Assessment 1 – Case Study Essay

Assessment Information Subject Code: MBA600 Subject Name: Capstone: Strategy Assessment Title: Assessment 1 – Case Study Essay Word Count: 1100 words (+/- 10%) Total Marks: 100 Assessment Description You are to pick a real organisation (based in Australia) of your choice that is either privately or publicly owned. It should be of interest and easy to find the information about the organisation. Please note that the organisation you pick should also be used in Assessment 2. Assuming the role of an organisational consultant, you are to apply their strategic thinking skills by researching the organisation and analysing the factors that clearly identify and explain its competitive advantage. Findings should be presented in this essay which provides an overview in a form that is presentable to the organisations executive team. It should be 1200 words that assist the executive to understand the findings presented. Areas covered should include: • Introduction: summarises the purpose of the essay and introduce what you will talk about in this essay. (100 words) • A brief overview of the organisation. (50 words) • An analysis of the external and internal environment using appropriate theories and frameworks. (200 words) • Clear articulation of the competitive advantage identified. (300 words) • A diagnosis of the strengths, weaknesses, sources and future sustainability of the competitive advantage outlined. (250 words) • A conclusion that identifies strategic opportunities and risks. (200 words) • Reference: require minimum five useful sources with Harvard Reference style. Please notice: 1, You are encouraged to re-allocate the word count if you think more appropriate. 2, You must go through week 1,2&3 lectures content in attachment, and apply some of the theories and frameworks from the those lectures. 3, Have a look at Assessment 2 Description before you choose an organisation. 4, Please have check the Assessment Marking Rubric carefully below, which shows how each part to be marked and shows each part value differently in this essay. For example, Competitive Advantage part values the most which contribute 25 mark to the total, so you have to put more effort on this part in order to get more mark. Assessment Marking Rubric Assessment Content (Subject Specific) OUT OF 80 MARKS Introduction (10%): Provides excellent context and links to the assessment in an extremely clear and coherent way. Organisation Overview (10%): Overview is excellently presented, extremely thorough and identifies all the pertinent issues. Analysis of External and Internal Environment (15%): Excellent evaluation of environment that logically analyses and thoroughly identifies context. Answer is fully substantiated by strategy frameworks. Outline of Competitive Advantage (25%): Competitive advantage is discussed using all key theories to frame an answer in an extremely coherent way that links seamlessly to the explanation of current sources. Conclusion with Strengths, Weakness and Sustainability (20%): Strengths, weaknesses and sustainability excellently evaluated, skilfully analysed, and thoughtfully applied with respect to the organisation in question. It is fully substantiated by theory and research. Structure Format and Presentation (Consistent across all courses) OUT OF 20 MARKS Answer clearly and logically presented (5%): Answer presented is exceptionally clear and logical. Appropriate theory and research used to answer question posed (10%): Answer skilfully incorporates, integrates and applies theory and research. In-text referencing and reference list follows Harvard style (5%): Negligible errors and/or inconsistent application of Harvard referencing conventions.