Theory and/or task resources required for the assessment:
• Industrial classifications
• Business Structure
• Business size, scale, aims and purpose
• Macro-environmental analysis (i.e. SWOT & PESTLE)
• Marketing analysis (including STP and the Marketing Mix (4Ps)).
• Preparation of financial documents & financial ratio analysis
Theory and/or task resources required for the assessment:
• Industrial classifications
• Business Structure
• Business size, scale, aims and purpose
• Macro-environmental analysis (i.e. SWOT & PESTLE)
• Marketing analysis (including STP and the Marketing Mix (4Ps)).
• Preparation of financial documents & financial ratio analysis
Referencing style:
• You must conduct secondary research for this assessed task, finding relevant academic or high-quality, relevant sources such as the annual report of the company and textbook.
• You must use in-text citations and include a Harvard style reference list at the end of your report. The academic skills workshops completed in class will help you understand this.
• You should refer to a minimum of 8 relevant sources for your report.
Format your report like this:
• Use Arial or Calibri font, size 11 or 12
• Have a table of contents
• Use double-spaces or 1.5 line spacing and standard document margins
• Include an appropriate headings and subheadings
• Number all pages in the report
Include graphs, table and charts
Structure:
Your report should contain Sections 1, 6 and 7, as well as one of Sections 2-5 for each team member.
Section 1: Introduction (200 words) – provide some background information about the company, the nature of its business; also include a brief summary of the purpose and content of the report.
Section 2: Operational Overview (750 words) – this section should provide a summary of the company’s operations: the industrial sector it operates in; the size and scale of the organisation, the company’s aims and objectives and the methods used to grow the business; and you should also include your team’s evaluation of how successfully you think the company is achieving or working towards its aims and objectives.
Section 3: Environmental Analysis (750 Words) – this section should contain either a SWOT or PESTLE analysis for the chosen company. It should also consider how the company has responded to the various factors identified and make recommendations for other possible responses.
Section 4: Marketing Analysis (750 words) – using one or two of the company’s main products or services as examples, this section should identify and describe the marketing mix used for each, and comment on how successful the strategies are and how they might be improved.
Section 5: Financial Performance (750 words) – this section should provide a ratio analysis of the company’s recent financial performance (Note: You will need to locate the company annual reports and financial accounts for the last two financial years and comment on financial performance shown in the data contained in the profit and loss accounts and balance sheets).
Section 6: Conclusion (300 words)– provide a brief overview of the strengths and aspects for improvement of your company and make recommendations to the group of investors about whether or not you would advise them to invest, with your reasons which are clearly based upon the analysis you have conducted.
Section 7: Reference list (not included in the word count) – you should follow the Harvard Referencing System and include a full list of all references used. All references should also be included in short format inside in the main text (i.e. author and date).
