The Business School

Department of Management
BHS0027
Strategic Management
Assignment replacing exam.
You have been prepared to address question pertaining to
strategy in the 21st century and these are exactly the questions
we were intending to set you under exam conditions. Your
preparation therefore will be just as valid and only the format of
submission has changed. I have dropped the multiple-choice
element as this is only feasible under closed book conditions.

Answer two questions from the following six choices.

1. What are the key strategic challenges facing commercial
businesses/organizations in the remainder of the 21st
Century? You may choose to answer this question from a
context, country, or sector of your choice.
You should use appropriate theory and models to support your answer

2. What are business models and how are they a

compliment to or alternative to traditional strategy models
and tools? Outline your understanding of business
innovation (BMI) and how BMI is different to product and
process innovation.

3. Is the military metaphor of ‘competing with the enemy until

the battle is won’ still an appropriate metaphor for strategy
in the remainder of the 21st Century?

4. Critically evaluate the importance of dynamic capabilities

and how they will be increasingly important in the face of
disruptive innovation in the future? How important are
dynamic leadership capabilities relative to other principles
and theories of leadership.
5. What are global value chains and how can they be used
today to generate options to face the 21st century strategic
challenges.

6. Critically evaluate the contention that traditional models of

strategy bind companies into red oceans. In contrast, what
are blue oceans and what tools can we use to look for and
exploit blue oceans?
Guidance.
In each question we a looking for a contrast between what you think is 21st
century strategy and what every you think preceded it.
We are looking for you to develop your own arguments not just recanting what
you have been taught. As we have stressed all along, we are looking for you to
develop arguments that shape your thinking when you enter the workplace.
Provide full references to support your arguments. Try to use journals as much
as possible. Many have been cited in lecture slides but also, try and research
the most recent work published in respect of any of the core concepts.
Word count. 1500 words per each question. This excludes the bibliography so
there is every incentive to demonstrate your reading and provide extensive
‘quality’ literature sources.
Hand in date 15th May
We are looking for a critical rather than applied piece of work here so whereas
in the first assignment we looked for a lot of diagrams, in this essay we are
looking for essay style. So…. limit the use of diagrams and avoid report style,
such as bullet points. Structuring your argument is very important for the
higher grade levels.
I fear that I have is that some will attempt to simply add to the assignments
from semester 1. I had briefed that you could draw upon these cases in the
exam, but given where we are, I am going to prohibit use of a single company
case study. What I mean is, don’t write an answer from the perspective of a
single company. When using company examples, compare and contrast
companies and use them to illustrate theoretical points. Please note, just
copying across paragraphs from the first assignment will count as self-
plagiarism.
However… I have been keen all along for Law and Accounting students for
instance to develop a narrative about the future of their communities of
practice and the use of the word ‘organization’ instead of just business, and
‘sector’ in Q1 offer that opportunity. You can interpret this to mean
‘profession’ if that helps.
On submission, clearly indicate the questions you are answering at the start of
each essay and submit in one document.
Further support on structuring and essay skills will be provided.