Case Study based on key reading €“ CRH plc: successful corporate €“ level strategy in a challenging environment.

€¢ Evaluate case studies in strategy direction, strategy implementation and strategic management.
€¢ Discuss the strategic directions that can be chosen by organisations through the application of relevant theoretical concepts.
€¢State the need for strategic alternatives and their selection.
Task:
Drawing on a range of analytical models, conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis of CRH and recommend a strategy for the organisation. In your analysis it is also important to highlight limitations of using analytical models in strategic analysis.
Examples of analytical models are shown below. Please note that the list is not exhaustive You may utilise any other analytical models that you consider as relevant.
€¢ Environmental analysis €“ PESTEL and Porter’s 5 Forces
€¢ Strategic capability analysis €“ Value Chain, VRIN, VRIO ,
€¢ Organisational culture analysis €“ Cultural web, McKinsey’s 7-S Framework
€¢ Strategic options €“ Ansoff’s matrix
€¢ Competitive strategies €“ Porter’s Generic Strategies, Strategy Clock etc
Essential: the work should demonstrate critical analysis and evaluation, Harvard referencing method should be used where appropriate. There should be an evidence of a wider reading (not only textbooks and the company websites but also academic journals).
Assignment Guidance
Task
Drawing on a range of analytical models, conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis of CRH and recommend a strategy for the organisation. In my analysis it is also important to highlight limitations of using analytical models in strategic analysis.
We may use any models that we find relevant to conduct the strategic analysis of CHR. However ideally we should avoid using more than 3 models as this would affect clarity and focus of our analysis. We could utilise 1 -2 models in part 2 of the assignment and 1 in part 3-the conclusion.

Tutors advise the following structure as specified in the brief
Part 1: Selection, critical evaluation and justification of the choice of the models
Once we have selected relevant analytical models, we should critically evaluate them in this section. This means focusing on their application as well as advantages and disadvantages. They would expect us to provide relevant references from literature to support our analysis. For example, if the Value Chain is one of selected models, we should define and evaluate its advantages and disadvantages as an internal analysis model.
We can have a separate introduction to the assignment if you wish but this needs to be very brief
Part 2: Critical analysis with application of the chosen models
This is the most important part of the assignment, constituting 60% of the total marks.
This section should demonstrate critical analysis and evaluation. Here, tutors expect us to apply the relevant model (s) that we identified in part 1 to CRH. For example, if we have selected the Cultural web and Ansoff’s matrix in part 1, we could then apply the Cultural web in this section, illustrating how the components of these models help us to gain insight into the culture of CRH. We need to be more analytical here €“ i.e. not just highlighting the components of these models without applying them to the organisation.
We may also need to highlight the relationship between the culture of CRH and its strategy. We need to demonstrate deeper analytical work.

Part 3: Conclusion
Tutors expect us to recommend strategic options or directions that CRH should take. We could use one of our selected models here. For example, Ansoff’s matrix looks at potential strategic options at corporate level , e.g. diversification, market penetration etc €“ Or we could consider Porter’s generic strategies which focus on competitive options available.