The first part of the assignment is a written business analysis report that you, acting as a newly appointed director of WRSX Group will prepare for your immediate superior, Ms. Juliet Waldron, the Chair of the company. Ms. Waldron has appointed you to sit as a director who will provide the board in general and to the company Chair in particular your expert insights and objective evaluation and reflection on the strategic activities of the firm, the strategic issues that the firm decides to deal with, and the key decisions that the board makes to move the firm forward. For purposes of this assessment, in effect, your directorship role is essentially that of a ‘shadow’ and ‘accountability’ director who can freely and objectively critique and exact accountability on the board’s decisions and actions. The board has welcomed you in the exercise of this important role at a critical juncture of the firm’s development as a growing international firm. As you can read from J. Waldron’s welcome message to you – the marching order is to sustain the international growth trajectory of WRSX towards sustainable business performance. Your main task therefore is to assist the board and J. Waldron in finding out how.
The underlying questions that you should bear in mind in preparing this assessment task is: “Given the salient strategic features or characteristics of WRSX’s internal and external business environments, do you think and in what way the board’s two (2) most current decisions, namely (a) to explore the market opportunity in China and (b) to explore opportunities in digital media advertising, will enable the board to address the critical strategic issue of sustaining the growth of the firm amidst a highly globalised advertising and communications industry?
This assignment is an opportunity for you to familiarise yourself with WRSX company and to draw on what you have learned primarily from this unit, and also from your other core units and respective majors in addressing the key strategic issues that a business organisation like WRSX Group needs to confront towards sustainable business performance. You will demonstrate your skills in the systematic analysis of an organisation (i.e. its internal and external business environments) towards aiding the strategic growth of the firm internationally. You are expected to draw on the topics that are covered in this unit in your systematic and critical analysis of business management issues and strategic decisions and present the results of your analysis in a concise yet comprehensive manner that aids managerial decision-making.
Point of View: You are allowed to use first (e.g. I propose that….), second person (e.g. You need to address…) or third person (e.g. This analysis shows that…) in your point of view. Be consistent all throughout the document. Remember, you are presenting this report to the Chair of WRSX, Ms. J. Waldron.
Structure of the Report:
Cover page/Front Page
1. Executive summary/Introduction (max 200 words)
2. Strategic Assessment of the Firm (i.e. Internal Environment) (800 words)
3. Strategic Assessment of the Firm’s External Business Environment (800 words)
4. Managerial Evaluation of the Growth Opportunities: (1300 words)
a. Market Opportunity in China
b. Opportunities in Digital Media Advertising
5. Synthesis/Conclusion (max 400 words)
6. References (not counted in word limit)
7. Appendices (not counted in word limit)
The allocated maximum number of words in each section is indicative or recommendatory only. The allocation of the number of words shows the degree of importance placed on each section relative to others. In your actual final work, there may be slight variations such as having a bit more in one section and a bit less in others. Such condition is perfectly fine and can be realistically expected depending on the focus of your analysis.
The details of each section are discussed below.
Cover page/Front Page:
Please provide the following details in the cover page of your report:
Title of the report: You can simply say, Business Analysis Report for WRSX. You may want to be creative and add a running title if your team wishes so.
Name of Student and corresponding ID Number.
Tutorial Session Day and Time and Campus. Please indicate the day and time of your tutorial session as well as Campus location. If off-campus/online, please indicate so.
1. Executive Summary
The executive summary should present what the report is all about and the highlights of the main findings/components of the report. It should articulate, among others, clearly the main purpose of the analysis/report and the main findings. By reading the executive summary, the reader should have an overview of what the report is all about and be enticed to read the rest of the report.
2. Strategic Assessment of the Firm (i.e. Internal Environment) (800 words)
As discussed in class, there are many ways, theories, concepts, frameworks, models, approaches and analytical tools that you can use to evaluate the current state of the firm. Your main task in this section is to systematically tease out or uncover whether the firm, WRSX is strategically positioned or not (e.g. in terms of its current resources, capabilities and strategies – and how these have evolved over time) to respond to the two important opportunities that the board needed to address (opportunities in China and digital media advertising). This section challenges your ability to use and apply relevant topics in this unit to show that the firm is strong enough or weak enough to respond well or (not) in meeting the challenges of the two opportunities sitting at the board’s table for decision and action. In other words, you will have to tease out the key resource-based considerations that you think WRSX need to take into account in order to respond well to the two opportunities mentioned earlier.
Use the supporting documents available in our CD as your basis of analysis and it is up to you to decide what argument to pursue, which theories, concepts, models, analytical tools and techniques to apply in order to support your argument. This particular task challenges your knowledge of our topics in Strategic Management, critical thinking and problem-solving skills – these are important graduate learning outcomes that we are focusing on this assessment/unit. An important element of this task is for you to demonstrate your ability to APPLY a relevant theory, concept, model, tool, etc. to the specific context of WRSX. Application means using it rather than simply mentioning it in your assignment.
3. Strategic Assessment of the Firm’s External Business Environment (800 words)
As discussed in class, there are many ways, theories, concepts, frameworks, models, approaches and analytical tools that you can use to evaluate the external business environment of the firm. You also need to remember that the firm’s external business environment has many layers. You may choose to focus on one particular layer that you think is relevant to your argument or analysis with respect to the rest of the report. Your main goal in this section of the report is to identify the key industry-based and/or institutional considerations that WRSX needs to take into account as it confronts the two opportunities. Guide questions may include: What are the emerging industry and macro-environmental trends, opportunities and threats (from the point of view of WRSX) that are related directly or indirectly to the emergence of the two strategic opportunities (China and digital media)? What are the key industry forces relevant to the competitiveness of WRSX and its ability to respond well to these two opportunities? Is the global industry competitive? Is the institutional environment risky? What do these risks entail for firms in the global advertising industry including WRSX?
A suggested approach is to have a two layer analysis. The first layer analysis should focus on the nature of competition and its implications for WRSX. The second layer should focus on the wider business (institutional) and its implications for WRSX. Remember not to lose the connection of your analysis and arguments to the rest of the report (e.g. sections 2 and 4). Use the supporting documents available in our CD as your basis of analysis and it is up to you decide what argument to pursue, which theories, concepts, models, analytical tools and techniques to apply in order to support your argument. This particular task challenges your knowledge of our topics in Strategic Management, critical thinking and problem-solving skills – these are important graduate learning outcomes that we are focusing on this assessment/unit. An important element of this task is for you to demonstrate your ability to APPLY a relevant theory, concept, model, tool, etc. to the specific context of WRSX and its business environment. Application means using it rather than simply mentioning it in your assignment.
4. Managerial Evaluation of the Two Growth Opportunities: (1300 words)
a. Market Opportunity in China
b. Opportunities in Digital Media Advertising
In this section of the report, you need to examine closely these two growth opportunities in terms of whether WRSX is strategically prepared to respond effectively to these opportunities based on your findings in sections 2 and 3 above given the current state of the firm and the characteristics of its external business environment. In other words, you need to present your analysis on the resource-based, industry based and institutional considerations of the strategic position of WRSX as well as its decisions with respect to these two opportunities. The essential elements of your analysis in this section are as follows:
a. Market Opportunity in China (650 words)
1. Identify and describe which specific strategy within the Ansoff’s Matrix can be used by WRSX to exploit this market opportunity in China. Be able to identify and explain which action option (a, b or c) is consistent with that strategy that you have chosen.
2. Present a comprehensive yet concise discussion on how that strategy and action option fits the current state of the firm, WRSX and its external environment (i.e. your findings on sections 2 and 3 above). In other words, you must discuss whether WRSX has the necessary resources/capabilities to undertake such strategy/action option successfully and on whether this strategy will enable WRSX to address the key findings in section 3 (external environmental analysis). Is there a fit between the strategy/action option and that of the state of WRSX given its external business challenges?
Draw on our relevant topics to explain/justify your arguments.
3. Based on your discussion above, make a brief comment on how the strategy/action option meets the SAFE criteria for evaluating strategies from a strategy tripod perspective.
b. Opportunities in Digital Media Advertising (650 words)
1. Identify and describe which specific strategy within Porter’s 3 generic strategies can be used by WRSX to exploit this opportunity in digital advertising. Be able to identify and explain which action option (a, b or c) is consistent with that strategy that you have chosen.
2. Present a comprehensive yet concise discussion on how that strategy and action option fits the current state of the firm, WRSX and its external environment (i.e. your findings on sections 2 and 3 above). In other words, you must discuss whether WRSX has the necessary resources/capabilities to undertake such strategy/action option successfully and on whether this strategy will enable WRSX to address your key findings in section 3 (external environmental analysis). Draw on our relevant topics to explain/justify your arguments.
3. Based on your discussion above, make a brief comment on how the strategy/action option meets the SAFE criteria for evaluating strategies from a strategy tripod perspective.
5. Synthesis/Conclusion (max 400 words)
This section should provide your managerial insights after undertaking the analyses above and present a call for action for the board of directors of WRXS. Depending on your findings above, you should present your overall comments, observations, and insights on how WRSX can take advantage of the two opportunities in order to contribute to the strategic goal of sustaining the international growth of WRSX and improving its sustainable business performance.
6. List of references (not counted in the world limit)
7. Appendices (not counted in the word limit)
You place here all supporting analyses/graphs, tables, etc. that you think will add value to the main points that you have presented in the report. You can use this section in a strategic way by placing supporting information (e.g. tables, figures, graphs, etc) which you think will provide more details about some critical information that you have provided or highlighted in the main body of the report.