Strategic Management Coursework on AstraZeneca

Do not put your name on your submission. You are ONLY to put your SRN on your submission.

The details of the core case study for this coursework are provided below. You are required to research beyond this case so you are able to provide stronger answers. Ramirez, P. & Tylecote, A (2004) Hybrid Corporate Governance and its Effects on Innovation: A Case Study of AstraZeneca, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Vol. 16, No. 1, 97–119.

§ You are to answer the one mandatory essay question in Section A and any one question in Section B. Your answers are two separate essays. Write the number of the question you are answering before providing your answer.

§ Please note you are allowed to update the case study for coursework two.

§ The word limit for the compulsory essay is 1500 words and for the second essay is 1000. You have an allowance of + or – 10% for each question.

§ Provide one collective reference list at the end of your two essays; do not provide to separate reference list re one list for each essay. The words in the reference list and the appendix are not included in the word count.

§ Please note, the structure for this coursework is the report format and not the essay structure. You are allowed to include figures, diagrams and tables in the main body and not in the appendix. Follow the CASE Unit guidance on report writing.

§ Please use online library/ Athens to find and cite recent academic journals in your work.

§ Ensure your essays are professionally presented re. thus ensure they are neat, justified, clear paragraphs and no grammatical mistakes.

§ Use Arial font (size 11)

QUESTIONS

SECTION A: COMPULSORY QUESTION. Answer this question.

1. Using both the outside-in and inside-out analytical frameworks, critically analyse AstraZeneca’s external and internal environment and identify the strategic issues it needs to address in the short, medium and long term. From your analysis what are AstraZeneca’s major opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses? Generate strategies Astrazeneca can draw upon in addressing the strategic issues you have identified. Support your arguments with academic theory.

SECTION B

2. Critically analyse Astrazeneca’s key business models and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each model. Which model is the most innovative? Support your arguments with both academic theory and relevant examples.

3. Identify and critically analyse, the key strategic contradictions in the Astrazeneca case study. Reflect on how you might apply what you have learnt from this analysis to your future career. Support your arguments with theory and relevant examples.

4. Drawing from industry cluster theory, suggest why Astrazeneca chose Cambridge as a preferred base for some of its key value creating activities. Citing relevant examples critically explain how the UK as Astrazeneca’s home base has contributed to its global competitiveness.

5. Drawing from your own research and the evidence provided in the Astrazeneca case identify the company’s key international stakeholders, and map their level of interest and power. Explain how your learning from this module has helped you to understand the issues involved and suggest ways in which these relationships can be improved.