1 REFLECTIVE JOURNALS PART A AND B Value: 50% (20% Part A + 30% Part B) Instructions: The purpose of the reflective journal is to have students progressively examine and demonstrate an understanding of all the material covered in this unit. Each module includes “Journal:” exercises. Unless otherwise specified it is expected that students will provide 1-2 paragraph short answers for each exercise listed. It is envisaged that the individual short answers will take approximately 5 minutes each. As a student it is CRITICAL that you complete the journal tasks progressively. When done progressively these will assist you in understanding the material you have just watched/read and will assist you to develop the skills needed to successfully complete the other assessment tasks in this unit. The reflective journal will be submitted electronically through the unit moodle site. Do not include the question text or any other text that is not your own original work or a correctly attributed quote. Each journal should be submitted as a single .doc file (please ensure you frequently back-up your journal throughout this unit to reduce the risk of data loss). You will be required to submit “Reflective Journal A” on completion of Module 4 and “Reflective Journal B” on completion of Module 10. Please ensure that you clearly label the question numbers against your answer but do not include the question text. Note that the reflective journal is both an assessment tool and part of the learning experience. Marking Criteria - Reflective Journals A & B Each question is equally weighted. Each question is graded on a scale as follows:  0 points – No response or response did not address question  1 point – superficial or partial response  2 points – complete response that adequately addresses all aspects of the question  4 points – excellent response that draws on external evidence and other high quality sources.2 COMPANY ANALYSIS ASSESSMENT As part of this unit students will complete a Company Analysis Assessment composed of 4 separate items:  Company Selection Assignment of 250 words  Company Research Assignment of 10-15 paragraphs + data  Company Marketing Assignment of 1200 words  Company Management Assignment of 1200 words Each paper will deal with the same company so it is important that students plan ahead. Being able to conduct in-depth research, synthesis analysis, write a research paper, and present the findings is a crucial skill in any discipline. The company analysis will teach how to do this within the discipline of business. The company analysis is the best way to practice the concepts learned in this unit. It requires that demonstration that the student can:  Write in a business voice  Find and evaluate relevant research from business research sources  Synthesise research from various sources and objectively evaluate and analyse the information using concepts learned in this course  Communicate the analysis and conclusions in writing Here are some general suggestions on how to learn the most out of the assignment and to ensure that a good grade:  Read the entire assignment, review the grading rubrics, and seek clarification of any parts not understood.  Research thoroughly. Do not rely on Wikipedia or financial websites. The goal of the analysis is to be comprehensive and objective.  Take the time to digest the research. Map out ideas. Search for missing elements.  Write an outline. What is the main idea? What is the next level of ideas? Is there supporting evidence? Organise the ideas. The rubrics generally provide much of the outline.  Reread the assignment and the rubric. Make sure all the requirements are fulfilled.  Write the paper without looking at the research. This will prevent unintended plagiarism.  Evaluate the draft using the writing self-assessment.  Revise the paper.  Revise the paper again.3 COMPANY SELECTION ASSIGNMENT Value: 18 points worth a total of 8% 250 Words Select a publicly listed company to analyse. Write a 250-word paper on why you selected this company. Expound upon four reasons. These reasons should not be personal. They should relate to attributes of the company that you are familiar with. Make a claim and then provide evidence for your claim. Did not use Business Voice Erratically used Business Voice and engage in promotional language Adequately Used Business Voice Excellent use of business voice Business Voice 0 pts 1 pt 2 pts 3 pts Did not present any reason or claim Presented poor reasons (1 point each reason) Provided adequate reasons Provided good, convincing reasons Four Reasons or claims 0 pts 4 pts 8 pts 12 pts Did not present any evidence Presented poor evidence Provided adequate evidence Provided good, convincing evidence Evidence organised and cited 0 pts 1 pts 2 pts 3 pts Common mistakes to avoid on Company Selection paper 1. Do not use the first person. Business papers are more formal and should be written in third person. Use a business voice. Look at examples such as articles in the Wall St. Journal, or Business Week articles to see what a business voice is. 2. Do not use promotions language such as: Chevrolet makes some of the most dependable and longest lasting trucks on the road today and Cadillac makes some of the most luxurious sports sedans the world over. This is an objective paper. You are not speaking for the company but producing unbiased analysis. 3. Do not use slang or the colloquial in a business paper. Some examples of what not to use are: pretty big, legit company, a ton of, financial wise, etc. 4. Contractions such as don’t and can’t sound informal and should not be used. 5. Organise your paper using the writing self assessment. Use paragraphs to expound on a topic. 6. Do not use symbols such as #, & or @. 7. When sales or profit is noted, the convention is to use $3 billion for three billion dollars. 8. For numbers over twenty, use the numbers not words as 35 instead of thirty-five. 9. The possessive is their not there. The possessive is its not it’s.4 10. For the other papers, use subheadings to organise your paper and show that you have covered the topics. 11. All work in this paper must be your own. Any visuals or graphs must by your own (students may include the company logo with citation). Do not copy from the company or any other website.5 COMPANY RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT Value: 23 points worth a total of 12% 10-15 Paragraphs + Data The purpose of this assignment is to get you to complete comprehensive research for your company analysis. You will write a paper that provides basic research about your company. Use headings to organise your paper. Be careful to avoid plagiarism. 1. Write a summary business description of your company. You may use any information source but do not copy information. The writing must be in your own words. Length 3-4 paragraphs. 2. Write a summary of the information (length 4-6 paragraphs) you have found including: a. Company products b. Management c. Culture (mission, values) d. Employee benefits e. Employee attributes – what the company is looking for in its employees and what kind of employee would be happiest working there. f. Copy the yearly income statement, the yearly balance sheet and the financial ratios to include as part of this paper. Provide commentary about the value of each item. Commentary length: 3-5 paragraphs. g. Cite all of the sources using correct format. Omitted other research Superficial/Careless research Adequate (1 or 2 additional articles) Excellent (includes at least 3 significant articles) Quality of Research 0 pts 3 pts 6 pts 9 pts Omitted Superficial / Careless Adequate (Basic information only) Excellent (includes rich descriptions and/or examples) Summary Description 0 pts 2 pts 3 pts 4 pts Did not provide any of the required information Provided some of the financial information Provided all of the financial information Provided all of the financial information with commentary Financial Information 0 pts 2 pts 3 pts 4 pts Omitted Erratic Used with occasional errors Used correctly at all times6 Correct Referencing 0 pts 1 pt 2 pts 3 pts Omitted Used CARS erratically Used CARS with occasional errors Used CARS correctly for all sources Evaluated each source using CARS 0 pts 1 pt 2 pts 3 pts EVALUATING RESEARCH - CARS The key to business research is to find recent information. For most business topics, information older than twelve months may not be very useful. Second, evaluate sources for credibility. If it is one of the major business publications, it will be fairly reliable (although they have been known to be wrong) but may be biased. If it is a company publication or industry association publication, assess how good the information is. The mission of an industry group is to promote the industry. Their information might paint a much brighter picture than is actually the case. CARS (credibility, accuracy, reasonableness and support) is a simply acronym that helps evaluate research. You can create a rating scale to evaluate each of your sources of information. A summary check list is provided in the following table. Students rate their articles on a scale of 1 (lowest) and 4 (highest) of each of the criteria. You must provide reasons for your ratings when submitting a CARS as part of an assignment. Check List for Evaluating Research CREDIBILITY High Low Author’s education or experience relevant to issue Anonymous author Contact information given No contact information Organisation the author belongs to or the website belongs to is reputable and unbiased on issue Periodical not well-known Author has reputable position Reviews are mostly negative Author has good reputation Author is not convincing Periodical is of good quality in content and presentation Writing contains bad grammar and numerous misspelled words ACCURACY Up-to-date information – dates are current No date. Old date. Looks at the last year of any historical data – Does it include latest year? Use of vague or sweeping generalisations Comprehensive – many sources of data, cites all relevant sources of information Limited information or sources. Limited coverage of topic Considers the audience for the information Hidden messages of persuasion; inappropriate for audience REASONABLENESS Fair – presents other side Angry or spiteful tones Objectivity – control biases, any conflict of interest is disclosed Conflict of interest Moderateness – most truths are ordinary. (Some truths are not but check to see if they are real). Sweeping statements Consistency – writer avoids contradictions Writer exaggerates or over claims World view – writer identifies his/her religions, Writer obscures his/her biases and viewpoints7 political, etc point of view SUPPORT Source of information is cited No identified source for numbers Corroboration – May want to triangulate – find three sources of information that agree Absence of documentation when it is needed Does it agree with outside sources of information? Cannot find other sources that agree with information8 COMPANY ANALYSIS – MARKETING ASSIGNMENT Value: 42 points worth a total of 15% 1000 Words Visual Display: Include one graph or chart that you created yourself. A good graph might be a pie chart of company sales by product categories. The visual display must relate to marketing. Financial information such as revenue and net income growth is not appropriate for this visual display. Cartoons and process drawings are not appropriate. USE SUB-HEADINGS FOR ALL TOPICS COVERED. Omitted Superficial / Careless analysis Adequate – covered all requirements Excellent Brand Analysis – Description of the company brand image including attributes, benefits and values. Analysis of how the company manages its brand. 0 pts 3 pts 6 pts 9 pts Product Analysis – Description of new product development in the company. Assess where the company’s products are on the product life cycle. How does the company manage products? 0 pts 3 pts 6 pts 9 pts Customer Analysis – Give 4 or 5 characteristics of the company’s target market. Articulate the company customer value proposition. How does the company manage the customer life cycle? What channels are used to reach the customer? 0 pts 3 pts 6 pts 9 pts Competition – Compare and contrast two to three of the strongest competitors to your company. How does your company compete? 0 pts 3 pts 6 pts 9 pts Growth Strategy – What marketing strategy is used by your company. Summarise key points from the previous sections to articulate how it plans to grow. 0 pts 2 pts 3 pts 4 pts No visual display or copied from other sources Visual display tangentially related to marketing Provided adequate visual display Good visual display related to marketing Visual display 0 pts 0.5 pts 1 pt 2 pts9 COMPANY ANALYSIS - MANAGEMENT PAPER Value: 32 points worth a total of 15% 1000 Words USE SUB-HEADINGS FOR ALL TOPICS COVERED. Omitted Superficial / Careless analysis Adequate – covered all requirements Excellent Describe the impact of two or three key managers in the company. What style of management do they employ? Are they effective? What stories are typically told about managers? 0 pts 1 pt 3 pts 5 pts Corporate mission, values and culture. Describe what these are and how they contribute to the company brand. Does the company value diversity? What is the diversity of its management and workforce? What stories characterise the company culture? 0 pts 4 pts 8 pts 10 pts Corporate social responsibility. Identify a negative incident involving the company and describe how the company handled the incident. Analyse where the company is on the stages of corporate social responsibility. 0 pts 3 pts 5 pts 7 pts Identify the benefits that an employee would get at the company. How does this compare to other companies? 0 pts 1 pt 3 pts 5 pts Identify the attributes the company seeks in an employee. What type of person should be happiest working for this company? 0 pts 1 pt 3 pts 5 pts