Assessment Information Sheet

Core Course 2 Credits

Assessment Summary

Individual Assignment

You are to prepare a report that would help a company decide whether to expand into a new market. The company that commissioned the report would like to be informed both about the details of the target market and a recommended entry strategy.

Your report will have two main parts.

First, the report should advise on the nature of the market. You must choose a market and present a detailed economic analysis of it. You may choose any market in which you are interested, or have knowledge of, in any sector. The market may be large or small, global or very local. For example, the market could reflect anything from global aircraft manufacturing to coffee shops. Although we would recommend choosing an existing market, you can also study a new market if you can find enough information to undertake analysis to address the questions below.

Second, the report should set out a set of recommendations regarding an entry strategy for the company to move into this market. The firm can either be an existing firm not currently competing in that market, or a new venture developed specifically to enter the market.

In preparing your report, you should consider the following questions.

The market and characteristics of demand and costs. What is the market? What are the market boundaries, both geographically and in terms of the characteristics of the product/service? What are the closest substitutes, the elasticity of demand, the cost structure for a typical firm in the market? Are there scale effects in costs?

Market competition. What is the nature of the competition in the market? Would you characterize the market as a monopoly, oligopoly or highly competitive? For an oligopoly, how do firms compete: is a Bertrand or Cournot model – or some other model – more appropriate? Are there any barriers to entry which protect profit levels? How are incumbent firms likely to respond? What pricing strategies are currently used? Is there an opportunity to price discriminate between consumers?

Market failures. Are there any market failures? If so, what are they, and how would they affect performance on entry? Is there government regulation which attempts to address market failures?

Entry Describe a good possible strategy for an entrant (even if you think entry is not actually attractive). What strategy are incumbents likely to follow in the face of potential or actual entry?

Key Resources and Capabilities. What resources and capabilities would be key for the firm to succeed in entering the market based on the strategy you have described? What is the priority/significance of different resources, and the rationale for why those resources/capabilities are key?

Non-market issues. What attributes of the non-market environment represent the most significant challenges to the firm? What attributes of the non-market environment represent significant opportunities?

These questions should not necessarily be given equal weight. Some issues may be more important in some markets, and others in other markets. While you should give at least some consideration to all of them, it is up to you to decide which are the most important considerations in the market you choose.

You are free to make use of material from other courses BUT you will be judged primarily on your ability to use the material from your Firms and Markets and Strategy courses, and especially your integration of the material from these two courses to draw useful, interesting and clearly argued conclusions. You should include descriptions of the economic and strategic models and frameworks you employ, and reference appropriate academic literature and industry sources. While your answers should be based on actual data as far as possible, you will also get credit for qualitative judgements, and for indicating how you would improve your analysis if more information were available.

The assignment must not be longer than 3000 words. The word count covers the main body of text, including in-text citations, tables, figures, and diagrams, and excluding references.

For this course assignment you should not use footnotes or appendices. High marks can potentially be achieved with fewer words. Cite any and all sources that you use but do not include in the bibliography any sources not cited in the main body of the text or in footnotes.

MARKING CRITERIA: QUALITATIVE

	Mark band for core courses	MARKING CRITERIA
DISTINCTION	70 and 75	Superb work. Directly answers the question set. Draws on an extensive range of material. The answer demonstrates the ability to critique the underlying concepts, and/or shows total grasp of the relevant frameworks.
		Excellent work. Directly answers the question set. Draws on a very wide range of material. The answer demonstrates the ability to critique the underlying concepts, and/or shows an excellent grasp of the relevant frameworks.
		Fine work. Directly answers the question set. Draws on a wide range of material. The answer demonstrates the ability to critique the underlying concepts, and/or shows a fine grasp of the relevant frameworks.
PASS	65	Strong pass. Addresses the question set. Draws on a range of material. The answer demonstrates a strong grasp of concepts and frameworks.
	55 and 60	Good pass. Addresses the question set. Draws on the main material. The answer demonstrates good but not complete understanding of concepts and frameworks.
	50	Pass. Addresses the question set. Draws on a limited range of material. The answer demonstrates satisfactory knowledge of some of the key concepts and frameworks.
FAIL	45	Marginal fail. Attempts to answer the question set. Fails to draw on the key material. The answer fails to demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of the key concepts and frameworks.
FAIL	45	Outright fail. Fails to address the question set. Fails to draw on the key material. The answer fails to demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of the key concepts and frameworks.