You are to write a 3,000 word report on the case study organisation AGD. Your analysis should draw on material contained in the case study itself, your wider reading in the area of international strategic management, and, where you feel this is justified, information relating to the environmental context of the organisation. Please include relevant references in your report. Appendices may be used but only to contain information of secondary importance, i.e. not information that is critical for your analysis. Information that could be included in an appendix include market reports, macro-economic statistics, product specifications etc.
Your report should address the following issues:
1. An analysis of the development of the company until 2001 drawing on key models, theories and concepts in strategic management. You must go beyond the explanation provided in the case study itself. This is worth 50% of the marks.
2. Propose an international expansion strategy. Here it is recommended you focus on product-market combinations, including market entry strategies. You must provide solid reasons for your recommendations. This will include some research on products and markets. This is worth 50% of the marks.
Further guidelines:
• Because this is a report please make sure your report conforms to a report layout, i.e. include a table of contents, an executive summary (no more than 5% of the total word count) and section headers. Please append the marking criteria table at the end of your report (this is not included in the word count!).
• Make sure you reference widely, both academic and non-academic sources.
• Make sure your report is not a list of direct quotations. It is fine to use direct quotations occasionally but the rule is that you should write yourself rather than relying on someone else’s words.
• There is no one correct way of tackling this assignment. The instructions have been written with the intent of allowing you scope to bring in your own creativity and originality.
• In answering the second part of the assignment, i.e. where you are proposing an international expansion strategy, we do not expect you to base this on more information about the organisation than is already contained within the case study..