Successful Strategic Thinking
A critical essay of 6000 words (100%) which integrates theory and practice. The assignment must include a clear structure with an abstract, a list of references and, where appropriate, appendices and diagrams. You must make appropriate use of journal articles and texts. References should follow the Harvard system
The assignment should contain:
1. A critical literature review of key theories of how strategy is developed and implemented, and the relationship between strategy, innovation and change
2. A critical analysis of selected strategic processes within your organisation, your role in the organisation, or the part of the organisation to which you
are related. We are not interested in the strategy itself for this analysis, but rather the
process. You needed to describe the process in more detail – who is involved, how long the
process takes, what actually happens, what tools are used in the strategy development, how it is implemented, how is its performance reviewed, how often is the process repeated, etc.,
linking back to the theory in multiple places.
3. An assessment of the extent to which people within the organisation are engaged with and contribute to a selected strategy
4. Recommendations about how strategic processes within the organisation could be improved.
To preserve confidentiality, please anonymise the organisation or organisations you discuss in the assignment, eg by calling them Company X, or Governmental Organisation Y, or International Organisation Z. Similarly, where you write about private individuals, call them manager A, or leader B.
N.B. The word count will include quotations but exclude footnotes, list of references,
appendices, tables and graphs. Exhibits will not count against the word limit but should not contain large amounts of text. (It will be expected that they will normally contain diagrams or tables or visual images). Appendices should not contain material that is essential to meeting the assignment brief