Assessment Task 1: E-commerce Research Report Length: Approx 3000 words (+/- 10%) for the report body, excluding any bibliography, cover page,...
Assessment Task 1: E-commerce Research Report
Length: Approx 3000 words (+/- 10%) for the report body, excluding any bibliography, cover page, abstract, table of contents, etc.
Compant: CoffeePress
Website: www.coffeepress.com.au
Objectives
This assessment task addresses the following objectives from the subject outline:
1. Discuss electronic commerce and the stakeholders and their capabilities and limitations in the strategic convergence of technology and business.
2. Appreciate the global nature and issues of electronic commerce as well as understand the rapid technological changes taking place.
3. Identify advantages and disadvantages of technology choices such as merchant server software and electronic payment options.
4. Demonstrate awareness of ethical, social and legal aspects of e-commerce.
Requirements
For this report, each student will be assigned a different company that engages in e-commerce. You should approach this assignment from an Australian perspective. For example, if your company has many offices, consider the Australian one. Or if your company name exists as different companies in different countries, pick the Australian one.
This is an individual assessment task – your submission must be your own individual work. While you can discuss the task with other students, every word you write must be your own.
Your task is to carry out research about your assigned company in relation to the topics covered in the subject‟s textbook. As every company is different, not all the topics covered in the textbook will apply equally to every company, but your job is to at least explore all of the topics to identify information relevant to your company. Most importantly, your report must include topics that cover the three main themes of business, technology and society.
You are required to use multiple sources for your research. In other words, you cannot just visit the company‟s own web site and use that as your only source of information. You should also look for articles written about the company, reviews or social media postings from customers, financial information (particularly if it is a publicly listed company), and use tools such as those provided by Netcraft and others to discover technical details about the company‟s site(s) and hosting arrangements.
You should write your report as a neutral observer of the company. Your report should not read like marketing or promotional material for the company itself, but should present a balanced perspective. For example, where the company has made mistakes in the past, or where you find evidence of current areas of the company‟s operations that could use improvement, these should also be included in your report.
Example Topics
Examples of topics you should research about the company might include:
Business overview
Business model(s) Each aspect of the business model should also be discussed in more detail (which may overlap with some of the topics below). For example, you should research and report on the company‟s core value proposition, the customer segments or market opportunity, the channels, the revenue model and cost structure, the competitive environment and competitive advantage, the management team, the key partners, etc.
Implementation technologies and/or infrastructure used
Security
Payment systems
Marketing strategies
Advertising / Marketing communications
Use of social media
Mobile support / mobile commerce
Local marketing / local commerce
Ethical and legal perspectives
Use of online media
These are a guide only – not all of them are relevant for all companies, and there will be other important topics that you will find through your research. Your ability to critically analyse the information you find and structure it is one of the objectives of this assessment task.
References
You are required to include a bibliography in the Harvard style. Your report must also include in-line citations as well as the bibliography at the end. The in-line citations must refer to the specific page number or section of the article you are referencing.
Length of the Report
The body of the report should be 3000 words, plus or minus 10%. The word count excludes any bibliography, cover page, abstract, table of contents, list of figures, etc that you may provide.
| Assessment Criteria Criterion | Weighting |
| Research and/or evidence of independent inquiry This criterion refers to the quantity and quality of research carried out in preparing the report. One metric used will be the number, relevance and quality of sources that you have chosen for your report, and how those sources have been used within the report to support your statements or arguments. The number of sources available will vary according to the company you have been assigned, so there is no specific target number required. However in general, a larger number of high quality, relevant sources will achieve higher marks. | 8% |
| Critical thinking and analysis This criterion is about your ability not just to present information as you find it, but to offer some analysis, or informed opinions, or critique (positive or negative) on what you have discovered. It also includes your ability to integrate information from multiple sources into presenting a coherent argument or point of view. | 8% |
| Writing style This criterion is about the technical abilities of your writing. It includes the overall structure of your report with an introduction, body and conclusion, the choice of subsections, correctly structuring subsections with their own introduction, body and conclusion, and your ability to make the sections flow or combine to read as a coherent report rather than a series of disjointed sections. It also includes the mechanics of spelling, grammar and punctuation, and appropriate choice of language to convey your message. Overall, it is about whether the reader can gain a clear understanding of your topic by reading your report. Reports that are outside the length requirement of 3000 words +/- 10% may have marks deducted under this criterion if the writing style is too brief or too verbose. | 4% |
| Total | 20% |
