Homework answers / question archive / BUSM2567 Business Decision Making Assessment 3: Individual research report — Due date: Thursday, Week 10, 11:59pm (Melbourne Time) Weighting: 40% Word limit: Report 1200 words (+/-10%) and reflection 300 words (+/-10%) Assessment type: Report and reflection Group or individual assessment: Individual — Overview In this assessment you will write a report about the current state of an organisation in the technology sector, based on your research of their financial and non-financial information

BUSM2567 Business Decision Making Assessment 3: Individual research report — Due date: Thursday, Week 10, 11:59pm (Melbourne Time) Weighting: 40% Word limit: Report 1200 words (+/-10%) and reflection 300 words (+/-10%) Assessment type: Report and reflection Group or individual assessment: Individual — Overview In this assessment you will write a report about the current state of an organisation in the technology sector, based on your research of their financial and non-financial information

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BUSM2567 Business Decision Making

Assessment 3: Individual research report

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Due date: Thursday, Week 10, 11:59pm (Melbourne Time)

Weighting: 40%

Word limit: Report 1200 words (+/-10%) and reflection 300 words (+/-10%)

Assessment type: Report and reflection

Group or individual assessment: Individual

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Overview

In this assessment you will write a report about the current state of an organisation in the technology sector, based on your research of their financial and non-financial information. In this report, aimed at the Board of Directors, you will use this research to propose a long-term investment for the business.

Purpose

The purpose of this assessment is to consolidate what you have learned in this course.

You will gather financial and non-financial information relating to a particular entity. You will identify what is relevant for your purpose. You will critically interpret and analyse the information and examine the implications regarding the prospects of the entity. Then you will propose suitable action going forward. You will consider contemporary factors such as machine learning and cultural diversity.

You will practice presenting your findings in a form that is suitable for senior managers – clear, precise, concise, and reliable. Your findings will be based on information from authoritative sources. Your reasoning will be clear, direct, and compelling.

In other words, this assessment is an opportunity to practice the fundamental elements of decision making for a contemporary business organisation.

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What do you need to deliver?

This assessment has two parts:

• Report - Describe the current state of an organisation and suggest a long-term investment

(1200 words)

• Reflection - Reflect on your own decision-making processes and abilities (300 words)

Tools

• Use Microsoft Word or similar software to produce your report.

• Use Microsoft Excel to work with data and create visualisations.

• Submit your report in PDF (portable document format).

Course learning outcomes

This assessment is linked to the following course learning outcomes:

CLO 1 Describe and implement a structured approach to generating meaningful insights and informing ethical decision making in business

CLO 2 Select, apply, analyse and evaluate the results of data analyses, analytical models and other business tools in a socially intelligent manner

CLO 3 Apply digital literacy skills to communicate the results of data analyses and analytical models in written and visual forms to support organisational decision-making

CLO 5 Critically evaluate a range of behavioural factors and demonstrate how they influence decision makers.

Marking criteria

This assessment will measure your ability to:

• Critically analyse and evaluate data (8 pts)

• Evaluate risk to an organisation (6 pts)

• Critically analyse technological trends and their potential impact on an organisation (6 pts)

• Articulate how culture and diversity can affect decision making (6 pts)

• Create a short proposal for a long-term investment (6 pts)

• Critically reflect on decision making experience (8 pts)

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Assessment Details

For this assessment, research an organisation in the technology sector and analyse their financialand non-financial information. Your analysis should include data analysis, risk, trends, and culturaland behavioural issues. Next, create a report on their current position. And finally, recommend an investment project that could contribute positively to the financial position and reputation of yourchosen organisation.

Part 1: Report and appendices

Step 1:

Choose an organisation as the focus of your research project. In Activity 8.4.0 you were guided on how to choose and research an organisation.

• Your organisation should be in the technology sector, such as Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, Acer,or ASUS.

• You must choose a publicly listed organisation, as they publish their financial results which you will need to conduct your analysis.

Step 2:

Use your research to create a report aimed at the Board of Directors on their current position. Your report should make use of headings and include:

1. Data analysis

Create an analysis of the business trends, including cost, volume, and pricing, applying your learning from Week 1. Your analysis should include appropriate graphic techniques,including trend lines, and testing the significance of its coefficients as well as the fit of the model you create. You must cite all sources of data used, outline all the assumptions you make and any uncertainty in your findings and conclusions.

Extrapolate the trends you have identified three years into the future: what would be the financial health of the business three years from now? These findings should support your investment proposal (section 5).

2. Risk.

Consider the impact of four potential risks:

• A recession

• A drought

• A global pandemic

• A significant technical advance in the industry.

Use your learning from Week 6 to assess the likely impact of each of these risks, and your

organisation’s potential response, including strategies that could be undertaken to minimise exposure to each of these risks.

3. Technology.

Use your learning from Week 8 to critically discuss the use of machine learning, including its benefits and limitations of its underpinning, focusing on the potential benefits or challenges that machine learning can bring to your chosen organisation.

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4. Diversity and culture.

Use your research and your learning from Week 9 to report on the culture and diversity of your chosen organisation. What challenges might your organisation be facing with regards to culture and diversity? What impact might this have on decision making?

5. Proposal.

Briefly outline your investment proposal. Use your learning from Week 5 to propose a large long-term project that could benefit your chosen organisation. As part of your proposal, outline the benefits your investment will bring to the organisation, the data you have which supports the case for investing, and missing data which you would recommend the

organisation gains access to in order to analyse the potential of your proposal.

6. Appendix

Your report should include an appendix that details how you prepared and collected your data. As a part of this, include any data tables you produced to support your analysis and proposal. Your appendix will not be marked and does not count towards your word count.

Part 2: Written reflection

Alongside your report, write a reflection on your own decision-making processes and abilities, based on your experience in the workplace and/or your personal life.

Use your learning from Week 3 to consider any biases you might be harbouring and how they might have affected your decision making. Use your learning from Week 9 to consider how creativity and/or diversity might boost or constrain your decision-making abilities. As part of your reflection, think about your strengths and weaknesses in decision making, with examples, and identify ways you could improve your decision making in future.

Target Audience

The target audience for your report is the Board of Directors.

Recommended Length and Structure

Your report should be presented as a business report to the senior management of the organisation that you have selected. It should be no more than 1200 words. Table of contents, reference list, and appendices are not included in the word count. All other text is included in the word count.

The report should be written in business style – clear and concise. Use specific and precise language. All sources should be cited. Your report should include the following sections:

1. Title page

2. Table of contents

3. Executive summary – a briefly outline the purpose and key findings and recommendations.[roughly between 100 and 150 words].

4. The organisation – identify the organisation and describe its legal status, key activities,products, market segments, competitors, and competitive advantage [roughly between 100and 300 words].

5. Data analysis [roughly between 200 and 300 words]

6. Risk [roughly between 100 and 400 words]

7. Machine learning [roughly between 100 and 300 words]

8. Diversity and culture [roughly between 100 and 300 words]

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9. Proposed investment [roughly between 100 and 300 words]

10. Final thoughts – include any final comments that may be interesting or relevant. Do notrepeat what is in the executive summary.[roughly between 50 and 100 words]

11. Reference list

12. Appendices

Title page, table of content, reference list, and appendices are not included in the word count. Allother text is included. The word count for the report must not exceed 1200 words.

Required references

References should be authoritative publications such as books, academic journals, industry reports, news articles, professional magazines, etc. Topics may include the market or industry in which your chosen organisation operates; the nature of the goods and services that it provides;

CVP analysis; artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybernetics, ethics; risk management;

organisational culture; cultural diversity, capital investment; cost-benefit analysis; etc.

Referencing Guidelines

Use RMIT Harvard referencing style for this assessment. If you are using secondary sources, include these as a reference list in your report.

You must acknowledge all the sources of information you have used in your assessments.

Refer to the RMIT Easy Cite referencing tool to see guidance and examples on how to reference in the RMIT Harvard style. You can also refer to the Library referencing page for other tools such as

EndNote, referencing tutorials and referencing guides for printing.

Submission instructions

The assessment will be submitted in Canvas as a PDF file upload.

Academic integrity and plagiarism information

Academic integrity is about honest presentation of your academic work. It means acknowledging the work of others while developing your own insights, knowledge, and ideas.

You should take extreme care that you have:

• Acknowledged words, data, diagrams, models, frameworks and/or ideas of others you havequoted (i.e., directly copied), summarised, paraphrased, discussed, or mentioned in yourassessment through the appropriate referencing methods

• Provided a reference list and /or bibliography of the publication details so your reader canlocate the source if necessary. This includes material used from Internet sites.

If you do not acknowledge the sources of your material, you may be accused of plagiarism because you have passed off the work and ideas of another person without appropriate referencing, as if they were your own.

RMIT University treats plagiarism as a very serious offence constituting misconduct.

Plagiarism covers a variety of inappropriate behaviours, including:

• Failure to properly document a source

• Copyright material from the internet or databases

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• Collusion between students

For further information on our policies and procedures, please refer to the University website.

Assessment declaration

When you submit work electronically, you agree to the assessment declaration