Objective

A business organisation is an individual or group of people that collaborate to achieve certain commercial goals. Some business organisations are formed to earn income for owners. Other business organisations, called nonprofits, are formed for public purposes. This is an individual assessment task in which you will examine critical issues related to business and management contexts. The objective is to gain greater understanding of the contextual factors internal and external to a business that impact on a business organisation and its decision making.

Task

Part A: Due Week 5 - 11:45pm Friday 11 August, 2017 (AEST)

Identify a ‘hypothetical’ business opportunity that if you had the funds, time and drive you would pursue as a business start-up. This could be an idea you believe has the potential to become a business for you to own and grow. Provide a brief description of your organisation: its size, the industry and country/countries in which it will operate, the strategy and vision that it will adopt. Using information from Topics 1-5 on the Moodle site:

• Describe the organisational structure that best suits your new business start-up.

• Discuss the external and internal environmental forces that will impact your business organisation.

• Analyse the risks that will confront your business organisation.

• Describe the business practices that you will adopt to enhance organisational performance.

• Discuss the most important functions within your business organisation and how these relate to its performance.

The format of the assessment is an essay of 1500 words (+/-10%), 15 marks.

Part B: Due Week 8 - 11:45pm Friday 8 September, 2017 (AEST)

Extending on Part A, select one of the following contextual factors. Using information from Topics 6-8 on the Moodle site provide an overview of the contextual factor and assess how you would utilise it to enhance the business practice of your organisation or business.

• Governance and legal requirements OR

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship OR

• Knowledge Management and eCommerce

The format of the assessment is an essay of 1500 words (+/-10%), 15 marks.

A marking rubric expanding on the criteria below will be provided on Moodle.

Assessment Criteria - Part A and Part B

Students are to demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter by:

• Defining key terms and utilising the theories and concepts presented in Topics 1-5 or Topics 6-8 (8 marks).
• Explaining major internal and external contextual factors and how they affect business structures and strategy (8 marks).
• Explaining major internal and external contextual factors and how they affect business decision making (7 marks).
• Demonstrating a breadth and quality of research by using a minimum of 12-16 academic sources (3 marks).
• Correctly using the APA referencing system to cite academic sources in-text and in the reference list (2 marks).
• Correctly using the essay structure and using appropriate conventions of academic writing (2 marks).

These are the minimum requirements. Students should note that satisfactorily meeting the minimum requirements will typically result in the minimum pass grade being awarded.

As Masters students you are required to engage in research as per the Australia Quality Framework (AQF) guidelines. Two specific requirements need to be considered. 1. Students need to demonstrate “a body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent developments in a discipline and/or area of professional practice, and 2. Students must demonstrate "knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a field of work and/or learning”.

Each unit in the MBA has a number of required weekly readings in terms of academic texts, journals and business publications that represent the appropriate body of knowledge and recent developments referred to by the AQF. In order to demonstrate the ability to engage in appropriate research, students should read and utilise these texts and journals and publications. As Masters students you are expected to research beyond this minimum standard through additional texts, journals and studies to demonstrate an ability to engage in independent research.

Your attention is drawn to the University’s stated position on plagiarism. THE WORK OF OTHERS, WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE ASSIGNMENT MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO ITS SOURCE (a full list of references must be submitted as part of the assessment).

Objective

This is a group assignment that provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of management and business contextual theories, concept and models through the analysis of an existing business organisation. The assignment requires you to analyse the current situation and suggest practical and probable solutions to improve organisational performance. The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to collaboratively apply your research, analysis, critical thinking and oral communication skills, particularly the ability to present a business analysis.

Task

You must be enrolled in a specific campus tutorial group by the end of week 3, no changes to tutorial groups will be allowed. Groups of 3-4 students will be formed during tutorial classes in Week 4; these groups must be recorded on the unit Moodle site. Groups will be provided with information about a specific contextual factor from Topics 9-11 relevant to an existing business organisation. A minimum of 12-16 academic sources must be used to further research and investigate the business organisation and contextual factor. You are to assess the impact of the contextual factor, identify the critical issues and generate a series of appropriate recommendations that will enhance the performance of the specific business organisation.

The contextual factors that will be examined in the report are:

• Regional Economic Issues OR
• Globalisation OR
• Cross Cultural Management

This is a group task that requires you to record a formal presentation of not more than 20 minutes in length. The presentation should consist of referenced slides that are narrated; the viewer should be able to see each presenter as well as the slide content. Both the PowerPoint slides, a reference list and the recorded presentation are to be uploaded to Moodle. There is no other written component to this assessment item. You should adopt the perspective of a group of professional consultants providing strategic advice to the CEO, manager or Board of Directors of the business organisation.

A marking rubric expanding on the criteria below will be provided on Moodle.

Students are to demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter by:

• Defining relevant terms, theories and concepts presented in Topic 9-11 (5 marks).
• Utilising the specific contextual factor, explaining key details and assessing its impact on the relevant business organisation (5 marks)
• Displaying an ability to develop appropriate recommendations to improve the performance of the business organisation (5 marks).
• Developing a concise and structured presentation with introduction, main presentation, conclusion and recommendations (5 marks).
• Effectively using audio visual and verbal communication delivered within the allocated time to expected professional standards (5 marks)
• Demonstrating a breadth and quality of research by using a minimum of 12-16 academic sources referenced in the APA style (2 marks).
• Collaborating and working effectively as a member of a team (3 marks).

These are the minimum requirements. Students should note that satisfactorily meeting the minimum requirements will typically result in the minimum pass grade being awarded.

As Masters students you are required to engage in research as per the Australia Quality Framework (AQF) guidelines. Two specific requirements need to be considered. 1. Students need to demonstrate “a body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent developments in a discipline and/or area of professional practice, and 2. Students must demonstrate "knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a field of work and/or learning”.

Each unit in the MBA has a number of required weekly readings in terms of academic texts, journals and business publications that represent the appropriate body of knowledge and recent developments referred to by the AQF. In order to demonstrate the ability to engage in appropriate research, students should read and utilise these texts and journals and publications. As Masters students you are expected to research beyond this minimum standard through additional texts, journals and studies to demonstrate an ability to engage in independent research.

Your attention is drawn to the University’s stated position on plagiarism. THE WORK OF OTHERS, WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE ASSIGNMENT MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO ITS SOURCE (a full list of references must be submitted as part of the assessment).