BMA5108 – Assessments

1.      Task One – The Individual Project (70% of the total marks)

You choose to study a business, big or small, local or international; desirably, also in your pathway subject area. Based on its current products and status, identify a new international market for this company. The international market can be a region (for example, the EU), a country (for example, the US) or also choose a city/area in this country (for example, New York City in the US or California in the US). This must be a new market that this business has never entered.  You create a business plan for the chosen business to enter and develop its business in the selected market. In the plan, you design entry, marketing, operations and HR strategies, on the consideration of

1. this business’ current local and/or international business practices;
2. the resources and the constraints it currently has ;
3. the resources it needs to implement the international strategies; and
4. the social/cultural background in that country.

You are expected to use the knowledge you have learned from the lectures/seminars and from your own research as the guidance for your practice. You are also strongly suggested to use your practice to challenge the theories. The key to success is insight, synthesis, innovation and creativity. Please bear in mind – this is not just about export!

 

When developing the international strategies, you must use proper international business theories and literature to support your rationale and decision.

 

Word count – 3,500 words, exclusive of submission information, executive summary, table of content, the reference list and the appendix; 10% margin on each end.

 

 

Please note, you must use Harvard Referencing System to properly reference your work, including both in-text referencing and end of paper reference list. Improper referencing will lead mark loss or a fail.

 

You must upload a Microsoft Word document to Turnitin.

 

 

• Develop your project

Your report is suggested to include these sections and contents.

1. Introduction

Use about 500 words to describe the background of the project in its wider context, explain your key purpose and motivation. Secondly, give a brief introduction to the chosen business and explain the reason and value to study it. Thirdly, briefly introduce chosen international market and address the reason and value to choose it. Lastly, briefly present the following contents of the report.

 

Before starting to develop the strategies, you could do a comparative PEST analysis for the domestic market and the targeted market. I suggest you place the detailed PEST analysis in the appendix. At here, only present and analyse the key findings that need to be considered in the following strategy creations.

You may also use Hofstede, Trompenaar, or Hall’s cultural models to study the similarities and the differences between the culture (national culture) in the two markets and use your findings to justify the following strategies. Again, detailed comparisons could be presented in the appendix and only present the results and your arguments here.

 

 

2. Business Strategy Development

This chapter is used to explain your business strategies. It is about 2,500 -2,800 words

2.1 Entry strategies

2.2 Marketing strategies (may also include public relations where applicable)

2.3 Operations strategies

2.4 Human Resources strategies

2.5 Finance strategies (optional, but you develop this strategy, you need to use proper data to explain budgets, costs, profits, and rough breakeven point and time. Creating a balance sheet is recommended.)

Use references and evidences to support your discussions. Relevant international business theories, models and literature must be used to support the development of your ideas and plans.

 

3. Reflection

It is highly recommended to send your business report to the chosen company to seek their comments and advice. If this is achieved, please present their reply in the Appendix. Use about 300 to 500 words to response to the reply and to reflect upon your learning outcomes from this project and from the company’s feedback. For example, do you agree or disagree with their comments? How do you revise this business plan to cope with the company’s comments, suggestions or desires, etc.?

 

If you are not able to obtain the company’s feedback, please review the lesson learnt, your report and your group member’s report and state the inspiration you obtained from the module and studying your group member(s) work for your reflective writing.

 

• Construct your report

You are recommended to format your report in this way

Title Page – report title, module information (module code and name), personal information (student name, student number), submission date (the final submission date, the date you upload to Minerva.

• Have a good title – your report title should tell the reader what the report is about, it needs to be clear, short, and focused. Preferable, it is also interesting and attractive
• Have a nice design – neat, smart, attractive (be careful of using colours)

Executive summary (start on a new page) – this is a short summary your business project. It normally provides the answers to the following questions.

1. What is the background of this report?
2. How did you do it?
3. What did you achieve?

Hint: the summary should be brief, clear and focused. It should only include a profile of your story. If your readers want to know the details of your report, they should go to read the main content.

The length for the executive summary is suggested to be 300 words. This section will be written after you complete the report. Please pay attention to the tense you use when writing this item. As you write it after the completion of the project, it cannot be in future tense.

Table of Contents (start on a new page) – present the headings and subheadings and page number of each heading and subheadings. You may use Microsoft Word – References – Table of Contents function. It creates a table of contents automatically. On “Home” of Microsoft word, you choose different format for each layer of headings.

1. Introduction (start on a new page), give a subheading to each section where applicable, for example,

1.1 Introduction and background of this report

1.2 Introduction to xxx (the chosen business)

1.3Introduction to xxx (the chosen market)

…

2. Business Strategy Development (start on a new page), give a subheading to each section where applicable
3. Reflections

Reference (start on a new page)

1. In-text reference should be given wherever you cite a source.
2. End of paper reference list should be properly presented in accord with Harvard referencing system.

You need to reference properly for your report. It must be in Harvard style.  You need to carefully read what you have written in your report before submitting the final report in order to keep the consistency between different writers. I strongly suggest you refine your final report by each member at least one time, before the submission.

Appendix (start on a new page)

Anything that is too long, too much, and is not very relevant to be written in the report, but you would like your reader to know it as supplementary information, you may put it in the appendix. For example, literature review on a particular topic, theory or model could be presented in the appendix. A full PESLTE analysis could be presented in the appendix but only use the results to facilitate the development of your business plan.

 

• Report Writing – presentation and use of language

• Use formal and simple language
• Avoid the use of unnecessary jargons
• Avoid the use of subjective language (such as extremely, wonderful, brilliant, etc)
• Avoid the use of spoken language (such as “you can see…”, “you will find…”, etc)
• Active or passive?
  • The active voice (first person) allows you to write short, punchy sentences
  • The passive voice (third person) is more formal, objective and  is suggested for most of academic writings

You may choose to use either active voice or passive voice but do not mix the two up and keep the consistency throughout your report.

• Times new Roman, Arial, Calibri or other easily readable font is acceptable. Nonstandard typefaces or script are not acceptable.
• Font sizes should be 12 point for text and 10 point for footnotes.
• You need to carefully read and refine what you have written in your report before submitting the final report
• Style should be consistent throughout the document, including preliminaries, end matter, table headings, figures, and captions.
• There is no formal limit on file size but you should use an appropriate resolution. High resolution photographs add little or nothing to academic value and Turnitin may request you to produce a smaller version if you have produced an unreasonable size of file.

 

• Marking criteria (Appendix 1)

Marks will be awarded for the depth of the research and the quality of the business plan presented in your report.  In particular, it is expected that you show:

• Sufficient researches and data collection
• A good integration of the literature into your business strategies.
• A good demonstration of your ability of critical analysis and synthesis on the sources; making insightful observations and arguments; and showing independent thinking
• A good demonstration of creativity and innovation in your business plan
• Draw on a number of different sources of information, such as textbooks, journal articles, official sources, institutional/governmental/international organisations’ databases; quality newspapers and other;

 

2.      Task Two – Group Presentation (30% of the total marks)

You pair with another student in the same module. You study each other’s business plan. You make comments and recommendations to each other. You do an online presentation to present the two business plans plus your comments and recommendations in a critical and analytic manner. When presenting your business plan, I look for the style of “pitching”, i.e. assuming you are in the front of a panel of investors, how do you persuade them to invest on your business plan?

Tutorial will be given in week 9 and 10

*If you may want to/have to have a larger group, three people would be the maximum. It is the same arrangement as the above but you will have 15 minutes.

Online presentation – in week 12,

2.1 Components of Presentation

Your presentation is expected to deliver as such

1. Presentation of personal business plan
2. Comments on the strength and weakness of partners business plan
3. Switch the role to present the recommendation
4. jointly, you compare the two cases and present your learning outcomes from the two cases

 

When designing the presentation, I ask you to consider how to make it interesting, interacting and dynamic. You are strongly advised to use various multi-media tools or animations to do so. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjIEw9DHe_o

and/or, insert very short video clips into your presentation

 

2.3 Manging group work and marking criteria (Appendix 2)

This is a group activity and you will be awarded the same mark for each element you submit.  It is expected that all group members will fully contribute to the presentation.

You will need to demonstrate that all group members are actively involved in the development of your presentation. Accordingly, you are required to keep a group log book, which provides the evidence of the research and the studies you have undertaken together and a record of your group activities that did not happen on your Minerva group area. This group log book may be regularly checked by the module tutor. It needs to be regularly updated in your group area on Minerva.

Marks are awarded for the quality of teamwork displayed by the design and delivery of your presentation.  In particular, it is expected that you should:

• Demonstrate your contributions to the group project;
• Demonstrate that you have worked as a team in doing the project as well as the presentation;
• Ensure that all team members are engaged and are involved to an equal degree in the design and delivery of the presentation;
• Ensure that the presentation is nicely designed, well-prepared, clearly communicated, fully engaged and interactive

 

Nevertheless, individual mark may be given based on peer-review and the review of the module tutor if there is a dispute.  If your group members and/or your tutor feel that you have not contributed sufficiently to your group’s activities, you may FAIL this part of the assessment. The evidence is based on your presentation; your Minerva group area, evidence of communications between your group members and with the tutor; and other evidence that you provide. You are strongly recommended to create a “Group Contract” to manage your group work. Please report to the tutor as early as possible if you have any problems in your group work.

If you fail, you will be given an individual assignment to make up the loss at a later date and you will receive a maximum mark of 40%.

 

 

BMA5108 – Assessments

1.      Task One – The Individual Project (70% of the total marks)

You choose to study a business, big or small, local or international; desirably, also in your pathway subject area. Based on its current products and status, identify a new international market for this company. The international market can be a region (for example, the EU), a country (for example, the US) or also choose a city/area in this country (for example, New York City in the US or California in the US). This must be a new market that this business has never entered.  You create a business plan for the chosen business to enter and develop its business in the selected market. In the plan, you design entry, marketing, operations and HR strategies, on the consideration of

1. this business’ current local and/or international business practices;
2. the resources and the constraints it currently has ;
3. the resources it needs to implement the international strategies; and
4. the social/cultural background in that country.

You are expected to use the knowledge you have learned from the lectures/seminars and from your own research as the guidance for your practice. You are also strongly suggested to use your practice to challenge the theories. The key to success is insight, synthesis, innovation and creativity. Please bear in mind – this is not just about export!

 

When developing the international strategies, you must use proper international business theories and literature to support your rationale and decision.

 

Word count – 3,500 words, exclusive of submission information, executive summary, table of content, the reference list and the appendix; 10% margin on each end.

 

 

Please note, you must use Harvard Referencing System to properly reference your work, including both in-text referencing and end of paper reference list. Improper referencing will lead mark loss or a fail.

 

You must upload a Microsoft Word document to Turnitin.

 

 

• Develop your project

Your report is suggested to include these sections and contents.

1. Introduction

Use about 500 words to describe the background of the project in its wider context, explain your key purpose and motivation. Secondly, give a brief introduction to the chosen business and explain the reason and value to study it. Thirdly, briefly introduce chosen international market and address the reason and value to choose it. Lastly, briefly present the following contents of the report.

 

Before starting to develop the strategies, you could do a comparative PEST analysis for the domestic market and the targeted market. I suggest you place the detailed PEST analysis in the appendix. At here, only present and analyse the key findings that need to be considered in the following strategy creations.

You may also use Hofstede, Trompenaar, or Hall’s cultural models to study the similarities and the differences between the culture (national culture) in the two markets and use your findings to justify the following strategies. Again, detailed comparisons could be presented in the appendix and only present the results and your arguments here.

 

 

2. Business Strategy Development

This chapter is used to explain your business strategies. It is about 2,500 -2,800 words

2.1 Entry strategies

2.2 Marketing strategies (may also include public relations where applicable)

2.3 Operations strategies

2.4 Human Resources strategies

2.5 Finance strategies (optional, but you develop this strategy, you need to use proper data to explain budgets, costs, profits, and rough breakeven point and time. Creating a balance sheet is recommended.)

Use references and evidences to support your discussions. Relevant international business theories, models and literature must be used to support the development of your ideas and plans.

 

3. Reflection

It is highly recommended to send your business report to the chosen company to seek their comments and advice. If this is achieved, please present their reply in the Appendix. Use about 300 to 500 words to response to the reply and to reflect upon your learning outcomes from this project and from the company’s feedback. For example, do you agree or disagree with their comments? How do you revise this business plan to cope with the company’s comments, suggestions or desires, etc.?

 

If you are not able to obtain the company’s feedback, please review the lesson learnt, your report and your group member’s report and state the inspiration you obtained from the module and studying your group member(s) work for your reflective writing.

 

• Construct your report

You are recommended to format your report in this way

Title Page – report title, module information (module code and name), personal information (student name, student number), submission date (the final submission date, the date you upload to Minerva.

• Have a good title – your report title should tell the reader what the report is about, it needs to be clear, short, and focused. Preferable, it is also interesting and attractive
• Have a nice design – neat, smart, attractive (be careful of using colours)

Executive summary (start on a new page) – this is a short summary your business project. It normally provides the answers to the following questions.

1. What is the background of this report?
2. How did you do it?
3. What did you achieve?

Hint: the summary should be brief, clear and focused. It should only include a profile of your story. If your readers want to know the details of your report, they should go to read the main content.

The length for the executive summary is suggested to be 300 words. This section will be written after you complete the report. Please pay attention to the tense you use when writing this item. As you write it after the completion of the project, it cannot be in future tense.

Table of Contents (start on a new page) – present the headings and subheadings and page number of each heading and subheadings. You may use Microsoft Word – References – Table of Contents function. It creates a table of contents automatically. On “Home” of Microsoft word, you choose different format for each layer of headings.

1. Introduction (start on a new page), give a subheading to each section where applicable, for example,

1.1 Introduction and background of this report

1.2 Introduction to xxx (the chosen business)

1.3Introduction to xxx (the chosen market)

…

2. Business Strategy Development (start on a new page), give a subheading to each section where applicable
3. Reflections

Reference (start on a new page)

1. In-text reference should be given wherever you cite a source.
2. End of paper reference list should be properly presented in accord with Harvard referencing system.

You need to reference properly for your report. It must be in Harvard style.  You need to carefully read what you have written in your report before submitting the final report in order to keep the consistency between different writers. I strongly suggest you refine your final report by each member at least one time, before the submission.

Appendix (start on a new page)

Anything that is too long, too much, and is not very relevant to be written in the report, but you would like your reader to know it as supplementary information, you may put it in the appendix. For example, literature review on a particular topic, theory or model could be presented in the appendix. A full PESLTE analysis could be presented in the appendix but only use the results to facilitate the development of your business plan.

 

• Report Writing – presentation and use of language

• Use formal and simple language
• Avoid the use of unnecessary jargons
• Avoid the use of subjective language (such as extremely, wonderful, brilliant, etc)
• Avoid the use of spoken language (such as “you can see…”, “you will find…”, etc)
• Active or passive?
  • The active voice (first person) allows you to write short, punchy sentences
  • The passive voice (third person) is more formal, objective and  is suggested for most of academic writings

You may choose to use either active voice or passive voice but do not mix the two up and keep the consistency throughout your report.

• Times new Roman, Arial, Calibri or other easily readable font is acceptable. Nonstandard typefaces or script are not acceptable.
• Font sizes should be 12 point for text and 10 point for footnotes.
• You need to carefully read and refine what you have written in your report before submitting the final report
• Style should be consistent throughout the document, including preliminaries, end matter, table headings, figures, and captions.
• There is no formal limit on file size but you should use an appropriate resolution. High resolution photographs add little or nothing to academic value and Turnitin may request you to produce a smaller version if you have produced an unreasonable size of file.

 

• Marking criteria (Appendix 1)

Marks will be awarded for the depth of the research and the quality of the business plan presented in your report.  In particular, it is expected that you show:

• Sufficient researches and data collection
• A good integration of the literature into your business strategies.
• A good demonstration of your ability of critical analysis and synthesis on the sources; making insightful observations and arguments; and showing independent thinking
• A good demonstration of creativity and innovation in your business plan
• Draw on a number of different sources of information, such as textbooks, journal articles, official sources, institutional/governmental/international organisations’ databases; quality newspapers and other;

 

2.      Task Two – Group Presentation (30% of the total marks)

You pair with another student in the same module. You study each other’s business plan. You make comments and recommendations to each other. You do an online presentation to present the two business plans plus your comments and recommendations in a critical and analytic manner. When presenting your business plan, I look for the style of “pitching”, i.e. assuming you are in the front of a panel of investors, how do you persuade them to invest on your business plan?

Tutorial will be given in week 9 and 10

*If you may want to/have to have a larger group, three people would be the maximum. It is the same arrangement as the above but you will have 15 minutes.

Online presentation – in week 12,

2.1 Components of Presentation

Your presentation is expected to deliver as such

1. Presentation of personal business plan
2. Comments on the strength and weakness of partners business plan
3. Switch the role to present the recommendation
4. jointly, you compare the two cases and present your learning outcomes from the two cases

 

When designing the presentation, I ask you to consider how to make it interesting, interacting and dynamic. You are strongly advised to use various multi-media tools or animations to do so. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjIEw9DHe_o

and/or, insert very short video clips into your presentation

 

2.3 Manging group work and marking criteria (Appendix 2)

This is a group activity and you will be awarded the same mark for each element you submit.  It is expected that all group members will fully contribute to the presentation.

You will need to demonstrate that all group members are actively involved in the development of your presentation. Accordingly, you are required to keep a group log book, which provides the evidence of the research and the studies you have undertaken together and a record of your group activities that did not happen on your Minerva group area. This group log book may be regularly checked by the module tutor. It needs to be regularly updated in your group area on Minerva.

Marks are awarded for the quality of teamwork displayed by the design and delivery of your presentation.  In particular, it is expected that you should:

• Demonstrate your contributions to the group project;
• Demonstrate that you have worked as a team in doing the project as well as the presentation;
• Ensure that all team members are engaged and are involved to an equal degree in the design and delivery of the presentation;
• Ensure that the presentation is nicely designed, well-prepared, clearly communicated, fully engaged and interactive

 

Nevertheless, individual mark may be given based on peer-review and the review of the module tutor if there is a dispute.  If your group members and/or your tutor feel that you have not contributed sufficiently to your group’s activities, you may FAIL this part of the assessment. The evidence is based on your presentation; your Minerva group area, evidence of communications between your group members and with the tutor; and other evidence that you provide. You are strongly recommended to create a “Group Contract” to manage your group work. Please report to the tutor as early as possible if you have any problems in your group work.

If you fail, you will be given an individual assignment to make up the loss at a later date and you will receive a maximum mark of 40%.