SMAPE Individual Coursework - BAT - Write My Academic Essay

Assessment Task 1 – Individual Coursework

Title: SMA and British American Tobacco plc (thereafter referred to as BAT)

Weighting: 60% of the module

Word limit – 3000 words (no more than two pages of appendices are allowed – words on appendices are not included in the word count)

You are required to:

(A) Using the Strategy Clock model, analyse BAT’s current business strategy.
(10 marks)

(B) Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of BAT’s business strategy, operations and performance, and the opportunities and threats faced by the Company.

Note: mere listing the factors in a table or in short bulleted points is NOT adequate as the answer for this section. Based upon the environmental analysis and the initial SWOT analysis, you should produce an in-depth evaluation and discussion on BAT and its industry.
(30 marks)

(C) BAT claims that “… Our brands are enjoyed by millions of consumers. In a controversial industry we act responsibly and with integrity” (www.bat.com).

Using relevant theoretical frameworks, critically evaluate BAT’s business operations and corporate social activities. In your view, do you consider BAT is acting “responsibly and with integrity” as the Company claims?
(20 marks)

(D) Critically evaluate how the balanced scorecard concept and system can help BAT to drive and measure performance within the “controversial industry” as the Company describes.
(30 marks)

(E) The standard of academic writing, presentation and referencing.
(10 marks)

Suggested guidelines for completing the assignment
There is no one best way to prepare for this assignment. The mark awarded to your coursework will depend on the literature and examples you use to elaborate and support your evaluation, analysis and discussion and how well you structure and write up your evaluation /analysis/ discussion.

The mark allocation aims to help you allocate effort/words between various sections. Nevertheless, please do not use the weighting rigidly when it comes to developing and structuring your argument. The four sections are interlinked and thus your discussion/analysis/evaluation for various sections should be fully integrated. The degree of cohesion will affect the result of your coursework.

Please read the detailed breakdown of assessment criteria and suggestions for successful completion of the assignment.

Turnitin – portals are posted on Blackboard, under the “Assessments” folder

You can use the “Turnitin – Draft Submission” portal to assess how correctly you have referenced your sources. You can submit to the Turnitin “Draft Submission” portal more than once.

You must submit the final version of your Coursework to the “Turnitin – Final Submission” portal. You can only submit ONCE to this portal. After a file is submitted to the FINAL Portal, it will be stored in the central database. Staff cannot delete the file after the submission.

Guidance on how to use Turnitin is posted on the SMAPE Blackboard site.

Submission instructions:
• You must submit the assignment on-line by using the Coursework Submission Portal posted on the SMAPE Blackboard site, Assessments folder.

• By the deadline, you also need to submit your whole assignment to Turnitin Final Portal posted on Blackboard.

• Your assignment should include a cover page which shows your name, student number and course name.

• You must not leave the work and submission to the last minute. Technical problems which delay your submission are not considered as valid reasons for an extension or explanations for why you miss the deadline. Missing the deadline means that you will obtain 0% for this coursework.

• You must save your work carefully in more than one place because memory sticks and laptop computers can be corrupted, lost or damaged.

SMAPE Individual Coursework – BAT

Assessment criteria and feedback template

Mark awarded to the section Weighted average mark
(A) Using the Strategy Clock model to analyse BAT’s current business strategy. (10% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————
• Apply the Strategy Clock model to analyse BAT’s current business strategy.

• Use appropriate examples to support and elaborate your analysis.

• We look at the quality of your analysis. You should NOT just describe what BAT has been doing or simply copy BAT’s strategy or other materials from the Internet or annual reports. You need to USE the materials to support your analysis.
•
(B) Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of BAT’s business strategy, operations and performance, and the opportunities and threats faced by the Company. (30% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————-
• Analyse BAT’s internal and external business environment.

• Based on the findings from your environmental analysis, identify and discussed the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by BAT.

• Use appropriate practical examples to elaborate and support your SWOT evaluation.

• Generic description and explanations that are not relevant to BAT will not add value to your evaluation.

• Do not just present a SWOT table or short bulleted points as your final answer for this Section. It is an evaluation.

(C) Using relevant theoretical frameworks, critically evaluate BAT’s business operations and corporate social activities. In your view, do you consider BAT is acting “responsibly and with integrity” as the Company claims? (20% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————–
You can evaluate BAT’s operations and corporate social activities by using relevant theoretical frameworks, such as:
• Milton Friedman – the Profit Maximisation view;
• Charles Handy – the Stakeholder view; and/or
• Davies and Pitt-Watson – The New Capitalists view

You can refer to the Module Guide, Seminar 3 materials.

Mark awarded to the section Weighted average mark

(D) Critically evaluate how the balanced scorecard concept and system can help BAT to drive and measure performance within the “controversial industry” as the Company described. (30% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————-
• Apply the balanced scorecard concept to BAT and evaluate how the BSC approach/system can direct effort and resources and drive performance.

• You need to relate your evaluation to BAT’s business strategy (the one you have analysed in Section (A)).

• Give examples of goals/objectives and the related measures to each of the four perspective of BAT’s BSC to support your evaluation. You can draw up a sample BSC for BAT.

• Since it is an evaluation, you should not forget to discuss any KEY barriers that may hinder the successful implementation of the BSC system at BAT.

(E) Presentation, referencing and standard of academic writing.
(10% weighting)
——————————————————————————————-
• Clearly structure, develop and present your argument leading to appropriate conclusions.

• Correct referencing and a bibliography is provided.

• Good standard of academic writing. You must edit your work.

• SHU provides Study Skills Drop-in sessions at the Bridge at the Library to help students improve their standard of academic writing. You should make use of the support. Good knowledge must be properly communicated to the readers through a high standard of academic writing.

Total for the assignment

Your tutor will use the following template to provide feedback on your performance in each section of the assignment.

SMAPE Individual Coursework – BAT
Assessment feedback template

Mark awarded to the section Weighted average marks
(A) Using the Strategy Clock model to analyse BAT’s current business strategy. (10% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————

Feedback …

(B) Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of BAT’s business strategy, operations and performance, and the opportunities and threats faced by the Company. (30% weighting)
—————————————————————————————————-

Feedback …

(E) Presentation, referencing and standard of academic writing.
(10% weighting)
——————————————————————————————-

Feedback …

Total for the assignment
100%