Strategic Management & Sustainability

Individual Assignment 2021/22

Similarity has to be less than 10%

You can use the draft submission folder to check your similarity score prior to final submission

The assignment is an essay of 2000 words. This excludes references and contents page

Deadline is 8th April 2022, 5pm

All submissions should be in a WORD file.

Extensions of a couple of days only should be requested at least 48hrs before the given deadline.

If you are unable to submit, do apply for ECS. You can do so in Banner (any time before the
submission, and up to 2 days after).

I ONLY MARK WHAT IS ON THE FINAL SUBMISSION FOLDER. USE THE RIGHT SPACE TO UPLOAD
YOUR WORK

Covid-19 pandemic is seen as a window of opportunity for businesses to strengthen sustainability.

2020 is making us rethink our lives, per the pandemic and other worldwide events, which is why
sustainability is fast becoming the new business reality.   

As governments, businesses and society as a whole addresses the challenges of COVID-19 and the
global pandemic, there are valuable lessons we collectively have learned. We know we can
transform the way we work and behave. We have learned that the health of our economy, our
people and the environment are closely linked. Once the world overcomes the worst of the
pandemic a key part of rebuilding our economy will need to include embracing the ESG
(Environmental Social Governance) agenda and sustainable business practices.

Looking ahead, though, the economic response to Covid-19 offers a tremendous opportunity to build
the foundations for a more resilient and sustainable future that meets long-term ambitions. 

Analyse how organisations compete through sustainability focuses on how sustainable activities can
most valuably strengthen the organisations competitive positioning and how the pandemic open up
opportunities for sustainable development.

Select a specific company or organisation to work on and follow the following structure.

Your submission should include the following (the notes in brackets are just for your guidance, do
not include them in the titles)

 Cover page
 Contents page
 Introduction (note: what the company is doing and where is operates)
 Impact of pandemic on Sustainable development (note: for the company and not overall)
 Identification of the competitive stances (note: what makes them stand out of the
competition?)
  SWOT OR PESTLE (note: you can research what each means if you haven’t done them before)
 Recommendations (note: specific and not generic)
 Conclusions

The marking scheme is shown below:

Marking
Introduction – background of the case company 10
Impact of pandemic on Sustainable Development on the 15
company
Identification of competitive stances (for the company) 15
Identification of competitive market positioning (SWOT or 20
PESTLE)
Recommendations for strengthening sustainability (green 20
recovery for the company)
Conclusion 10
Format & Layout, References 10
Total 100

Assessment Details
Please follow the steps outlined below to make sure your assignment contains the correct
information for examining the impact of pandemic on sustainable development.

1. Place your name, banner number and case study title on the cover page of your report.

2. Provide brief background information about the organization/case company, a description of its
products/services/SBU and a brief discussion on the challenges facing the organization due to Covid-
19.

3. Determine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic towards the development of sustainable practice.

4. Identify the competitive stance of the organisation/case company you are investigating. Please
provide a rationale for your choice of competitive stance(s) based upon evidence the group has
gathered from industry sources, reports, quotes, video clips from the company or YouTube etc.

5. Employ PEST/SWOT/both analysis to determine the company market positioning. You won’t be
able to mention everything, so identify and prioritise the ones you think are going to be the most
important/challenging for the company to compete in the market. This analysis will help the group
to determine the market conditions confronting the company. Make sure you take into account the
affects the trends will have on the company’s competitive stance. There is no need to tell the reader
the purpose of PEST/SWOT Analysis, take it for read he or she know this already.

6. From the above analysis you should now assess how the company could strengthen its
sustainability to compete in the market. Is Covid-19 a threat or opportunity to sustainable
development? Explain the reasoning behind your choice. This should be linked back to what you’ve
discovered in your previous analysis.

7. Provide brief conclusion to highlight the key findings and contributions of the study.

Some sources to get you started:

Rethinking Sustainability In The Middle Of A Pandemic
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2020/08/05/rethinking-sustainability-in-the-middle-of-a-
pandemic/?sh=323c8c4422e4

The Pandemic helps focus on Global Sustainability Goals

https://www.db.com/what-next/responsible-growth/dossier-covid-sustainable-development/
pandemic-helps-focus-on-global-sustainability-goals?language_id=1