Assessment Brief 1

Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation

LSBM306
Index
1. Module Details 2

2. Assessment Structure 2

3. Assessment 1 Details 2

3.1 Task 2
3.2 Submission requirements 4

4. Learning Outcomes for the assessment 4

Appendix 1: Submission Checklist 5

Appendix 2: Declaration of Authorship 6

Appendix 3: Use of external editorial or proof-reading services 7

Appendix 4 8

Extensions and Mitigating Circumstances 8

Word Limits 8

Assessment Brief: LSBM306 - 2020-21 Page 1

1. Module Details
Module Name: Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation
Module Code: LSBM306
Level 6
Credit Value 30
Module Leader: Knowledge Mpofu
Academic Year 2020-21

2. Assessment Structure

Item of Assessment Report

Weighting This assessment is worth 40% of the module grade

Word Limit 2,000 words

Submission Deadline Friday 13 November 2020, 3pm

Acceptable Formats for

Microsoft Word
Submission
Feedback and Feedback and provisional grades will normally be due 20
Provisional Grade1 working days after the submission deadline

Resubmission Date Friday 7 May 2021, 3pm

3. Assessment 1 Details
3.1 Task
The word limit for this assignment is 2,000 words.

This item of assessment is designed to allow you to demonstrate your ability to undertake a detailed
analysis of a firm’s strategic capabilities and external environment. Your evaluation of the firm’s internal
and external environment should demonstrate understanding of the nature of entrepreneurial
recognition, including the need for innovation and creativity that helps the organisation to exploit market
opportunities.

1 The grade is provisional until confirmed by the relevant assessment board(s). Your work will be marked in grades
rather than percentages. This is considered to deliver the most accurate and fair outcomes for students. Each
assessment that you undertake will be assessed using the common grading system. Information about the grading
system can be found in your Student Handbook, Section 10.

The Grade Criteria can be found in Appendix C of your Student Handbook.

Assessment Brief: LSBM306 - 2020-21 Page 2

Select an organisation from any industry or sector, and write a report in response to the
following tasks:

a) Provide a brief introduction for your report. (200 words)

b) Critically analyse the internal resources and capabilities that give the organisation a
competitive advantage. (600 words)

c) Identify the key drivers of change in the external environment and evaluate their
impact on the entrepreneurial activities of the organisation. In your response, use an
appropriate framework to analyse the external environment. (400 words)

d) Using Porter’s Five Forces framework and/or any other relevant tools, evaluate the
impact of the main competitive forces that are influencing entrepreneurial activities
and profitability within the industry. (600 words)

e) Write a clear conclusion that succinctly highlights the key aspects covered in your
report in answers to the tasks above. (200 words)

Structure details and weighting

Your report should be structured as follows (additional guidance/requirements are given in bullet
points):

• Introduction (200 words) (5%)

o Introduce your chosen firm and provide an overview that highlights some key
aspects about its position within the sector/industry.

o Explain briefly how you are going to analyse the firm and highlight any relevant
models/frameworks chosen and applied to support analysis in the report.

• Analysis of the firm’s internal resources and capabilities (600 words) (30%)

• Evaluate the impact of external environment factors on the entrepreneurial activities

of the firm (400 words). (20%)

• Evaluate the impact of the competitive forces on entrepreneurial activities and

profitability within the industry (600 words). (30%)

• Conclusion (200 Words) (5%)

o Highlight the main points covered in your report: showing, for example, how your
answers have demonstrated the interplay between the company’s internal
strengths/weaknesses based on resources and capabilities, external factors, and
competitive forces within the industry.

o Briefly explain how the firm uses its internal capabilities and resources to achieve
competitive advantage within its external environment.

• References and use of Harvard referencing style (5%)

o Use the Harvard referencing style and include a range of sources from academic
literature, industry reports and other good quality and credible internet sources.

• Structure and presentation (5%)

Assessment Brief: LSBM306 - 2020-21 Page 3

Additional guidance:

In your report, you are expected to:

• Follow the structure outlined above but you may change the wording of the headings
and add sub-sections to your report

• Conduct independent research and use a range of academic sources

• Use Harvard referencing throughout for your citations and the reference list.

• This assignment should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file.

3.2 Submission requirements

You must submit your assignment by using the Turnitin gateway in the module’s Canvas site.

Please Note: When you submit you will be asked to confirm you have referred to the Submission
Checklist (see Appendix 1) and the act of submitting your work electronically will be taken as an
acceptance of the Declaration of Authorship (see Appendix 2).

4. Learning Outcomes for the assessment

This item of assessment covers the following learning outcomes. For the full list of learning outcomes
for the module, please refer to the Module Study Guide.

• Develop a general understanding of the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity

recognition and need for innovation and creativity.

• Identify and critically evaluate strategic options.

• Critically analyse and evaluate the different approaches to shaping entrepreneurial

vision and identifying opportunity.

• Analyse and evaluate internal resources and the external environment.

• Communicating ideas in a business report.

Assessment Brief: LSBM306 - 2020-21 Page 4

Appendix 1: Submission Checklist
1. Have you checked Canvas messages/announcements for any additional/final details of the
assessment?

2. Are you submitting in the correct submission area e.g. if it is a resubmission of your
second assignment it should be ‘AS2R’?

3. Make sure you are submitting the correct final version of your work.

4. Have you kept to the word limit? Remember, anything greater than 10% above the word
count will not be marked.

5. Have you addressed the assessment requirements as outlined in the Assessment Brief?

6. Have you spell checked and proofread your work?

7. Is your work formatted correctly and consistently?

8. Are you submitting a document in the correct format?

9. Is your work written in an appropriate academic style?

10. Have you checked your citations and Reference List/Bibliography?

11. Have you submitted your work to get a similarity report to check you have paraphrased where
required?

12. Have you read the Declaration of Authorship (Appendix 2)?

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Appendix 2: Declaration of Authorship
By submitting this work electronically to Bloomsbury Institute and the University of Northampton, I confirm that I
have read and understood the Declaration and Definitions below:

Declaration of Authorship:

1. I hold a copy of this assignment which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged.

2. This assignment is my original work and no part of it has been copied from any other student’s work or
from any other source except where due acknowledgement has been made.

3. No part of this assignment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration
has been authorised and as detailed in the Assessment Brief.

4. I have not previously submitted this work for any other course/module.

5. Where applicable, I have included a declaration confirming external editorial or proof-reading services
(see Appendix 3).

Definitions

I understand that:

1. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is one’s own.
It is a form of cheating and is a serious academic offence which may lead to expulsion. Plagiarised
material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic
data, and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately
cited.

2. Collusion is working with someone else on an assessment task which is intended to be wholly your
own work.

3. Contract cheating/Commissioning is where you contract out an academic assessment to writers and
purchase back the finished work and submit it as your own.

4. Duplication/Replication is submitting the same material more than once for the purposes of obtaining
academic credit.

5. Fabrication refers specifically to the falsification of data, information or citations in an academic

exercise, typically an assignment. This includes false excuses for missing deadlines and false claims
to have submitted work. It may be specifically referred to as falsification.

6. My completed assignment is submitted and checked for plagiarism through the use of plagiarism
detection software called Turnitin.

Please note: Submitting work which is not your own and/or cheating in exams can be considered as fraud2 and
handled in accordance with the University of Northampton’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy. Penalties
can include:

• Reduction in grade for assignment.

• Grade for module reduced to AG [fail for academic misconduct] and right to repeat module
withdrawn.

• Termination from studies.

Further information on plagiarism can be found in your Student Handbook, Section 10.

2 If a student is suspected of commissioning (e.g. paying someone to write an assignment for them), this could be
classed as fraud under student disciplinary procedures, separate to academic misconduct procedures. If proven,
the consequences would be severe, including removal from their course of study.

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Appendix 3: Use of external editorial or proof-reading
services
The University of Northampton’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy (Sections 4.10 – 4.14)
provides clear guidance on the use of proof-readers to check your work.

What you need to know:

1. You can ask your tutors or our Learning Enhancement and Employability (LEE) Team
(lee@bil.ac.uk) for advice and support on how to proof your work.

2. Proof-readers should not make live changes to your work. They should only indicate where
possible changes could be made.

3. A proof-reader should not change the meaning of your work in any way.

4. If a proof-reader’s comments or amendments do change the meaning of your work, this may
be deemed as academic misconduct.

5. If you do use a proof-reader you must declare this clearly when you submit your work. The
declaration should be on the first page (cover page) of your assignment.

Example declaration:

“A proof-reader has helped me with this assignment. The proof-reader was my

friend/name of proof-reading service/a family member/other. I have kept a copy of
my original work with comments from the proof-reader.”

For more information please go to the policy itself, which is available in the Quality Enhancement
Manual on our website.

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Appendix 4
Extensions and Mitigating Circumstances
Information on Extensions and Mitigating Circumstances can be found in the Student Handbook,
Section 10.

Applications for extensions and mitigating circumstances, with supporting evidence (such as medical
certificates) should be made through the Student Self-service Portal (SSP).

The University of Northampton’s Mitigating Circumstances Policy document can be accessed through
our Quality and Enhancement Manual: QEM Section 3: All Policies and Procedures.

Word Limits
All written assignments include clear guidance on the maximum amount that should be written in order
to address the requirements of the assessment task (a ‘word limit’).

If the submission exceeds the word limit by more than 10%, the submission will only be marked up to
and including the additional 10%. Anything over this will not be included in the final grade for the
item of assessment.

Abstracts, reference lists, indented quotations, and footnotes are excluded from any word limit
requirements.

In-text citations, embedded quotations, and all headings and titles are included in the word limit.

Where a submission is notably under the word limit, the full submission will be marked on the extent to
which the requirements of the assessment task have been met. Generally speaking, submissions under
the word limit fall short of the requirements of the assessment task.

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