Assignment:

The 3000 words exclude appendices, which should not be excessive and should not include material more properly included in the body of the report; your application of frameworks should not be presented in appendices. For more guidance on word counts, please refer to the policy statement in the MBA qualification guide.

This assignment is based on the case study Funskool India: Defend, Lead, and Counter Rivals (Gupta et at, 2018). We do not recommend that you undertake additional research to complete this TMA.

This TMA is intended to help you build towards achievement of several BB835 Learning Outcomes, but primarily:

• Learning Outcome 1 (by helping you understand the concepts, theoretical ideas and empirical findings that underpin the study and practise of strategy) and

• Learning Outcome 2 (by asking you to evaluate and apply these concepts, theoretical ideas and empirical findings to develop your own views on strategic decision-making in organisations).

The TMA tasks

There are two tasks that you must perform to complete this assignment. The tasks involved in this TMA have been designed to provide you with practice in answering the type of questions you will face in the BB835 examination.

Task one
Read the case study Funskool India: Defend, Lead and Counter Rivals. Prepare a report on the current and future attractiveness of the Indian toy industry from the perspective of Funskool India Ltd, one of India's largest toy manufacturers that now faces the challenge of continued growth while encountering increased competition.

You should prepare your answer in a report format. Comment on:
• the strategic issues facing Funskool
• the effect of macro-environmental factors in shaping the Indian toy industry and the likely impact of macro-environmental factors on the attractiveness of that industry
• the attractiveness of the Indian toy industry based on an analysis of the current industry structure and competition

Notes on answering Task one

You should not do any additional research in preparing your answer; use only the data in the case study. You should aim to complete this task in no more than 1800 words. You should aim to exhibit both objective and subjective analytical skills to complete this assignment and demonstrate your strategic thinking abilities.

This assignment builds on skills you have developed in some of the activities you have undertaken in Units 1 and 2 of BB835, specifically:
• Activity 2.4 of Unit 2, where you were encouraged to analyse the macro-environment surrounding your own organisation and identify long-term trends
• Activity 3.3 of Unit 2, where you were encouraged to undertake a five-forces analysis of the industry that your own organisation operates within and
• Activity 5.1 of Unit 2, where you were asked to consider the arguments for and against an international strategy.
As you attempt this assignment, make use of the concepts and frameworks you have read about and used, and the insights you have developed in these activities. Please ensure that any use of module content is appropriately referenced.

Task two

Having completed Task one, we would like you to reflect on the decisions you took before attempting this task and explain your reasoning. You should think about the following when compiling your report:
• Why did you choose those module concepts for Task one and what did you hope to gain by this choice? What were the strengths of the frameworks you used for this task? Focus on the insights that you hoped to develop into the current and future attractiveness of the Indian toy industry from the use of each framework, and whether and how these frameworks might be complementary.
• What were the limitations of the frameworks you used for this task? What in your view caused these limitations and how did you overcome them? Did you decide to not use any module concepts?
• Was the data in the case study sufficient enough to enable you to complete Task one? If there were deficiencies in the data, what were they and how did they affect your ability to complete this task?

Notes on answering Task two
You should aim to complete this task in no more than 1200 words. You should aim to exhibit critical thinking and reflective skills to complete this assignment. Please note: this task does not simply require you to describe what you did; it wants you to go further and reflect on why you did what you did, what you hoped to achieve through the decisions you took, and what this process told you about the usefulness of some core BB835 concepts for analysing a specific industry situation.

The conversation in Unit 1, Session 1.1 regarding what critical thinking is should help you with this task, as should the discussion in Unit 2, Session 2.4. For instance, you could in fact discuss whether you found evidence to support any of the critiques discussed in Unit 2, Session 2.4 or you could call upon examples from your own experience.

Attachment:- TMA.rar