ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
BMB4003M – Entrepreneurship and the Business Environment
| Module Code | BMB4003M | Module Tutor | Andrew Fairley | |||
| Module Title | Entrepreneurship and the Business Environment | |||||
| Level | 4 | Credit Value of Module | 20 | |||
| Assessment Task | Written Work – Report | |||||
| Word Count | 1,750 words | |||||
| Assessment No | 2 | of | 2 | Weighting | 50% | |
| Type of Submission | Written Work | |||||
| Method of Submission | Via Moodle | |||||
| Publication Date | 25th September 2023 | |||||
| Due Date | 12pm (noon) 15th January 2024 – submission to be made via Moodle | |||||
| Expected Feedback Date | Written feedback will be provided via Moodle on 6th February 2024 This will normally be 15 working days from the date of submission (excludes weekends and University closure days), or 20 working days for dissertations | |||||
| Format of Feedback | Typed feedback within Moodle, available via the relevant assignment link | |||||
| Learning Outcomes | ||||||
| To be successful in the module students should be able to: 1. Analyse in an organisational context the key factors that affect their local, national and international business environment. 2. Plan, develop and implement a business ‘start-up’ or ‘development’ strategy 3. Evaluate common perceptions of entrepreneurialism This assignment will focus on a demonstration of the first two points detailed above. | ||||||
| Assignment Description |
| Develop a business plan for a new entrepreneurial business venture which focuses on a specific target linked to any 1 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals The new business can be located in any single country. This must be a new business. It is not acceptable to produce a report suggesting an expansion to an existing business. The following report structure should be utilised. Executive Summary – detailing the key findings and recommendations made within your business plan. An explanation of the type of entrepreneurial venture should also be provided. For example, will your plan be based around a social entrepreneurial venture? This must include confirmation of what country your business will be based in.Confirmation of the single UN Sustainable Development Goal and associated that the business plan will address. You should choose a UN Sustainable Goal, and a Country that you have personal interest in. For example, you may choose to focus on Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).The mission and vision statement for the entrepreneurial business venture.Situational analysis – including a PESTLE and a Porters 5 Forces analysis and an evaluation of key customer segments. A TOWS matrix should be presented as a summary of your findings from this analysis process. This must include citations to appropriate academic sources. This analysis should support the case for your proposed business by clearly identifying the opportunity that you have identified.Recommended and justified SMART objectives for the business venture with a three year timeframe. These should be based on the findings from the situational analysis and relevant for the selected UN Sustainable Development Goal.A concluding summary of how the recommended objectives will be achieved. This should detail which strategy/strategies will be utilised. An outline of the products and or services that your new entrepreneurial business venture will provide is also required. You should consider the practicalities of your proposal, including thinking about funding. Realistically what kind of initial funding would be available to you, and how much? Students must read widely and deeply to ensure their knowledge and understanding is comprehensive. The course reading list is an important starting point in this regard and the resources and articles referenced during each week of the module. |
| Additional Information |
| This assignment is not as theoretically driven as it intends to address a student’s understandings of the practicalities involved in starting a business, and the fundamentals of a business plan. Students are reminded that we discussed business plans during our lectures, and should review their notes/the slides from those sessions. Whilst a student is not expected to provide a detailed cost-breakdown, some thought should go into how realistic your proposal is – remember that £25,000 is the limit for a UK Startup loan, and it is unusual for a new business to be able to access more than this, in the absence of some other form of investment (e.g. crowd funding, venture capital etc.). VC firms typically expect a high return on investment, so would be very unlikely to fund a social venture. Whilst not a theoretically driven assessment, nevertheless students cannot ignore engaging with academic sources, and particularly for sections such as their situation analysis, they must be using and citing academic models and theories. For example when using Porter’s Five Forces, you must cite this – either Porter’s work directly, or an academic source that directly uses it and engages with it. When sourcing relevant contextual information (e.g. for your PESTLE analysis), students should use reputable sources. This includes industry reports, governmental sources, reputable journalistic sources etc. Reading Resources (Research should not be limited to these resources solely) Priestley, D., 2013. Entrepreneur Revolution. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley. Chapters 2, 4, 7, 8Jones, C. and Spicer, A., 2009. Unmasking The Entrepreneur. Northampton: Edward Elgar. Chapter 2Praszkier, R. and Nowak, A., 2012. Social Entrepreneurship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1, 2, 3Worthington, I., Britton, C. and Thompson, E., 2018. The Business Environment. Harlow: Pearson.. Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9Weihrich, H., 1982. The TOWS matrix—A tool for situational analysis. Long Range Planning, 15(2), pp.54-66.Hooley, G., Nicoulaud, B., Rudd, J. and Lee, N., 2008. Marketing Strategy And Competitive Positioning. 4th ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Chapter 4Higgins, J., 1996. Innovate or evaporate: Creative techniques for strategists. Long Range Planning, 29(3), pp.370-380.Kim WC; Mauborgne R. Blue ocean strategy. Harvard business review 2004 Oct; Vol. 82 (10), pp. 76-84, 156. Rogers, EM, 2003. Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Ed. New York. Free Press. Chapter One. |
| Assessment Regulations |
| Your attention is drawn to the University policy on cheating and plagiarism. Penalties will be applied where a student is found guilty of academic misconduct, including termination of programme You are required to keep to the word limit set for an assessment and to note that you may be subject to penalty if you exceed that limit. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/registry/assessment/assessment-policies/overlength-work/You are required to provide an accurate word count on the cover sheet for each piece of work you submit.For late or non-submission of work by the published deadline or an approved extended deadline, a mark of 0NS will be recorded. Where a re-assessment opportunity exists, a student will normally be permitted only one attempt to be re-assessed for a capped mark. An extension to the published deadline may be granted to an individual student if they meet the eligibility criteria of the Exceptional Circumstances policy. Students may self-certify once per semester to gain a one-week extension to their submissions. Longer extensions, or additional extensions require applying through the exceptional circumstances processxYour student number must appear on all pages.Pages must be numbered.Work should be submitted to Moodle.You are required to add the following declaration: “I ………… [name] declare that I am the sole author of this assignment and the work is a result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. All references have been duly cited”.The assignment must be word processed.The York St John Harvard Referencing system must be used. |
| General Characteristics | High First (100 – 85) | First (84 – 70) | 2:1 (69 – 60) | 2:2 (59 – 50) | 3rd (49 – 40) | Not Successful – Compensatable (39 – 30) | Fail – Non-Compensatable (29 – 0) |
| Thinking skills Relevant Graduate attributes: Enterprising Professional Resilient | The work is a superb plan that critically analyses the business environment, performs detailed and nuanced analysis, and suggests an innovative and interesting solution that minds the realities involved in entrepreneurship. | The work has identified an excellent opportunity, based on detailed and strategic analysis of the business environment. The work shows excellent understanding of the nature of entrepreneurship and has applied it in a practical context. | The work clearly understands the key aspects necessary to start a business. Situational analysis is performed well using the tools suggested to identify the opportunity. | The work shows a reasonable understanding of what is involved in starting a new business, and has drawn some appropriate conclusions based on the situational analysis performed. | The work provides an adequately thought-through report that considers some key factors that would impact upon the business plan. | The work is limited by poor application of thinking skills such as understanding the realities involved in entrepreneurship, and accounting for them in the plan. | The work has not thought at all about the realities of entrepreneurship or how a business plan might work based on situational analysis. |
| Technical and Practical skills Weighting: Relevant Graduate attributes: Enterprising Confident Professional | The work is a superb plan for a new business. All relevant practical considerations are included. The work has gone above and beyond by performing sophisticated planning methods beyond the taught content such as engaging with financial analysis. | The work shows an excellent understanding of what is required of a business plan, with clear attention to detail, and a nuanced and critical approach to practical constraints, with clearly elucidated ways to address them. | The work clearly demonstrates a good understanding of what is required of a business plan. The brief is fully answered and the work engages with practical issues, considering different ways these could be addressed, such as financing. | The work is a reasonable business plan. Key practical issues are engaged with to a decent extent. | The work has an adequate understanding of what is required of a business plan, and the practical issues facing an entrepreneur. | The work does not show an adequate business plan of an acceptable standard. | The work does not show an understanding of what is required of a business plan. |
| Communication Weighting: Relevant Graduate attributes: Confident Enterprising Professional | The report is extremely clear and systematic in structure. Each section is fully detailed, and there is excellent use of sub- and sub-sub-headings to signpost the reader through. Diagrams and models are used extremely well, clearly labelled, explained, and contribute clearly to the reader’s understanding. Sources are abundant and correctly formatted. | The report is clear, coherent, and persuasive. Each section is systematic, covering all key information, and contributes to the report as a whole. There is excellent use of graphical elements as appropriate to strengthen the report. Sources are well-used and correctly formatted. | The work is a well structured report that is clear and easy to read. Signposting with headings and subheadings neatly divides the report into different sections. Tables and diagrams are used well and appropriately. Citing and referencing formatting is mostly correct with minimal issues. | The work appropriately uses a report structure, including use of headings, and subheadings as appropriate. Some tables or graphs/diagrams may be included. Clearly identifiable use of theory, with generally good citing and referencing practices. | The work is an adequate report structure. Most of the key parts of the brief are included. Academic sources are used in place, and the referencing and citation formatting is showing improvement. | The report is difficult to parse, has structuring issues, and does not cover all relevant topics. Academic sources are missing, and citing and referencing formatting need considerable work. | The work is unstructured, unclear, and does not follow an appropriate report format. There is little or no evidence of citations, use of academic sources, or correct reference formatting. |
