BIRMINGHAM CITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

POSTGRADUATE DEGREES

COURSEWORK FRONT SHEET

MODULE TITLE: MAN7077 International Operations Strategy and

Innovation

1st Attempt

MODULE CODE: MAN7077

LECTURER: Andrew Amayo

ISSUE DATE: 27TH January 2020

SUBMISSION DATE: 18TH MAY 2020, 11:55 pm (at night)

HAND BACK DATE: 28th JUNE 2020

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria specific to this

assignment:
1. Evaluate International Operations Management real world scenarios.
2. Demonstrate critical awareness of the issues, problems and practices that characterise
International Operations Management.
3. Critically evaluate and appraise the role that innovation plays in the development of
Operations Management techniques in different national and cultural settings
4. Critically assess the approaches for developing a culture of creativity and innovation in an
organisation

Please see detailed marking scheme contained within the matrix below
 Assessment and Guidelines

Overview

The aim of this module is to explore the diverse range of activities that comprise the area of
International Operations Management, innovation, new product or service development and
the need for leadership when introducing change initiatives. Specifically, the module is
designed to enable students to appreciate the truly international nature of the modern firm
and how many processes are now undertaken across national borders. The module
therefore supports the philosophy of the MSc Management and International Business
degree in that it consolidates:

 The interaction of contextual forces impacting on an international organisation;

 The integrative strategic themes of the International Business pathway.
The module takes a ‘theory to practice’ approach to illustrate the theoretical positions
under discussion in the classroom. This supports the Course philosophy of
intellectual and vocationally relevant learning. As such, students will explore the
tasks, issues and many real day to day examples and decisions that are necessary
to manage processes internationally within organisations and across the supply
chain. Specifically, the module is designed to enable students to gain an
understanding of the strategic issues associated with managing the operations of
international companies in a changing international business environment, to help
them develop a critical appreciation of the operational problems of an international
company from the viewpoint of the major business functions. In addition the module
is designed to provide students with a thorough grounding on how organisations
might deal with various aspects of innovation and how the development of a robust
strategy for innovation can lead to sustainable competitive advantage. A key thrust of
this programme of study is that achieving a sustainable competitive strategy,
particularly in the context of disruptive change, is dependent upon organisations and
their operations fostering a culture of innovation and creativity. Therefore this module
is designed to allow aspiring international managers to improve the overall operations
performance by developing an innovation capacity in their current and future careers.
It will help managers to develop an understanding of how context influences
performance and how organisations must change and learn as their context changes.
It will identify the role that innovation and creativity plays in organisational learning
and development. The assessment for the module reflects the need for innovation in
the modern organization and requires the student to undertake desk research on how
an existing international organization could improve the operational performance by
introducing innovative processes and practices.

Assessment

A 3000 word Individual coursework submission exploring the approaches that international
firms utilise within their operations for products or services and how creativity and innovation
can be used to improve the overall business performance.
This should cover all the four learning outcomes as expressed in the marking criteria

Assessment outline
To assess the 4 module Learning Outcomes the assignment asks you to;
Imagine that you have been appointed as an external innovation management consultant to
an international or multinational organisation that you currently work in (The list of the
organisations you should consider is available on Aula and in the appendix section of this
document)
Using the published sources such as journal articles, text books, newspaper entries and the
internet, your task is to research and report to the CEO / MD with an action plan that takes
into account the operational, financial and resource constraints that the organisation faces in
using innovation to become more competitive. The plan must be both engaging and
implementable.

Length: Maximum 3000 words: The business school has a policy on word limits for
coursework assignments which requires you to show your word count. You should not
exceed the word limit by more than 10%. References, appendices and words in the portfolio
template do not count towards your word count.

All submissions will be submitted to Turnitin for originality checking and as such you should
familiarise yourselves with the University policy on academic integrity.

Marking scheme

Higher marks will be earned where students follow the Marking Criteria and particularly those
who demonstrate evidence of wide reading and research around the application of the
International operations management and innovation theories identified within the module in
the context of the chosen organization. All students will be expected to develop a critical
awareness of the issues, problems and practices that characterise International Operations
and the role that innovation can play in improving these.
There will also be higher marks awarded for presentation i.e. Clarity of expression, use of
logical arguments and grammar, syntax, spelling as well as appropriate structuring of the
assignment and Harvard referencing.
You must ensure that each element is completed electronically for this submission. See the
marking criteria for full details of what to include and the breakdown of marks.

University Regulations

Please consult these; especially with respect to plagiarism:

You are reminded of the University’s Disciplinary Procedures that refer to plagiarism. A copy
of the Disciplinary Procedure is available from iCity.

Except where the assessment of an assignment is group based, the final piece of work that
is submitted must be your own work. Close similarity between assignments is likely to lead to
an investigation for cheating.

You must also ensure that you acknowledge all sources you have used.
Submissions that are considered to be the result of collusion or plagiarism will be dealt with
under the University’s Disciplinary Procedures, and the penalty may involve the loss of
academic credits.

If you have any doubts about the extent to which you are allowed to collaborate with your
colleagues, or the conventions for acknowledging the sources you have used, you should
first of all consult module documentation and, if still unclear, your tutor.
Marking Criteria

0 – 39% 40 – 49% 50 – 59% 60 – 69% 70 – 79% 80 – 100%

Fail Fail Pass Strong Pass Very Strong Pass Exceptionally Strong Pass
(merit) (distinction) (distinction)
Evaluate International Operations Management real world scenarios.
Criterion 1 Students will have not Students will have Students will have identified Students will have made a Students will have made a critical Students will have made a critical evaluation
Mark: identified a case identified a case a case organization and sound assessment of the case evaluation of the case organization and of the case organization and discussed in
organization and not organization but not discussed the ways in which organization and rigorously discussed in depth the ways in which depth the ways in which international
discussed the ways in discussed the ways in international operations evaluated the ways in which international operations are undertaken. operations are undertaken. Some critical
which international which international being undertaken and international operations are Some critical assessment of the ways assessment of the ways that the
operations are taking operations are taking provided some evaluation of undertaken and the key role of that the multinational organization is multinational organization is managed and
place place in any great detail the importance of integration the parent company plays in managed and the benefits that can be the benefits that can be derived from having
of the operations in multiple ensuring integration of the derived from having robust integration of robust integration of activities and provide
locations activities activities recommendations of how performance could
be enhanced
Demonstrate critical awareness of the issues, problems and practices that characterise International Operations Management.
Criterion 2
Students will not have Students will have Students will have Students will have Students will have demonstrated a Students will have demonstrated a critical
Mark: an awareness of the demonstrated some demonstrated a reasonable demonstrated a reasonable sound awareness of the issues and awareness of the issues and challenges that
issues and challenges awareness of the issues awareness of the issues and awareness of the issues and challenges that are to be found in are to be found in undertaking international
that are to be found in and challenges that are challenges that are to be challenges that are to be undertaking international operations and operations and have been able to provide
undertaking to be found in found in undertaking found in undertaking have been able to identify how resolving theoretically informed suggestions of how
international undertaking international international operations and international operations and these challenges can provide sustained the organization can use operations to
operations operations but have not have been able to discuss have been able to discuss the competitive advantage for the firm. provide a best in class performance
been able to articulate the ways that the practices ways that the practices will
these adequately will provide some advantage provide some advantage
Critically evaluate and appraise the role that innovation plays in the development of Operations Management techniques in different national and cultural settings
Criterion 3
Students will have not Students will have Students will have been able Students will have been able Students will have been able to critically Students will have been able to critically
Mark: identified a case identified a case to discuss how innovation to evaluate the key role that evaluate the key role of employees in evaluate the key role of employees in
organization and not organization and will can be integrated into the innovation plays in the providing sources of innovation that are providing sources of innovation that are
discussed the key role have partially discussed operations of the business to successful development of emerging form within operations that are emerging form within operations that are
that innovation can the key role that provide a stream of new operations function such that it used to inform the strategy of the firm in used to inform the strategy of the firm in a
play in the innovation can play in ideas and processes that can provide a ‘conveyor belt’ a ‘bottom up’ approach ‘bottom up’ approach and how this can lead
development of the the development of the can help in the development of new ideas and processes to the classification of ‘world class’ status
multinational multinational of the multinational that are then used for the
organization organization organization benefit of the firm
Critically assess the approaches for developing a culture of creativity and innovation in an organisation
Criterion 4
Students will not be Students will not be able Students will be able to Students will be able to assess Students will be able to critically assess Students will be able to critically assess the
Mark: able to demonstrate to demonstrate an demonstrate an adequate how the collective creative the ways in which the ‘creative firm’ can ways in which the ‘creative firm’ can be
an awareness of the understanding of the understanding of the power of the organization can be achieved and how the organizational achieved and how the organizational culture
internal cultural ‘people’ aspects of ‘people’ aspects of providing be ‘tapped’ to provide ideas culture lends itself to the nurturing of lends itself to the nurturing of internal ideas
development of the providing innovation and innovation and the internal that the organization can internal ideas that are utilised to provide that are utilised to provide sustained
firm to provide an the internal cultural cultural barriers that might utilise for advantage. The role sustained competitive advantage. There competitive advantage. There would be
environment of barriers that might exist exist of management in creating the would some critical discussion of the some critical exploration of the benefits that
creativity environment for a ‘positive’ role of management in facilitating the breaking down organizational barriers can
culture to thrive is assessed development of creativity in all areas of bring and how the ‘upside down’ firm can
and discussed in some detail the firm lead to organizational excellence
Appendix

List of the organisations you should consider

1) TRANSPORTATION – AVIATION AND AUTOMOBILE SECTOR

a) Boeing
b) Airbus
c) Mercedes
d) Honda

2) FOOD AND BEVERAGE SECTOR

a) Coca-Cola
b) Subway
c) McDonalds
d) Starbucks

3) CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SECTOR

a) Apple
b) Huawei
c) Samsung
d) Sony

4) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

a) Alibaba
b) Intel
c) Amazon
d) Infosys