BSP028 Global Strategic Management
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Description
BSP028 Global Strategic Management
Assignment guideline
Complete the following task:
Describe Nestlé’s main corporate level strategies and evaluate the suitability of these strategies.
Word limit
5,000 words including supporting, charts, diagrams and tables, but without references and appendices.
Case
The Nestle case, titled; “Informal Strategic Controls at Nestle” (p630-632) can be accessed from the ‘Case Study Booklet’ on the module page. Students are expected to go beyond the case information by conducting their own independent research on Nestle.
Writing guidelines
The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have learned from this module. There are many, equally valid ways to fulfil the assignment tasks. You will therefore have to make many choices of your own. For example, you have to decide what you define as Nestlé’s main corporate level strategies, what time span to include, and which tools and concepts to apply.
Again, you need to conduct your own research into the company, its strategies, and its environment. Internet search, in particular the company website, news articles, and journal articles will be useful for gaining information about the company and its environment. To define the tools you use and to back up theoretical claims, you have to refer to academic journal articles and/or books.
You should first describe the most important features of Nestlé’s corporate level strategies. The main focus is on corporate level strategies, but you can refer to business level and operational strategies when they are closely linked to corporate level strategies. You need to include Nestlé’s current and recent strategies, but you can choose how far back to go into the past. You will have to look at least slightly back into the past in order to describe the strategies, but you are NOT required to provide a detailed history of Nestlé’s strategies.
To describe the strategies, you should use the information that you get on Nestlé’s particular activities (such as acquisitions, marketing campaigns), but you should analyse these activities as part of strategy, using strategy concepts such as the Ansoff matrix, the strategy clock, or Porters generic strategy options. Please note that you should not use all of these concepts, but you should be parsimonious. You can use other concepts instead (regardless of whether they were mentioned in the lectures) as long as they are relevant.
Second, you then have to evaluate the strategies with regard to their suitability. You should use only the criterion of ‘suitability’ for your evaluation, not other criteria such as feasibility, validity and consistency. Please use the definition of ‘suitability’ used in the Johnson et al. textbook that is also presented in the lectures. To examine suitability, you will therefore have to analyse how the strategies match (a) Nestlé’s remote and operating environments, (b) its capabilities, and (c) its stakeholders’ expectations (Stakeholder expectations will however be smaller point than the other two).
Please do not provide an extensive analysis of the environment, capabilities, or stakeholder expectations without linking this analysis to your strategy evaluation. In other words, focus only on those factors in the environment and on those capabilities and stakeholder expectations that are relevant for evaluating whether the strategy is suitable or not.
To highlight the relevant factors in the environment, the capabilities, and stakeholder expectations, you again have to use theoretical concepts (such as core capabilities, environmental forces) and analytical tools (such as PESTEL, SWOT, value chain analysis and stakeholder mapping). You should briefly define the concepts and tools you use (no critical evaluation of the tools is needed), and then apply them to the case. You are expected to demonstrate that you have understood the concepts and tools in theory, and that you are able to use them to analyse the case.
There is no set number of tools and concepts that you should use, but you have to make a choice of which concepts or tools to apply. Please note that you should not use all concepts and tools discussed in the lectures. Do not use too many tools, as this could make your analysis too superficial. Also, do not use a tool if it does not provide relevant additional information, and avoid overlapping tools. The fewer concepts/tools you use, the more depth and detail you are expected to provide for each one. When choosing analytical tools, please make sure you have access to the data you need for applying them.
Finally, you have to follow a consistent referencing style, e.g. Harvard. A list of references or works consulted (alphabetical, by author’s last name, but including initials of first names) should follow the notes at the end of the manuscript. You should make certain that there is a complete reference for every citation in the text and wherever you present someone else’s views, rather than providing the references only in the list at the end of your assignment. There should not be more references in the list than in the text. Moreover, the cited dates and the spellings of authors’ names in the text and references have to be in agreement. Make sure you use authors’ second names, not first names.
Marking criteria
Your assignment will be marked (from ‘fail’ to ‘excellent’) according to the following criteria. The first four (concepts/theory, analysis of the company, research, relevance to the assignment task) are the most important ones and will be carry the most weight.
Concepts/theory:
You have to demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the theoretical concepts (including analytical tools) that you use to analyse the company case.
Analysis of the company:
You have to apply the concepts/analytical tools to the company case.
Research:
You will be marked on the amount of relevant reading you have done, in particular reading beyond the textbooks.
Relevance to assignment task
It is important that you fulfil the task in depth. You therefore have to avoid presenting irrelevant material or arguments. Irrelevant information will not contribute to your mark.
Citations and references:
The correctness of the citations and referencing style will be marked (see ‘Referencing style’ below).
Presentation
This refers to the transparency of the assignment structure, clarity of ideas and arguments, the quality of language and spelling, and general format (see ‘Format’ below).
You will receive feedback in the following format:
| Introduction [examiner’s comments here] |
| Strategy description [examiner’s comments here] |
| Strategy evaluation · regarding the environment: [examiner’s comments here] · regarding capabilities: [examiner’s comments here] · regarding stakeholder expectations: [examiner’s comments here] |
| Relevance to the assignment task [examiner’s comments here] |
| Reading [examiner’s comments here] |
| Language and structure [examiner’s comments here] |
| Citations and references [examiner’s comments here] |
| Formatting [examiner’s comments here] |
| Overall comments [examiner’s comments here] |
Assignment format
Use Arial 11 or Times New Roman 12 font size. Use proper margins on both sides. You should provide a contents page and use headings and subheadings. Start with a brief introduction on the case and the structure of the report before proceeding to the task. After completing the task, summarise the report very briefly and come to a conclusion.
You are expected to write in a logical, analytical, and concise manner. You also need to refer to relevant literature throughout the report and use a correct and consistent referencing style.
Tables and Figures
Tables or figures will be placed after the first mention in the text, as soon as graphically possible and pleasing. Remember to number all the tables, diagrams, charts, and pages and provide references of the sources you took them from (unless you have created them yourself). You need to describe the relevant content of each table, figure, etc. in your own words in the text, and introduce the table/figure in the text, e.g.: (see Table xy).
Submission
The deadline for assignment submission is: August 3rd , 2020 at 2 pm. Students must submit an electronic version of their coursework through the Learn submission system, together with a coursework coversheet.
The expected date for posting of preliminary marks on Learn is September 11th. However, this date is subject to alteration and you will be notified on the specific date.
If you have any problems with the submission of this assignment you may wish to request a 48-hour extension and/or submit a Mitigating Circumstances claim. This must be requested in advance via the PG administration office.
Please note:
All marks are provisional until ratified by the formal examination boards at the end of the year.
You need to ensure you back up your assignment and any other important documents. Information for students on data storage can be found here: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/it/student/storage/
Losing your data through technical failure is not a valid reason for a mitigating circumstances claim
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