Choose one company from the following list. For this company, explain how successful you think it is and discuss the strategic reasons behind that

Choose one company from the following list. *Royal Dutch Shell plc *Nikon Corporation For this company, explain how successful you think it is and discuss the strategic reasons behind that success. Your explanation should include something about the contribution of leadership to the company. Go on to suggest strategies and/or actions for ensuring success in the future. Guidance We want you to tell us how you think the company has been able to compete successfully and justify your answer with analysis based on topic areas taught as part of this module. “Success” could be evaluated in terms of measures such as growth, profitability, market share and so on. But how has the company achieved this position which may have taken several years? To tackle the question you need to carry out a full strategic analysis of the company and the business environment. But we only want to read the really important elements of that analysis and the conclusions you draw. You have to judge what is most important and present this to us in a clear, academically rigorous manner. You must present conclusions (your interpretation of the analysis) for each section below. Your assignment should contain the following sections (5cm spacing between each) numbered exactly as follows. Mark allocations are shown in the marking scheme at the end of this brief. 1. A brief (maximum 100 words) introduction to the company 2. Company data which can be used to evaluate its success concluding with your thoughts about whether or not the company can be described as “successful”. 3. An outline of 6 to10 business reasons behind the success stated in a simple, straightforward way with a brief (4/5 sentences) explanation of each reason. Avoid strategy “jargon”; no analysis is required – this is a test of your broad business knowledge and understanding. 4. A detailed analysis of the company’s strategic capabilities starting with the Value Chain and followed by a VRIN evaluation. Your interpretation of the analysis must clearly show how the company has been able to build competitive advantage. 5. An evaluation of the contribution of leadership to the company’s success, basing this on appropriate theory. A wide range of topics will be acceptable including: 6. A detailed analysis and interpretation based on one further topic area from the following list: o Leadership (e.g. styles, attributes) o Management theories o Organisational culture o Decision-making o Business (competitive) strategy consistent with strategic capabilities o International strategy (based on the framework in Exploring Strategy) o Innovation strategy o Collaboration (alliances, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions) 7. An explanation of any external and/or internal factors that might make it difficult for the company to be successful in the future (cite sources) and suggestions as to how the company can best deal with these.  ALL sections should cite sources of research data and theories/concepts on which your analysis is based. The only exception to this is the suggestions you make in Section 7; these should be YOUR original ideas and therefore citations are not expected. All cited sources should be listed in APA format in the References section at the end of your assignment  Cutting and pasting material directly from sources without citation is plagiarism  Cutting and pasting material directly from sources with citation is poor scholarship  Short extracts from cited sources are permissible – use quotation marks  You should use your own words wherever possible Word limit: 3,600 words Tables with sentences will be included No appendices are allowed Arial, 11 pt, left-justified, 1.5 spacing, with page number & show student ID on every page Leave 5 cm margins at the end of each section Double-sided printing APA style in references