Assessment Brief 2

Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

1. Module Details

2. Assessment Structure

3. Assessment 2 Details

3.1 Task

Read the case study on Grab and respond to the tasks below.

Grab for Good and more… in Southeast Asia

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading mobile technology and transportation company that provides a range of on-demand everyday services including ride-hailing, food delivery, grocery delivery, mobile payments, and financial services. Grab (originally known as MyTeksi) was founded in 2012 in Malaysia, by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, who both graduated from Harvard Business School. The company started with a taxi-hailing app designed to improve safety of taxi drivers and riders in Malaysia, but has since grown and established presence in 339 cities in 8 countries across Southeast Asia. By focusing on a hyperlocal business strategy and building strategic partnerships, Anthony and his team have successfully managed to transform Grab from a taxi booking app into a market leading company with a growing and diversified portfolio. The company’s distinctive super-app is a unique source of competitive advantage that offers on-demand everyday services for millions of consumers in Southeast Asia. Grab’s business model also places huge emphasis on social impact, inclusivity, increased access, convenience, safety, reliability in transportation, including financial services and its popular mobile payments platform (GrabPay).

1 The grade is provisional until confirmed by the relevant assessment board(s). Your work will be marked in grades rather than percentages. This is considered to deliver the most accurate and fair outcomes for students. Each assessment that you undertake will be assessed using the common grading system. Information about the grading system can be found in your Student Handbook, Section 10.

The Grade Criteria can be found in Appendix C of your Student Handbook Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

The success of Grab over the years has been strongly supported by strategic venture capital investment funding from some of the leading financial institutions and strategic partners in Asia, that include examples  such  as  Vertex  Ventures,  GGV   Capital,   Tiger   Global,   Hillhouse   Capital,   Softbank, Didi Chuxing, HSBC and Toyota. With an estimated population of over 660 million people, Southeast Asia is a huge and growing market poised to become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030. However, Anthony Tan, the Group CEO and Co-founder of Grab, argued that not everyone has equal access to opportunities that come with the region’s fast economic growth. The company was established with a vision to ‘drive Southeast Asia forward by elevating the quality of life for everyone’, by  creating  economic  opportunities  at  scale,  enabling  access   to   safer,   high   quality   everyday services and creating financial inclusion for the underserved in the region.

By September 2019, Grab launched its unique ‘Grab for Good’ social impact programme in partnership with Microsoft to improve digital skills and literacy through training to empower millions of people, while creating inclusive opportunities for all consumers in a digital economic drive for the region. Leveraging on its distinctive technology platform and strategic partnerships in Southeast Asia, Grab has set ambitious goals to be achieved by 2025, driven by its two flagship initiatives, namely: Grab for Good social impact programme and the regional ‘Break the Silence’. Through its Grab for Good social impact programme goals, the company targets to bring digital literacy and greater inclusion to over 3 million people in Southeast Asia by 2025 in strategic partnerships with governments, private companies, and non-profit organizations in the region and beyond. Grab also aims to empower over 5 million micro- entrepreneurs and small businesses, which are the most realistic source of employment for majority of the people in Southeast Asia’s economies. It is estimated that over 6.6 million workers across the six major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will require reskilling by 2028, and 16% of the ASEAN youth are more likely to work in the technology sector in the future. In response to this, Grab for Good programme is already helping in the drive to build future-ready workforce by training a target of 20,000 students by 2025 through its tech talent initiatives in partnership with educational institutions, non-profit organisations and leading technology companies. According to Andrea Della Mattea, Microsoft President in Asia Pacific, one of the major challenges still facing the region is democratization of education especially in the areas of technology and digital literacy. The Grab for Good programme is helping to open new opportunities for upskilling and digital literacy for millions of people in Southeast Asia. In this way, the Grab for Good programme’s digital literacy campaign is making a huge impact by encouraging ingenuity, while developing computational thinking and problem-solving skills, which are all crucial in building a workforce that will transform families and communities to meet the new demands of the digital economies in the region. As evidence to its success so far, Grab is estimated to have contributed US$5.8 billion to the Southeast Asia’s economy in one year by March 2019, as verified by the KPMG consulting group, in Grab’s social impact report (2018–2019).

Over 9 million micro-entrepreneurs, which represents 1 in 70 people in Southeast Asia, have earned some income through the Grab platform as driver-partners, delivery-partners, merchants or agent- partners. Grab has also helped over 1.7 million micro-entrepreneurs to open their first bank accounts, and with cashless usage increasing up to 9 times higher on the Grab platform compared to overall country cashless usage, the company continues to strong commitment to supporting the moves for a cashless future in the region. Grab is empowering driver-partners and their families to thrive in the digital economy through the development of digital skills, including a pathway for driver-partners to pursue tech-enabled careers with support from Microsoft and a global non-profit Generation. The Grab for Good social impact programme shows the company’s continued commitment to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background or ability, can benefit from the rise of the digital economy. The ‘Break the Silence’ initiative launched in the Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore has enabled over 500 deaf driver-partners to access services on the Grab platform, and the number expected to double in the next few years. The inclusive programme has also enabled the company to roll out the GrabGerak, which is a transport service dedicated to passengers with disabilities in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

Grab’s main competitor in the super-app industry in Southeast Asia is Go-Jek, which was founded in Indonesia by Nadiem Makarim, a fellow Harvard Business School classmate of Grab’s Anthony Tan and Hooi Ling Tan. The two rival companies are in a fierce battle for dominance in the region. They are constantly competing for both investors and customers in areas ranging from transportation, grocery delivery, financial services, and medical advice. Go-Jek tends to prefer partnerships through acquisitions, which allow tighter control. On the other, Grab generally prefers partnerships and joint ventures which have allowed it to reach out to more markets much faster, including a more competitive advantage outside Indonesia. Another key player, Uber, which had invested over $700 million i

Southeast Asia was acquired by Grab in March 2018. Grab acquired all Uber’s assets and operations including UberEats in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Uber gained a 27.5% stake in Grab from the acquisition deal, when the company had already been valued at several billions of dollars. Uber was pushed out of the Southeast Asia market and announced increased investment in research and technology development in its core markets including India where it holds majority control.

However, Grab’s acquisition of Uber in Singapore sparked outrage from drivers who complained that the combined companies revoked their incentives, while passengers protested higher prices combined with what they perceived to be a lower quality of service. That also triggered more scrutiny on the industry players from the regulators, Singapore’s competition watchdog imposed fine of up to $9.5 million on Grab and Uber, ruling that their deal had eroded competition and driven fares up by as much as 15%. The Singapore regulator ordered Grab to restore its pre-merger pricing and told the service to remove exclusivity obligations on drivers and taxi fleets. The ruling against Grab created opportunities for Go-Jek, which has committed over $500 million to expanding in Singapore and other regional markets. As the rivalry continues, Southeast Asia super-app industry is creating a marketplace in which competitive advantage will increasingly depend significantly on each player’s distinctive resources and capabilities including the choice of competitive strategies. Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

Source: Adapted from K. Mpofu (2020) Chapter 8: Case study: Grab for Good and more… in Southeast Asia. In [MacKay B, Arevuo M, MacKay D and Meadows M (2020) Strategy: Theory, Practice, Implementation]. Oxford University Press.

Available online at: https://learninglink.oup.com/access/mackay1e-student-resources#tag_additional- cases

Write a report in response to the following tasks:

1. Provide a brief introduction for your case study analysis report. (200 words)
2. Using appropriate frameworks and any appropriate tools such as mind maps, identify and evaluate the key drivers of innovation contributing to the success of Grab (i.e. you may present your work in the format of a self-designed diagram, a mind-map or a ‘mini-poster’ which you include in your report). (700 words)
3. Using appropriate strategy frameworks, critically analyse the different approaches undertaken by Grab to help shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model. Your analysis in this task may include, but is not limited to, examples drawn from Grab’s competitive strategies at both the business unit level and corporate level. (900 words)
4. Critically evaluate the following statement: Grab’s success can be attributed to the successful application of the “Blue Ocean strategy.” In your response, apply appropriate Blue Ocean frameworks and tools such as Strategy canvas and value curves to compare Grab and its competitors based on the critical success factors for the industry. (900 words)
5. Write a clear conclusion that succinctly highlights the key aspects covered in your report in answers to the tasks above. (300 words)

Additional guidance:

• You should examine the given case briefing material and undertake further reading from other sources, e.g. journal articles, business reports and credible online sources to become familiar with the strategies and entrepreneurial activities of Grab.

• Use appropriate and relevant tools, models or frameworks, and examples to support your analysis in each task.
• Blue Ocean Strategy website also provides useful information and tools that can be applied to complete Task 4 (https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/what-is-blue- ocean-strategy/)

• In your work, you may use diagram/mind-mapping tools available in MS Office or another application, e.g. Padlet. You will then need to take a screenshot of your work and insert into your report. Further information will be provided in class and on Canvas.

• Use Harvard referencing system consistently in citations and the reference list.

• Submit this assignment as a Microsoft Word file. Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

Weighting of the tasks:

• Introduction is worth 5% of the overall grade for AS2.

• Task 2 response is worth 20% of the overall grade for AS2.

• Task 3 response is worth 30% of the overall grade for AS2.

• Task 4 response is worth 30% of the overall grade for AS2.

• Conclusion is worth 10% of the overall grade for AS2.

• Academic Conventions (i.e. structure based on the order of the questions above, layout, quality of Harvard Referencing, register and clarity of the response) is worth 5% of the overall grade for AS2.

3.2 Submission requirements

You must submit your assignment by using the Turnitin gateway in the module’s Canvas site.

Please Note: When you submit you will be asked to confirm you have referred to the Submission Checklist (see Appendix 1) and the act of submitting your work electronically will be taken as an acceptance of the Declaration of Authorship (see Appendix 2).

4. Learning Outcomes for the assessment

This item of assessment covers the following learning outcomes. For the full list of learning outcomes for the module, please refer to the Module Study Guide.

• Critically analyse and evaluate the different approaches to shaping entrepreneurial vision and identifying opportunity.

• Critically evaluate the different drivers of innovation and entrepreneurial opportunity.

• Develop creative and innovative thinking.

• Analytical skills

Appendix 1: Submission Checklist

1. Have you checked Canvas messages/announcements for any additional/final details of the assessment?
2. Are you submitting in the correct submission area e.g. if it is a resubmission of your second assignment it should be ‘AS2R’?
3. Make sure you are submitting the correct final version of your work.
4. Have you kept to the word limit? Remember, anything greater than 10% above the word count will not be marked.
5. Have you addressed the assessment requirements as outlined in the Assessment Brief?
6. Have you spell checked and proofread your work?
7. Is your work formatted correctly and consistently?
8. Are you submitting a document in the correct format?
9. Is your work written in an appropriate academic style?
10. Have you checked your citations and Reference List/Bibliography?
11. Have you submitted your work to get a similarity report to check you have paraphrased where required?
12. Have you read the Declaration of Authorship (Appendix 2)

Appendix 2: Declaration of Authorship

By submitting this work electronically to Bloomsbury Institute and the University of Northampton, I confirm that I have read and understood the Declaration and Definitions below:

Declaration of Authorship:

1. I hold a copy of this assignment which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged.
2. This assignment is my original work and no part of it has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement has been made.
3. No part of this assignment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised and as detailed in the Assessment Brief.
4. I have not previously submitted this work for any other course/module.
5. Where applicable, I have included a declaration confirming external editorial or proof-reading services (see Appendix 3). 

DefinitionsStrategy, Enterprise and Innovation LSBM306

I understand that:

1. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is one’s own. It is a form of cheating and is a serious academic offence which may lead to expulsion. Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data, and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.
2. Collusion is working with someone else on an assessment task which is intended to be wholly your own work.
3. Contract cheating/Commissioning is where you contract out an academic assessment to writers and purchase back the finished work and submit it as your own.
4. Duplication/Replication is submitting the same material more than once for the purposes of obtaining academic credit.
5. Fabrication refers specifically to the falsification of data, information or citations in an academic exercise, typically an assignment. This includes false excuses for missing deadlines and false claims to have submitted work. It may be specifically referred to as falsification.
6. My completed assignment is submitted and checked for plagiarism through the use of plagiarism detection software called Turnitin.

Please note: Submitting work which is not your own and/or cheating in exams can be considered as fraud2 and handled in accordance with the University of Northampton’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy. Penalties can include:

• Reduction in grade for assignment.

• Grade for module reduced to AG [fail for academic misconduct] and right to repeat module withdrawn.

• Termination from studies.

Further information on plagiarism can be found in your Student Handbook, Section 10.

2 If a student is suspected of commissioning (e.g. paying someone to write an assignment for them), this could be classed as fraud under student disciplinary procedures, separate to academic misconduct procedures. If proven, the consequences would be severe, including removal from their course of study

Appendix 3: Use of external editorial or proof-reading services

The University of Northampton’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy (Sections 4.10 – 4.14) provides clear guidance on the use of proof-readers to check your work.

What you need to know:

1. You can ask your tutors or our Learning Enhancement and Employability (LEE) Team (lee@bil.ac.uk) for advice and support on how to proof your work.
2. Proof-readers should not make live changes to your work. They should only indicate where possible changes could be made.
3. A proof-reader should not change the meaning of your work in any way.
4. If a proof-reader’s comments or amendments do change the meaning of your work, this may be deemed as academic misconduct.
5. If you do use a proof-reader you must declare this clearly when you submit your work. The declaration should be on the first page (cover page) of your assignment.

Example declaration:

“A proof-reader has helped me with this assignment. The proof-reader was my friend/name of proof-reading service/a family member/other. I have kept a copy of my original work with comments from the proof-reader.”

For more information please go to the policy itself, which is available in the Quality Enhancement Manual on our website.