Homework answers / question archive / Faculty of Business and Law Assignment Brief Contemporary Business Issues CORP3543 This is a traditional essay assignment with 2000 words, which will worth 60% of the overall module mark

Faculty of Business and Law Assignment Brief Contemporary Business Issues CORP3543 This is a traditional essay assignment with 2000 words, which will worth 60% of the overall module mark

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Faculty of Business and Law
Assignment Brief

Contemporary Business Issues

CORP3543

This is a traditional essay assignment with 2000 words, which will worth 60% of the overall module mark. Due to the highly contemporary nature of the module, the syllabus and its emphasis can change from year to year. The students are expected to demonstrate both theoretical and practical knowledge while answering the question. Students are expected to develop a greater understanding of the subject by continued and extensive reading using a range of sources while getting prepared for the assessment. It will not be sufficient to rely on material given in lectures only. Instead, the student should develop an awareness of diverse opinions, theoretical frameworks, and practical examples. The questions are based on the taught material throughout the academic year. Please follow all instructions carefully.
• You must choose only one question out of four.
• You must prepare your answer in a single word document so that it can be submitted as a single document via Turnitin.
• Word limit is 2000 words (+/- 10%) excluding references
• Please, name the document as “CORP3543 – Pnumber”
• You must submit your essay via Turnitin on or before Friday 6th May 2022, 12 noon GMT
• You may submit your answers at any time up to the submission time, but you may not resubmit once your answers have been uploaded.

Answer only ONE question from four options. Each of the questions carries equal marks.
Question 1: What are the contemporary challenges and trends reshaping the retail industry?
Indicative Answer: Students are expected to explain the essence of retail, consumer behaviour, customer service and satisfaction, and some elements of marketing. They also need to clarify how digitalisation changes the shape of retail as well as consumer behaviour and expectations. Emphasis should be given to the discussion of contemporary customers’ expectations and link them to the theories of sharing economy and experience economics, which companies should take into account and adjust their business strategies accordingly. Students must provide a specific case study example(s) in their discussion: e.g., John Lewis, Thomas Cook, Deliveroo.
Question 2: Has the COVID19 pandemic disrupted the landscape of standard supply chain management concept and how?
Indicative Answer: Students must discuss the standard theories and models of the supply chain and lean management. They are also expected to examine how current pandemic challenges these existing models and debate whether businesses (and scholars) should rethink them. Specific emphasis should be given to a particular case study example of the industry sector: for instance, car manufacturing (e.g., VW, Toyota), clothing (textile) industry (e.g., Nike), technology production (e.g., HP), maritime transportation, etc. Students must demonstrate the ability to apply theories in their discussion of real-life examples.
Question 3: Mission impossible? What are the motivating factors and challenges to businesses being sustainable and how effective are contemporary sustainability strategies?
Indicative answer: Students must discuss some of the motivating factors to business being sustainable (such as consumer/NGO pressure, legislation, SDGs, climate change and threats to long-term business survival as a result of inaction) as well as the challenges to businesses being sustainable (e.g., cost, consumer apathy, shareholders, weak legislation, ‘unreachable’ parts of the supply chain etc.) Students must also discuss the effectiveness of sustainability strategies such as making changes to supply chain or manufacturing practices, adopting the SDGs or a certification system (such as ISO26000, Fairtrade etc.) and how effectiveness can be ascertained/measured. The analysis must include real-life case study examples and practical recommendations for businesses.
Question 4: Critically discuss the challenges and opportunities for businesses within Industry 4.0.
Indicative Answer: Students must assess and debate the changing landscape of the world economies and the impact of technologies on the labour market. Good answers should include the critical discussion of how digitalisation has created new types of jobs and now requires new skills of potential employees. Students should also provide how digitalisation influenced other spheres of doing business and how technologies are being implemented there: supply-chain, sales, customers service, and public, private sectors, in general. Students must provide a specific case study example(s) in their discussion by examining a particular industry sector or a company: e.g., financial industry, deliveries (e.g., Deliveroo), or streaming services (Netflix vs Blockbuster).

Structure of the essay
The approximate structure of the essay can be the following - it’s just the recommendation:
Title Page (not included in the word count)
1. Introduction (200-250 words)
• Introduction into the topic
• Problem statement / background of the problem / Relevance
• Research aim and objectives
2. Theoretical discussion of the topic (750-800 words)
• Discuss relevant theoretical frameworks and models related to your case study problem: for example, retail, digitalisation, consumer behaviour, international trade theories, regional integration, agency theory, stakeholder theory, supply chain and lean management, etc.
• This is a literature review section; hence, the use of academic sources is compulsory.
3. Example / Case study (750-800 words)
• Students must provide a specific case study example(s) in their discussion by examining a particular company or an industry sector.
• Students must demonstrate the ability to apply theories in their discussion to the real-life examples.
• Demonstration of the figures, graphs, and tables with secondary data will be beneficial.
4. Conclusion (200-250 words)
• Provide a summary of your work
• Cover the key findings and points as the result of your work
Bibliography list (not included in the word count)
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Criteria for Assessment - How you will be marked
In your final year on a degree course, you are expected to research your own information. This makes for more varied work as a set reading list does not constrain you. Moreover, it gives you more freedom to generate your own individual perspectives. However, you may wish to ask your tutor for some guidance. Marks will be awarded for logical development and depth of argument, research quality and measured critical analysis. The highest grades are attained by the Uniqueness of the interpretation research sources. Marks are awarded for the ‘professionalism’ of your work.
Logical development and clarity of argument: To convince the Assessor that your point of view is valid and correct, your argument should be clear and straightforward and developed in a logical and understandable manner. Typically, it must be supported by the evidence (citation).

Level of research/theoretical application: Your Assessor will need to be convinced that you have not merely fabricated your ideas. As such, it is absolutely essential that you support your argument or arguments with supporting studies, referenced views, appropriate theories and/or data from reputable sources. Remember to cite and construct your reference list in Harvard format.
Depth of content: To add additional weight to your points, they should be sufficiently well-explained to ensure that they stand up as good and supporting evidence. Too many points covered superficially are usually less effective than a few expressed in detail. Credit is given for the application and critical evaluation of theory.
Measured/critical analysis/synthesis: An argument or point of view is only normally convincing if you clearly demonstrate that you have considered the standpoint of others and either rejected them or used them to support and validate your perspective. Your concluding argument needs to critically reflect on the data and theoretical underpinning (where appropriate) rather than summarise the earlier presented material.
The professional appearance of submission: Your work needs to exhibit a professional presentation of the essay, free of grammatical, punctuation, spelling errors, etc. Ensure that you write in the academic style as opposed to 1st person. Ensure that margins and paragraphs are aligned. Include a title page and label all diagrams, tables, appendices, etc. Take care with any loss of visual clarity when copying images from the internet. Your text should be divided into sections reflecting the logic of your narrative: e.g., introduction, the main body of the text (theoretical debate), case study analysis (examples of the industry sector and/or businesses), and conclusion.
The use of charts, tables, and figures is a highly effective means of summarising research / representing a concept. In this particular assessment, it is not compulsory to include tables and figures. But it will be beneficial to present just one or two. All tables and figures must have a title and a reference to the original sources if they are not constructed by the student.
Further information on university mark descriptors can be found here.
This assignment is designed to assess the following learning outcomes: Critically evaluate different views and perspectives on current business issues and apply the appropriate theories to derive balanced and informed opinions. Develop academic research techniques justifying research questions and reviewing literature from a variety of perspectives. Carry out quality primary and secondary research as an independent learner. Produce logical, well-presented and coherently argued analysis.
Assessment Details
The word count is 2000 words (+/- 10%) excluding references.
There will be a penalty of a deduction of 10% of the mark for work exceeding the word limit by 10% or more.
The word limit includes the main body of the text, quotations and citations, but excludes the tables, figures, references list and appendices.