writes choice
GROUP REPORT AND PRESENTATION: The Business Case
(2000 words & 20+ References)
This is a group assignment that involves two components: a written report and a group presentation via PowerPoint.
To successfully complete these two assessment components you are required to join a group. As part of a group you will be developing a business case document. Your group will also be presenting your business case via a PowerPoint presentation. (N.B. In the first few weeks of term, students will be required to self-select into and form groups of 3 to 4 students, maximum of 5 students.) On-campus students are also required to be observed workshopping their business case report and presentation in class.
The PowerPoint presentation should be roughly 12 minutes in duration and every group member should contribute (roughly) equally.
THE BUSINESS CASE REPORT (50%of the total mark for Assignment 2)
The objective of the business case report is to develop your ability to convincingly argue a business case, which is a key function of business development.
To successfully complete the business case report your group is required to undertake the following activities:
• Identify for whom and/or for which organisation you will be writing the business case. (For instance, you might be pitching to an investor or the management of a company). Hint: choose a person/company that at least one of your group members knows well (e.g. a group member’s current employer) OR that is in the public eye (i.e. there is a lot of publicly available information about this person/company).
• Identify an innovation that your group believes could be reasonably discussed as the subject of the business case. The innovation you choose should have the potential to be developed sustainably over a commercially viable period of time. (It can be an innovation your team came up with yourselves or something you learned about by reading or watching TV, etc.)
• Consider and evaluate the possible business models that could be used to realise the opportunities inherent in the innovation.
• Develop the business case document based on the business template provided in class or one that you use at work. This will require you to write a business case with five separate sections: 1) The problem the innovation can solve; 2) Benefits of the innovation; 3) Strategic response or plan ; 4) Project options analysis; and 5) Delivery of the recommended solution.
On-campus students will have the opportunity to work on the business case document in class from week 6. Indeed, group presentation marks for on-campus students will depend, in part, on how well group classmates workshop the business case project in class.
Each group is required to demonstrate both scholarly independence and academic integrity in undertaking all steps of the business case development process. Students are required to base their analyses on data that is reasonably and ethically sourced, and use assumptions that can be justified in a commercial setting.
Responsibility for structuring, coordinating, and managing processes to finalise the business case lies with each team. Teams are encouraged to work with content beyond Tidd & Bessant (2013) and Osterwalder & Pigneur (2013). Teams must deliver a business case capable of convincing key or principal stakeholders that a return is assured.
You should have at least 5 refereed journal articles, at least 15 other sources (e.g. statistics, annual reports, industry publications, etc.), appropriate justification or mathematical models (such as, NPV analysis, Wolfram alpha), and business development issues specific to the problem or need expressed. You may utilise items in an appendix to support your business case.
As part of your work in groups, you are required to provide evidence of your team formation and ongoing team work with your business case. Hint: Working evidence of teamwork should be provided in the form of an appendix, e.g. by including team charter and meeting agendas/minutes. It is a requirement that on-campus students be observed workshopping their business case group project. At the end of term, you may be asked to evaluate your team members – this may affect individuals’ marks of this assessment.
“THE PITCH” AND BUSINESS CASE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (50% of the total mark for Assignment 2)
The final assessment culminates in a group presentation of “The Pitch” and the Business Case. Each team is to present a PowerPoint presentation that summarises the key points of your business case. The presentation contains a brief ‘pitch’ and a more detailed presentation of the business case. The entire presentation should be roughly 12 minutes in duration. Everyone in the group should contribute to the delivery of the presentation (roughly) equally.
In business, concise yet convincing pitches and solid presentations comprise crucial social occasions where key stakeholders are given compelling reasons why they ought to accept, endorse, and finance the risk component of the business case. The upside gains versus the downside risks are addressed in full, and detail associated with payback (NPV and/or ROI) forms part of the recommendation to action.
Each presentation should begin with a 2 minute pitch of why the business case should be approved. The pitch will give you the opportunity to practise making a case pithily, just in case you do get the opportunity to talk alone with a decision-maker for a short period of time prior to a more formal presentation of your ideas. You should nominate one person to present the 2 minute pitch. The more formal 10-minute PowerPoint presentation should follow the pitch and involve everyone else in your group.
