Assessment Task Select an organisation (Ford) upon which to undertake a detailed strategic review of its position and potential future development. Based on this organisation, prepare a management report which addresses the following: • Undertake a comprehensive strategic analysis of the organisation’s internal and external environments. • Based upon the strategic analysis, develop a detailed SWOT analysis of the organisation’s current position. • From the SWOT analysis, identify and critically appraise the nature and possible implications of ONE specific strategic challenge/issue facing the organisation which may either enhance or impede its future competitive advantage/strategic position. • For the strategic challenge/issue appraised, identify and evaluate a number of potential alternative strategic options which the organisation might consider to address it. From the evaluation, select an option and then develop an outlined proposed future strategy upon it to address the challenge/issue. • For the proposed strategy, identify and critically review a range of key implementation and change factors which the organisation might be advised to consider in managing this strategic development. In undertaking this assessment task, you MUST take account of the following instructions/guidance notes and all other information detailed within this assessment document. Instructions/Guidance Notes: The actual structure and indicative content of the management report should be based upon the following main sections: • Title page – Stating the author’s matriculation number, title of the report, date and word count. • Table of Contents – A list of the main section headings and sub-headings covered in the report along with associated section and page numbers. • Introduction – A brief, but informative, profile of the organisation outlining the nature and scope of the business and its activities along with a statement specifying the precise focus/purpose of the report. This section is worth 5% of the total marks. • Strategic Analysis - Presentation of a comprehensive strategic analysis of the organisation’s internal and external environments. This should consider such areas as: the organisation’s vision/mission, values, objectives, past/current strategic direction and development, etc; organisational structure/systems, culture, management style, stakeholders, etc; resources, competencies, capabilities, product portfolio, value chain, recent performance, etc; market characteristics/trends, PESTEL, life cycles, 5 Forces, industry KFS, competitor and customer analysis, etc. This section is worth 25% of the total marks. • SWOT Analysis – Compilation of a detailed and effectively structured SWOT analysis (derived from key issues identified within the preceding ‘strategic analysis’), with a statement indicating the core/critical implications to emerge from the SWOT factors for the potential future strategic development of the organisation. This section is worth 10% of the total marks. • Strategic Challenge/Issue – Identification, in the form of a concise defining statement, of ONE specific strategic challenge/issue (originating from the preceding ‘SWOT analysis’) confronting the organisation which may either enhance or impede its competitive advantage or strategic position in terms of future development. The ‘strategic challenge/issue’ might be a single factor or a combination representing a coherent theme. The detailed nature and possible implications of the challenge/issue identified should be critically appraised from the organisation’s strategic perspective. This section is worth 10% of the total marks. • Strategic Options/Future Strategy – Identification and explanation of a number of potential alternative strategic options (e.g. ‘environment’ based, ‘resource’ based, and/or other approaches) which the organisation could consider adopting to address the strategic challenge/issue (critically appraised in the preceding section). Appropriate criteria (e.g. consistency, suitability, validity, etc) should be used to evaluate the options identified, leading to the selection of a suggested option(s) which might be pursued with clear justifications for the choice. Based upon the option selected, outline details should be presented illustrating specific elements/stages of a proposed future strategy to address the challenge/issue. This section is worth 15% of the total marks. • Implementation and Change Factors – Identification and critical review (making use of appropriate academic literature) of a range of key factors associated with implementation and the management of change which the organisation might be advised to take into account if the proposed strategy (outlined in the preceding section) were to be pursued. This section is worth 10% of the total marks. Format: The work is to be presented as a formal management report