PAPER CODE EXAMINER DEPARTMENT TEL

SMO407 Ewout van IBSS +86 (0)512

der Schaft 8816 6538

Academic Year 2024/25

Semester 1

Assignment
Individual Written Report

The Organisation in the Strategic Context

SMO 407

Assignment- Individual Report

SUBMISSION DEADLINE
December 16, 2024 by
23:59pm

江苏省苏州市中国新加坡工业园区独墅湖科教创新区仁爱路 111 号西浦国际商学院 BA/BB 楼

电话：0512 8816 1000 邮箱：[email protected] 邮编：215123 www.ibss.xjtlu.edu.cn
BA/BB Building, International Business School Suzhou at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu Province, PRC
Tel: + 86 512 8816 1000 Email: [email protected] www.xjtlu.edu.cn
 INSTRUCTIONS TO PARTICIPANTS

1. Assignment 2 comprises 70% weight of the final module mark.

2. Assignment 2: Write a 2500 word document (+/- 10%), excluding appendices, tables, or other
relevant frameworks and tools. The recommended amount of different references used, needs to be
between 8-10 references from academic and professional literature sources (more references are
encouraged).
This is an individual assignment based on your own organisation, or an organisation of your
choice, focusing on strategy development, formulation and implementation. The assignment
is designed to help you identify and clarify the key strategic issues, themes, directions and
strategies at play at the corporate level within your organisation (use theoretical frameworks
and analytical tools discussed in the class).
3. Report language: English
4. The written coursework must be submitted no later than December 16, 2024 by 23:59pm.
The electronic copy (in MS Word, not PDF) should be submitted on Learning Mall before the
same deadline.
5. All reports will be processed through Turnitin for a plagiarism and originality check.
6. University policy on late submission will not be allowed unless there is an agreed extension
with the module leader.
a. 5% shall be deducted from the assessment mark for each working day after the
submission date, up to a maximum of five working days.
b. Work assessed below the pass mark will not be penalised for late submission of up to
five days.
c. Work received more than five working days after the submission deadline will be
marked zero.
7. Make sure that you put all detailed information necessary on the coursework cover sheet and
use it as a cover page to the hardcopy of your work before submission.
8. The use of Generative AI for content generation is not permitted. All work needs to be original
and appropriately referenced.

江苏省苏州市中国新加坡工业园区独墅湖科教创新区仁爱路 111 号西浦国际商学院 BA/BB 楼

电话：0512 8816 1000 邮箱：[email protected] 邮编：215123 www.ibss.xjtlu.edu.cn
BA/BB Building, International Business School Suzhou at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu Province, PRC
Tel: + 86 512 8816 1000 Email: [email protected] www.xjtlu.edu.cn
 Assignment Instructions:

Prepare a strategic plan for your organisation, or an organisation of your choice. In case you wish to select a
company which is not your own, please consult your chosen company with the SMO407 module leader. The
aim of the paper is to identify and discuss a core strategic issue that your organisation faces at the present
time.

The report should contain the following paragraphs:

1. The “Introduction”: needs to include the problem definition and a description of the background of the
organization in question. It is essential that you offer a sharply focused analysis of strategy issues, key
challenges and that you demonstrate a good grasp of the challenges which surround the CEO of the company.
Make sure you can pinpoint whatever strategic issues may exist.

2. The “Analysis and Evaluation”: You should analyse the strategic issue defined in the first step. This analysis
should involve empirical evidence (regardless of whether this evidence is of a more “qualitative” or a more
“quantitative” nature). In this step, you should also make use of a total of two analytical frameworks and/or
methods discussed in the course and/or in the established strategy literature. One of the two used
frameworks should be selected from: Value Chain Analysis, Strategic Clock and/or Strategic Capabilities
(VRIN/VRIO). The other framework can be any other framework discussed in class.
a. Reliability
You are obliged to offer analysis and evidence to back up your findings. Rely on tight, logical argumentation
backed up with facts and figures but not on unsupported opinions, unreliable simplifications, and
commonplaces as a substitute for real analysis.
b. Calculations, tables and charts
If your analysis involves quantitative calculations, use tables and charts to present the calculations clearly and
efficiently. Lead the reader through your train of thoughts.
c. Strategic Models and Tools
Demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of strategic concepts and analytical tools to which you
have been exposed. Use them in your report.
d. Interpretation
Your interpretation of evidence should be rational and unbiased. Be cautious of formulating a biased
argument that ignores all characteristics not favorable to your conclusions. Likewise, try not to exaggerate or
overdramatize and avoid flowery language. Strive for a balanced analysis and avoid emotional rhetoric. Do
not use phrases like "I am convinced," "I feel," and "In my opinion write instead "My analysis / the data
show(s)".

江苏省苏州市中国新加坡工业园区独墅湖科教创新区仁爱路 111 号西浦国际商学院 BA/BB 楼

电话：0512 8816 1000 邮箱：[email protected] 邮编：215123 www.ibss.xjtlu.edu.cn
BA/BB Building, International Business School Suzhou at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu Province, PRC
Tel: + 86 512 8816 1000 Email: [email protected] www.xjtlu.edu.cn
 3. The “Recommendation”: On the basis of the first two steps, you should then provide recommendations for
how to address / resolve the issue that you have identified, and evaluate these recommendations. It is
important that the solutions you come up with are realistic and achievable. Finally, you should outline which
practical steps you / others in your organisation would have to take in order to put your recommendation(s)
into practice.

You should include references to the established strategy literature, as far as it relates to the strategic issues
you have chosen to focus on. The closing section should contain a set of specific recommendations focused
on implementation.

Marking Criteria:

The following components of your paper will be assessed:

 Quality of business analysis: 25%
 Use of theoretical frameworks: 25%

 Quality of conclusion and recommendations: 25%

 Quality of academic writing including logical argumentation: 25%

A business report should be well organized and well written. You should make reference to the
established strategy literature. The recommended amount of different references used, needs to be
between 8-10 references from academic and professional literature sources (more references are
encouraged). The use of Generative AI for content generation is not permitted for this paper. All writing
needs to be original and referenced in an appropriate manner.

江苏省苏州市中国新加坡工业园区独墅湖科教创新区仁爱路 111 号西浦国际商学院 BA/BB 楼

电话：0512 8816 1000 邮箱：[email protected] 邮编：215123 www.ibss.xjtlu.edu.cn
BA/BB Building, International Business School Suzhou at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu Province, PRC
Tel: + 86 512 8816 1000 Email: [email protected] www.xjtlu.edu.cn
 Appendix 1:

Knowledge and
Intellectual Skills Transferable Skills
Understanding
100% The best answer that could reasonably be expected from a student at that level of study under the
prevailing conditions

90-99% Total coverage of the task set. Extremely creative and Extremely clear exposition.
‘Outstanding’ Exceptional demonstration of imaginative approach. Excellently structured and logical
knowledge and understanding Comprehensive and accurate answer. Excellent presentation,
appropriately grounded in theory analysis. Well-argued conclusions. only the most insignificant errors.
and the relevant literature. Perceptive self-assessment.

80-99% As ‘Outstanding’ but slightly less

As ‘Outstanding’ but with some As ‘Outstanding’ but with some
‘Excellent’ imaginative and with some minor
minor weaknesses or gaps in minor weaknesses in structure,
gaps in analysis and/or
knowledge and understanding. logic and/or presentation.
conclusions.
70-79% ‘Very Full coverage of the task set. Some creative and imaginative Generally clear exposition.
Good’ Generally very good features. Very good and generally Satisfactory structure. Very good
demonstration of knowledge and accurate analysis. Sound presentation, largely free of
understanding but with some conclusions. Some self- grammatical and other errors.
modest gaps. Good grounding in assessment.
theory.
60-69% ‘Very As ‘Very Good’ but with more As ‘Very Good’ but analysis and As ‘Very Good’ but with some
Good and/or more significant gaps in conclusions contain some minor weaknesses in exposition and/or
knowledge and understanding and weakness structure and a few more
some significant gaps in grammatical and other errors.
grounding.
50-59% ‘Good Patchy coverage of the task set. Rather limited creative and Competent exposition and
Patchy Knowledge and imaginative features. Patchy structure. Competent
understanding with limited analysis containing significant presentation but some significant
grounding in literature. Just meets flaws. Rather limited conclusions. grammatical and other errors. Just
the threshold level at the bottom No self-assessment. Just meets meets the threshold level at the
end. the threshold level at the bottom bottom end.
end.
40-49% ‘Fail’ Some parts of the task set likely to No creative or imaginative Somewhat confused and limited
have been omitted. Major gaps in features. Analysis and conclusions exposition. Confused structure.
knowledge and understanding. rather limited. Falls just short of Some weaknesses in presentation
Some significant confusion. Very the threshold level. and some serious grammatical and
limited grounding. Falls just short other errors. Falls just short of the
of the threshold level. threshold level.

30-39% Fail As ‘Compensable Fail’ but with As ‘Compensable Fail’ but analysisAs ‘Compensable Fail’ but with
major omissions and/or major and/or conclusions may have been more serious weaknesses in
gaps in knowledge and omitted. Falls substantially belowpresentation and/or grammar.
understanding. Falls substantially the threshold level. Falls substantially below the
below the threshold level. threshold level.
0-29% Substantial sections of the task No creative or imaginative Largely confused exposition and
‘Extremely not covered. Knowledge and features. Analysis extremely weak structure. Many serious
Weak’ understanding very limited and/or or omitted. No conclusions. grammatical and other errors.
largely incorrect. No grounding in
theory.

江苏省苏州市中国新加坡工业园区独墅湖科教创新区仁爱路 111 号西浦国际商学院 BA/BB 楼

电话：0512 8816 1000 邮箱：[email protected] 邮编：215123 www.ibss.xjtlu.edu.cn
BA/BB Building, International Business School Suzhou at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123 Jiangsu Province, PRC
Tel: + 86 512 8816 1000 Email: [email protected] www.xjtlu.edu.cn