Report: E-commerce Business Strategy

CIS8100 Assignment 2

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CIS8100 Assignment 2

E-commerce Business Strategy Report

& Prototype Website

Description Marks out of Wtg(%) Word limit Due date

Assignment 2 100 20 2500 (±10%) 4 January 2019

This assignment must be your own work. It is acceptable to discuss course content

with others to improve your understanding and clarify requirements, but solutions to

assignment specification must be done on your own.

You must not copy from anyone, including tutors and fellow students, nor allow

others to copy your work. All Assignments will be checked using collusion

monitoring tools to ensure that each assignment is the original work of the submitting

student. Assignments that do not adhere to this requirement will be deemed as being

the result of collusion or plagiarism.

It is your own responsibility to ensure the integrity of your work. Refer to the USQ

Policy Library for more details:

 Academic Integrity Policy

 Academic Integrity Procedure

Learning objectives and graduate skills tested

1. demonstrate an understanding of the key drivers and challenges faced by digital enterprises that include technology infrastructure, business processes, social media,

consumer behaviour and global markets (Problem solving)

2. demonstrate the ability to research and critically evaluate e-commerce business models to gain an understanding of their business application for transforming digital

enterprises (Academic, professional and digital literacy)

3. demonstrate the practical skills required to formulate and evaluate a coherent plan for a digital enterprise, develop a prototype business website based on this plan and

document and critically evaluate the end-product (Problem solving).

4. demonstrate the ability to write effectively in a clear and concise manner in report style for senior management (Written and oral communication)

In completing this assignment, you are expected to use available resources such as the Joomla

workshop resources and lecture slides in the study modules, the Course Study Desk –

especially the Discussion Forums (click the Study Desk link on UConnect

– <http://uconnect.usq.edu.au>), as well as exploring and experimenting on your own.

CIS8100 Assignment 2

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Referencing Requirements

References are required and the Harvard AGPS standard of referencing must be used. This

standard is detailed on USQ Library Site <http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing>.

Plagiarism, collusion and cheating will be severely penalised. Refer to the USQ Policy

Library for more details:

 Academic Integrity Policy

 Academic Integrity Procedure

Ensure that your reports are fully referenced, including any reference to the text book. Your

report should include in-text references and a List of References.

Do not repeat verbatim large slabs of information from other sources such as the text – you

must put the ideas/information in your own words.

You must use at least ten (10) academically sound sources other than the textbook in

completing this report.

Assignment 2 Specification

Assignment 2 requires you to plan and develop an e-commerce business strategy report

including building a prototype website using Joomla! based on the online business category

assigned to you. Your online business category will be emailed to you separately.

You will be required to develop your prototype website using the Joomla! content

management system in cloudaccess.net. Details about setting up your website at CloudAccess.net is provided in Joomla Workshop 1 (Joomla Workshop 1 PDF is available

on your Study Desk under Module 1 in Week 1).

Your business model and prototype website must be related to the online business category

assigned to you. Failure to do so will result in your assignments being rejected and no

marks will be allocated.

Report: E-commerce Business Strategy 70 marks

Report Structure and Presentation 5

Your report should include a title page, Table of Contents (including List of Tables and List

of Figures if applicable) and Appendices.

Note: Make sure to state your name and student number in the report on the title page. State

the word count of the report (Introduction to Conclusions & Recommendations)

Report Executive Summary and Introduction 5

(Introduction – approx. 250 words)

Your report should include executive summary, and introduction to the report.

Note: Make sure to nominate a name for your prototype website and provide a brief rationale

why you used this name in the Introduction to the report.

CIS8100 Assignment 2

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Report Section 1 – E-commerce Business Strategy (approx. 500 words) 15

A business strategy is a set of plans for achieving superior long-term returns on the capital

invested in an organisation. There are five basic business strategies – Table 5.9 (page 364) in

your textbook illustrates those strategies.

Select a business strategy that you think is relevant to your proposed online business and

assigned business category.

When you consider your business strategy, you have to discuss the nature of competition in

your market, types of products and services that you may be providing, unique value that you

may be offering, distinguishing processes that you may be following, and level of

personalisation and customisation that you may be able to offer.

Report Section 2 – E-commerce Business Models (approx. 1000 words) 20

Simply put, a business model is a plan for making money. The textbook explains eight

components of a business model (Refer to Table 5.3, page 336). Discuss the following three

components of the e-commerce business model for your online business:

 Value proposition - how does your online business fulfil customer needs?

 Revenue model - how does your online business earn revenue and have a positive return on investment?

 Competitive environment - who else occupies your intended market place?

Report Section 3 –Online marketing and advertising tools

(approx. 500 words) 15

Online marketing and advertising tools provide a greater opportunity for companies to attract

potential customers and increase their revenues. The textbook explains six online marketing

tools – Refer to page 394.

Select two online marketing tools that are relevant to your online business and justify your

choice.

Describe how the chosen online marketing tools attract customers. You should discuss the

main benefits and challenges of using these tools for your online business and ways to

measure the results of the chosen online marketing tools.

Report: Conclusions and Recommendations to the Business (approx. 250 words) 5

Your report should include a separate conclusions and recommendations section.

 Conclusions provide a summary of your key findings from the body of the report.

 Recommendations provide a summary of the recommendations to your online business based on the research conducted in the report.

CIS8100 Assignment 2

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Report: Referencing and Appropriateness of Sources 5

References are required and the Harvard AGPS standard of referencing must be used. This

standard is detailed on USQ Library Site <http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing>.

Ensure that your reports are fully referenced, including any reference to the text book. Your

report should include in-text references and a List of References.

Do not repeat verbatim large slabs of information from other sources such as the text – you

must put the ideas/information in your own words.

You must use at least ten (10) academically sound sources other than the textbook in

completing this report.

Note: the word count does not include letter of transmittal, executive summary, references or

appendices.

Checklist: Prototype Joomla! Website 30 marks

Ensure you setup your Joomla! website and complete the activities as listed in the checklist

document. Your Joomla! Website URL should be accessible for the marker to assess the

activities undertaken as per the checklist document.

1. Valid setup of Joomla! Website (5) 2. Template and layout is accessible and user friendly (5) 3. Content – key articles: Home, About, Contact (5) 4. Menu & Links (5)

Report: Website Development Journal 10

Prepare a journal that records your activities while developing the prototype website. In date

order, clearly list the following:

 Date of project activity

 Full description of activity / discussion

 Time duration of the activity

Submit this journal as Appendix 1 in the Report.

CIS8100 Assignment 2

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Submission Guidelines

Attach the two documents (Report & Checklist document) in Microsoft Word or PDF file

format using the naming convention below, to your online assignment submission in the

Assignment 2 area on the CIS8100 StudyDesk before midnight Australian Eastern Standard

Time (AEST) on the day the assignment is due.

[lastname].[initial] _ [student number] _ [course code] _ assign2.docx or .pdf (eg. shrestha.a_0050051005_cis8100_assign2.docx).

Upon completion of the submission process, check your UMail email account for an

automatically generated confirmation email (if you do not have an email account, print out

the Submission Complete screen before exiting the Submission System). You must check

that the file name and file size are listed correctly - if there is a problem with either, please

email the course leader immediately.

If you have difficulties submitting through the StudyDesk Assignments submission tool,

email the course leader immediately for instructions on an alternative course of action. Any

submissions after the due date is considered Late Submission and will be dealt accordingly.

Please note that:

 The following is the USQ Assessment – Assignment (Late Submission) and Compassionate and Compelling Circumstances procedure that relate to Extensions

and Late Assignments. They can be found under the following links:

 Assessment – Assignment (Late Submission) Procedure: http://policy.usq.edu.au/documents.php?id=14749PL#4.2_Assignments

 Assessment of Compassionate and Compelling Circumstances Procedures: http://policy.usq.edu.au/documents.php?id=131150PL

 Students seeking extensions for any Assignment work must provide appropriate documentation to support their request before the due date of the assignment (see

points 4.3 and 4.4 in the Assessment of Compassionate and Compelling

Circumstances Procedures above to see what is considered as Compassionate and

Compelling reason for an extension and the level of documentation that will be

needed).

 An Assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension of time will be penalised. The penalty for late submission is a reduction by five percent

(5%) of the maximum Mark applicable for the Assignment, for each University

Business Day or part Business Day that the Assignment is late. An Assignment

submitted more than ten (10) University Business Days after the due date will have a

Mark of zero recorded for that Assignment.

 The StudyDesk Assignments submission tool will accept late assignments up until 23:55pm on the 10th University Business Day after the due date.