Reference no: EM133268791

Assignment Task

On 5th July 2018 the United States trade war with China officially began, as the Trump administration's threat to impose tariffs became reality. Designed to tackle the US trade deficit with China, at midnight $34 billion worth of tariffs on approximately 800 different types of products came into effect. China reacted immediately and similarly placed a 25% tax on products imported into the country from the US.

Recently, trade wars were thought to be a thing of the past. Politically and economically, free trade has been seen to be of benefit for domestic and global economies and the wealth of nations. The reduction in restrictions, if not termination, of trade barriers and even country's borders, as in the EU single market, has led to a progressive growth in economies all over the world. The largest of the industrialized economies (G 6,7 and 8) have annually held a summit, since 1975, to discuss the global economy and enable trade agreements.

The Trump administration may go even further in implementing trade barriers, with the US president voicing his disdain with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), with the rumour that the administration has drafted a bill to pull the United States out of the WTO. The concern amongst economists is that these policies from one of the wealthiest country in the world, could trigger a recession and threaten global policy.

As a result of these actions on the part of the Trump administration, and Brexit, the global economy has become more volatile and turbulent in the last 2 years, since the financial crisis of 2008. Industrialists and multinationals are monitoring events closely, as significant changes, such as these, can have implications to organisations working in those markets.

As a strategist for a multinational organisation of your choosing, you are asked to write a report for the senior management team (SMT) focussing on these events in the global economy. The report should provide the SMT with an analysis on the following.

Question 1.
a. Critically evaluate the external and internal environments using appropriate tools and identify potential intended strategies for the organisation. Are there any steps which the organisation should take now in case there is another global crisis in the next 2 to 5 years? (800 words)

b. If a global recession was to occur in the next year, are there any emergent strategies which you would recommend? (400 words)
You will need to justify your use of tools and techniques.

Question 2

c. Evaluate the purpose of strategic planning and decision making within an organisation. You should evaluate and distinguish between intended, emergent and realised strategies and consider the alternative approaches to how strategy can be viewed and strategic planning undertaken within an organisation.

Question 3.
d. Organisational change is notably difficult to implement successfully. One of the implications of the global recession is that firms may have to re-evaluate and rationalise. For the SMT provide an analysis of what organisational change may mean to the company.