Summary Now that you have evaluated your organisation’s current vision, mission, values statements, and strategic objectives, it is time to think about taking the organisation’s strategy to the next level, and making it a means to deliver superior value. Overall, your Capstone Assessment is a strategic planning extercise for an organisation that you select. Your selected organisation can be the same one you worked on for the first assessment, or it can be any other organisation from the service, not-for-profit, public, manufacturing, or any other sector or industry that you are familiar with. You are required to conduct a detailed assessment of various components of the strategic management process, and suggest which business strategy you believe will be the most appropriate for your chosen organisation, and explain why. Referencing is Australian Harvard (AGPS) and outlined in the AIB Style Guide. Subject learning outcomes Demonstrate advanced understanding of contemporary strategic management theory, concepts and principles (LO#1). Demonstrate advanced knowledge of how strategy formulation and strategy implementation processes work in contemporary organisations LO#2). Conduct an in-depth analysis of the internal and external environment using appropriate strategic management concepts and tools (LO#3). Evaluate different strategic alternatives and suggest an appropriate and ethical pathway for a business to build and sustain competitive advantage (LO#4). Demonstrate ability to synthesise a range of business and management concepts when undertaking strategic analysis (LO#5). Requirements Specifically, you need to: 1. Clearly describe the chosen organisation and industry/sector (approximately 200 words). 2. Critically examine your organisation’s internal competitive resource and capabilities using a VRIN (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non-substitutable) framework (approximately 800 words). 3. Analyse the organisation’s competitive environment. You can analyse the competitive environment using Porter’s Five Forces Framework. Assess the nature/strength of the competitive pressures and suggest whether the collective strength of the five forces (in your chosen industry/sector) is conducive to good value for the selected organisation (approximately 900 words). 4. Based on your analysis, recommend which of the five generic strategies will be most appropriate for your chosen organisation. The recommendation(s) must be clearly justified (approximately 800 words). 5. Provide your overall conclusion and recommendations (approximately 300 words). Format The word count for this assessment is 3000 words (+10%). In terms of structure, presentation, and style you are required to use: AIB standard report format (Report template) AIB preferred Microsoft Word settings author-date style referencing (which includes in-text citations plus a reference list). These requirements are detailed in the AIB Style Guide. You are required to use six to twelve (6-12) references for this assessment. All references must be from credible sources such as books, industry-related journals, magazines, company documents, and recent academic articles. Your grade will be adversely affected if your report contains no/poor citations and/or reference list and if the word length is beyond the allowed tolerance level (see Assessment Policy available on AIB website). Useful resources when working on your report include: AIB Style Guide AIB Online Library
