The primary criteria for selection of the topic is the unexpected news or strategic challenge rather than the predictable, well known one.

To reiterate, the issues selected offer you the opportunity to study the ‘unexpected’ from the protagonist’s p.o.v first of all and review what the various options are and critique how they’ve handled it. Then the idea is to look at that issue from your own organisation’s p.o.v. both in terms of direct (if any) impacts as well as (crucially) the 2nd level impacts or parallels that you can draw to your own organisation – even when there don’t appear to be ones at first glance. That’s the real skill of a senior leader – being able to “join the dots” in seemingly unrelated areas, digesting them and altering/confirming your strategy and priorities based on this new information.

2.   Wesfarmers/Bunnings/Home Base UK.

The new CEO of Wesfarmers Rob Scott recently announced a $1 Billion write down of the Bunnings UK business (formerly Home Base) which was an acquisition they made a couple of years ago. While Bunnings appears to be going from strength to strength in Australia, clearly the same cannot be said of their excursion into the UK. Analyst’s reports are suggesting that the quantum of capital lost is likely to exceed that of Woolworths disastrous foray into hardware via their Masters JV with Lowes from the U.S.

How could a sophisticated, disciplined and well-respected company like Wesfarmers make this mistake, particularly after watching its arch rival go through a similar experience? What does it say about the culture, the people, the system, the roles of the Board, CEO and senior executive team? What are the implications for your organisation? Have they made or could they make a similar mistake? What systems and culture are in place – or are not in place – to prevent that happening? How do you balance investment risk with the needs/expectations of shareholders as a senior leader?

Students are required to analyse one of the contemporary strategies issues facing the nominated organisation from the CEO and Board’s perspective. What are the key risks, opportunities and threats that have or may emerge from the identified issue?

Students are then required to re-anaylse the implications of the identified issue from their own organisation’s perspective (this organisation is Australian listed company Seven Group Holdings ASX.SVW). Students are then required to prepare a Board briefing paper on the issue as if they were the organisation’s CEO.

Assessment Format

2,500 word report (please omit Executive Summary – 2,500 words of content only)

Assessment Rubric

See next page.