business analysis report

Business Analysis Report: you will carry out an investigation into three large business organisations and produce a report of your findings.

The organisations are:

1. Unilever PLC
2. Rolls Royce PLC
3. Mondragon (a co-operative organisation based in Spain)

Your team report must include:

• A brief history of each business
• A narrative of each of the business’s current position
• An examination of the global reach of each business that includes, if possible, identification of the business’s involvement with your own country
• An assessment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance
• Analysis of the financial situation using aspects of ratio analysis based on the most recently available financial results
• An assessment of the overall contribution of the two types of organisation (a traditional PLC and a co-operative) to the economies and societies in which they operate

Your report must also have:

• An introduction and conclusion
• A final reference list and in text citations
• Contents page
• Page numbers

Group work: your tutor will organise the composition of the groups. A typical group will have 3 or 4 members and each group needs to organise how the work should be divided. The division of the workload should be discussed and agreed with the tutor.

Participation in group work is an important aspect of your studies. It is recognised by the University of Liverpool as an important skill and is a vital aspect of working life in the business and professional world.

In addition to working in the seminar sessions you are expected to organise working meetings with fellow group members outside of the normal timetabled classes to ensure progress with your report.

When you put your group’s work together to compile your final report, you must, as a team, edit your work, so it appears as a ‘whole’ or single document, and not a collection of individual student’s work. Remember, it’s a team project.

Individual self-reflection: To progress to university you are expected to become an independent learner. You will assess your own progress, identify strengths and weaknesses and act to remedy any difficulties at an early stage. In addition to the group report, you must complete an individual self-reflection of around 500 words, using the form on the VLE.

Grading: marks awarded will recognise the overall quality of the completed report and will also reflect the individual contribution of each member of the group. It is crucial that everyone in the group participates fully in the assignment. 70% of the total marks are for the quality of the report and will be awarded to each individual member of the working group. 30% of the marks will be for an individual self-reflection exercise and will be awarded to students individually.

Marking Criteria: Marking criteria for the report are on the VLE. Marks for the report are awarded according to the following criteria:

1. a)The amount and depth of research carried out.
2. b)The relevance and detail of the content and argument.
3. c)The extent to which the report is coherently structured.
4. d)The overall presentation of the assignment and the accuracy of citations and referencing

Referencing: you will need to carry out research into the businesses and so you should include citations wherever possible and produce a final reference list using the Harvard referencing system.

Further guidance:

1. The most important thing you must do in completing this assignment is to make sure that you answer the task that has been set.

2. Ensure that you remain within the word limits given. The word limit is to test whether you can write concisely, thereby getting all the main points down without wandering ‘off-topic’.

3. It is best to avoid using too many sub-headings and to not use lots of bullet points. Otherwise your answer will look like a set of notes/instructions and appear disjointed. Using continuous prose enables you to develop arguments and to inter-link issues you are raising.

4. The emphasis is on practical business understanding rather than academic research, however, if you do use sources they should be academic sources like textbooks and journals. You may also use internet sources. Everything you read in an academic source will have been peer-reviewed which means that experts in the field will have seen it and agree that the ideas are reasonable and accurate.Web sites such as Wikipedia are not peer reviewed and do not count as academic sources. Make sure you follow the guidelines for referencing as explained in Skills for Study.

5. You must not copy text from a book, another person’s work, or internet sites and imply that it is your own work.  This is plagiarism and is an academic offence. If you want to quote directly from a book, you should indicate that it is a quote (by using quotation marks “…”) and the name of the author whose work you have cited in the main body of your assignment. You should avoid excessive use of quotes as the work you submit must be your own – not simply a collection of quotes.

6. Your answer must be word-processed, using 1.5 or double spacing and a 12 or 14 font size. Always leave a margin so that there is space to insert any comments that the tutor would like to make when reading your work.

7. Hand one copy of your work in to Academic Services. When you hand your work in, please ensure that all the pages are stapled together in the correct order and that pages are numbered.  You should keep a copy of your work, as the tutor will retain the original.

8. You will not get a second chance to improve on the mark that you are given for this assignment. Thus, if you are given a mark equivalent to 55%, that is the mark that will be entered onto your mark sheet. Similarly, if you are unfortunate and fail the assignment, that fail mark will be added to your other assessment marks to determine your overall score for the module.