Mpm703 : Business Strategy And Assessment Answer

Internal Code : MAS478

Management Assignment

Report Writing

The business can be a publicly listed company in Australia or overseas which is of interest to you or to other members of your group, or it may be a large private or family business located either in Australia or overseas. It could also be a government agency or a non-government organisation, so long as it has an internal organisation and has some form of annual reporting. If you are in any doubt about the suitability of any organisation, please ask the Lecturer. Do not use or refer to assignments completed by students for this unit in previous trimesters. (A record of past assignments is kept.) Note also that the requirements of the assignment change from trimester to trimester.

The focus of this assignment is on the business level of analysis (rather than on corporate or operational levels). Therefore, if you select a diversified company then make sure you focus on only one of the company’s business units. The report must be specific and applied to the business. In other words, you must apply the relevant concepts and tools of business strategy to the particular conditions and circumstances of the business you are studying. General statements and references to theories and models that are not applied to your specific business will not add value to your assignment. Similarly, data about the business that is not analysed and presented from a strategic perspective – using the relevant concepts and tools of strategy – is of little value. To help you in this exercise, consider the position of the CEO of the business. Assume that he or she will be reading your report and will be looking for a strategic analysis and a set of recommendation that is practical and specific to her or his business. The CEO does not want to
read a broad analysis that could apply to any number of organisations and does not ‘speak’ to his or her business.

The presentation of your report is a critical aspect of this assignment. It is essential that your report is formatted appropriately, and carefully edited and re-edited to achieve a professional standard. (But remember, it is a serious business report, not marketing razzle-dazzle.) Allow time to draft and re-draft your assignment prior to the due date in order to improve the quality of writing and presentation. It is a good idea to plan on having the report finished two or three days before the due date to allow time for further refinement and editing.