AS1 – Assessment Brief
| Module Code | |
| Module Name | Global Business and Investment |
| Level | 6 |
| Module Leader | James Mshelia |
| Module Code | BUS3027 |
| Assessment title: | Management report – AS1 Word count – 2000 words excluding the final reference list, tables and figures (+10% deviation is allowed) |
| Weighting: | 60% |
| Submission dates: | Please see NILE under Assessment Information |
| Feedback and Grades due: | Please see NILE under Assessment Information |
Please read this assessment brief in its entirety before starting work on the Assessment Task.
Check the marking rubric at the end of this brief for details on how you will be assessed.
The Assignment Task
You are expected to write a management report following the board of directors’ business meeting simulation covering these six questions:
- What strategies would the company use to increase its profitability in the new market? (e.g. you will have to consider reducing cost or adding value to the existing market). Use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers.
- What are the company’s global production considerations, and how can its supply chain management be improved to lower the cost of value creation for better servicing customers’ needs?
- What strategies could the company use to avoid foreign exchange risk considering that exchange rates have become much more volatile and less predictable in the international monetary system?
- What international staffing policy would you recommend for the company that is consistent with its strategy, and how will this improve its performance and competitiveness?
- Considering how your company could configure its marketing mix, what are its initial international marketing entry decisions? Recommend a 2-year post-entry marketing strategy.
- Critically analyse decisions taken in the meeting and reflect on what could have been done differently by making final recommendations for the company’s foreign market entry plan?
You must use relevant business theories/models to support your answers.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:
a) Evaluate theories and debates on the nature, processes, and systems of conducting business globally.
c) Critique the role played by multinational enterprises, governments, and global institutions in promoting responsible and sustainable investment practices and policies.
- Identify a problem and devise a range of alternative solutions drawing from accepted problem-solving techniques.
- Critically analyse decisions taken and reflect on what could have been done differently.
Assessment Support
Specific support sessions for this assessment will be provided by the module team and notified through NILE. You can also access individual support and guidance for your assessments from Library and Learning Services. Visit the Skills Hub to access this support
and to discover the online support also available for assessments and academic skills.
Academic Integrity and Misconduct
The work you produce must be your own, with work taken from any other source properly referenced and attributed. This means that it is an infringement of academic integrity and, therefore, academic misconduct to ask someone else to carry out all or some of the work for you, whether paid or unpaid, or to use the work of another student whether current or previously submitted.
For further guidance on what constitutes plagiarism, contract cheating or collusion, or any other infringement of academic integrity, please read the University’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy. Other useful resources to help with understanding academic integrity are available from UNPAC – the University of Northampton’s Plagiarism Avoidance Course.
N.B. The penalties for academic misconduct are severe and include failing the assessment, failing the module and even expulsion from the university.
Assessment Submission
To submit your work, please go to the ‘Assessment and Submission’ area on the NILE site and use the relevant submission point to upload the assessment deliverables. The deadline for this is 11.59pm (UK local time) on the date of submission. Please note that essays and text-based reports should be submitted as word documents and not PDFs or Mac files.
Written work submitted to TURNITIN will be subject to anti-plagiarism detection software. Turnitin checks student work for possible textual matches against internet available resources and its own proprietary database.
When you upload your work correctly to TURNITIN you will receive a receipt which is your record and proof of submission. If your assessment is not submitted to TURNITIN, rather than a receipt, you will see a green banner at the top of the screen that denotes successful submission.
N.B Work emailed directly to your tutor will not be marked.
Late submission of work
For first sits, if an item of assessment is submitted late and an extension has not been granted, the following will apply:
- Within one week of the original deadline – work will be marked and returned with full feedback and awarded a maximum bare pass grade.
- More than one week from original deadline – grade achievable LG (L indicating late).
For resits there are no allowances for work submitted late and it will be treated as a non-submission.
Please see the Assessment and Feedback Policy for full information on the processes related to assessment, grading and feedback, including anonymous grading. You will also find Guidance on grades and resit opportunities from the main University website. Also explained there are the meanings of the various G grades at the bottom of the grading scale including LG mentioned above.
Extensions
The University of Northampton’s general policy about extensions is to be supportive of students who have genuine difficulties in meeting an assessment deadline. It is not intended for use where pressures of work could have reasonably been anticipated.
For full details please refer to the Extensions Policy. Extensions are only available for first sits – they are not available for resits.
Mitigating Circumstances
For full guidance on Mitigating circumstances please go to Mitigating Circumstances where you will find information on the policy as well as guidance and the form for making an application. Please also see Extensions & Mitigating Circumstances guide that compares your options.
Please note, however, that an application to defer an assessment on the grounds of mitigating circumstances should normally be made in advance of the submission deadline or examination date.
Feedback and Grades
These can be accessed through clicking on the “Gradebook” on NILE. Feedback will be provided by a rubric with summary comments.
Grading Rubric
Grading Rubric Marking Rubric /Grade Criteria (A+ to D- indicate work of a pass standard; grades of F+ below are fails).
| LEARNING OUTCOMES | NO SUBMISSION | F+ to F- (FAIL) | D+ to D- (PASS) | C+ to C- (COMMENDED) | B+ to B- (MERIT) | A+ to A- (DISTINCTION) | |
| No submission / no evidence. | Evidence included or provided but missing in some very important respects. | Of satisfactory quality, demonstrating evidence of achieving the requirements of the learning outcomes. | Of sound quality, demonstrative which is sufficient and appropriate to the task or activity. | Of high quality, demonstrating evidence which is rigorous and convincing, appropriate to the task or activity. | Of very high quality, demonstrating evidence which is strong, robust and consistent, appropriate to the task or activity. | ||
| INTRODUCTION | Work submitted is of no academic value/nothing submitted | Poorly written introduction without a background, purpose/aim of report and a brief discussion of the company’s FDI and how the report will be structured. | An introduction with clear deficiencies in the background, purpose/aim of report and a brief discussion of the company’s FDI and how the report will be structured. | An introduction with some limitations in the background, purpose/aim of report and a brief discussion of the company’s FDI and how the report will be structured. | Good introduction with a background, purpose/aim of report and a brief discussion of the company’s FDI and how the report will be structured. | Very good introduction with a background, purpose/aim of report and a brief discussion of the company’s FDI and how the report will be structured. | |
| Evaluate theories and debates on the nature, processes, and systems of conducting business globally. | Work submitted is of no academic value/nothing submitted | Poor awareness of a business strategy that your firm could use to increase its profitability either reducing cost or adding value in the new market with the use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers. Poor evaluation and use of appropriate evidence and examples | Very Limited awareness of a business strategy that your firm could use to increase its profitability either reducing cost or adding value in the new market with the use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers. Very limited evaluation and use of appropriate evidence and examples | Limited awareness of a business strategy that your firm could use to increase its profitability either reducing cost or adding value in the new market with the use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers. Limited evaluation and use of appropriate evidence and examples | Good awareness of a business strategy that your firm could use to increase its profitability either reducing cost or adding value in the new market with the use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers. Good evaluation and use of appropriate evidence and examples | Very good awareness of a business strategy that your firm could use to increase its profitability, either reducing cost or adding value in the new market with the use relevant theories and empirical examples to support your answers. Very good evaluation and use of appropriate evidence and examples | |
| LEARNING OUTCOMES | NO SUBMISSION | F+ to F- (FAIL) | D+ to D- (PASS) | C+ to C- (COMMENDED) | B+ to B- (MERIT) | A+ to A- (DISTINCTION) |
| Identify a problem and devise a range of alternative solutions drawing from accepted problem-solving techniques. | Work submitted is of no academic value/nothing submitted | Poor understanding of considerations in international production and the concept of supply chain management and how new technologies, cost management initiative, better customer services can lower valueadding activities cost within a value chain for competitive advantage. | Very limited understanding of considerations in international production and the concept of supply chain management and how new technologies, cost management initiative, better customer services can lower value-adding activities cost within a value chain for competitive advantage. | Limited understanding of considerations in international production and the concept of supply chain management and how new technologies, cost management initiative, better customer services can lower value-adding activities cost within a value chain for competitive advantage. | Good understanding of considerations in international production and the concept of supply chain management and how new technologies, cost management initiative, better customer services can lower value-adding activities cost within a value chain for competitive advantage. | Very good understanding of considerations in international production and the concept of supply chain management and how new technologies, cost management initiative, better customer services can lower valueadding activities cost within a value chain for competitive advantage |
| Identify a problem and devise a range of alternative solutions drawing from accepted problem-solving techniques. | Poor awareness of the impact/functions of foreign exchange market, types of risk, exchange rates regimes and mitigating strategies. | Very limited awareness of the impact/functions of foreign exchange market, types of risk, exchange rates regimes and mitigating strategies. | Limited awareness of the impact/functions of foreign exchange market, types of risk, exchange rates regimes and mitigating strategies | Good awareness of the impact/functions of foreign exchange market, types of risk, exchange rates regimes and mitigating strategies | Very good awareness of the impact/functions of foreign exchange market, types of risk, exchange rates regimes and mitigating strategies. | |
| Identify a problem and devise a range of alternative solutions drawing from accepted problem-solving techniques. | Inadequate subject focus. Lacks understanding of the staffing policy of MNEs (the different approaches) that is consistent with the firm’s strategy and how performance/ competitiveness could be improved. | Lacks subject focus. Understanding of the staffing policy of MNEs (the different approaches) that is consistent with the firm’s strategy and how performance/ competitiveness could be improved. | Little subject focus. Limited understanding of the staffing policy of MNEs (the different approaches) that is consistent with the firm’s strategy and how performance/ competitiveness could be improved. | Good understanding of the staffing policy of MNEs (the different approaches) that is consistent with the firm’s strategy and how performance/ competitiveness could be improved. | Very good understanding of the staffing policy of MNEs (the3 different approaches) that is consistent with the firm’s strategy and how performance/ competitiveness could be improved. | |
| Critique the role played by multinational enterprises, governments, and global institutions in promoting responsible and sustainable investment practices and policies. | Poor awareness of what the company should take into considering during international marketing such as marketing mix, globalisation of products, adaptation or standardisation, market segmentation, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, and systems. | Very limited awareness of what the company should take into considering during international marketing such as marketing mix, globalisation of products, adaptation or standardisation, market segmentation, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, and systems. | Limited awareness of what the company should take into considering during international marketing such as marketing mix, globalisation of products, adaptation or standardisation, market segmentation, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, and systems. | Good awareness of what the company should take into considering during international marketing such as marketing mix, globalisation of products, adaptation or standardisation, market segmentation, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, and systems. | Very good awareness of what the company should take into considering during international marketing such as marketing mix, globalisation of products, adaptation or standardisation, market segmentation, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, and systems. | |
| LEARNING OUTCOMES | NO SUBMISSION | F+ to F- (FAIL) | D+ to D- (PASS) | C+ to C- (COMMENDED) | B+ to B- (MERIT) | A+ to A- (DISTINCTION) |
| CONCLUSION | poorly related or unrelated to the portfolio | weak competent summary of the portfolio | Limited conclusions that is not a competent summary of the portfolio | coherent and not a very competent summary of the portfolio | clearly coherent and a competent summary of the portfolio | |
| Critically analyse decisions taken and reflect on what could have been done differently | Poorly derived recommendations that are discussed previously | weakly derived recommendations that are discussed previously | Derived recommendations with limitations that are discussed previously | Well derived recommendations that are discussed previously | Very well derived recommendations that are discussed previously | |
| PRESENTATION, REFERENCING AND USE OF LANGUAGE | Poorly presented and referenced with very unclear language with serious errors. | Adequate presentation but with clear deficiencies with significant errors in use of language and referencing. | Adequately presentation with clear use of language but with minor errors and some inconsistencies referencing. | Well presented with clear use of language and good academic rigour referencing. | Very well presented with clear use of language and Very good academic rigour referencing. |
