Students will produce a report based on the following questions on the Ryanair Airlines:
Questions
1. Identify Ryanair’s strategic position
2. How do the key external drivers of change affect Ryanair?
3. How does Ryanair add value to its strategic position?
4. Identify and evaluate strategic options for the company (this is the conclusion of the analysis)
Submission: 10th June, 2013 2359hrs GMT
A word-processed report of 3,000 words (+/- 10% inclusive of appendices) is to be submitted via the module Turnitin link.
There are many styles of report. You can use your judgment of the most appropriate style for this work. The Study Skills organization in Bb provides lots of information on producing all forms of assessments.
News & Web Links
The link below provides some starting points but students are expected to add their own detailed research to develop the analysis:
http://www.ryanair.com/en
Other useful sources include:
* Core text books * Journals * Newspapers & magazines e.g. ‘The Guardian’; ‘The Economist’ (available through the LRC) * BBC News online * Mintel (available through the LRC)
Marking Criteria
The marks for each criterion are to illustrate where the main effort should be spent and are not meant to be a strict marking scheme.
Presentation 20%
Analysis 60%
Structure 10%
Use of supporting evidence 10%
Please remember that an assignment is not meant to DESCRIBE what you have found. Analysis means commenting on your findings and EXPLAINING what the evidence suggests about the companies.
General Guidance to Students
Structure * The introduction should be brief. It is not meant to provide a history of the company * Use the first three questions in the assignment brief to structure the report findings * The Conclusion needs to draw the analysis to a close and comment on the sustainability of the company’s strategic position. Remember you do not introduce new findings into the Conclusion * You are strongly advised not to to use extensive appendices. If you include appendices you must refer to them in the relevant section of the report findings * References should clearly list all the material that has been referred to in the report.
Models/Content * 6 models are needed in order to fully answer the set questions * Remember to use the models in a ‘dynamic’ way i.e. place relevant examples onto the models. Do not simply copy and paste ‘generic’ examples from the lecture slides * Words in the models are not included in the word limit. The models, however, lose their value if they are full of text. They should aid understanding not confuse the reader because too much has been stuffed into them * Models should be included in the main body of the report. Only place them in the appendices if they are close to a full page * You may well refer to points made in earlier parts of the report to show the connections in the analysis. Do not, however, try to force connections e.g. all points in the PEST and 5 Forces models do not need to be directly linked, they are looking at separate things, though examples in the PEST will inform drivers in the 5 forces, * You will struggle to stay within the word limit so focus on the key strategic elements in your analysis * You will not be able to use all of the examples if you have done the level of reading required so ‘cherry pick’ those that best illustrate the key drivers * Facts and figures need to be supported with sources clearly referenced.
Presentation * Be your own independent work and free from plagiarism by ensuring that work that is not your own is clearly referenced. * Use Harvard
