Individual Assignment: Evaluating Strategic Approaches to Innovation on
Performance Frontier
In this Individual Assignment, you will conduct a performance frontier analysis of the
an organisation you have chosen for your project paper.
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
Review the Readings and, in particular, examine the articles by Eccles and Serafeim
(2013) and Kim and Mauborgne (2004) and the case studies for the unit.
Search the Library for scholarly sources and the online business press for articles
on the company you selected for your Final Project that are related to its strategic
innovation and sustainability strategies (including ESG issues).
To complete your Individual Assignment:
Conduct a brief, wellargued analysis of the past 5 to 10 years of strategic innovation
actions by your selected company (particularly relative to core competitors), which
explains the evolution of the company through the lenses of both traditional and blue
ocean innovative strategy frameworks.
Based on your analysis, provide a convincing argument on how well
prepared you think your company is to create new strategic innovation
actions or to respond to competitor’s innovations. Be sure to clearly argue
how you’ve reached your conclusions and why you think they are
appropriate. (Note: approximately 250 words)
Conduct a thorough and wellargued ‘performance frontier’ analysis which evaluates
how well the company you have selected for your Final Project has done in the past
five years in terms of ESG sustainability innovations and organisational
improvements. Consider an indepth examination of the company through the core
questions that Eccles and Serafeim (2013: 53) outline:
Have they identified which ESG issues are most critical in their business?
Have they quantified the financial impact that such improvements would
have (had)?
Have they undertaken major innovation in products, processes and
business models to achieve the improvements?Which ones, and which
stakeholders benefited?
Have they communicated with stakeholders about those innovations? Who
were the winners and/or losers that the innovations impacted?
Did the company break down barriers to change or change its incentive
systems? Did it exhibit ‘strategic intent’ on these issues, as Hamel and
Prahalad (2005) treat the topic?
Be sure to identify the implications for future competitiveness, based on your analysis
above.
Be sure to support your postings with evidence from the Readings and current
literature from the Library and other sources. Consult the Harvard Referencing Style
Guide for proper citation and referencing information.