Fundamentals of Strategic Management: Business Strategy Analysis

The aim of this assignment is to create a 2500-word business report to critically analyse the strategy of one of the following organisations (or an organisation of your choosing) and provide recommendations to gain/maintain competitive advantage:

Rolls Royce
Sainsbury’s
Tata
Adidas
Unilever
Or an organisation of your choosing

Your analysis must use theory/frameworks to support a critical analysis of the strategic position, strategic choice, and strategic action of your organization and develop recommendations for that organisation based on the analysis conducted. You must follow the guidance and structure outlined below.

Guidance Notes

This is a business/consulting style report that is underpinned by strategic management concepts (theory) to help guide your organisation toward competitive advantage.
Your writing style should be 3rd or 1st person business report, and you should include a contents page, subsections etc (general structure requirements).
Your analysis should be presented in the main body of your text. Simply leaving the analysis ‘hanging’ in the appendix will not be considered as presenting an analysis.
The report should draw on a range of information sources (e.g., articles, reports in magazines/press, the internet etc) and you should seek to employ appropriate conceptual frameworks to support your analysis and evaluation. However, it is not necessary to explain various conceptual perspectives in any detail; rather you should concentrate on using appropriate conceptual frameworks to provide insight into the practical dimensions and problems discussed.
Theory must be used to inform the critical analysis, provide support for using specific frameworks and concepts, draw implications, introduce theoretical perspectives, and relate your analysis to your chosen Theory is therefore an essential ingredient to produce a high-quality analysis of the organisation and topic in question.
Theory, frameworks, concepts, examples, need to be integrated within the critical analysis. These should form the basis of your analysis and the recommendations to the organisation.
You should synthesise links between topics before you make recommendations to the organisation.

The coursework must include the following components.

The word counts listed for each section are intended as guidelines. While these suggestions provide a recommended distribution to help maintain focus and depth, you may adjust them slightly between sections. It’s essential, however, that you provide adequate detail for each component and maintain a clear, organised structure throughout the assignment.

Component	Content	Word Count
Introduction	Introduce your organisation, its industry, sector, scale. Indicate whether it is succeeding or failing	250
Strategic Position	Analyse the external and internal environments of the organisation using the theory/frameworks discussed in the module	850
Strategic Choice	Analyse the business level or corporate level strategy of the organization using the theory/frameworks discussed in the module	450
Strategic Action	Analyse the strategy of the organisation in terms of its business ethics and CSR strategy using the concepts discussed in the module or employ SAF criteria (Suitability, Acceptability, and Feasibility) to identify optimal strategic options	650
Recommendations	Based on your analysis and evaluation, summarise your recommendations of what the organisation should do next	300
References

Expert Answers on Above Strategic Management Questions

Introduction

The organisation selected for analysis is Sainsbury which is one of the UK’s largest supermarket retailers offering its products and services through physical stores and online channels. It is highly competitive in the grocery sector, but it is also facing significant pressure from low cost companies including Aldi and Lidl. The company is therefore striving to maintain its leadership position in the industry.

Strategic position analysis

An analysis of the external environment using PESTLE suggests that there is high economic pressure which is significantly affecting the spending pattern of consumers. The role of Technology is also crucial as it plays a major role in the online grocery delivery and also in assisting management with data driven loyalty schemes. There are legal and ethical practices affecting the business in terms of labour practices and sustainability issues. The Porter five forces suggest that there is high competition and the buyer power is significantly high because of price sensitivity.

The threat of substitutes and new entrants is moderate. Apart from external environment analysis, the internal environment as revealed by SWOT analysis suggest that the biggest strength of Sainsbury is its strong brand and extensive store network. The weakness is its high cost compared to other retailers, and the industry offers significant opportunities especially in respect to digital retail while the rising operational cost is the major threat facing the operators.

Strategic choice

The strategy followed by Sainsbury is a hybrid strategy that takes into consideration the cost competitiveness along with differentiation. The company makes use of pricing strategy for some of its products that best matches with its competitors like Aldi while it differentiates in terms of quality, customer service and ethical sourcing.

Strategic action

The CSR strategy of the company indicates that it focuses on achieving reduction over its carbon emissions and food waste reduction. Along with this, the company is highly committed towards achieving a net zero target and follows a responsible supply chain.

SAF Analysis

From the point of view of suitability, the company operates in a way that aligns best with consumer expectations and regulations. In terms of acceptability, there is higher acceptance among its customers along with shareholders about its ethical practices. Finally, feasibility is reflected in its large scale and resources that allows it to operate at such a larger level.

Recommendations

It is recommended to focus on achieving cost efficiency so that it can compete effectively with its rivals. The company should focus on digital and data analytics to provide personalised assistance of high quality, and also focus on enhancing private label differentiation to distinguish its product from its competitors.

This model answer is reviewed by Olivia Brown, excellent at performing strategic evaluation of companies.
Disclaimer: This answer is a model for study and reference purposes only. Use it for your learning to do your assignment on your own. Please do not submit it as your own work.

Do You Need Full Answer With References?

Coursework involving strategic analysis of a company needs the application of strategic tools like PESTLE, SWOT, VRIO, SAF and many more. Such practical application of tools is sometimes challenging while performing an analysis of a company. If you are also faced with a similar situation and need professional support, get in touch with our coursework writers to assist you with strategic analysis of your company.