Assessment Information
This assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes:
The assignment requires you to answer BOTH the following questions as part of your report:
1.Critically analyse the PESTEL and Porter’s 5 models for ONE of the following companies:
a.Rolls Royce
b.KLM Airline
c.Burberry
2.Based on your findings from question 1, critically analyse the strategic choices for the organisation you chose. For this part, it is expected that you not only apply the relevant models/frameworks appropriately but also justify their use in your analysis of the strategic choices for the chosen organisation.
For both questions, the strategic analysis for your choice of organisation needs to be grounded in academic literature taught on the module
Criteria for Assessment
Students should provide:
1.Evidence of appropriate level of knowledge of relevant academic theory and models
2.Evidence of understanding of selected theory
3.Evidence of appropriate application of selected theory
4.Evidence of critical analysis
5.Clear and concise communication.
There will be a penalty of a deduction of 10% of the mark (after internal moderation) for work exceeding the word limit by 10% or more.
The word limit includes quotations and citations, but excludes the references list.
Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed.
How to submit your assessment
As part of your study you will be involved in carrying out research and using this when writing up your coursework. It is important that you correctly acknowledge someone else’s writing, thoughts or ideas and that you do not attempt to pass this off as your own work. Doing so is known as plagiarism. It is not acceptable to copy from another source without acknowledging that it is someone else’s writing or thinking. This includes using paraphrasing as well as direct quotations. You are expected to correctly cite and reference the works of others. The Centre for Academic Writing provides documents to help you get this right. If you are unsure, please visit www.coventry.ac.uk/caw. You can also check your understanding of academic conduct by completing the Good Academic Practice quiz available on Moodle.
Self-plagiarism or reuse of work previously submitted
You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this and any other university, unless this is specifically provided for in your assignment brief or specific course or module information. Where earlier work by you is citable, ie. it has already been published/submitted, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be self-plagiarism. Self-plagiarism is unacceptable because you cannot gain credit for the same work twice.
Moodle includes a plagiarism detection system and assessors are experienced enough to recognise plagiarism when it occurs. Copying another student’s work, using previous work of your own or copying large sections from a book or the internet are examples of plagiarism and carry serious consequences. Please familiarise yourself with the CU Harvard Reference Style (on Moodle) and use it correctly to avoid a case of plagiarism or cheating being brought. Again, if you are unsure, please contact the Centre for Academic Writing, your Progress Coach or a member of the course team.
Return of Marked Work
You can expect to have marked work returned to you within 10 working days of submitting the assignment. If for any reason, there is a delay you will be kept informed. Marks and feedback will be provided online. As always, marks will have been internally moderated only, and will therefore be provisional; your mark will be formally agreed later in the year once the external examiner has completed his / her review.
Marking and Assessment Scheme
In order to secure a mark in this range, a candidate must submit an outstanding answer that could hardly be bettered. In addition to the criteria identified below for a mark between 70-85%, an answer scoring a mark of 85-100% would show an excellent level of understanding and critical/analytic skills and originality. For example, such an answer would include new insights into Strategic management which are not drawn from the literature but from the student's own critical thinking, and which add something to the existing literature.
A report in this range will demonstrate a strong understanding of theories, concepts and issues relating to Strategic management. There will be evidence of wide-ranging reading from a variety of valid sources (as described and presented in the marking criteria for 60-69%).
The assignment must be written in a clear, well-structured way with a coherent and seamless flow and show evidence of independent, critical thought. It must show extensive relevant reading on the subject and intelligent use of the material to present a well-balanced and well-argued assignment. For example, the student will have considered a range of relevant issues and be able to assess the strength and weaknesses of various approaches/arguments and put forward a confident and articulate view of their own.
A report in this mark range will demonstrate a good understanding of the requirements of the assignment and of theories, concepts and issues relating to Strategic management. An assignment in this percentage range will include a balanced discussion of issues central to the question, how these are addressed by different authors or sources and some critical thinking into their relative merits or shortcomings.
The answer will contain few errors and little, if any, irrelevant material. It will show evidence of reading from a variety of sources (i.e. more than 3 or 4) but not so many sources that the discussion loses focus and becomes unclear or irrelevant. All sources should be of some academic merit (e.g. books, journals, reports, media publications). Unreferenced material from non-credible internet sources MUST be avoided.
All sources must be included and properly referenced in the references. The assignment will be well-organised and clearly written/presented overall.
The answer will demonstrate some reasonable understanding of relevant theories, concepts and issues relating to Strategic management but also some minor errors of fact or understanding.
The assignment will not be based on an extensive range of sources (for example few references are included), or much evidence that they have been read closely or well-understood. For example, the assignment will retell sources rather than analyse them.
The assignment may be quite general in part. Some errors may be present and some irrelevant material may be included.
The report may not be particularly well-structured, and/or clearly presented and contain some spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. A few sentences may be unclear.