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Student Name: (enter on the line below)

HC3141
INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
FINAL ASSESSMENT
TRIMESTER T1, 2021
Assessment Weight: 50 total marks
Instructions:
• All questions must be answered by using the answer boxes provided in this paper.
• Completed answers must be submitted to Blackboard by the published due date and time.
Submission instructions are at the end of this paper.
Purpose:
This assessment consists of six (6) questions and is designed to assess your level of knowledge of the key topics covered in this unit



Adapted Harvard Referencing
Holmes has now implemented a revised Harvard approach to referencing:
1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources which provide full text access to the source’s content for lecturers and markers.
2. The Reference list should be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: References.
3. It should include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname. In addition, it MUST include a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source.
For example;
P Hawking, B McCarthy, A Stein (2004), Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf
4. All assignments will require additional in-text reference details which will consist of the surname of the author/authors or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page number of content, paragraph where the content can be found.
For example;
“The company decided to implement an enterprise wide data warehouse business intelligence strategies (Hawking et al, 2004, p3(4)).”

Non - Adherence to Referencing Guidelines
Where students do not follow the above guidelines:
1. Students who submit assignments which do not comply with the guidelines may be required to resubmit their assignments or incur penalties for inadequate referencing.
2. Late penalties will apply per day after a student or group has been notified of a resubmission requirements.
• Students whose citations are identified as fictitious will be reported for academic misconduct.
Note. References are not mandatory for this assessment. However, please follow the Adaptive Harvard Referencing guidelines if you use any reference(s) to explain any concept or theory.
Question 1 (7 marks)
This question relies on the information in Group Assignment submitted in Week 10.
In Week 3 Interactive Tutorial, we have discussed various aspects of the price war. Based on that discussion and the information from Group Assignment, answer the 2 following questions.
a) What are the implications of price wars for the company you selected for your group assignment? [5 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 200 words]
b) How should a company try to deal with the threat of a price war? [2 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 100 words]
Note: As required in the group assignment, you have selected a company from one of the nine sectors, including (1) Agriculture, (2) Tourism, (3) Pharmaceutical, (4) Health, (5) Organic food, (6) Wine, (7) Sports/Events, (8) Information Technology, and (9) Communication. Please ensure that the chosen company must be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. For further details, see Step 2: Company Selection from the “HC3141_Group_Assignment_Guidelines_T121_20210302” available on the assessment menu item on the Blackboard.
ANSWER: ** Answer box will enlarge as you type
Question 2 (11 marks)
In Week 5 Interactive Tutorial, we have discussed the case study on “Amazon.com.”. This case is available on the Blackboard [see Appendix_Week_5_Tutorial_Amazon.com_Case]. Read this case and answer Question a and b
a) Discuss the rare and valuable resources of Amazon? In what value creation activities are these resources located? [7 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 200 words]
b) How sustainable is Amazon’s competitive position in the online retail business? [4 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 100 words]

ANSWER:
Question 3 (11 marks)
In Week 6 Interactive Tutorial, we have discussed the case study on “Nordstrom”. This case is available on the Blackboard [see Appendix_Week_6_Tutorial_Nordstrom_Case]. Read this case and answer Question a, b and c.
a) The management of Nordstrom has taken some action at the functional levels that enabled the company to implement its strategy successfully. Discuss these actions in light of our discussion in the Week 6 Interactive Tutorial. [5 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 100 words]
b) Discuss the source of Nordstrom’s long-term competitive advantage (be specific in your discussion)? [2 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 50 words]
c) During our case discussion in the interactive tutorials, we observed that the rivals imitate the valuable and rare resources. However, sometimes, it is difficult for rivals to imitate these resources. Does Nordstrom have such valuable and rare resources that its rivals find difficult to imitate? [4 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 150 words]
ANSWER:
Question 4 (7 marks)
There are two independent cases provided: Case A and Case B. Each case has 1 question. Please answer these questions separately.
Case A: Miss Emma is operating ABC Pizza, a small pizza shop surrounded by a couple of colleges in a market. Miss Emma wants to strengthen her business model for ABC Pizza. For this purpose, she asked you to propose some strategies.
Question: You are required to propose at least 2 strategies which help Emma to strengthen her business model. [3.5 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 150 words]
Case B: Miss Angela recently joined XYZ Limited, manufacturing a detergent. Miss Angela spent a couple of weeks to analyse the existing business model of XYZ Limited. Finally, she decided to launch its new detergents in an established market.
Question: What strategies should XYZ Limited use to strengthen its business model (at least 2 strategies provided)? [3.5 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 150 words]
ANSWER:
Question 5 (7 marks)
You recently joined ABC Limited, a small company holding a leading position in an embryonic market. You notice that your boss is very optimistic about the company and argues that ABC Limited's future is ensured. Your boss validates his argument by providing the following reasons.
• ABC Limited has sixty per cent share of the market due to the lowest cost structure, and
• The company has the most reliable and highest-valued products.
Required: You are required to write a memo to your boss outlining why the assumptions posed might be incorrect. [7 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 300 words]
ANSWER:
Question 6 (7 marks)
There are 2 parts in this question: Part A and Part B. Each Part has 1 question. Please answer these questions separately.
Part A. In Week 10 Interactive Tutorial, we discussed the association between the horizontal integration and the profit-maximising. However, there are some conditions where horizontal integration might not be consistent with the goal of profit-maximising.
Question: Discuss at least 3 of these conditions. [4 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 150 words]
Part B. There are couple of reasons of outsourcing, including (1) reducing the cost of operations, (2) saving on the training costs and improving productivity and efficiency. Therefore, some companies outsource some value creation activities to independent suppliers. Apart from the benefits listed above, there are some risks associated with this outsourcing.
Question: Discuss these value creation activities and their related risks. [3 Marks. Word Limit: Up to 150 words]
ANSWER:
END OF FINAL ASSESSMENT
Submission instructions:
• Save submission with your STUDENT ID NUMBER and UNIT CODE e.g. EMV54897 HC3141
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