Please provide only a short introduction to state the company, strategy and define the industry in context.
Q1. External analysis (not about company). PESTEL & 5 Forces – approx. 1100 words
PESTEL: 6 most important issues to be identified, discussed and each concluded as an O or a T.
5 Forces: each force to be discussed and assessed as High, Moderate or Low. Having these forces in mind assess industry attractiveness.
Os and Ts from PESTEL (and 5 Forces – e.g. high rivalry) should be placed in TOWS in Q3.
Q2. Internal analysis (resources and competences) – approx 900 words
Resources (what a company has) – descriptive approach. Approximately 5 resources (4 to 6) to be identified and discussed (each should be discussed in a separate paragraph and concluded as a Strength or a Weakness). Try to address human, physical and intangible resources (financial resources are important but you are not required to address these). Try to identify at least one Weakness.
Competences (what a company does). Two tables needed (Value Chain and VRIO). Approximately 5 activities (distinctive competences) to be placed in Value Chain and pushed through VRIO to identify one Core Competence.
One distinctive competence (ideally core competence) should be discussed in detail (explain the activity, state why it is good/special, provide evidence, provide your reasoning behind VRIO – why is this activity Valuable to customers, Rare and difficult to imitate; do not worry about O, just assume that all activities have organisational support) in the main body. You can discuss another distinctive competence in the appendix. Each distinctive competence is a Strength, so (assuming that you identified and discussed 5 resources – 4 Ss and 1 W) in total you should have 5Ss (competences) + 4Ss (resources) + 1W (resources).
The above Ss and Ws should be placed in TOWS in Q3.
Note that in Q2 you should discuss resources and competences of the main company (acquirer) without the target. The target company should not be discussed at all.
Q3. Evaluation – approx. 700 – 1000 words. (S: 150; A: 500; F: 150).
It is the specific strategy that should be evaluated! Strategy was given with the company (it depends on the company you chose for your assignment). This is where you may mention the target company (this is not a requirement). You are not required to carry out internal analysis for the target company (you will go over your word limit and might sacrifice quality for quantity).
Suitability (does the strategy make sense). Start with TOWS. Place the strategy you are evaluating in one of the inner 4 quadrants and try to link internal and external issues with it (e.g. if you placed a strategy in SO quadrant state what Ss you combine with what Os while considering the strategy.
Acceptability (is the strategy acceptable – to selected stakeholders). Identify a number of stakeholder groups (e.g. 5) and place them in a Power/Interest matrix. Then select 3 groups and for each discuss how will they be affected by the strategy you are evaluating and therefore is the strategy acceptable to them or not.
Feasibility (can the strategy be implemented). Discuss skills and financial resources that may be required (and how did/will the company obtain these).
General guidelines
No need for conclusions (Os, Ts, forces, industry attractiveness are conclusions from Q1, Ss and Ws from resources and competences including core competences are conclusions from Q2 and SAFe – is the strategy suitable, acceptable and feasible is the conclusion for Q3).
Please do not discuss theory and models, it is all about your application.
Do not provide many pages of references (bibliography) – one is enough. It is more important to provide in-text references for figures, charts, quotes you have used in support of your arguments.
Total word count should not exceed 2500 (2500 + 10%) and you should not have more than 6 pages of appendices.
Good luck!