SM0374: Explain How Successful You Think It is and Discusses the Strategic Reasons: Strategic Management and Leadership Assignment, NU, Singapore

Task:

Choose one company from the list below :

1. Samsung
2. Alibaba
3. Uniqlo

For this company, explain how successful you think it is and discusses the strategic reasons behind that success. Your explanation should include something about the contribution of leadership to the company. Go on to suggest strategies and/or actions for ensuring success in the future.

Assessment Brief

Guidance

We want you to tell us how you think the company has been able to compete successfully and justify your answer with analysis based on topic areas taught as part of this module. “Success” could be evaluated in terms of measures such as growth, profitability, market share and so on. But how has the company achieved this position which may have taken several years?

To tackle the question you need to carry out a full strategic analysis of the company and the business environment. But we only want to read the really important elements of that analysis and the conclusions you draw. You have to judge what is most important and present this to us in a clear, academically rigorous manner. You must present conclusions (your interpretation of the analysis) for each section below.

Your assignment should contain the following sections (5cm spacing between each) numbered exactly as follows. Mark allocations are shown in the marking scheme at the end of this brief.

1. A brief (maximum 100 words) introduction to the company

2. Company data can be used to evaluate its success concluding with your thoughts about whether or not the company can be described as “successful”.

3. An outline of 6 to10 business reasons behind the success stated in a simple, straightforward way with a brief (4/5 sentences) explanation of each reason. Avoid strategy “jargon”; no analysis is required – this is a test of your broad business knowledge and understanding.

4. A detailed analysis of the company’s strategic capabilities starting with a Value Chain and followed by a VRIN evaluation. Your interpretation of the analysis must clearly show how the company has been able to build a competitive advantage.

5. An evaluation of the contribution of leadership to the company’s success, basing this on appropriate theory. A wide range of topics will be acceptable including:

• Leadership (e.g. styles, attributes)
• Management theories
• Organizational culture
• Decision-making

6. The detailed analysis and interpretation based on one further topic area from the following list:

• Business (competitive) strategy consistent with strategic capabilities
• International strategy (based on the framework in Exploring Strategy)
• Innovation strategy
• Collaboration (alliances, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions)

7. An explanation of any external and/or internal factors that might make it difficult for the company to be successful in the future and suggestions (based upon your prior analysis) as to how the company can best deal with these.