Assignment: Case Study Description Case Study Assignment (1500 words) Marks out of Wtg (%) Due date 40 40 29 April 2020 Please see the case titled 'Kasemann Cheese Company' in the assignment forum on study desk. This case is applicable to both Case Study Assignment and the examination. Assignment task: The CEO of Kasemann Cheese Company (KCC), Dirk Kasemann requested your services as a strategy consultant to analyse the company's current position to enable strategy development for the future. You are required to write a report to the CEO presenting your findings about: 1) The current status of the industry and market, 2) Micro- and macro environmental conditions that influence the organisation now and in the future, 3) Key Success Factors of the industry and how KCC currently responds to or meet these success factors, and 4) KCC's competitive position (including assessment of KCC's resources and capabilities, matching capabilities with KSFs, and competitive strength assessment). The aim of this report is to discuss the current strategic position of KCC to enable strategy development for the future. Please note that the report must not include recommendations for future strategies but only present the analyses and discussions as indicated in the assignment question. Strategy development is addressed in the examination where you will build on the information that you presented in the report, to propose future strategies for the company. What to include in the body of the report: A brief summary of the industry and market: Present this in your own words and outline aspects such as the industry in general, current industry trends, competition in the industry, the state of the global market, the state of the Australian market, and any other facts that might be relevant background required for preparing future strategies. Please note: this is not a summary of the case study in general; details about the industry and market must be summarised here. A discussion of the results of the environmental analyses: from your analysis, identify the top three (3) macro environmental conditions that influence the organisation, and also the top three (3) micro environmental conditions. Explain why these issues are important, how these environmental conditions might influence the organisation in future, and how it might affect future strategic planning. Here you need to add theory to support your views (please see Point A & B in the 'Important Instructions' section below). Make sure that you use your theory component to integrate the views and arguments of other authors (journal articles) with your own views rather than using theory only for definitions of elements. A discussion about how KCC meets/does not meet the industry key success factors and what it means for competing in the industry. Here you need to add theory to support your views (please see Point A & B in the 'Important Instructions' section). Make sure that you use your theory component to integrate the views and arguments of other authors (journal articles) with your own views rather than using theory only for definitions of elements. A discussion outlining KCC's competitive position, based on your assessment of KCC's resources and capabilities, the match of their capabilities with KSFs, and competitive strength assessment. What to include as Appendices in the report: All analyses (frameworks, assessment tables, comparisons/matching tools) must be presented as Appendices and the results discussed in the body of the report. The population of the frameworks and tables with relevant case data may reflect the level of analysis of the case study; a deep level of analysis (A or HD standard) will include a variety of relevant and important data demonstrating an indepth analysis of the case study and understanding of the theory related to the analysis tool (please see the Marking Criteria Sheet for more details about how your report will be assessed). We recommend that you use the following analysis tools that are included in the course materials to enable you to address the assignment questions: A macro external analysis (PESTEL) and micro external analysis of the industry (Porter's Five Forces). Use the layout as presented as Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.3 in your Study Book. Draw these frameworks and populate each block with data from the case, using bullet points. A Key Success Factor (KSF) analysis: Draw a KSF table (similar to Table 2.2 in the Study Book) for the cheese manufacturing industry. Populate the columns with the most prominent external forces impacting on this industry, the likely industry responses as a whole (how the whole industry is currently responding to these forces) and then list the Key Success Factors for the industry (tip: limit your KSFs to the five most important issues in the cheesemaking industry). A competitor analysis: Figure 2.4 in the Study Book presents a Competitive Profile Matrix (similar to the Weighted Competitive Strength Assessment (Thompson et al. 2018, p.110). Draw the matrix, list the Key Success Factors that you identified for the cheese manufacturing industry and compare KCC to two of their closest competitors. Use information about the competitors that you can find in the case study, and make further assumptions. Do not research these companies to find further information. An analysis of KCC's resources and capabilities: present KCC's resources (tangible, intangible and human resources) matched with KCC's capabilities in a table or similar format to show the matches. An analysis of ranking KSFs with KCC's capabilities: See Appendix 1 of Study Book Module 2 (p.23 Study Book) for ideas about how to present this. These analyses should be sufficient in providing the information that you need to answer the case study questions. Do not include narratives in the appendices; only the population and application of the frameworks and assessment tools will be marked. The discussions must be presented in the body of the report. Report Structure: Follow the generic structure for reports as outlined in the study support page of USQ https://www.usq.edu.au/library/study-support/assignments/assignment-structure-andwriting/reports with the following exceptions: Title Page: The USQ Cover sheet should not be included. The first page of your assignment must be a title page where the following information must be included: Assignment title Full name and student number Actual word count (not the required word count but the actual number of words in your assignment (excluding the title page, List of References, and words in tables/figures). Email address or contact phone number (If there is a problem with your assignment, it is useful to have your details so that I can contact you directly). A letter of transmittal must not be included. Abbreviations and/or glossary section must not be included. A section of Acknowledgements must not be included. A Table of Contents is required (presenting a list of headings, subheadings and appendices of the report). A concise executive summary is required (an executive summary should include the context of the research, the purpose of the report, and an overview of the major findings of your analysis. This is not a general summary of the case study). A concise introduction is required (Your introduction should give enough background information to provide a context for the report. It should outline the purpose of the report, and indicate the scope of the report - what the report will cover). The Body of the report must include evidence of your research of the topics, as applicable to a report of primary research (see section on 'Body' of the report structure on the web page) is required. Use appropriate headings and subheadings for your sections. A concise Conclusion is required (Your conclusion summarises your main findings, it should not include any recommendations and/or new information). A section with 'Recommendations' is not applicable and must not be included. A list of references is required and must follow the Harvard AGPS style, see https://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide. All figures including frameworks and assessment tables (PESTEL, Five Forces etc) must be presented as Appendices. Presentation of the report: Follow the guidelines as outlined in the generic structure for reports. Word count: The word count applies only to the Body and Conclusion sections. Please keep the rest of the written report (Executive summary and Introduction) succinct. The word count requirement for the body and conclusion is a total of 1500 words. A word count between 1350 and 1650 (10% +/- 1 500) is acceptable. If the word count is exceeded, only the first 1650 words of the Body and Conclusion section will be marked and this will obviously have a negative impact on your overall mark for the assignment. Important instructions: A. Research: As indicated in the case study questions, you are required to support your views with theory. To ensure depth and credibility of your work, you need to demonstrate that you read widely on the topic by including the views of a wide range of theory sources. Theory sources include scholarly journal articles researched through the USQ Library databases. Please note that you must research the theory topics only and not the topic area (the cheese industry) or the competitors noted in the case study; you should work with the facts about the cheese industry provided in the case study and make assumptions if you need further information. The prescribed text, as well as the course readings can also be included as theory support. On postgraduate level it is expected that research include about ten to fifteen journal articles (excluding the course readings and text). B. References: Please note that information obtained from the case study should not be referenced as the case study is the base source of information for your assignment. Do not use the course Study Book (or any other study books) as a reference source. All ideas and data presented in-text, must be referenced according to the Harvard AGPS method. The full reference of each source must be presented in the List of References at the end of your document. Please see the USQ Library website for help on how to use the Harvard AGPS method: http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide C. Marking criteria sheet: It is important that you read through the marking criteria when preparing your assignment to note the criteria that assignments will be evaluated against. Please insert a copy of this criteria sheet at the end of your document. Please insert a page break at the end of your assignment before copying the marking criteria sheet on the next page. D. Submission: Only one document in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) can be submitted. Please make sure that you submit the correct file and the final version of your assignment. It creates unnecessary problems if you submit the wrong file and we have to reset your submission page. E. It is extremely important that you submit your assignment by the due date. We are learning about strategic planning in this course and your ability to plan your time to ensure that you meet the due dates is an important aspect of this course. Please see the USQ policy on assignment submission, Point 4.2.4 'Late submission of assignments' http://policy.usq.edu.au/documents/14749PL#4.2_Assignments . This policy, that outlines penalties for late submission, will be applied in this course. Requests for extension to the due date can only be considered if the guidelines in the policy are followed. F. If you have questions about the assignment, please post them on Case Study Discussion Forum on Study Desk. Even if you don't have questions, it is important that you follow the discussions on this forum to make sure that you are on the right track with your responses to the case study questions