Recent Question/Assignment

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IBA/HBA/MCI/PM Type 2 Examination
Module name: Advanced Corporate Strategy
Module code: SM31
Location: Apeldoorn
Teacher(s): R. Gardner, I. Acheampong & Y. Poggi
Block: 1 & 4 Type 2 Examination
Year: 2021-22
Exam instructions:
Students are required to check the Moodle for:
EEG_PART 5a - Academic Writing Handbook and Plagiarism Policy.
Teacher’s note:
Please read the instructions and criteria carefully
Advanced Corporate Strategy [SM31]
Instructions
• Before embarking on the assignment, you should read Part 5a (Academic Writing handbook) and 5b (Plagiarism Policy) of the Education and Examination Guide (EEG). You are to write two assignments.
o A Group Assignment of a minimum of 3,000 and a maximum of 5,000 words.
o An Individual Assignment minimum of 2,000 and a maximum of 3,000 words.
• Students must submit their essay before the deadline through Turnitin submission online areas.
• All submitted files should be in MS Word Document (*.docx) format.
• Students will be randomly selected for Presentations. Therefore, all students should be prepared. Details will be communicated to the selected students.

In case of a retake, students are not allowed to revise their original
exams submitted at the end of the respective teaching block.
They must hand in a
‘new’ assignment based on a different company other than the one used in this exam or any previous exam attempts.
Individual Assignment
This assignment is based on a real life applied case and relates to the academic literature in the textbook “Exploring Strategy – Text and cases”, 11th or 12th edition, by Whittington, R., et al., published by Pearson, chapters 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. The textbook is accessible via www.perlego.com.
Introduction Case study Oak Tree Inn: Growth challenges facing a family-run tourism business
This case study is about the development of the Oak Tree Inn business in Balmaha, Loch Lomond, Scotland www.theoaktreeinn.co.uk. The business is a family run SME and is in the tourism sector. It has been successful as a bar, restaurant and holiday accommodation with an annual turnover in 2018 of £3m ($3.8m and €3.4m). The owner-directors have aspirations to grow to a turnover of £10m ($12.8m and €11.3m) by 2025. The business is considering options for expanding. These include replicating the Oak Tree Inn in other locations within the Loch Lomond National Park (and using a centralised kitchen), developing a water boat and floating restaurant to provide access to people from other parts of the loch and expand into options to support online trade (e.g. selling artefacts from Loch Lomond with an associated brand).
This case provides students with opportunities to generate and explore business options and factor in current issues such as strategic decision making in a family business, raising finance, tourism policy and how to attract and retain employees within the tourism/hospitality sector, i.e.
addressing the human factor. The latter being probably the most important resource within corporate strategy.
Text of the case, see next pages too, is digitally available: ereader.perlego.com/1/book/1323532/58.
Finally: We wish you success with developing your thoughts and ideas based on your understanding and application of theories in real practice.
Important considerations regarding the assignment
• Your paper should be a minimum of 2,000 and a maximum of 3,000 words, no more and no less.
• The paper should demonstrate your academic ability to perform complex case study analysis and understand thoroughly topics regarding corporate strategy as covered in the module Advanced Corporate Strategy SM31.
• Consult “Type 2 Examinations Instructions” on www.wittenborg-online.com.
• Develop a practical, applied and academically correct assignment, taking “Exploring Strategy – Text and cases”, 11th or 12th edition, chapters 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 into account.
• Therefore, use Academic English, and start each of the answers to the tasks with a concise introduction of the task.
• Use correct academic referencing and do not plagiarize. Plagiarism is a serious offence and will be reported to the Graduation & Examination Board. Use the EEG for information on type 2 assignments, as well as how to prevent plagiarism. Similarity check is part of the marking procedure.
• The deadline for the Turnitin upload is Exam week Monday, October 4, 2021, 16:00 hours (CEST, Central European Summer Time).
• There will be NO presentations for the retakes of Exam Type 2.
Tasks on the theme ‘Case study Oak Tree Inn: Growth challenges facing a family-run tourism business’.
1. Analyse the business’s current strategic position;
2. Assess their Suitability(S); evaluate the Acceptability(A) of the range of strategic options; evaluate the Feasibility(F) of the strategic options, particularly with reference to ‘how to attract and retain employees’ and produce a final recommendation after Evaluation and synthesis of each of S, A and F;
3. There is an interesting dimension to explore how the business has grown and may continue to change and grow over time. The central roles played by Sandy Fraser (the father) and Lucy (the mother) is inspirational and thoroughly engaging. How two of their sons and one of their daughters are now taking on key responsibilities is also an interesting insight into leadership, succession and managing change. Features of organisational structure, internal communication and resilience are the key identified challenges going forward for this ambitious business. Elaborate on the subject of leadership, succession and managing change.
The tasks and content are related to Whittington, R., et al. (2017 or 2019). Exploring Strategy.
Harlow: Pearson.
Text of the case, see next pages too, is digitally available:
ereader.perlego.com/1/book/1323532/58.
Support your elaborations with examples, arguments, and references!
To get a better understanding of the context within which the business is operating you can look at the National Park website: www.lochlomond-trossachs.org and sources for Scottish tourism facts and trends, such as: www.visitscotland.org (click: Corporate and then Research and Insights). Information sources on family business in the United Kingdom can be found at:
www.ifb.org.uk.




The text is digitally available; visit: https://ereader.perlego.com/1/book/1323532/58.
Marking key
1. Between 2,000-3,000: 5%.
2. Academic English: 5%.
3. Taking into consideration the chapters as addressed during ACS-lessons, present a practical applied and academic correct assignment: 10%.
4. In this assignment in each question (3x 3,33%) the problem definition is described: 10%.
5. Task 1: 20%.
6. Task 2: 20%.
7. Task 3: 20%.
8. References provided in correct Harvard or APA style: 5%.
9. Plagiarism/similarity check 15%: 5%.
Items & maximum mark per item:
1. 05
2. 05
3. 10
4. 10
5. 20
6. 20
7. 20
8. 05
9. 05
Totals 100

Page 19 of 19 Type 2 Examination
Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences www.wittenborg.eu