Assessment name and type Weighting, word count and due date Assessment 3 Strategic Thinking: Environmental Scanning Type: Business report Weight: 40% Word count: 2000 words (excl. refs and appendices) Due date: Week 12 Friday, 5pm AEST (Trimester 1: 27 September | Trimester 2: 31 January, 2020) The task The general purpose of this piece of work is to encourage deeper and more critical perspectives on strategic thinking and strategy development, management and formulation. Specifically, this task requires you to scan the external environment and track an emerging trend that may affect agribusiness in Australia in the next 3-5 years. You will use the environmental scanning method (resources provided) to do this. It is wise to think of this assessment as a trimester long project–begin thinking about this from week one. Report elements The focus of this assignment is to develop deep, critical insight of the external environment in which Australian agribusinesses are embedded. Choose your topic (which includes the ‘trend’ to be scanned and an Australian agricultural sector or sub sector to prepare a report containing the following details: • Overview of the key general and industry-specific environmental issues shaping and driving competitiveness in this part of Australian agriculture • Overview of the current industry structure (e.g., key players and their associated strategic and competitive positioning) • Report on your environmental scanning findings of your topic, including a discussion on how your analysis and associated understanding of this trend may impact on the relative attractiveness of the industry in the medium future, • Report on the implications of this trend and recommendations for strategic directions of firms in this industry Report format The assessment will be a business report (for guidance, please refer to the College’s Writing Guide). We expect you to provide a critical, analytical argument and not simply provide a description of your chosen company. The report should be written as if it was to be presented to an Executive Management Team. The word guide is 2,000 words, excluding your reference list (APA format) and appendices.
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