Strategic Management Final Assessment

The University of Cumbria's MNGT7905 Strategic Management course has a final assessment that consists of two parts: Part One, which requires students to critically examine a concept in strategic management and demonstrate their understanding of key concepts; and Part Two, which involves presenting a real-life case study of the chosen concept 'in action' by using an organisation's situation, issues faced, and how the concept is used to solve these issues. The assessment has a 4500-word limit, with 3000 words for Part One and 1500 words for Part Two.

University of Cumbria - MNGT7905 Strategic Management: Assessment
General Instructions – Please read carefully
1. You are required to complete the Final Assessment outlined below and submit your completed
final document through the RKC Online Campus by the end of Unit 6. Your grade will be based 100%
on this final document, to which you will also receive written feedback.
2. Please ask any questions about the Final Assessment in the Forum.
Final Assessment
The Final Assessment is a 4500 words paper divided into two parts. It is strongly advised to start
working on it early in the course.
The aim of the Final Assessment is for you to demonstrate your understanding of key concepts in
strategic management and your capacity to craft a professional document. It will be very good
preparation for your dissertation.
Part One (approx 3000 words)
1. Choose a concept/model in strategic management. You can choose the concept from the
ones discussed in the course or you can choose another one. Examples of concepts are: core
competencies, generic strategies, mergers and acquisitions, alliances, CSR, blue ocean
strategy, etc.
2. Critically examine the concept: define the concept; identify when it was first discussed and
what the arguments were for its creation; discuss how the concept then evolved by
identifying the arguments for and against it over time and by noting any adaptations.
3. Explain how the concept fits today with other concepts of strategic management, and discuss
how/if the concept is relevant or not to today’s business challenges.
In Part One you must demonstrate you can research and develop a deep understanding of a concept
by identifying, examining and challenging different views of it. You should reference a minimum of
10 academic sources: academic books and/or articles from academic journals that are peer-
reviewed. This excludes textbooks, articles from business magazines and ‘popular’ books you may
find in airport bookstores, but you can use these as additional supporting references if needed.
All sources should be correctly referenced using the Harvard system, as for any professional
academic document.
Part Two (approx 1500 words)
4. Present a real life case study of the concept that you chose in Part One ‘in action’. You can
use your own organisation or an organisation of your choice – we recommend you use an
organisation you are personally familiar with as it will be easier for you to ‘see inside’ the
organisation

Part Two should be like a mini-case study where you will present the situation of the organisation
you choose, the issues faced, and how the concept was or is being used to solve the issues and raise
the general performance of the organisation.
In Part Two, you must show you can integrate theory and practice. You do this by giving examples of
the theory in action, and by evaluating the approach taken and how effective it was in delivering the
desired results. By reflecting on events, you may even challenge the theory itself – From the events
you describe, is the theory valid? How can it be improved?
Your report for the Final Assessment will be graded using the University’s grading criteria of:
Knowledge and Clarity of Reasoning; Interface between Theory and Practice in the Professional
Context; Use of literature; Organisation of Material.
Scripts that are excessively long (i.e. exceeding the 4500 word limit of the main report by more than
10%) will not be read beyond the point of the word limit; there is no minimum word limit. Do not
put your name on the paper.
The overall structure should be as follows:
1. Cover Page (1 page)
2. Table of Contents/List of Exhibits (1 page)
3. Executive Summary
4. Main Report (within the 4,500 word limit as above)
5. Exhibits (if any)
6. List of references
Submissions should be machine readable and in MS-Word format only; submit only one file.
RKC is committed to fight plagiarism and we use extensively anti-plagiarism software. Do not use
external sources without referencing them. Do not cut and paste the work of others. Do not copy
the work of others.
A forum will be open to discuss any questions you may have on this assignment.