BU 380 · Business

BU 380 Strategic Leadership sample papers, unit by unit

Reviewed by Roland Asquith, MBA Strategic Leadership Herzing University Free custom samples in 24–48h

BU 380 sits above the day to day: it asks what the organization should become and who has to be persuaded. This shelf carries sample strategy analyses, leadership papers and executive memos for each unit of the term.

How this shelf works

Send the exact assignment or rubric from your classroom and a custom sample written to it lands in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. BU 380 is Herzing’s Strategic Leadership course. It centers on setting direction for an enterprise and leading it there, joining strategic analysis with the influence work that makes a chosen direction stick. Searches like "bu 380 unit 4 assignment example", "BU380 sample paper", and "BU 380 unit samples" land on this page.

What BU 380 is really about

Strategic leadership is the course where the vocabulary of the boardroom shows up: mission and vision, competitive positioning, external scanning, capabilities, and the uncomfortable question of what the company will stop doing. BU 380 pairs that analysis with the human side, since a strategy nobody adopts is a document. Expect environmental scanning tools, competitive analysis, a look at how leaders set and communicate direction, and cases where the right answer costs somebody something. Herzing runs the course in a short term, so the reading is dense and the graded writing starts early. Most professionals here bring middle-management experience and are being asked to think two levels above it.

Samples on this shelf are written at that altitude. A strategy analysis names the industry forces that actually bind the firm, then commits to a position instead of listing all five. An executive memo stays on one page of argument, leads with the recommendation and puts the supporting analysis behind it, which is how the reader in the scenario would want it. Leadership sections connect the chosen direction to the people who have to carry it, naming what changes for them. Sources run to industry data and company filings where a claim needs support, cited in APA and dated, since a strategy argument built on undated numbers is easy to challenge.

What BU 380’s assessments ask for

The graded work leans toward analysis with a verdict attached. A typical unit gives you a company, sometimes one you choose and keep for the whole term, and asks for an external scan, an internal capability read, or a positioning argument. Later units often ask for the leadership half: how you would communicate the direction, align the leadership team, and hold the organization to it when quarterly pressure arrives. In many sections the final assignment is a full strategic recommendation with supporting analysis appended. Discussions tend to be case based, and the ones that earn points take a side about what a named company got wrong rather than restating what the case said.

Where students lose points in BU 380

Here is the failure that costs the most marks in BU 380. A paper marches through a framework, fills every box of the analysis, produces a tidy grid, and then recommends that the firm pursue growth while managing risk. Nothing was chosen. A framework is an instrument for eliminating options, and a strategy assignment is graded on whether an option got eliminated. Say which position the firm should take, which segment it should give up, and what the trade costs. Two supporting reasons beat six unranked ones. Papers that hedge to stay safe read as analysis without a conclusion, and rubric rows for recommendation and justification have nothing to reward.

BU 380 grading scale at Herzing: how the work is graded, from Herzing Assignments
How Herzing grades BU 380, visualized by Herzing Assignments.

The BU 380 drawers

Unit 1

BU 380 Unit 1 subject firm dossier example

Unit 1 usually frames strategic leadership and asks you to select a firm for the term. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 2

BU 380 Unit 2 mission and values stress test example

Mission, vision and values commonly arrive early, tested against what the firm actually does. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 3

BU 380 Unit 3 external environment scan example

External scanning and industry forces often anchor the first analytical paper. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 4

BU 380 Unit 4 capability and resource audit example

Internal capabilities and competitive advantage typically follow in the middle units. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 5

BU 380 Unit 5 strategic option appraisal example

Strategy formulation at business and corporate level generally appears here. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 6

BU 380 Unit 6 applied strategy decision paper example

Implementation, structure and leadership alignment often carry the harder assignment of the term. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 7

BU 380 Unit 7 governance and obligations memo example

Ethics, governance and stakeholder pressure usually surface late in the sequence. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 8

BU 380 Unit 8 strategic direction recommendation example

The final unit commonly consolidates everything into one strategic recommendation. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Different?

Your classroom shows something else?

Herzing University revises courses; unit counts and deliverables shift between terms. Send what your classroom shows and the desk matches it exactly.

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Using a BU 380 sample the right way

Read a strategy sample for its spine, not its content. Find the sentence where the argument turns from evidence to choice, and notice how much of the paper sits after that sentence defending it. That proportion is the thing worth copying. Your company, your evidence and your recommendation have to be your own, written by you and submitted under your name, because a strategy argument only works when you can defend it in the discussion afterward. If your unit calls for a document format this page does not carry yet, send the instructions and rubric and the first sample is free, back in 24-48h.

How these samples are written

The discipline behind every paper here: the rubric is the outline, each row gets its section, NP case work holds the clinical voice, and anything proctored stays prep-only because the sit is always yours. Send your unit's instructions with a request and the sample matches them, revisions included.

BU 380 questions, answered

My instructor wrote that the analysis is thorough but the recommendation is weak. How do I fix that?

Cut analysis and add commitment. Pick one direction, state it in the first paragraph, then use the framework you already built to show why the alternatives lose. Thorough usually means you covered everything and ranked nothing. Ranking is what the recommendation row rewards, and it costs you a page you can afford to lose.

Do I have to apply every part of the framework the unit names?

Apply it fully, then use it selectively. Graders want to see you can run the whole analysis, so complete it, but the paper should spend its weight on the two or three forces that actually constrain this firm. A framework applied evenly to everything signals that you have not decided what matters.

Which company should I choose for the term project?

One with public filings, recent coverage and a real strategic problem you can take a position on. Firms everybody writes about leave you competing with the obvious argument. A mid-size company facing one clear decision gives you something to choose between, which is what the grading needs. Send your shortlist with the instructions and we will draft a sample on the strongest one.