Individual Written Assignment: Positioning of a Competitor in a Business Sector

All submission of coursework will be online via Turnitin on the module's Moodle site unless stated otherwise.

The Roehampton Harvard Referencing system should be used for any resources used as part of your research.

An individual written assignment (DeadlineWednesday 1st April 2020, 2pm, via Turnitin) of approximately 2,000 words, excluding tables, diagrams, headings, appendices, bibliography, etc.

- The group assignment is based on your collective investigation into a business sector of your choice (e.g. construction, IT consulting, fast food, air travel, plumbing supplies, etc.). These are just examples and you may wish to focus more specifically, such as housing construction or ‘no frills’ air travel.  You should explore and research this sector both as a group and individually to ensure you are able to produce the following deliverables.

- For the individual assignment/report, each person in the group is required to identify a different competitor in this sector (e.g. Sainsburys, Morrisons, and Aldi if you are considering the grocery retail sector or British Airways, Air France and the KLM if commercial air travel is your sector of choice) so no two group members should choose the same organisation within a sector.

Your task is to explore how that organisation is positioning itself in its efforts to gain/maintain competitive advantage within its sector/market.

Suggested layout: Front cover, contents page, introduction, brief background, one of the following:  Porter’s Value Chain or Porter’s Generic Strategies or Porter’s Five Forces applied to your chosen organisation, you should also explore one or a combination of the following functional areas that are relevant to your organisation’s competitive position and not already covered in your chosen Porter’s framework:

• Human resources
• Finance and accounting
• Marketing
• Operations/logistics/supply chain management

Conclusion, Recommendations and Reference List.

You are encouraged to explore what makes this organisation different and explain with justification, how it has responded to the sector/market.  Ensure you mention how its position has changed in recent years and conclude your work by giving your own opinion on what it needs to do to succeed in this sector in the next 2-5 years.

Your student number MUST be included in your document on each page of your report and a word count given at the end of the document. All names and student numbers must be included on your posters.

Word count approx. 2000 for the individual report.

• All main body text for both the poster and individual report should be Arial, size 12;
• Individual report must be submitted as a Word document(not a pdf) using the Turnitin link provided on Moodle;
• Other fonts and sizes may be used to enhance structural elements of your work as appropriate.
• Note that students will be required to show evidence of research from a range of credible sources. Use of academic and industry journals is not essential.  You should avoid just relying on corporate websites although you are encouraged to contact your chosen companies in order to get some direct information from the organisations’ Corporate Affairs or PR departments.

Poster Presentation (group mark) – 30% of total, apportioned as follows:

1. Evidence of research (20%). Have you shown that you have researched around the subject, used appropriate references and have you made use of these sources to inform and enhance your description of the industry sector?
2. Logical flow and application (30%).Have you addressed all the required points of the task in a logical and consistent manner, demonstrating some ability to apply theory to practice? Is the poster fit for purpose and does it convey the information required?
3. Explanation and Understanding (30%).Does your work demonstrate understanding of the sector under consideration and the competitive pressure it faces? Does it give insight into its current issues and direction?
4. Professionalism (20%).Is your poster tidy and well laid out, with appropriate structure and standard of concise and effective written English? Have any diagrams and illustrations used been well chosen and correctly presented and is the work of appropriate length?  Are you able to communicate your understanding verbally when required and discuss your work with confidence?