Global and international business strategies
Summative Assessment: An individual report. An analysis of an organisation involved in an international strategic development.
Each student will choose ONE international business organisation (from the below list) that has undertaken an international strategy.
Choose one of the following cases for your assignment – acquirers are in bold underline font:
CRH and LH assets. Case: CHR plc: Optimising value through corporate strategy, Johnson et al. (2020) p. 707.
Elekta and Neuromag. Case: Managing M&A: Elekta’s acquisition of Neuromag, Johnson et al. (2020) p. 702.
Wanda and AMC OR Wanda and Legendary Entertainment deal. Case: China goes to Hollywood – Wanda’s move into the US movie industry, Johnson et al. (2020) Ed 12 p.299.
The aim of the assignment is to carry out an assessment of an international strategy that the company has recently undertaken. You should use recognised techniques to analyse and present the organisation’s strategy.
This assignment is about application of the models not about theory so please do not discuss any theory at all (it does not contribute to your mark and you will be wasting your words)!
The following aspects should be addressed:
PART 1 (related to the current strategic positon of the organisation – SWOT matrix)
Note: You need to understand the business environment for the appropriate industry and geographical location so make sure that your analysis and conclusions are relevant.
The first task is to discuss strategic position of the organisation (in the right context):
External analysis (20%): Clearly state the company (case study) and define the industry. This task is about identification of current Opportunities and Threats in that business environment:
Carry out PESTEL analysis (20%) to discuss the business environment (current) -> Identify Opportunities and Threats for that business environment.
Note that you should carry out current PESTEL analysis. Identify in total 5 issues (make sure that each is concluded as an Opportunity or a Threat for the environment and provide evidence – use data to support your arguments).
Internal analysis of the acquirer (20%):
This task is about identification of current Strengths and Weaknesses of the organisation (acquirer excluding the target company).
Identify and discuss 4 to 5 distinctive resources (human, physical and financial) that are especially relevant for the company’s international strategy.
This task should be done in a descriptive way (each resource should be named, concluded as a Strength or a Weakness for the organisation and a discussion should be produced for each item in a separate paragraph demonstrating why it is a Strength or a Weakness. Make sure that you use appropriately referenced data to support your arguments.
Identify and discuss a number of distinctive capabilities (competences or activities):
Construct a Value Chain and place a number of activities (approx. 4 to 5) as appropriate. Choose the most important activity (distinctive competence) for the company’s international strategy and discuss it in detail demonstrating why it is a distinctive competence.
All distinctive competences should be listed as company’s Strengths (Ss). In total around 10 internal issues (resources and capabilities/competences) should be identified and discussed for the organisation (e.g. 4 Ss and 1 W from resources and 5 Ss from Value chain – capabilities = 10 internal issues in total).
SWOT matrix: list Os, Ts (from Q1) and Ss and Ws (from this question, Q2) in a SWOT matrix.
PART 2 (related to the strategy):
Apply Ansoff matrix to discuss the direction of the strategy the company undertook while implementing the deal (10%).
Identify and discuss drivers of inter nationalization (Yip) (20%): Identify and discuss inter nationalization drivers (Market, Cost, Competitive and Government Drivers) relevant to the company’s decision to enter the M&A deal you chose to analyse for this assessment or in general (by looking at their international strategy prior or after the deal you are discussing in your assignment).
Discuss rationale and motivation behind the deal (20%): The method (of entry) is likely to be M&A so to address this question you should discuss Strategic, Financial and Managerial motives for the deal (you are discussing in your assignment).
