THE LEVEL OF DEPTH REQUIRED TO GIVE A GOOD SPECIFIC ANSWER REQUIRES A SIMILAR LEVEL OF DEPTH WITHIN THE CASE.

10 Jul THE LEVEL OF DEPTH REQUIRED TO GIVE A GOOD SPECIFIC ANSWER REQUIRES A SIMILAR LEVEL OF DEPTH WITHIN THE CASE.

The Project:

You are working for an educational publishing company that sells business and management case studies to schools and colleges internationally. The company is keen to develop a strategic management case study for which MBA students in the UAE/GCC will be the target market.

This assignment has 2 parts:

The case study will identify a strategic issue that needs resolution. To provide a context and promote originality, the case will be a real organization (Company, Private business, Public body or Social Enterprise) that operates in the UAE. The case should be based on secondary data, i.e. public domain knowledge. The case description should be around 1,000.

The case should lead to a strategic management issue or problem. Use this company: https://www.adcb.com/

Part 1: 1000 Words – No Reference Required here

The case description should give appropriate information about the organization:

· Ownership structure

· Financial situation

· Key product(s)

· Corporate objectives

· Its current generic strategy

· Key strengths and weaknesses.

It may also be relevant to consider the market situation:

· The organization’s key competitors

· The level of industry rivalry

· Product lifecycle(s);

· Consumer needs and wants

· Industry trends.

Although the case study should be based on real facts, you may include a limited amount of fiction. For example, you may wish to suggest a scenario where one director argues for a merger while another favors investment in research and development in order to create new products.

At the end of the case description, there should be two strategic management questions.

1. One of the questions should require the ‘student’ to devise or suggest a strategy for the future, to satisfy a specific objective or goal, or to solve a specific problem or issue.

2. The other question is open, but should require students to apply their knowledge of strategic management theories and techniques to the case organization and scenario.

Part 2: 2000 words, 15 academic journal References required here I have included a list of reading only use that list please

Teaching notes. Using academic theory and analytical frameworks, this will clearly explain how the case illustrates strategic management theory. Note that marks are awarded for how well the two parts integrate.

Theories or concepts covered in the module must be used to support the teaching notes. You may also use other appropriate sources such as strategic management text books and journals. Their use must be appropriate and clearly justified.

Think of the teaching notes as a set of possible model answers (i.e. for each question, at least two acceptable answers should be provided, which draw upon relevant theory or techniques). In real life, there is rarely only one way to achieve an objective or specific goal and this is why we need to consider multiple approaches/possible strategies. Remember, case answers should be given in

the form of a conclusion (e.g. this is what the firm should do), followed by evidence of how you arrived at this conclusion. It may be appropriate to spell out the learning outcomes of the case.

The teaching notes should not read as possible answers; rather, they are notes to guide tutors.

So, a suitable writing style may be as follows:

In response to new competitors in Company X’s market, students may suggest that Company X refers to theory A or theory B. These would be relevant because….. (referring to specific details in the case). Higher ability students may recognize the possibility of using technique C (e.g. strategic group analysis) because…… Examples of analysis that students may do include…… and students may evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of cost versus differentiation strategies.

There should be clear alternative answers suggested in the teaching notes, e.g. the firm could do a, b, or c, but perhaps c is the best option because….

Things to Keep in Mind which have direct impact on the final mark:

· The case study is based on a suitable organization that operates in the UAE

· The case provides accurate, appropriate and sufficient information about the chosen organization, its market, its customers, and its competitors

· The scenario is based on a strategic issue

· The two questions should be (i) original and interesting (ii) allow a range of possible answers/responses (iii) allow theory from the course to be used (iv) unlikely to lead to overlapping content or repetition in answers

· Ensure that you address a strategic issue (company level, not functional level).

· Try to avoid disclosing new information within the teaching notes; all information required to answer the questions should be contained within the case description.

· Having written the questions and possible answers you might find that the original question just does not work very well. A good case will be re-drafted several times until there is a good fit between the case and the answers.

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· The questions and answers should not lead to a brain-dump of all the strategic management theory you know. Good case studies focus in on specific areas of strategy, with practical issues arising from the case. You need to answer these well, rather than use a scattergun approach.

· The level of depth required to give a good specific answer requires a similar level of depth within the case. If there is not enough data available to provide this, then this suggests either a poor choice of case or a poor choice of question.

· Given that this is a graduate level module, basic SWOT analysis should be avoided in answers. You need to ask whether the questions being asked are appropriate for MBA students – specifically strategic management students.

· However, SWOT analysis might be a useful part of the case description if it is then used to answer the questions. If a SWOT helps to answer the questions, consider providing it as part of the case description.

· The teaching notes detail multiple possible answers for each of the two questions, with analysis and evaluation (e.g. the answer may offer three possible and clearly-defined alternative strategies, which are then evaluated for advantages and disadvantages)

· Both answers make use of the literature and theory learnt in the module