assigns 1,2,3 and 4

Assignment 1

Deadline: 06/03/2021 @ 23:59

For Instructor’s Use only

Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY

· The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated folder.

· Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.

· Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented; marks may be reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover page.

· Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.

· Late submission will NOT be accepted.

· Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.

· All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font. No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).

· Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.

Structure of the project

The 3 assignments of this course will be parts of a project, which aims to study the four basic elements of strategic management of the company ‘X’ from your choice. It is structured as follow:

· Part 1: Assignment 1= Environmental scanning & strategy formulation.

· Part 2: Assignment 2= Strategy implementation.

· Part 3: Assignment 3= Evaluation and control.

Description of the company ‘X’

· It is a company from your choice;

· From real national or international market;

· It is publicly traded company;

· Produces and commercializes more than one product;

· Sufficient information about the strategies of the company, its functions and product lines are available;

· This company should have at least one partnership with other company (es) (alliances, joint venture, arrangement…).

Note.

The selected company must meet the above criteria. If you face any ambiguity regarding the choice of the corporation, kindly feel free to ask more clarification from your instructor.

Assignment 1: Part 1 of project

Environmental scanning & strategy formulation

Learning outcomes:

1. Understand the basic concepts and terminology used in Strategic Management. (Lo 1.2)

2. Identify opportunities and threats as well as strengths and weakness in the operating environment of hypothetical and real-world organizations (Lo 2.9)

3. Understand issues related to strategic competitive advantage in organizations (Lo 2.2)

4. Identify appropriate strategies for different situations (Lo 3.1).

Assignment Questions (5 Marks)

1. Briefly present your selected company (name, industry, nationality, location, size, activities, products…) (Max 200 words). (0.5 mark)

2. Determine the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses of your selected company by completing the SWOT matrix in the answer sheet. (1 mark)

3. Does your selected company have social responsibility? If yes, discuss its impact on competitive advantage of the corporation. (Max 400 words) (1 mark)

4. Based on the figure 4.3 (Ch4-slide no 18) and the textbook text relative to Porter’s Five forces of competition framework, assess the power of the buyers, suppliers and substitutes of your chosen company. How formidable are the barriers to entry and how intense is the rivalry among existing firms? ( 2 marks)

5. What is the competitive strategy used by your selected company? Justify. (0.5 mark)

Answers:

1. Briefly present your selected company (name, industry, nationality, location, size, activities, products…) (Max 200 words). (0.5 mark)

Answer:

The company: Unilever PLC

Industry: consumer goods

Nationality: It is a British company with its headquarters in London.

Location: The Company is a multinational consumer goods company. This means it is located in different countries around the world. It is located in over 190 countries worldwide.

Size: Company has an approximation of over 155, 000 employees in all its branches worldwide.

Activities: the main activity that Unilever is focused in is the production of fast moving consumer goods.

Products: The company owns over 400brands: food, confections, energy drinks, baby food, soft drinks, cheese, ice cream, tea, cleaning agents, coffee, pet food, bottled water, toothpaste, chewing gum, frozen pizza, pregnancy tests, juice, margarine, beauty products, personal care, breakfast cereals, pharmaceutical, Axe/Lynx, Dove, Omo, Heart brand ice creams, Hellmann's, Knorr, Lipton, Lux, Magnum, Rexona/Degree, Sunsilk, Surfand consumer healthcare products and many more.

2. Determine the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses of your selected company by completing the SWOT matrix in the answer sheet. (1 mark)

3. Does your selected company have social responsibility? If yes, discuss its impact on competitive advantage of the corporation. (Max 400 words) (1 mark)

Answer

Unilever has a corporate social responsibility strategy. The company tries to satisfy the stakeholders’ interests in the consumer goods business. The stakeholders include consumers, employees, investors, suppliers, and communities. The company’s social responsibility strategy prioritizes these stakeholders per their importance to the business (Ajayi et al., 2020). The strategy aims at meeting the expectations and interests of consumers as stakeholders. The strategy puts consumers at the top.

The strategy makes sure that the needs of the stakeholders are met. To meet the expectations, the company produces the desired goods and the desired quality of goods. The impact of the strategy is that it keeps its loyal customers impressed and satisfied. This removes any thought of looking for similar products in other companies. It has a sure market for its products which assures profits.

4. Based on the figure 4.3 (Ch4-slide no 18) and the textbook text relative to Porter’s Five forces of competition framework, assess the power of the buyers, suppliers and substitutes of your chosen company. How formidable are the barriers to entry and how intense is the rivalry among existing firms? ( 2 marks)

Answer

According to porter's five forces of competition framework, a company's profitability will depend on five points (Dobbs, 2014). Among the forces is the buyers of the products. Buyers are the primary profit givers to the company. Unilever products are mostly home-used products. The main customers are ordinary people (Ajayi et al., 2020). This means the customers have a lot of say in the profit being made by the company. The company also depends on the suppliers to deliver their produce to the retailers. The suppliers have the power to encourage the retailers to sell more of the products. They determine whether the retailers want to continue selling the company's products. Substitute goods have a lot of influence on the profits of Unilever (Dobbs, 2014). The company has to make substitute goods that can be preferred instead of the main product. This is the case of the choosy people. The substitute goods from other companies are a threat to profit-making. The company has to make sure it has better produce than its rival substitutes.

The entry into the market is a difficult one. Large and famous companies highly dominate the industry. The industry thus requires a lot of influence and capital to compete with the existing companies. The rivalry among the existing companies is very intense. The companies dealing in similar products as Unilever are large companies, for instance, Nestle, Newell Brands, and Kimberly-Clark. This makes the competition very high and interesting. The better company in terms of quality and advertising mostly wins the competition.

5. What is the competitive strategy used by your selected company? Justify. (0.5 mark)

Answer

Unilever uses differentiation as its generic strategy. The strategy aims at emphasizing the features that make the products of the firm outstanding among its competitors. The strategy makes sure consumers understand why the products from Unilever are preferential. The strategy is advantageous, bearing in mind that customers need the best (Unit et al., 2015). When you describe the best traits of the produce, this gives the products an added competitive advantage.

References

Ajayi, O. A., & Mmutle, T. (2020). Corporate reputation through strategic communication of corporate social responsibility. Corporate Communications: An International Journal.

Dobbs, M. E. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review.

Unit, B., Star, E., & SmartWay, E. P. A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility.