Management Assignment: A Reflective Report Summarising The Graduate Challenges

Question

Task: Task requirements:
The module will be organised around three compulsory challenges to help develop your skills required for success at university. You must get actively involved in each challenge.
You are required to write an individual report to evidence your participation in the Challenges and to reflect on what you have learned through your involvement.
The report on management assignmentmust include coverage of the following-:

The Challenges: An analysis of each challenge which focuses on the business angle e.g. branding, finance, operations. What knowledge did you learn about how businesses actually work
The Challenges are as follows-:
Apprentice Challenge
Presentation Challenge
T-shirt Challenge

The Skills: A reflection on the skills you have demonstrated during the challenges to include the following –

• Communication Skills/ Emotional Intelligence
• Teamwork
• Time Management and meeting skills
• Business skills and competencies developed e.g. presentation skills, use of Excel etc.

Action Plan: An action plan on how you will develop these skills over the next 3 years at university. The report is a reflective piece but still requires you to demonstrate an evidence-based approach to the coverage and consequently there is a need to support the discussion of both the challenges and the skills with reference to core module materials covered in seminar sessions and with additional external research. The research will represent not only materials covered on the Graduate Challenge module itself but also from other level 4 modules e.g. coverage of branding from marketing lectures, the inclusion of teamwork in from Introduction to People Management, business analysis skills from Global Business Environment or Financial Accounting. As the report is a reflective piece you do not need to worry about formal style, you can write in terms of “I”, “my” etc.

The use of visuals in the appendix that are related to the tasks completed is highly advisable to add interest -for example t-shirt designs, key visuals from slide presentations and excel pricing worksheets.

Answer

Executive Summary
This management assignment has been done with a concept of discussing three sections where one is about the apprentice challenge that discusses the self-evaluation of the academic team from the LSST (London School of Science & Technology). The second challenge discusses the presentation of Tesco Plc and its condition compared with ALDI and LIDL Company. And the third section discusses the t-shirt challenge of the new model for women in the Afro Caribbean region.

Introduction
In this study, three different challenges have been put to analyze and showcase a reflective report based on apprentice challenge, presentation challenge as well as t-shirt challenge. In the apprentice challenge, the SWOT analysis has been done in terms of LSST and a possible scenario has been set up to deliver this reporting structure. The presentation challenge has discussed the case study about Tesco PLC and the T-Shirt challenge has put focus on a marketing strategy for a new afro-Caribbean t-shirt model called Nubian Queen.

Apprentice challenge
How did I identify the challenge
Apprentice Challenge is a kind of workflow that always guides me to access information and skills together to form a well-structured task. Through productive SWOT analysis of LSST, the task has been a successful piece of work, where quality and relevant recommendations have been carved out to make effective teamwork in the later sections.

SWOT Analysis
Strength: According to the teamwork done for this project, I have observed that there has been a lot of potential among the team members that have paid their contribution to the task. Effective communication has been a major factor. Weaknesses: One major weakness that has been found in teamwork was the contradiction that occurs between individuals while they performed on the same segment with two different expertises (Schedlitzki, 2019). At this point, it becomes tough for the coordination to serve in a correct manner. Moreover, lack of patience among the team members causes it to become a headache instead of minimizing the stressful part.

Opportunities: Being a team leader, it has been a great experience for me to lead the team and face the hardships to overcome and gain a decision-making mentality. The overall experience of performing in this project was amazing.

Threats:Due to the prevailing weaknesses, if action is not taken in the team being a leader then it might hamper the team task and its productivity. Moreover, the threat factor might cause a fear among individuals to fail while developing a proper assessment. Lack of concentration and team coordination is major threat-causing factors (Ezenwakweluet al., 2019, p. 15).

Business skills & competencies
Through effective teamwork, it has been possible for me to learn business skills and their related competencies. Through performing this project, in the apprentice section, I learned the uses of Excel, improvised my presentation skills, and learned how to collect and elaborate information with authentic references. The major acknowledgment lies within productive communication and team building to create a boosted manner while attempting any tough section in the project. In three different sections with three different challenges (Nieminen, 2020, p. 14), it has been a great experience to learn the things required to fulfil the objectives of this project. The leadership quality has given me the ability to think differently and to acquire a motivation factor for myself and for the team also. While focusing on situations that were critical I performed with patience and that helped me to analyze the factors closely. Putting proper communication among the team helped me to keep a smooth flow of knowledge that could be shared maintaining transparency among the team members. Hence, the overall learning has paved a way for me and the team to acknowledge the importance of the team contribution and how effective it lies while attempting any task. The team coordination does not only maintain a bond while performing for the assessment but also creates a phase where members could build their relations stronger by minimizing the conflict that might have occurred due to any misconduct or any personal issue.

References
Ezenwakwelu, C.A., Egbosionu, N.A. and Okwo, H.U., 2019. Apprenticeship Training Effects on Entrepreneurship Development in Developing Economies. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 25(1), pp.1-21.

Nieminen, J.H., 2020. Disrupting the power relations of grading in higher education through summative self-assessment. Teaching in Higher Education, pp.1-16. Schedlitzki, D., 2019. Developing apprentice leaders through critical reflection. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning.

T-shirt challenge
Define the brand
Nubian queen is a women's t-shirt as well as sweatshirt production and also a seller business that would surely get its place in the afro-Caribbean market. The product has been subjected to the target to fulfil the demands mostly on black people. To satisfy its afro-Caribbean customers the photocopy of this new t-shirt brand would be augmented in-store as well as online and offline services for a better experience among its customers. Hence, this has been subjected to a branding purpose in the afro-Caribbean market, where people will buy this collection in an enthusiastic manner (Gentles-Peart, 2018, p. 200). The logo of Nubian Queen has been developed in such a stylish manner as well as a meaningful subject has been added to it so that getting into customers' would get a market growth through it. For a long period of time, it has been marked that apartheid has been the cruelest issue in society. Due to this issue, the most impacted area is the afro-Caribbean people, where a strategic outcome is needed. Based on the SWOT analysis it can be depicted that due to increased cases of covid-19, it has been marked that the firm is about to manage its regular workform to a global standard of the workforce. As an outcome Nubian Queen, to learn to understand this t-shirt challenge. There is a misconception among women that if a person gives them clothes, then they will never manage the dress to different colors (Stanislaus, 2020). Also, it must be understood that a major role should be played through Nubian Queen's branding image. All the social media players and the internet using stakeholders would get a chance to firmly develop this brand for positive sales. In addition, to a social cause for promoting this product, another factor is to obligate the budget as well as the pricing matter in the afro-Caribbean market.

Who is your target market and why
Nubian Queen being a female brand in the afro-Caribbean region will target especially black women who are mostly discouraged in the society. It has been found that it is still there as an issue regarding black people and the media is completely ignoring and are not supporting the black trend and its products. Women aged from 25 to 40 years old are the target customers for this Nubian product (Foner, 2018). Keeping in mind the financial condition of people and especially of women in the afro-Caribbean region, the product will be kept in a moderate range of pricing so as to satisfy the customers through both quality and its pricing. Also, customers from global platforms can visit the product on different social media pages and websites to get it from offline as well as online stores. The major revenue generation for the product is expected from its online and offline stores only.

What is your pricing strategy
Nubian queen comprises both profitable and loss segments which have considered an evaluation of £150 as a budget for its production sale. £20 has been kept as an advertising cost whereas the overall costing lies between £122 to £145. Charges for mono print for the Nubian queen t-shirt has been estimated at £3 for half sleeves and for full sleeves the same will be £5.

Table 3: Financial planning
(Source: Developed by the learner)

References
Foner, N., 2018. Race in an era of mass migration: black migrants in Europe and the United States. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(6), pp.1113-1130.

Gentles-Peart, K., 2018. Controlling beauty ideals: Caribbean women, thick bodies, and white supremacist discourse. Management assignmentWomen's Studies Quarterly, 46(1/2), pp.199-214. Stanislaus, E.P., 2020. We're Here, We Exist: An Exploration of how Second-Generation Afro-Caribbean College Women Make Meaning of their Race, Ethnicity, and Gender.

Tesco challenge
How has Tesco performed since October 2015
Tesco is one of the greatest and leading sectors among the retailers around the world. On the international platform, Tesco has 3.6 million employees. At a GBP rate according to GBP rate the estimated revenue capital of £45062 million (Tesco.com, 2022).

Figure 1: GBP of Tesco
(Source: Tesco.com, 2022)

What is the current financial performance of Aldi and Lidl
ALDIis a German-based supermarket chain. It has nearly 10,000 stores in around 20 countries. The annual turnover of this company is €50 billion. According to a report, in the year 2021, the company has had an increase of 1.5 % in its sales category. On the other hand, LIDL is an international firm in the German industry, operating with 11000 stores around the whole world. In 2021 the market share for LIDL was found to be 4.6 % (Guo and Wang, 2019,p . 330). Presently the revenue capital for Lidl Company is €57 billion. As per a recent report, LIDL and ALDI both have lost grocery market share. Tesco has earned a rise in its share for the first time since 2016.

Swot analysis of Tesco using pestle analysis.
Strength: For Tesco PLC, increase in its market share, diverse form of work environment, productive and innovative operating inclusions are the strengths of the company. The company has been found to operate through smooth workflow and it maintains a communication chain within its work environment. With full potential, the company can perform globally.

Weaknesses: In an aspect of weakness, it can be said that the growing competition and the conventional work form can become the weakness of the firm. Due to the technological inclusion among other grocery retailers, it can become a weak zone for Tesco PLC to suffer customer reduction and its sales production (Hashim et al., 2021).

Opportunity: Tesco PLC can merge with new emerging companies to establish mutual benefit protocols, through which they can team up to lead the retail chain in the subject market. This can help the company to maintain its competitiveness in the retail market. Also, the company can practice new and innovative work forms with the inclusion of artificial intelligence and technological assistance to evolve its workability and production (Guo and Wang, 2019, p. 330).

Threat: Due to the emergence of the company's weaknesses and old conventional management, Tesco PLC fears the threat of getting its market share loss to different emerging companies. Also, the company might face a threat due to competitors who are working strategically to lead the retail market. Moreover unsatisfied stakeholders and demotivated employees are other factors causing a threat to Tesco PLC (Hashim et al., 2021). Moreover, the threats would become more severe if the company does not place any criteria to fulfil the opportunities of both employees and its stakeholders. Moreover, there is a need to evaluate a quality budget that can fulfil the requirements of all the necessities in the firm and its related expenses in the competitive market.

Conclusion
In the presentation challenge, a company namely Tesco has been considered where the discussion was made about the company's performance and its present market scenario. Further, in the t-shirt challenge, an upcoming T-shirt model namely Nubian queen has been discussed and evaluated within a target market with a social cause and business purpose.

Reference
Guo, L. and Wang, Z., 2019. Ratio analysis of J Sainsbury plc financial performance between 2015 and 2018 in comparison with Tesco and Morrisons. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 9(2), pp.325-341.

Hashim, M., Nazam, M., Abrar, M., Hussain, Z., Nazim, M. and Shabbir, R., 2021. Unlocking the Sustainable Production Indicators: A Novel TESCO based Fuzzy AHP Approach. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), p.1870807.

Tesco.com, 2022. Available at: [Accessed 15 January 2022].