This document provides guidelines for students completing a group assignment on business strategy for a Strategic Management course. It outlines the key sections of the report, including identifying the generic business strategy implemented by the company and discussing how it is evidenced through the company's value chain activities. Students are instructed to choose one of Porter's generic strategies that best represents the company's dominant approach, and to explain how the strategy is manifested in its business operations through specific examples, rather than just providing theoretical descriptions. The guidelines emphasize linking the discussion of business strategy to any previous analysis of the company's internal resources and competencies.

1. Strategic Management BUSM 3200
These guidelines are provided to help in your preparations for the group assignment. They do
NOT represent in any way “model answers” or a correct approach. Rather they provide
suggestions as to how to proceed with data collection and analysis leading to the completion of
your report. Make sure you read the guidelines provided by the RMIT course coordinator carefully.
BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS 3-1

2. The next section (5) : Business Strategy
Section 5 of the report:
Identify and discuss the generic type
of business strategy the firm (or SBU)
implements by examining its strategy
statement and/or its value chain
activities.
BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS 3-2

3. Content is take from Chapter 6
Key things to note:
1. Focus on Porter’s Generic Strategies ONLY
2. (leave out Strategy Clock and Hyper-
competition)
3. You are NOT recommending a new strategy- so
don’t do that!’
4. You are supposed to comment on the current
strategy that your company is pursuing and be
able to show evidence!
3-3BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS

4. Talk about ONE Main Strategy
You DO NOT discuss all the four generic strategies as per
the Porter model
You choose only ONE that you think represents the
dominant strategy that the firm uses
Some groups want to say that the firm uses more than one
strategy BUT this dilutes your answer. My advice – STICK
TO ONE
DO NOT talk about
 Mergers/ acquisitions
 Joint Ventures
 Strategic Alliances
 All these are NOT included!!
The topic is strictly on BUSINESS LEVEL Strategy
3-4BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS

5. Explain the business strategy
Explain the rationale of your chosen strategy- why
is it the preferred approach for your company/SBU
How it is manifested through the different aspects
of its business strategies such as marketing,
operations, product development, service, etc.
Theory is from the text and lecture notes; but the
context of the strategy needs to be clearly
explained. (context= means how the strategy
works given the nature of the company or SBU
that you have selected.
You should spend not less than 20% of word count
for this section- it is that important
3-5BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS

6. “statements”
This means you need to find out evidences
to prove that the company is indeed
pursuing such a chosen strategy
Can be from company website, business
articles and others
You can infer from such evidences
But you need to have at least 5- 6 evidence
sources to confirm such a strategy
3-6BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS

7. The context aspect of business strategy
This is important to note
Do not provide long paragraphs explaining the
characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of
a particular generic strategy that you have
selected
Instead research the literature – evidence and
show with specific examples exactly how a given
strategy (say differentiation) is represented in its
various aspects of the firms business operations
The answer is not from the book or notes; its
detailed study of the firms strategic operations.
3-7BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2012) GDS

8. The previous section on Internal Resources
In the previous section of your report on internal
resources, you went through the core
competencies and capabilities of the firm
This should then give you the information to
discuss strategy
What really makes this company strong and
provide it with competitive advantages?
What evidences do you have that can show the
firm is pursuing a given generic strategy?
3-8BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS

9. Examples of a contextualized strategy (just some basic points used for comparisons)
3-9BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS
Area of business operation Evidences / Examples Comment on how these link to
the generic strategy
FlightOperations Uses wide bodied advanced
aircraft
Shows it is differentiated in
terms of fleet status – advanced
and latest
CabinCrew / HR Excellence in customer service
First/BusinessClass
International recognition of
customer service
Branding and marketing Global marketing Creates global brand
Area of business operation Evidences / Examples Comment on how these link to
the generic strategy
FlightOperations Uses only one model of aircraft Cost efficiencies
CabinCrew / HR Efficiency , limited inflight
service
Savings on manpower and
resources
Branding and marketing Price Promotions
Regional marketing
Fill aircraft capacity
Singapore Airlines : Differentiation Strategy
Tiger Airways : Cost Leadership Strategy

10. The Value Chain
It is NOT about describing the value chain
Its about showing the LINKAGE between the generic
strategy and the value chain activities
Hint: see my Lecture Five Notes
 Slides 5-50 to 5-52 (Diff and VC) or
 Slides 5-62 to 5-64 (CL and VC)
Give specific examples (not copying from my slides) as to
how the value chain reflects the nature of the chosen
strategy
For example if I choose FEDEX as my case company, then
the examples explained in the VC should be specific to the
courier and logistics business
3-10BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (Jan 2013) GDS