Link to Video Business Case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ki5buDWNA4 all necessary and relevant instruction materials will be attached, the link to the video will also be provided in word document. please make sure to put a cover page on the first page before executive sums, and table of content after the executive sums
Researching and Writing a Video Business Case Report
Hosie, P., J. Forsyth & M. Baird. (2016)
This assignment challenges students to formulate a professional response to in-depth issues contained in a real-life Video Business Case available in a non-searchable YouTube video. Students will act as an independent professional business consultant reporting to senior managers of the company concerned. Students are expected to provide informed and robust advice to this business client. A sophisticated understanding of the critical aspects of this Video Business Case needs to be demonstrated. A succinct and high impact report is expected.
The report is expected to be <2,000 words, including an Executive Summary (<300 words) but excluding References and Appendices. A table of contents is unnecessary. Students need to display their correct name (underline Lastname), Curtin University ID number, Industry ID, tutor’s name, tutorial day, time and the total word count on the top right side of the cover page of the assignment submitted. Assignments exceeding the 2,000 word limit will be penalised 10% of the total mark for every 100 words over length. But using fewer words won’t necessarily result in a penalty.
To support assertions made about the case being critiqued refer to the Required Readings provided in the Unit Outline Program Calendar. Students are strongly advised to refer to a minimum of five relevant and credible sources. Extension Reading information is provided in Blackboard. Video Business Interviews (Background Questions and Video Business Case) are available through links in Blackboard.
Video Business Interviews will be available from the commencement of semester in Blackboard > Video Business Interviews. The Video Business Case to be critiqued will be announced by Seminar 03. Students are strongly encouraged to review the Background Questions segments for the Video Business Case selected for analysis a number of times.
An electronic copy of the assignment needs to be submitted by the Sunday following the week of Seminar 09 in Blackboard as an attachment, via the Turnitin link in Assessments > Video Business Case Report. Assignments may be resubmitted once to Turnitin to
overwrite the initial ‘Originality Report’ to modify the ‘Similarity Index’ until the due date for submission.
An excessive Similarity Index score may indicate a breach of Curtin University Plagiarism Policy and Procedures. Failure to submit an assignment to Turnitin will result in marks for this assignment being withheld or the assessment failed. Turnitin’s electronic closing date is not the due date.
Students must ensure the following file naming convention is used:
Lastname_STUDENT ID_VBCR.docx
Good luck with the write up. Please email tutors if you have any further queries. The Video Business Case Report is due by the end of the week of Seminar 09.
Refer to the following for details on how to conceive, research and write a compelling Video Business Case Report.
Individual Video Business Case Report
The Video Business Case will feature individual interviews describing an important issue faced by companies as well as a separate video clip describing its importance to the organisation. Students are tasked with making a response that addresses, or has the potential to assist with, the business challenges presented. An analysis of the short and long term matters involved may be useful.
There are number of things that could be written about in a Video Business Case Report. A good place to begin is by brainstorming everything known about the case within the organisation being analysed. Begin by stating what Issues appear to be of concern. Consider why a decision must be made? When must a decision be made? Who will be affected? Examine details about the company, watch the background videos and read important reports (especially the Annual Report), check the profitability figures, market share, gauge the organisations capacity to invest in Solutions to these Issues, describe the scope of their operations and state the industries the organisation operates in. Source and quote relevant statistical trends from geographical markets under consideration. Identify competitors with the same Issues and find out how they have resolved these Issues; then decide how this might be achieved for the organisation being investigated.
Issues─Causes─Alternatives─Solutions─Implications─Implementation
As should be evident from the Issues─Causes─Alternatives─Solutions─Implications─ Implementation framework, the analysis of the Video Business Case will become progressively more challenging. As such, fewer marks will be awarded for identifying the Issue and Causes and more will be allocated for analysis of the scope and fit of Alternatives and Implications to this particular business environment. Alternatives generated require Decision Criteria to be developed and choices made between competing solutions. This requires rationales to be considered for choosing or rejecting amongst the Alternatives identified. Credible information needs to be identified to support choices made amongst the available and viable choices.
Students are strongly advised to read and address the relevant Assessment Rubric closely before undertaking this assignment (Blackboard > Assessment > 2) Video Business Case Report).
Suggested headings for the Video Business Case Report
Suggested headings A–F for the Video Business Case Report follow a logical progression. The problems inherent in this case often result from the failure of students to document what has been found. Therefore, when working through a case it is important to adopt the role of a consultant working for a company. A consultant is responsible for reviewing the problems identified in parts A and B of the case. This will lead to surfacing of the most important Alternatives for the company concerned.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (<300 words required)
Summarise all sections of the report using only the key information. Compose the Executive Summary after the assignment is complete.
A) Issue(s)
Provide a brief introduction that summarises the main Issue(s) of the case. Issues are the specific problems the business is facing and needs to address. Consider what visible symptoms of the problems identified need to be resolved?
B) Cause(s)
Identify the importance of the Cause(s) to the organisation concerned. What Caused these Issues to arise? The reasons underlying the Issues will be explicit in the Causes identified.
C) Alternatives
Develop a set of realistic Alternatives to address the Issues and Causes identified. A variety of options or different actions that a company could take to address the Issues and Causes need to be identified. Prevention (dealing with underlying Causes) is usually better than cure (fixing Issues that have arisen). Measuring each Alternative against the Decision Criteria will assist in clearly identifying and selecting the better options as well as less desirable options.
D) Decision Criteria
Decision Criteria are the indicators that need to be considered when evaluating and making a decision. Develop a set of Decision Criteria to choose from the Alternative courses of action. These criteria will be used to measure each Alternative available, and decide those to recommend as Solutions, and those to recommend against implementing. Generating expected benefits that would be achieved by resolving the Issues at hand is one way to create Selection Criteria. Conversely, the adverse effects of certain Selection Criteria need to be considered. The expected benefits and drawbacks should be grouped based on underlying themes inherent in the case. This is essentially a logical approach to weighting and ranking relevant data in order to make decisions.
E) Recommended Solution(s)
Decide the Solution(s) to the Issues derived from the Alternatives based upon the Decision Criteria. For each competing Alternative, justify why different Solutions were chosen or rejected. Recommended Solutions should be the best of the Alternatives identified, as measured by the Decision Criteria. It should be clear to anyone reading the report why specific Alternatives are recommended as Solutions, and why others were rejected. A well written report will allow the company to compare different Alternatives as Solutions, should they disagree with the weightings of the various Decision Criteria.
F) Implementation and Implications
Provide realistic suggestions on how these Solutions could be implemented in the organisation concerned within the industry context being scrutinised. Provide the necessary details on the Implementation for the proposed Solutions. Include the managerial and financial implications for adopting the preferred Solutions. If the organisation implements the recommended Solutions, what might happen to the company? What are the Implications for adopting each of the Alternatives? What might be the Implications of not following the recommendations?
Ethical behaviour
Ethical issues should be referred to throughout the report. Also, ethical issues should be incorporated into the Decision Criteria. Ethical behaviour is an important concern for most aspects of business. When critiquing the case, students are challenged to be aware and sensitive to ethical issues that impact on all company stakeholders.
Locating evidence to support a position
The case is decision based and portrays an issue from the point of view of an individual working for a specific company in a particular industry. Students will need to resolve problems or issues. Learners need to explain the fundamental nature of the situations encountered within this context to deal with or reduce the effect on business of these problems. Resolutions to the challenges faced by these businesses are not simply contained in the video clips or transcriptions. Responses will need to be created using logical reasoning processes supported by a wide variety of information sources including Curtin Library Databases, Internet, discussion boards, social media, print media and so forth.
Company stakeholders
Sound business judgment needs to be based on evidence and consider all the relevant available information. Part of this process involves acknowledging and reconciling the views and rights of the relevant company stakeholders. This may invoke social and ethical legitimacy issues. Anticipating and responding to environmental changes is an indication of
innovative problem solving. Anticipation of the intended and unintended consequences of decisions is important when judgments are made about difficult decisions.
Credible analysis
Be sure to identify all assumptions before making any judgments. Decisions need to be supported by sound logic and with evidence to support the conclusions reached. Finally, it is important to thoroughly consider the robustness of the overall analysis. Credible Solutions need to be considered in the context of organisational challenges. The consequences of implementing recommended actions need to be carefully considered.
Refer to the following for developing a high quality Executive Summary.
CREATING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR VIDEO BUSINESS CASE REPORT
Read Writing an Executive Summary (http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/320178/writing-an-executive-summary.pdf).
Read Good and Poor Examples of Executive Summaries (http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/report/4bi1.html).
Refer to CBS Communications Centre. Report Writing: Structure and Content. No 6, HIGH FLYER, Student Notes for Success (Blackboard > Assessment > 2) Video Business Case Report (20%)).
Students sometimes struggle to understand what is meant by “D) Decision Criteria” when critiquing the Video Business Case Report.
CREATING DECISION CRITERIA
For the purposes of the Video Business Case Report students are expected to develop and use Decision Criteria to justify the choices among the Alternative courses of action.
Decision Criteria for the Video Business Case Report can be defined in many ways, including:
Guidelines by which to judge the Alternatives.
How to decide which are the best Solutions among the Alternatives.
How uncertainty and doubt are reduced so that a reasonable choice can be made among Alternatives.
A standard, rule, or test on which a judgement or decision can be based.
The basis for comparison among Alternatives.
The ideal circumstances in terms of which something can be judged.
Specific measures used to determine the best choice among Alternatives.
A gauge, norm or yardstick.
Key Decision Criteria should be:
Related to the Issues and Alternatives.
Important to the organisation making the decision.
Brief, preferably in point form.
Measurable, at least to the point of comparison, such as Alternative X will reduce expenses more than Alternative Y.
Common Qualitative and Quantitative Descriptors of Decision Criteria
Qualitative
Competitive advantage, customer satisfaction, employee morale, corporate image, ease of implementation, synergy, ethics, visibility, safety, visual appeal, obsolescence, cultural sensitivity, motivation, goodwill, environmental impact, flexibility, within present resources and capabilities, consistent with corporate strategy, successful, efficient, new, coherent.
Quantitative
profit, cost, return on investment, market share, capacity, delivery time, risk, cash flow, inventory turnover, productivity, staff turnover, quality, growth rate quantity.
For further ideas on developing Decision Criteria simply Google Decision Criteria.
CORRECT ASSIGNMENT REFERENCING
Students should use Chicago referencing style when preparing assignments.
More information can be found on this style from Library web site: http://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/referencing
Here is an example of how to reference Video Business Interviews which consists of the name of person being interviewed, year, title of video, YouTube video, length of video, full URL.
To use a Hockey Australia as an example:
Tonkin, Shane. 2015. Background Questions – Shane Tonkin; Commercial Partnerships Manager; Hockey Australia, YouTube video, 35:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOr4GzyI6w&feature=youtu.be
