Strategic Marketing Course / Book we are using: Strategic Marketing (West, Ford, Ibrahim)

Introduction

The main aim of this exercise requires you to analyze the reason and situation of a company strategic decision making in the past and propose the possible strategic actions in future based on your assessment of the industry trends and business environment.

Project Aims

1. The broad scope of the assignment is to choose a single company (ideally single-business or relatively narrow in scope) and follow its history over a period of time. This company can be local or foreign. However, it is recommended that you choose a “local” company.
2. Based on your secondary data research, focus on 2-3 key decisions the firm has faced or taken in its past. What strategic actions has the firm taken? What influences the firm to take the action and why do you think the firm chooses the decision over other options? Was the strategic decision a prudent one?
3. Fast forward, based on your current analysis of the business environment, industry trends, the firm “resources” and its current competitive positioning, what strategic actions you would suggest for the company to proceed. Do you think the company should maintain its status quo or should it chart a new direction? Provide reasons and justifications for your suggestions.

Guidelines

1. The written report should comprise of the background of the company, the industry that it’s competing and a short description of the market competition [and its competitive positioning].
2. Subsequently, you should focus on the strategic decision taken by the company in the past. For each discrete decision point, you should focus on understanding the decision from the perspective of those that made the decision. We want to understand both the “right” decision to make as well as the actual decision that was made and why it was made.
3. Some ideas of what to cover for each point:
– The context of the decision, both inside the firm and externally (industry analysis)
– The types of data that would be useful to make the decision (and what you can recreate) – The types of analyses that would be useful to understand the decision (and your actual analysis using whatever data are available).
– What other factors that may have affected the decision making process
– What decision was made by the company and how it was intended to create value (for historical decisions), or what options are available to the company going forward (for current challenges)
– Whether the firm adequately supported its strategy, and an evaluation of the efficacy of the decision (for historical decisions only), or what your recommended choice would be and how it should be supported (for current challenges).