Strategic Management

Learning outcomes:

1. Understand the basic concepts and terminology used in Strategic Management. (Lo 1.2)
2. Understand the Corporation Social Responsibility (Lo 1.4).
3. Understand issues related to strategic competitive advantage in organizations (Lo 2.2)
Assignment Questions: (5 Marks)

Question 1. (2 marks)
Discuss the relationship between the social responsibility of a corporation and its competitive advantage. Enrich your answer by examples. (Max 600 words).
Your answers should include outside references (other than the slides and textbook) using a proper referencing style (APA). Using references from SDL will be highly valued.
Question 2. (3 marks)
To prepare for this assignment, review Figure 4.3 entitled ‘forces driving industry competition’ from your textbook (Figure 4.2- Ch4- Slide no 18) and the text relative to Porter’s Five Forces of Competition framework. Consider the role of the following key forces of suppliers, substitutes, buyers, and potential entrants.
Select a Middle Eastern company of your choosing and assess the power of each of five forces on that firm:
a. How powerful are the buyers, suppliers, and substitutes? How formidable are the barriers to entry and how intense is the rivalry among existing firms? (2 marks)
b. Which of the forces has the biggest impact on the firm? Why? (1 mark)