THE COMPANY
Hilton Hotels will be the brand you will need to investigate and analyse for this assessment. Hilton Hotels has a corporate website from which you can extract the company’s Annual Report and Accounts, in addition to other reports (usually indicated under the ‘Investors’ tag).
Corporate Website: https://www.hilton.com/
Business Sector: Hospitality
COURSEWORK BRIEF/INSTRUCTIONS
For the Strategy Report, you are required to carry out a critical analysis of the Business Environment of Hilton Hotels as a case study as well as evaluate the strategies implemented by the organization.
Submit this Management Report to the Board of Directors for their consideration and understanding. Therefore it must be professional both in content (depth of research and analysis) and presentation (layout and writing style).
This assessment will entail engaging with the business models and frameworks typically employed to undertake an environmental audit and effectively evaluate strategic options available to organizations in terms of appropriateness, feasibility and sustainability.
When presenting the frameworks do not simply re-create the diagrams. Your role is to apply the frameworks. It is perfectly acceptable to use a series of subheadings to delineate the points that you wish to make. Structure of the Strategy Report
Executive summary: This should present a ‘snapshot’ of the report – What did you find out? What conclusions have you drawn? [Not included in the word count.]
Introduction: An introduction to the company’s operations – in other words ‘setting the scene’. This includes an overview of the organisation’s operations, their proposed
strategy, its financial situation, general state of the sector/industry (for example, is it in growth or decline) and its key competitors. It is expected that elsewhere in the report you will apply the models/concepts and frameworks to the organisation. This approach should underpin your knowledge and understanding of the organisation and the environment in which it operates.
An analysis of the sector/industry through Porter’s Five Forces model.
Analysis of the organisation’s strategic position in its industry – by using relevant
business KPIs in comparing the performance of the organization with that of its main
competitors.
An analysis of the organisation’s internal business environment – specifically the
capabilities of the organisation. This will include the use of the VRIO framework.
Analysis of the organisation’s strategic direction: This needs to be undertaken with a
clear identification of the methods by which the organisation’s strategies have been
pursued. You must use Ansoff and either BCG orGE/McKinsey.
Formulation and critical evaluation of strategic measures for the organisation based on an assessment of the organisation’s internal and external business environment using the appropriate frameworks – SWOT/TOWS
Critical evaluation of the strategic measures formulated: This is in terms of its suitability, acceptability and feasibility (SAF Framework).
Conclusions: What conclusions have you drawn from analysing this organisation?
Recommendations: These are what you have derived from examining the organisation.
These should link back to the material that you have critically reviewed within the
previous sections. There must be a clear rationale for the recommendations. Read your recommendations carefully and ask yourself the following questions:
Are your recommendations rational?
What evidence can you provide in support of these recommendations?
How would the various stakeholders react? How would you react if you were a
shareholder?
Is it logical that the company would or need to take these specific actions?
Do they make sense?
Would you be prepared to discuss them at a Board meeting?
