The coursework requires you to create a 10 to 15-minutes video in length and a reflective document summarising the competitive strategy lessons you or the group has learnt from undertaking it. You will be marked on the content of your video and reflective document, as well as your ability to present the evidence effectively and in a coherent manner.
The coursework is due on 27 October 2021 before 12pm (UK), 3pm (Dubai) and 7pm (Malaysia).
You can complete this coursework either as an individual or within a group.
Groups are self-selected and will be no larger than four people. You can self-select groups by using the people menu within Canvas.
Students entering the course after the 1st of October will automatically complete the coursework as an individual.
If you are working in a group, just one group member needs to upload the video assignment and the reflective document onto Microsoft Stream and Canvas platform respectively.
The following companies and their associated product lines/ranges will be the focus of your coursework, so please select one.
Dubai
Shiseido and the Dubai market for cosmetics
Huawei P40 Pro in the Dubai market for smartphones
Apple’s iPhone 12 and the Dubai smartphone market
Lamborghini range and the Dubai market for luxury cars
Volkswagen Tiguan and Dubai market for C-segment or family SUV vehicles
Al Maya and Dubai market for retail groceries
NEXT and the Dubai market for men’s clothing
Kashkha and the Dubai market for women’s clothing
Du and the Dubai market for mobile phone network providers
Please note that you are free to change the company and market focus for the above listed companies. However, please email John Sanders or your campus course leader if you want to choose another company and product line/range outside those listed. The reason for obtaining clearance is to make sure that your company possesses sufficient information to put together a viable piece of coursework.
Coursework Requirements
Please follow the steps outlined below to make sure your video contains the correct information for examining the challenges and strategic options confronting your selected company and its product line or range.
Place group member names and matriculation numbers on a title slide at the beginning of your video.
Just provide very brief background information about the company and a description of its product line or range that is being investigated.
Determine the competitive stance for the product line or range you are investigating. Please provide a rationale for your choice of competitive stance(s) based upon evidence gathered from industry sources, quotes, video clips from the company or YouTube etc.
Employ PESTEL Analysis to determine country-specific and world-wide trends affecting your company and its product line/range. You won’t be able to mention everything, so identify and prioritise the trends you think are going to be the most important/challenging in the short to medium term (i.e. within the next 1 to 5 years). This analysis will help the group to determine the market conditions confronting the company. Make sure you take into account the affects the trends will have on the company’s competitive stance for the particular product line or range being investigated, i.e. pricing, costs, suppliers etc. There is no need to tell the viewer the purpose of PESTEL Analysis, take it for read he or she knows this already.
Prepare two strategic group maps. Ideally, the first map should employ product quality and pricing policy to identify your company’s position within the marketplace. These two axes have been selected, because they mirror what most people perceive (strategy scholars in particular) to be the primary dimensions of how companies compete against their rivals. This map should identify your company’s main competitors as well. This mapping exercise will clarify whether there is a match between the company’s desired competitive stance for its product or range and its actual position in the minds of others like customers.
Please state in the video why this is a favourable or unfavourable comparison for the company’s product or range being investigated. For example, if it is an unfavourable match, this would suggest that the company needs to take further actions to either strengthen its position (increase or change its advertising, introduce quality improvements, increase R&D expenditure etc) or maybe drastically change competitive stance.
The second map should employ other variables for its axis to determine other differences or similarities between your company and its rivals. Like the first map, you should discuss what the map reveals about your company’s product or ranges compared to the competition. It may provide clues for further actions that need to be undertaken by the company going forward. For both maps, please inform the marker within the video the source of the data used for each axis, if possible, rather than employing your own subjective opinion.
Determine the competitive conditions confronting your company’s product or range by performing a Porter’s Five forces for the particular market being investigated. Please make sure you that in the main you are examining the local market context, however, often the factors affecting each force are determined internationally rather than locally, so let the marker know if this is the case. Please for this analysis just present your key findings, don’t discuss everything you discover! Just what you think are the most important factors affecting each force in detail. This also means it is okay to ignore the forces you don’t think are significant and just describe the ones that you do. However, please state briefly in the video why you have ignored any forces.
From the above PESTEL Analysis, Strategic Group Mapping and 5 Forces Analysis you should now assess whether the company should grow, retrench, or consolidate the company’s product line or range investigated. Explain the reasoning behind your choices based on the analysis performed. If you select growth, which most of you will do, it can be approached from four different perspectives as described by Ansoff’s Growth Matrix.
According to Ansoff’s Growth Matrix, company growth can be achieved by using four tactics. These tactics are market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. Your task is to determine which one of these tactics, or combination, should be employed by the company. Further information about market penetration, market development, product development and diversification can be read on pages 238 to 242 and 256 to 258 of Whittington, R. Regnér, P., Angwin, D., Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (2020). Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases,(12th ed.), Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited (i.e., the required textbook).
According to your findings explain whether the current competitive stance of your company’s product or range should be changed, maintained, or abandoned all together? Please note that it takes many years to establish a company’s reputation and build the necessary resources and competences to compete in a particular way, so a competitive stance should not be abandoned lightly.
To complement the video, you should construct a 300-word reflective summary document discussing the competitive strategy lessons you or the group collectively learnt from analysing a company’s product line or product range for a particular market. For example, the content of the reflective summary might explain how the video assignment improved your own or the group’s understanding of the subject area in general and/or the employment of analytical techniques particularly. The individual or group can also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of how the coursework was planned and implemented – what would the individual or group do better in the future. It might also discuss how easy or challenging it was working in a group if this was how the coursework was completed.
The reflective document should include your name and ID or in the case of a group the names of all those involved and their IDs.
You should paste the shared video link obtained from Microsoft Stream to your reflective document as well.
You should also place a list of any references used in the video at the end of the reflective document rather than within the video.
Cruising to Success: The Tale of New Belgium Brewing Foundation: The organization, New Belgium Brewing, all began with a mountain biking trip in Belgium. Where waffles aren’t the main thing that advanced toward America. Jeff Lebesch invested energy in Belgium riding all through the nation on his bicycle. During his time there, he was acquainted with their novel style of lagers. Jeff accepted he could begin a business, producing Belgian brew in America; so that is actually what he did. From his very own storm cellar and with the assistance of Kim Jordan, they were capable art a top notch lager, Flat Tire. This was to pay tribute to Jeff’s Belgian mountain biking experience. The New Belgium Brewing Company has developed and extended to more than 37 states. Punctured Tire stays as one of the America’s most well known local brews since the 1990’s. Jeff and Kim both took as much time as necessary to inquire about and make an assortment of value brews. They needed an item that would be charming to their focused on market. With much achievement, they had the option to command over their opponents and make an upper hand by presenting something remarkable. The notoriety of the New Belgium Brewing Company has incited different organizations to grow new lagers so as to contend with the best in class Flat Tire. They have transformed their image into a multimillion-dollar achievement. This organization would not be the place it is at today without the assistance of Kim Jordan. She made a compelling promoting plan while keeping up the organization’s basic beliefs and maintainability. Promoting idea: The promoting idea, as indicated by the book, is a way of thinking that an association should attempt to fulfill clients’ needs through a lot of exercises that will enable the association to accomplish its objectives. New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) has worked admirably making a brand that is anything but difficult to keep on creating alongside speaking to their focused on market. They have deliberately taken as much time as necessary on every factor of the advertising blend by inquiring about and making new lagers. New Belgium advertising is appeared through all parts of the organization since it is settled. They center their exertion around great excellent lager that basically sells itself. They needed to ensure that their advancement of their specialty lagers was viable by persuading merchants to convey their image. They built up an evaluating methodology by estimating their image higher than some other household brew organizations to have a higher net revenue, which has made more challenge with adversaries. They let their organization’s qualities and activities represent what sort of organization New Belgium Brewing is. They intensely advance their image through Facebook and Twitter. New Belgium Brewing Company fruitful showcasing and one of a kind brand picture has helped them gain notoriety and has enabled the organization to extend. Kim Jordan accomplishment at New Belgium: Kim Jordan is a noteworthy lady. She has made another perspective with regards to brew. Whenever Kim and Jeff Lebesch began the organization, Kim turned into the advertising executive and CEO. She was one of only a handful couple of female CEOs on the lager business. She co-made this organization from the base up. With her showcasing abilities, she had the option to advance a one of a kind brand that has both quality and incredible introduction that will in general stick out. She had expanded the benefits by giving more worth and charging a significant expense for their items. The organization keeps on developing, as it is third biggest specialty brewers in the nation. Kim Jordan comprehended that the organization needed to do well monetarily to have the option to utilize benefits to help and find out about the earth. Jordan’s vision for the organization’s way of life was to esteem their workers, clients, condition, and network. She framed an effective business by making a decent item, putting it on racks, and making a special brand. Despite the fact that the specialty brew is profoundly valued, she ensured it would fulfill clients. Maintainability as a basic belief: Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch have made maintainability a top need since the start. They endeavor to be a green organization, which is uncommon for a blending organization. They have accomplished such a great deal to contribute by rehearsing wind power, reusing, and giving overabundance wheat to ranchers. While the organization may have begun little, for it has set aside some effort to advance and appropriate their lager, they have always remembered their basic beliefs. They let their workers take part effectively inside the organization to share inventiveness and permitting proprietorship. The organization gives representatives a cruiser bike following a time of business, so they can bicycle to work as opposed to driving. New Belgium Brewing esteems their kin and the earth before benefit. The organization is effectively associated with their workers, network, and in general condition. End: Without Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan, we wouldn’t have such a stunning assortment of Belgium lagers to drink. They have actualized an outstanding advertising idea to enable their organization to develop. Kim Jordan had the correct thought by advancing a special brand with extraordinary introduction. She was a noteworthy part in the organization’s prosperity. Without her showcasing system, the items would not be too known or advertised. The organization has likewise kept with their guiding principle, particularly maintainability. They made approaches to offer more to their representatives, networks, and condition. The general organization is as yet endeavoring in the preparing business. The New Belgium Brewing had worked superbly in advancing their item. They have stayed as one of the top fermenting organizations in America. They have done precisely what they expected to do to advance and market their brews. Through their extraordinary advertising systems, they have kept on creating and develop. Assets: “Part 1.” Foundations of Marketing, by William M. Pride and O. C. Ferrell, seventh ed., Cengage Learning, 2017, pp. 21–22. “Specialty Beer | Independent | New Belgium Brewing.” Craft Beer from New Belgium Brewing, www.newbelgium.com/. Dahl, Darren. “How New Belgium Brewing Has Found Sustainable Success.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 28 Jan. 2016, www.forbes.com/locales/darrendahl/2016/01/27/how-new-belgium-blending has-found-feasible achievement/#40873b3386a6.