This assignment counts for 50% of your overall marks
THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL PIECE OF WORK
IN SUMMARY you are writing a report that is accompanied by an appropriate portfolio of relevant and interesting material.
You should hand in an electronic copy to Turn-lt-ln by 23.59.
A fully electronic portfolio is OK. However … depending upon the nature and size of the portfolio…
it may be too 'large’ for Turn-it-in to accept.
In the past it was always a hard copy portfolio but now that we can photograph and scan at virtually zero cost on phones and digital cameras; can access numerous electronic visual clips; download off web sites and screen capture; use electronic journal sources … then for you .. I think it is more likely that your default position is electronic.
But just as I do not want to waste your money — I do not want to waste your time … it would be silly not to hand in full company reports or hard copy brochures as exactly that!
So you could
(a) Aim to have this all saved to a CD / DVD or USB stick.
(b) If product sample(s) aim to photograph it, video it.
(c) If corporate brochures, annual reports etc. that cannot be digitized, then put the work into a folder, binder or whatever.
(d) Last year a few students created a website and gave me precise instructions as to how to access it … I can happily live with that.
(e) You may choose to hand-in the whole portfolio as hard copy.
(f) It might be a mixture of hard and soft..
(g) You could email it to me.
Under the University's regulations you may be offered a Tutor Reassessment in this work if your mark is less than 40% but greater than 0%. Your tutor will advise you of how to improve the work. You must complete such changes within two weeks… and you will be limited to a maximum mark of 40%.
It is inappropriate to state a word limit for the portfolio since it may contain artefacts, source material, or it could be wholly audio or visual.
The word guide to the main body below is a maximum which you must not exceed. Add to that some linking words to your portfolio content and you are looking at 5000 of your own words at a maximum.
Custom and practice suggests that this limit is sufficient to allow you to express your thoughts in an appropriate way. You can aggregate – so less words in one section allows you more in another.
Note that the word count is a maximum and is based upon the length of work that I usually receive however…. I have seen good cases that run out at around 3,500 words plus portfolio.
You have editorial control over what you consider appropriate to be placed 'in full' in the main body –
or, abbreviated and so elaborated in the portfolio. Gratuitous and inappropriate use of this device is not encouraged and will count as exceeding the word limit.
Your overall mark will be a reflection of the quality of the work when read as a whole (including the portfolio).
Please note that your mark will be given back to you on "pro-forma" mark sheet. We will keep the work for possible submission as part of the External Examiners sample.
YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE BACK THE WORK YOU SUBMIT TO US
So … if you choose to add a physical portfolio… please does not include anything that is valuable or you would like returned.
There is no need to double space or 1.5 space your text (other tutors may want this … but not me!). Single space is fine.
Business case-study and critique: Your choice of entrepreneur
You may choose any entrepreneur, living or dead, local, national or international – but your case should bring a new dimension(s) to the person and/or organisation being studied.
Telling the story your way and making your own selections on what to cover in both Sections A and B will bring that new dimension.
The tasks below are set out in the order in which they must appear in your answer. All tasks must be completed.
Please note that section marks are additive and that you must attempt all sections, deliberately missing out a section will lose more marks in aggregate than that section carries.
Single spaced typing is the desired format.
Would you please use my Section numbering
The work is in two parts Part (A) the substantive written part and Part (B) the Portfolio.
I would prefer the assignment in one electronic file but if this is not possible then there are two Turn-It-In buttons on Unilearn for you to use.
PART A: THE SUBSTANTIVE WRITTEN PART
(1) Table of contents (index) for the main written body of the work
(2) On the next page, as an opening summary- why did you choose them, how did this entrepreneur make a difference?
(3) Show through a simple OT (opportunities & threats) part of a SWOT-What are the opportunities and threats in the market in which the entrepreneur is operating.
I would see this as a simple bullet pointed diagram(s) – not text; and it must be on a single page. It is the external part of the SWOT only.
(4) What is (was) the "business model" used by the entrepreneur. How do they (did they) improve the existing business model, or did they invent or introduce, a new business model? Better answers might consider the use of an appropriate framework such as the ones we looked at in the lecture.
(5) A theoretical justification as to why you believe that your chosen person is an entrepreneur that is drawn from both your understanding of entrepreneurship theories from your reading and the lectures and in addition five relevant contemporary journal articles that have extended your understanding over and above the lectures. I have deliberately not defined contemporary by a number of years, you decide the time frame!!
You should demonstrate that you have come to a reasoned choice as to what you consider to be appropriate and meaningful theory.
Academic journal articles are of the quality and level that you would find on Summon but can come from other reputable databases.
By asking you to ‘extend’ outside of the lecture material – it makes it more personal for you and increases the knowledge base that you have to work with both in this assignment and the examination. You can obviously use the lecture material in setting out your general understanding.
Of course, you are welcome to review articles that we have considered in the lectures and/or are on our reading list. But you need to extend the lecture coverage (more depth / more insights / different insights)
(6) Select four points in the life of the organization when something of importance happened and drawing from your understanding in Section (5), why do you believe that showed the entrepreneur and their organization to be entrepreneurial?
You should not over rely on their corporate website and should always seek to “triangulate” (confirm from more than one source) such information.
When using website extracts please make sure that they are properly referenced and "quote marked".
This section should be more than a vague description and so should be informed by some real data (numbers, press cuttings, data from the company, articles, internet etc.).
Your four points of importance could be spread out over the organisations life or could be concentrated into a tighter time period. They can be contemporary or historical or a mix.
PART B: THE PORTFOLIO
(B1) Table of contents (index) for the items / material in your portfolio
(B2) A brief rationale of why you selected the particular contents of your portfolio. A simple one or two line description of why you chose to show that item in your portfolio. For example, ‘Press cutting one is about when the entrepreneur moved into a new market’; ‘Photograph One shows the entrepreneur on the day they opened the business’; ‘Screenshot One from their website shows the creativity of their customer offering’. ‘YouTube Clip One is a recent interview with the entrepreneur’. YouTube Clip Two is illustrative of their recent advertising campaign’.
(B3) A portfolio of supporting material that adds to your written case.
Given that this is a module on entrepreneurship- then you should be creative in what you select and how you present the material.
Press Releases, brochures, photographs, corporate material, video material, interviews, literature, www downloads… etc…??
(A & B) References for the written case and the portfolio. This must include all www sites used. All work must be cited accurately and in full by using the standard APA convention. This includes the written material and the
material in the portfolio. A full list of any www sites must be included and the time and date they were accessed. They must be reliable academic, technical or business sites, for example, references to "wiki" sites are
acceptable only when the information can be verified elsewhere, or you have good reason to consider the author an expert. For example, whilst I might disagree with the some of the views of Babson College, for the obvious reasons -I would not question the provenance of their site.
