The aim of this assignment is to develop a critical understanding of the business decision making context. To develop this individual report you are required to identify, select and analyse appropriat

Faculty of Business and Law

Department of Business and Management

aCADEMIC YEAR 2019/20

RESIT assessment brief

Module Code:	UMCDN3-15-1
Module Title:	Business Decision Making for Management
Submission Deadline:	2pm 03th August 2020
Assessment Component	Individual Business Decision Making Report (1200 words) RESIT
Assessment Weighting:	50% of the total module mark

Assessment Instructions

The aim of this assignment is to develop a critical understanding of the business decision making context. To develop this individual report you are required to identify, select and analyse appropriate data, explore the factors that influence decision making and employ relevant decision making concepts and techniques.

For the 2020 RESIT coursework, the topic of the report is ‘Consider the strategic options that Digital Divide Data are considering and make a recommendation for expansion.

The task is to evaluate a strategic decision which needs to be taken, but for which the results are not yet known. Therefore, there is no right or wrong answer here.

You need to use the tools that were presented in the business context sessions - such as Porter's 5 forces analysis, or Ansoff's matrix, or use a decision tree to analyse the decision-making process. You could also consider issues such as leadership or organisational cultures in evaluating whether you think the decision will pay off.

To conduct the analysis, you will need read the case study carefully and carry out some research on the companies involved and the environment in which the decision is to be made. Thus, your task here is mainly to focus on using 'soft' tools, rather than the statistical tools (unless you can find data which would make such analysis appropriate).

Once you have done the analysis, you should identify some recommendations - which, would be around ensuring that the conditions that make it sound continue for the foreseeable future. Your recommendations should be around trying to create the conditions which would enable the best outcome for Digital Data Divide, or whether there are alternatives to the options they are already considering. Either way, your recommendations need clear justification .

The assignment is short at 1200 words, so you will need to be concise and ensure your writing focuses only on the really important aspects of the analysis.

The structure of this report is:

Title (not included in word count)
Executive summary (c. 100 words)
Introduction (c. 200 words)
Analysis and Discussion (c. 600 words)
Recommendations (c. 200 words)
Conclusion (c. 100 words)
References (not included in word count - Harvard referencing style is required, Footnotes and other referencing styles will NOT be accepted)
Appendix (not included in word count – but only expected to include any additional data they feel necessary to support their argument elsewhere)

All word counts are approximate and for guidance only. Please ensure that any tables, diagrams or figures are labelled appropriately and referenced clearly (unless they are your own creation).

For the purposes of this assignment you are expected to use qualitative sources, such as news articles and company websites, to research the topic and reference them in your report using the UWE Harvard style. Appropriate concepts, tools and techniques from the business decision making context that have been explored in the module should be used to support the analysis and discussion. You should use wherever required figures and/or tables to present relevant information and to help the word count down. All figures/tables must be numbered and accompanied by an appropriate legend. The report is typical of those prepared in a business environment, so it must be professionally presented.

Marking Criteria – RESIT Coursework

%	Descriptor
	Assessment criteria/ weighting Grading level	Demonstrate research and use of relevant data (25%)	Understanding, analysis and argument (40%)	Quality of concluding recommendations (25%)	Organisation, presentation and writing including referencing (10%)
80+	PASS Exceptional	Exceptionally thorough and rigorous research. Exceptional choices in which data to use and how. Exceptional insight and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Exceptional analysis and original critical evaluation of the relevant issues and excellent grasp of their wider significance. Exceptionally robust synthesis of arguments. Exceptional use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	Clear and appropriate recommendations are provided and thoroughly justified. Exceptional originality of thought and a critical approach to develop recommendations.	Highest standards of literacy and professional presentation, following the structure specified in the brief. Exceptional use of external sources, referencing that conforms precisely to UWE Harvard requirements.
70-79	PASS Excellent	Excellent and rigorous research. Excellent choices in which data to use and how. Excellent insight and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Excellent analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and very good grasp of their wider significance. Excellent synthesis of arguments. Excellent use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	Clear and appropriate recommendations are provided and well justified. Excellent originality of though and a critical approach to develop recommendations.	Excellent standards of literacy and professional presentation, following the structure specified in the brief. Excellent use of external sources, referencing that conforms precisely to UWE Harvard requirements.
60-69	PASS 65-69%: Very good 60-64%: Good	Very good/good and systematic research. Very good/good choices in which data to use and how. Very good/good insight and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Very good/good analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and good grasp of their wider significance. Very good/good synthesis of arguments. Very good/good use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	Clear and appropriate recommendations are provided and justified. Very good/ good originality of thought to develop recommendations.	Very good/good standards of literacy and professional presentation, following the structure specified in the brief. Very good/good use of external sources, referencing that conforms well to UWE Harvard requirements.
50-59	PASS 55-59% Competent 50-54% Adequate	Adequate/ competent research. Adequate choices in which data to use and how. Basic insight and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Adequate/ competent analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and adequate grasp of their wider significance. Adequate/ competent synthesis of arguments. Adequate/ competent use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	An adequate/ competent set of recommendations is provided and some justification given. Broadly relevant but little rationale to develop recommendations.	Adequate/competent standards of literacy and presentation, following the structure specified in the brief. Adequate/ competent use of external sources, referencing that conforms largely to UWE Harvard requirements.
40-49	PASS Weak	Weak research. Weak choices in which data to use and how. Lacking some insights and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Weak analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and weak grasp of their wider significance. Weak synthesis of arguments. Weak use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	A limited set of recommendations is provided, with limited justification. Broadly relevant but with very little rationale to develop recommendations.	Weak standards of literacy and presentation, following the structure specified in the brief. Weak use of external sources, referencing that conforms largely to UWE Harvard requirements.
35-39	FAIL Poor	A generally limited and superficial research. Poor choices in which data to use and how. Poor insights and understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Very weak analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and limited grasp of their wider significance. Poor synthesis of arguments. Very weak use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	Superficial or inappropriate and unjustified recommendations are made that are poorly supported by the analysis.	Poor standards of literacy, presentation, and structure. Poor use of external sources, referencing that does not conform to UWE Harvard requirements.
Below 30	FAIL Very poor	Very little or no research. Very little or no understanding of quantitative and qualitative data.	Very little or no analysis and evaluation of the relevant issues and very little or no grasp of their wider significance. Very poor synthesis of arguments often unsupported by evidence. Very little or no use of relevant concepts, tools and techniques.	Little attempt if any to present or justify recommendations. Recommendations are poorly or not supported by the analysis.	Very poor standards of literacy, presentation, and no clear structure. Poor use of external sources, referencing failing to conform to UWE Harvard requirements.

Format and Word Limit

The word limit for this coursework is 1200. The document must be a Word (.docx or .doc) document and formatted as a professional business report.

· Word count includes everything in the main body of the text (including headings, tables, citations, quotes, lists, etc.).

· The title, any contents or lists of figures, and references are NOT included in the word count.

· There is no direct penalty for exceeding the word count, but the marker WILL stop reading once the word limit has been reached and nothing further will be taken into account in the allocation of marks.