MODULE AIM
- To develop a holistic understanding of organizations’ strategic direction via their interaction with the internal and external environment.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon the successful completion of this module, the student should be able to demonstrate the ability to:
- critically appraise an organization’s strategic direction.
- critically analyze the components of an organization’s internal and external environment.
- critically evaluate stakeholder expectations.
- formulate and verify new strategies for sustainable growth.
ASSESSMENT TASK
You are required to produce a 5000 word (+/- 10%) academic report, employing academic models, methods, and theories to develop a sustainable business strategy for a chosen organization.
TASK DESCRIPTION:
Identify a small and medium-sized business enterprise (SME’s) which you are familiar with (it may be your previous employers, but this is not compulsory) and more broadly demonstrate an understanding of strategic management by including following criteria:
- Introduction including a brief introduction/overview of the case study based on the SME context.
- Critically appraise the organization’s current strategic direction.
- Using PESTLE, SWOT, or any other environmental scanning tool, provides a critical analysis of the organization’s external and internal environment with the aim of identifying the big picture (e.g. opportunities and threats).
- Do a stakeholder analysis and critically evaluate the expectations of the different stakeholders and their relative power.
- Discuss available strategic growth choices for SMEs in markets and propose a new strategy and explain why you think it is a sustainable strategy for the long-term future of the organization.
- Provide key strategic recommendations for the organization for future developments and implementation, considering the challenges SMEs encounter to implement strategic direction.
- An inclusive conclusion.
