitate the strategy.

Additionally, the strategy should include an assessment of risks and possible counter-strategies by others and how these are to be managed.