This is an individual assessment.

In Weeks 2-11, students will submit their answers to the Chapter-Closing Case Study from the prior week's textbook chapter. Each weekly report should be approximately 250 words, unless otherwise advised by your tutor.

The weekly tasks must be submitted by a certain time on Monday of the week after (e.g. the Week 1 task is due on Monday or Week 2, and so on).

You will be assessed on your ability to demonstrate and communicate your analysis and understanding of a business situation and technical knowledge in relation to E-commerce. Marks will reflect the comprehensiveness, correctness and critical analysis presented as well as appropriate writing style, including referencing, grammar, punctuation, syntax and spelling. A marking rubric will be provided on Moodle.

This is a group assessment.

Students will work in groups of 2 to 3 students per group; groups are arranged by the Lecturer and are normally not negotiable. Each group will give one presentation on the topic outlined below; each group will also submit an executive report (Word document) covering the same content as the presentation. The presentation should be delivered using PowerPoint slides of a professional standard, with each member of the group participating equally to the development and delivery of the presentation. The presentation should be approximately 15-20 minutes per group.

The executive report should be equivalent to approximately 2,000 words. Material should be referenced appropriately, with both in-text references and a complete reference list (in APA style) at the end of the executive report and the slide deck. Since report and presentation cover the same content, it is expected that the references are the same in both.

Task:

Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses are very lucrative. At present, there are around 17,000 SaaS in the world. We need to understand what it takes to be a successful SaaS company. In your group, you are required to choose one of the top SaaS companies in the world. You must get approval from your tutor before committing to your choice. Analyse your chosen SaaS company according to the following factors: 

1. Business and Revenue Models
2. Value Proposition
3. Target Market (TAM, SAM, SOM)
4. Competitive Environment and Advantages
5. Management Team
6. Marketing Strategy (Mobile and Local Marketing).
7. Marketing Strategy (Digital and Online Marketing).

As you analyse the company, you must provide evidence from the company (e.g. by referencing material from the company’s own website or communications, or by referencing other material about the company from websites such as Owler, Pitchbook, Crunchbase or Google) AND you must apply academic E-commerce literature and theory to the evidence from the company (i.e. you must reference academic peer-reviewed journal articles).

After you have analysed the significance of each of these factors for your chosen company, come to a conclusion about which of these factors are the most significant, and then use that information to define the best generic strategy to build a successful SaaS company.

Please note that you may be required to provide an assessment of your team members. Should this be required, your tutor will make the necessary arrangements.

As a Masters-level student, you are required to engage in research as per the Australia Qualifications Framework (AQF) guidelines. Two specific requirements need to be considered. 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 demonstrate "knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a field of work and/or learning”. Each unit in your Masters program requires you to complete reading 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, and as a Masters student, demonstrate an ability to research beyond this minimum standard through additional texts, journals and studies that demonstrate an ability to engage in independent research. This is an advanced level unit, and accrediting bodies are also looking for evidence of independent research, so the ability to complete this assessment without continually relying on your tutors and lecturers is an important part of the learning process for this unit.

You should ensure that you understand the specific research that is required for each assessment piece and recognise that if you merely meet this minimum requirement, you will receive the minimum grade for demonstrated 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.

A marking rubric will be provided in Moodle. Students will be assessed on:

• their ability to analyse their chosen company;
• their ability to apply e-commerce theory to their chosen company;
• their ability demonstrate appropriate levels of research and referencing;
• their ability to prepare professional presentation slides and executive report;
• and their presentation skills.

This is an individual assignment in the form of a professional report. Please visit the CBInsights website to see their list of the 100 most promising artificial intelligence startups of 2024: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/artificial-intelligence-top-startups-2024/

Choose one of the companies on this list – please note that you need to get approval from your tutor before committing to your choice.

Imagine you are appointed as the new Chief Marketing Officer of your chosen company. You are required to analyse the company’s current E-commerce strategy and outline your analysis in a report. You must conclude the report with clear recommendations for how this strategy could be changed to boost revenue and valuation of the company. To demonstrate your analysis and support your recommendations, you must compare the company’s own E-commerce strategy (by referring to, for instance, evidence from the company’s own website) to relevant academic peer-reviewed literature about E-commerce and best practice examples from other companies.

In-text referencing and a reference list (in APA style) must be provided. It is expected that a minimum of 8 peer-reviewed journal articles are used for this assignment.

As a Masters-level student, you are required to engage in research as per the Australia Qualifications Framework (AQF) guidelines. Two specific requirements need to be considered. 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 demonstrate "knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a field of work and/or learning”. Each unit in your Masters program requires you to complete reading 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, and as a Masters student, demonstrate an ability to research beyond this minimum standard through additional texts, journals and studies that demonstrate an ability to engage in independent research. This is an advanced level unit, and accrediting bodies are also looking for evidence of independent research, so the ability to conduct this project without continually relying on your tutors and lecturers is an important part of the learning process for this unit.

You should ensure that you understand the specific research that is required for each assessment piece and recognise that if you merely meet this minimum requirement, you will receive the minimum grade for demonstrated 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.

A marking rubric will be provided on Moodle. Students will be assessed on:

• their ability to analyse their chosen company;
• their ability to apply e-commerce theory and best practice to their chosen company;
• their ability demonstrate appropriate levels of research and referencing;
• their ability to outline relevant and suitable recommendations; and
• their ability to prepare a professional report.