International Strategic alliance

Individual Written Coursework

You are presenting a plan to start an International Strategic alliance in the industry of your choice (using real-life example or the imaginary alliance) in 3,900-4,000 words.

My choice of Industry: Fashion or cosmeticor Food and Beverageor Theme Park

Discuss one of the following aspects of international strategic alliances, using cases and academic theories to support your argument:

Strategic expediency
Cultural domination by one partner
Trust and knowledge transfer<<I chose this topic
Performance metrics

Present recommendations to address potential issues. Illustrate your chosen answer by referring to several alliances.

Details (for questions 1 to 4)

Imagine that you are an alliance manager. You need to persuade your CEO that you are capable of running the alliance in respect of one of the five aspects (as listed above). You could say the first thing that comes to your mind, but that is not going to be very persuasive (e.g. you lose your job / fail assignment). Instead, you need to demonstrate your analytical thinking. You need to support your analysis with examples from other companies – what they did, where can you inspire, what you should avoid. You need to demonstrate your understanding of theories and concepts, so your CEO can be confident that you are aware of the best practices (so you are not reinventing wheel). Your analysis supported with theory, examples from practice, and understanding of your company (and industry) is the winning formula. Do not forget about appropriate academic referencing (since this is an academic assignment).

1. Introduction – Choice of Alliance(400-500 words)

Choose and briefly present the alliance you are involved in. You can choose to be involved in:

Alliance as presented in a case study (perhaps using a different case study than those presented in module learning guide could be more exciting)
Other real life alliance (for example, you have heard about an alliance in news, you have seen an alliance in your previous work experience, …)
Imaginary alliance (invent your own company and imagine the alliance with a real existing company) << I chose this choice

Key:

Should be clear that….

– Which company you are working asAlliances Manager with?

– Which company you would like to Ally with?

Trust and knowledge transfer

How trust work with knowledge transfer (Relate? Link?)

How to protect yourself from knowledge transfer?

How to approach trust?

2. Content

-Briefly present the alliance background

‘Who do you work for?’ – Identify from whose perspective (company) you will analyse selected aspect
Keep it brief (cca. 400 words should be enough)

-Research Academic theory

Demonstrate your understanding of theory
Critically evaluate theory, do not simply repeat what one author said in one journal. Look at different sources / different views, think about it (critically analyse), and offer your understanding.
You are encouraged to create your own theoretical model. You still need to critically evaluate other theories and concepts. During your analysis you may arrive to the conclusion that no theory is working for you. Create your own model. Understanding theories is good, creation of knowledge is excellent (so might be your mark). Try it.
Do not forget to reference authors of those theories (sources). Reference only sources that you have read. Do not copy references from journals.
You must consider academic theories in order to pass

-Illustrate your chosen answer by referring to several alliances

Apply theories on examples from practice
Support your analysis – demonstrate what works, or does not work
Use case studies (you can refer to cases studied during the module or to other cases of similar depth). Academic case studies will not always offer the most up-to-date information, but will offer very good level of detail supported with academic theories.
You can supplement your research with up-to-date information obtained from news articles
You must present examples from practice in order to pass

3. Conclusion — 300 words

Ref. 20 Sources

Format and innovation

The individual assignment is equivalent of a 4,000 wordreport

Easiest format is report (strongly preferred to essay – headings and subheadings make reading easier, report format is what you are going to use in business). However, you are encouraged to innovate.

Use:

mind maps
process diagrams
presentation (you can even record voice over)
video
combined format (e.g. video in a presentation)

You can use different formats as part of your report, or you can even replace the entire report with different form of submission. Whatever format you choose, it needs to be equivalent of 4,000 words and you always have to demonstrate analysis, theory, examples from practice, and provide referencing. If you choose to submit the entire report in a different format, there must be a rationale for it. For example, you cannot simply divide the text into PowerPoint slides. Using a different format should add value to your work. For example, it makes sense to take advantage of animations to visually display links between concepts, analysis, or examples.

It must work as standalone resource. When the marker reads or watches your report, they should see all the information needed to be able to mark your assignment against the assessment criteria. So, you do not have to come explaining what you mean.

Referencing should follow the APA 6th ed.referencing style. Please refer to http://libguides.shu.ac.uk/referencing for additional help. Additional help is available at library where you can book one-to-one support session. Sometimes students choose to impress with endless number of references that they copy from few journals articles. Do not do it. Yes, you need to demonstrate extensive research, but reference only sources that you have read (or make sure that you know how secondary referencing works). If we are not convinced about the true extend of your original research, we will have to send you to Academic Conduct Panel, or at the best significantly reduce your mark. Always use your own words. Replacing few words in a sentence with synonyms is plagiarism rather than paraphrasing. You can quote (copy sentence word by word), but quote only occasionally and do not forget to use quotations marks and recognise the source (reference).

Submitting

Please be aware that if you do not submit via the Blackboard submission point it will be deemed a non-submission and therefore receive a mark of zero. You are also required to submit to Turnitin for originality / similarity checking but this is not submission for marking purposes (see notes below for more detail).

Turnitin

You are asked as part of your assessments to submit an electronic version of your work through a system known as Turnitin. The Turnitin system will produce a report identifying any similarities between the work and existing literature or other sources and can be used to help students avoid plagiarism and assist with referencing.

Your module tutor will give you guidance on how to submit work through the system and how to act upon the report produced. Please note that any Turnitin submissions will be in addition to the actual online assignment submission.

Individual Written Assignment assessment grid

Weighting Criteria	0% – 40% Significant Fail Work substantially does not satisfy assessment criteria	40% – 49% Marginal Fail Work does not wholly satisfy assessment criteria	50% -59% Pass Acceptable Work with some good aspects	60% – 69% Merit Good Quality Work	70% – 79% Distinction Excellent Work	80% – 100% Distinction Outstanding Work
Must explicitly and directly answer the question in a well-informed manner	Fails to answer the set question adequately.	Answers some aspects of the question. Minimal use has been made of the material provided and there is no evidence of significant additional reading.	Answers the question explicitly and provides reasonable evidence of knowledge of the topic and reading.	Answers the question explicitly and makes very good use of course material and set reading.	An excellent answer, detailed and comprehensive with evidence of additional research and reading.	Outstanding in-depth focus and clarity.
Definition of relevant concepts and principles	Fails to define any relevant concepts and principles.	Definition of some relevant concepts and principles.	Detailed definition of some relevant concepts and principles.	Detailed definition of all major relevant concepts and principles.	All relevant concepts and principles clearly defined.	Demonstrates advanced understanding of relevant concepts.
Application of relevant concepts and principles	Fails to apply any relevant concepts and principles.	Some attempt has been made to apply relevant concepts and principles.	Good application of some relevant concepts and principles.	Very good application of most relevant concepts and principles.	Virtually all relevant concepts and principles accurately applied.	Outstanding application / contribution to knowledge
Evidence of significant reading and research and knowledge in depth of the topic.	No evidence of significant reading or research and little evidence of knowledge on the topic.	Limited evidence of reading and research and knowledge of the topic	Evidence of a reasonable amount of reading and research and knowledge of the topic.	Clear evidence of extensive reading and research and knowledge of the topic.	Clear and wide ranging evidence of extensive reading and research and a deep knowledge of the topic.	Excellent, comprehensive, in-depth, and well-focused review of literature.
Presentational quality of answer.	Very poor presentation with many grammatical and spelling errors. Little / poor referencing.	Serious weaknesses in structure, grammar and spelling. Patchy referencing.	Reasonably clear structure with satisfactory grammar and spelling. A good standard of referencing.	Logical structure and good overall quality of presentation. A good standard of referencing.	Coherent and reader friendly, logical structure and good quality of all attributes. A very high standard of referencing.	An excellent structure, effective academic writing, and outstanding presentation. A very high standard of referencing.