Applied Corporate Strategy Assessment: Strategic Analysis Report
Learning outcomes assessed within this piece of work as agreed at the programme level meeting Knowledge:
Develop an in-depth knowledge of branding as part of marketing management and its relationship to the wider organisational objectives including corporate social responsibility.
Intellectual/transferrable:
Recognise challenges in branding and understand how to respond to them through the identification of appropriate conceptual and practical tools.
Summative assessment:
Individual business report (3000 words)
Instructions for assessment
Formative assessment
The formative assessment for this module takes the form of a group-based report. You will be asked to conduct an analysis of the evolution of the positioning of a brand of your choice. Who is the target market of the brand?
Who is the key competition? What are the points of parity and the points of difference of the brand against key competition? How have these elements changed over time?
Note that you can select any type of brand. It can be a consumer goods brand (e.g., Twinings), a service brand (Vodafone), a retailer brand (e.g., Tesco), a consumer electronics or technology brand (e.g., Apple), a luxury brand (e.g., Burberry), a fashion brand (e.g., Next), a corporate brand (e.g., Unilever), or a celebrity brand (e.g., Kim Kardashian), to give some examples.
You will need to include your analysis in a report of maximum 500 words and submit it via Turnitin.
Summative assessment
The summative assessment for this module consists in an individual business report on a self-selected brand.
You will need to identify a brand, of any type, that is currently having some image issues (e.g., not clear what it stands for, perceived as old-fashioned and out-of-date), analyse its current positioning, develop a new positioning, and elaborate managerial recommendations to bring this new positioning to life.
The word limit for this assessment is 3,000 words including tables and figures but excluding references.
Your report should include the following sections:
An introduction which briefly presents the brand chosen and explains the reasons behind your choice. Why did you select this brand? What are the image issues this brand is currently going through?
The choice of your brand should be supported by some type of evidence such as facts from the news or data from industry reports. (About 500 words)
An analysis of the current positioning of the brand. Who is the target market? Who is the key competition?
What are the points of parity (POPs) and the points of difference (PODs) of the brand against key competition? (About 1000 words)
Development of a new brand positioning.
Keeping in mind your previous analysis on target market, competition, POPS and PODs, how should the current brand positioning be different?
What aspects of the current positioning should be maintained, if any? What aspects should be changed? (About 1000 words)
Development of managerial recommendations about how to bring the new brand positioning to life.
For instance, what communication leverages should be used to implement the new brand positioning with the target market?
How should these leverages be integrated with one another?
(About 500 words)
A bibliography which includes all the references that you used to carry out your brand analysis.
You must resubmit your work using the specific resit Turnitin link on Moodle.
You should:
Review your previously submitted work and read carefully the feedback given by the marker.
Use this feedback to help you revisit and rewrite your work, improving it in the areas identified as weak in the original marking process
Include with your submission an additional reflective piece (up to 500 words) on what you understand was weak, how you set about addressing this and what you have learned from this that may help you with further assignments.
You should address the following specifically:
Identify tutor feedback points on your original work and identify where in response to feedback
Identify the lessons you have learnt from doing the resit
Reflect on how your feedback and this process will help you improve future assignments
Dedicated seminar session on your formative assessment in Week 6.
Feedback session on your formative assessment and tutorial session to support the development of your summative assessment in Week 8.
Tutorial session to support the completion of your summative assessment in Week 10.
Directed reading and study activities.
FAQs will be posted on the module’s Moodle site.
How will your work be assessed?
Your work will be assessed by a subject expert who will use the marking grid provided in this assessment brief.
When you access your marked work it is important that you reflect on the feedback so that you can use it to improve future assignments.
Referencing
You MUST use the Harvard System. The Harvard system is very easy to use once you become familiar with it.
Marking and feedback process
Between you handing in your work and then receiving your feedback and marks within 20 days, there are a number of quality assurance processes that we go through to ensure that students receive marks which reflects their work. A brief summary is provided below.
Step One – The module and marking team meet to agree standards, expectations and how feedback will be provided.
Step Two – A subject expert will mark your work using the criteria provided in the assessment brief.
Step Three – A moderation meeting takes place where all members of the teaching and marking team will review the marking of others to confirm whether they agree with the mark and feedback.
Step Four – Work at Levels 5 and 6 then goes to an external examiner who will review a sample of work to confirm that the marking between different staff is consistent and fair.
Step Five – Your mark and feedback is processed by the Office and made available to you.
