Business strategy module

Business strategy module

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• You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without
this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.
2. Assessment Brief
2.1. Introduction
This assessment is Group Presentation and is based on the case study of DropBox. The full case can be
found on the VLE (Home>Assessment).
2.2. Groups
The assignment should be the result of group work and the expectation is that each student
contributes equally to the material and the presentation. Students are responsible for forming groups
during the first 5 weeks of term. Groups must consist of a minimum of 3 students and a maximum of
5. Other arrangements may be accepted but they need to be discussed and approved in advance by
the relevant tutors and the module leader.
2.3. Group Presentation
The assignment includes two elements:
1. Electronic material: any material relevant to the case which addresses the task of the
assignment. Students are required to use appropriate software such as Microsoft PowerPoint,
Keynote, Prezi, etc.
2. A pre-recorded presentation: students are required to organise a presentation and record it
as a video. The presentation should cover the tasks of the assignment (as given below),
demonstrate professionalism, teamwork, equal contribution from each member, time
management. All members of the group are expected to speak and present and they should
ensure the electronic material is well integrated into the presentation in a professional
manner. The video should be of good quality (eg. stable frames, balanced colours, good
lighting) and should last between 15-20 minutes.
Once the video has been recorded, students need to submit a link which allows markers to access the
video. For more information, see section 2.6.
2.4. Assignment Task
The task required is to present a critical analysis of the company’s current strategic position, a critical
exploration of the strategic issues it faces, and to provide appropriate recommendations on
developing the business
The assignment covers the following:
• External Business Environment (using two models)
• Internal Business Environment (using two models)
• Current Strategic Issues
• Recommendations
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The structure of the assignment follows a logical order; current issues are identified based on the
analysis of the internal and external environment and recommendations stem from the evaluation of
the current issues.
The analysis of the internal and external environment is based on the use of two theories and models
from the list in Appendix 1.
2.5. Structure of Assignment
Students can choose appropriate structure for their analysis and for the particular case. In any case,
they need to make sure the following are included:
• Introduction: this section provides the audience with information about the company and its
business, its purpose and current strategic position and challenges. The aim should be to
provide a rounded, unbiased perspective of the company
• External Business Environment: an analysis of the external environment of the company based
on TWO models from Appendix 1
• Internal Business Environment: an analysis of the internal environment of the company based
on TWO models from Appendix 1
• Current Strategic Issues: this section provides an insight into the challenges and issues the
company is facing. This part should be based on the previous analysis and use ONE of the
models from Appendix 1
• Recommendations: in this part students should provide recommendations to the company on
how they can move forward and deal with the main issues identified in the previous section.
The recommendations should be realistic and feasible and be consistent with the analysis of
the internal and external environment. You should clearly explain how they would contribute
to building the company’s competitive advantage. For example, a suggestion to introduce a
new IT system should be backed up by the identification of available capital and technical skills
in the previous parts and should relate to the identified strategic position and the benefits the
company may see due to this system. The recommendations should use ONE model from
Appendix 1
Any analysis, evaluation and arguments should be based on facts and figures from the case but, also,
from a variety of academic and professional sources. Students are required to do their own research
on the company and provide appropriate references as needed.
2.6. Recording and Submission of the Video
There are several ways you can record the video:
• Mobile phone: students can use their mobile phones to record the presentation. If this is the
case, they need to make sure final recording should be of good quality as described above
• Free/proprietary software: there are many platforms which provide such functionality.
Students can use TinyTake (free version) or EzVid (free version) or any other application they
find easy to use and are familiar with
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Once the presentation is recorded, students need to make it available to markers and tutors. They
need to publish the link of the recording on a publicly accessible platform. There is a variety of choices
for this; most notably YouTube and Vimeo.
2.7. Assessment Marking Scheme (Student Version)
The assignment is marked out of 100. The following table shows the mark allocation and the approach
required. This assignment contributes 70% to the final mark of this module.

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Appendix 1: Theories and Frameworks
The following theories and frameworks can be used to analyse the internal and external environment
of the company, evaluate strategies and contribute to strategy development. Use them according to
the instructions in the main part of this assignment brief.
Figure 1: Theories for Analysis of the Internal Business Environment
Figure 2: Theories for Analysis of the External Business Environment
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Figure 3: Theories for the Assessment of Strategies
Figure 4: Theories for Strategy Development