Interim Report - 1000 words
Task:
The aim of the Interim Assignment is for you to show you can collect data about an organisation
from a variety of sources, analyse it objectively, and, using recommended good practice, produce a
practical SWOT analysis.
The Final Assignment requires you to identify an organisation or business unit whose strategies you
will examine. We recommend that you use the same organisation for your Interim Assignment. We
strongly suggest you review your own organisation as it is easier to collect data about it. If that is not possible, for example, if you are not working currently, then examine an organisation you are
personally familiar with. Do not choose a famous name organisation like Google, IBM, Nestle, etc.
unless you work for them.
If you work for a large organisation, you will need to focus on one strategic business unit and if the
organisation is operating in several locations, one geographical area. The choice of business unit and geography is based on your knowledge of the organisation to make sure it is coherent.
This Interim Assignment is to prepare a SWOT of the organisation, which you will subsequently
use as part of your Final Assignment.
To do this, you must collect and analyse data using PESTLE, Five Forces, Core Competency analysis
and value chain analysis. These are all tools we discuss in the course materials and forum.
Where can you get data? Internal organisation reports, published industry reports, financial analyst
reports, commentaries by industry journalists in the business press, discussions with colleagues. You must do some searching on the web. We are not expecting great depth for the Interim Assignment, but we are expecting the SWOT to be a concise and effective summary of the current situation of the organisation and you will have to provide some evidence for each statement.
A poor SWOT will be done if you simply make a personal guess and list several factors. A good SWOT will be based on a good range of data, both hard and soft data, and will follow recommended good practice. What is recommended good practice for producing an effective SWOT? Do some research into what experts say is good and bad SWOT practice. You will find examples on the web of good, and bad, SWOTs for organisations like yours.
Finally, in the course material, under the Unit 1 tab, you will find two HBR articles (SWOT Analysis I
and SWOT Analysis II) that you should read.
The overall structure should be as follows:
1. Cover Page (1 page)
2. Table of Contents/List of Appendices (1 page)
3. Introduction to the organisation – one or two paragraphs briefly saying what the
organisation does and how it is organised
4. SWOT – in a conventional matrix format. Only give the 3 most important items for each S,
W, O and T.
5. An explanation of how the SWOT was produced, where the data was collected from, and
how you chose the top 3 items for each S, W, O and T. You need to provide some “hard”
evidence.
6. Recommendations how the organisation might address the issues identified in the SWOT.
7. List of references
Reference style : Harvard Reference style