Assessment of Business Analysis and Decision Making
Learning Outcomes
1. Undertake a strategic marketing audit, assessing an organisation’s competencies, competitive advantage, market performance, customers, competitors, product and service portfolios, positioning, value proposition and market impact.
2. Utilise a strategic marketing audit to critically evaluate a range of strategic marketing options available to an organisation, including innovation, mergers, acquisitions, partnering, alliances, environmental sustainability and CSR, in order to deliver best value growth and expansion opportunities for the organisation.
3. Critically assess the impact of external factors on an organisation and its strategic intent and direction.
4. Utilise a range of financial and other measurement tools to critically assess the financial and non-financial benefits of recommended strategic marketing decisions.
5. Utilise a range of risk assessment tools to critically assess the risk of strategic market decisions and their impact upon an organisation, including financial, corporate and reputational risk.
| Assessment Criteria Distinction (70 – 100%) The work demonstrates a preponderance of the following characteristics: • An excellent level of critical analyses and comment on the issues at the forefront of the subject area. • There is evidence of extensive critical reference to business and other relevant sources appropriate to the task(s) along with strong and well-argued propositions using, where relevant, examples from current practice. • The material is wholly relevant to the task(s). • Outstanding critical analysis and synthesis with the ability to tackle with confidence issues and situations not previously encountered. • Evidence of the exercise of sound business judgment and, where appropriate, an innovative and creative solution to the resolution of business needs and problems. • Excellent presentation in terms of structure, language and professional style. • All requirements of the work are dealt with to the highest standard and the work is free from all errors. Merit (60 – 69%) The work demonstrates a preponderance of the following characteristics: • Very good level of critical analyses and comment on the issues at the forefront of the subject area • There is extensive evidence of very good use of reference to business and other relevant sources appropriate to the task(s) along with strong and well-argued propositions using, where relevant, examples from current business practice. • The material is wholly relevant to the task(s). • Very good critical analysis and synthesis with the ability to tackle issues and situations not previously encountered. • Evidence of the exercise of sound professional judgment and, where appropriate, an innovative and creative solution to the resolution of business needs and problems. • Very well presented in terms of structure, language and professional style. • All requirements of the work are dealt with to a high standard and the work is free from all but isolated minor errors. Pass (50 – 59%) The work demonstrates a preponderance of the following characteristics: • A very good understanding of the issues in the subject or area of professional practice, some of which are likely to be complex. • There is evidence of reference to business and other relevant sources appropriate to the task(s) along with well-structured propositions using, where relevant, examples from current practice. • Most of the requirements of the work are covered with only a few gaps or some minor and inconsequential errors. • The material is largely relevant to the task(s). • Very good critical analysis and synthesis with evidence of some ability to tackle issues not previously encountered. • Evidence of the exercise of professional judgment and, where appropriate, some evidence that the student has considered an innovative and creative solution to the resolution of client’s needs and problems. • The work is presented in a clear and well-organised manner with good professional style and containing only minor spelling and grammatical errors. Fail Standard Range (35 – 49%) The work demonstrates a preponderance of the following characteristics: • An unsatisfactory critical analyses and comment on the issues in the subject or area of business practice. Little evidence of reference to practice or relevant sources appropriate to the task(s). • Only some of the requirements of the work are met and there are likely to be significant gaps. • The work is primarily descriptive with weak or no attempt at critical analysis and synthesis. There is little evidence of ability to tackle issues not previously encountered. • Little or no evidence of the exercise of business judgment and ideas are likely to be poorly expressed and organised. • The work is poorly presented and contains poor spelling and grammatical errors. Fail Lower Range (0 – 34%) The work demonstrates a preponderance of the following characteristics: • The work lacks a basic critical analyses and comment on the issues in the subject or area of business practice. There is no evidence of background research appropriate to the task(s). • The work demonstrates a lack of understanding of the requirements of the task(s). • No attempt at critical analysis and synthesis with no evidence of ability to tackle issues not previously encountered. • No evidence of the exercise of business judgment and the work is unstructured. • The work is very poorly presented and contains many spelling and grammatical errors. |
Element 1
This assessment is designed to encourage students to consider how a case study small business should develop its value proposition and make pricing-related decisions and how these can have a direct impact on the financial success of the organisation. This component is designed to encourage and test research skills, problem solving and reflective learning skills. Every student must develop a 1000-word individual reflection with PowerPoint Slides included that shows a critical reflection and correction of the first sit assessment task.
This assessment is designed to assess students’ abilities as outlined in learning outcome:
LO4. Utilise a range of financial and other measurement tools to critically assess the financial and non-financial benefits of recommended strategic marketing decisions.
Key Elements and Task
| Task | Students will write a 1000-word individual reflection on the digital portfolio task. Students must include the following specific sections in this report: 1. Details about how the competitive environment was researched in the area in which this business was to be set up in the original brief, and reflections about whether this audit was carried out correctly and managed to uncover valuable insights. Specific suggestions for improvement and extensions of the first sit audits should be presented and implemented where possible. 2. Reflections about how the concept of own, cross and residual price elasticity was explained to the business owner and corrections (if necessary) using illustrative price points. 2. Reflections about how the concept of price premium was explained and justified to the business owner and make corrections if necessary. You will not be required to present your slides but should submit a PowerPoint presentation that details your findings and proposed ways to improve the organisation’s leadership. Students will need to complete a cover sheet and provide references. |
Element 2
This assessment is designed to give students the opportunity to apply a portfolio analysis to an international organisation. Students must also critically evaluate the usefulness of such an analysis to the modern practitioner by acknowledging its limitations.
This assessment is designed to assess students’ abilities as outlined in learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 5.
LO1. Undertake a strategic marketing audit, assessing an organisation’s competencies, competitive advantage, market performance, customers, competitors, product and service portfolios, positioning, value proposition and market impact.
LO2. Utilise a strategic marketing audit to critically evaluate a range of strategic marketing options available to an organisation, including innovation, mergers, acquisitions, partnering, alliances, environmental sustainability and CSR, in order to deliver best value growth and expansion opportunities for the organisation.
LO3. Critically assess the impact of external factors on an organisation and its strategic intent and direction.
LO5. Utilise a range of risk assessment tools to critically assess the risk of strategic market decisions and their impact upon an organisation, including financial, corporate and reputational risk.
Key Elements and Task
| Task | Applying the GE McKinsey Matrix to an international organisation Strategic marketing managers love their matrices because they can help them to simplify complex scenarios and see where components in their product and service mix sit in relation to each other. You may have seen the GE matrix before – if you haven’t, you’ve almost certainly come across the BCG matrix – or Boston Box – on your travels. The GE-McKinsey Matrix The Boston Box The key difference between the GE McKinsey Matrix and the Boston Box is that the GE McKinsey Matrix includes nine cells, whereas the Boston Box includes four. As a result, the GE McKinsey Matrix may be able to offer a greater level of analytical depth than the Boston Box. The vertical axis of the GE McKinsey Matrix measures industry attractiveness, while the horizontal measures the strength of a business unit or product within that particular industry You can read some more about the GE McKinsey Matrix approach via the following link: https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/ge-mckinsey-matrix.html This website gives a very comprehensive explanation of how the nine-cell matrix can be used. Strategic Management Insight helpfully outlines some of the factors than can help to determine industry attractiveness on the one hand, and competitive strength on the other. Some of the industry attractiveness factors mentioned include: Long run growth rateIndustry sizeIndustry profitabilityIndustry structure Some of the competitive strength factors mentioned include: Total market shareMarket share growth compared to rivalsBrand strength (use brand value for this)Profitability of the company Choose a diversified international organisation operating in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space that currently undergoes digital transformation. 1. Firstly, using some of the industry attractiveness factors mentioned in Strategic Management Insight, assess the current level of attractiveness of one industry in which your organisation does business in the era of digitalization (15%). 2. Secondly, using some of the competitive strength factors mentioned in Strategic Management Insight, assess the current strength of one of your chosen organisation’s products/services or business units in the context of digitalization (15%). 3. Thirdly, develop a GE McKinsey Matrix for your organisation’s product and/or service portfolio. Provide an accompanying narrative to justify the choices you have made in terms of placing certain products or services in certain parts of the grid (15%). 4. Finally, critically evaluate some of the opportunities and associated risks for your diversified organisation in developing strategic partnerships with other organizations across one or more parts of its product or service portfolio (25%). 5. Present your analysis in an appropriate style: The report should present in-depth research, be well-structured and well formatted. Data and information used should be current and up to date. The report should use clear and accurate language and uses ICT media where appropriate. The report should make use of appropriate resources and information to support business context and arguments. The report should use appropriate English, grammar and references that are presented in the right format. (30%) Your paper should be no more than 3,000 words. You are entitled to make assumptions about your chosen organisation and the industry/industries in which it operates in circumstances in which up to date market intelligence is not available to you. |