Assignment from ENTREPRENEURSHIP, CAPITAL AND THE FIRM

BANGOR UNIVERSITY

AND

MANAGEMENT DEVLOPMENT INSTITUTE OF SINGAPORE

Course : Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Business Studies & Finance

(BSFD1 1812A, BSFD2 1812A, BSFD5 1803A)

Module Code and Title : ASB3104 Entrepreneurship, Capital and the Firm

Module Leader : Dr Alby Kurian

Assessment : Individual Assignment

Due Date : 10 September 2019

Word Guide : 2,500 words

Weighting within Module : 40% (100 marks)

We have discussed various aspects of entrepreneurship and small business development. In

particular, we have seen that there is a strong relationship between the individual entrepreneur

and the business s/he establishes and subsequently manages.

Drawing on material from the lecturer’s notes and independent research, construct a detailed

profile of an entrepreneur. In particular, you should examine the:

 background of the entrepreneur (E.g. childhood influences, family, triggering event)

 the decision to start-up the business

 the exogenous factors and the endogenous factors that led to the success of the

development of the new venture

You should draw on the relevant material from the text and relate it directly to the material you

find. The better answers will provide a thorough analysis of the entrepreneur’s profile by

drawing on the relevant theories from the literature.

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Individual Assignment: 10 September 2019 Page 2 of 5

The maximum word count for the assignment is 2500 words, this does not include tables,

references and appendices. There is also a 10% leeway for this maximum word count.

This assignment constitutes 40% of the module mark.

THE ASSIGNMENT IS TO BE HANDED IN TO THE ADMIN BUILDING AND VIA

BLACKBOARD BY 10 SEPTEMBER 2019

Plagiarism is the most serious academic offence. It is the equivalent of stealing someone’s

work and fraudulently pretending that it is your own in order to gain higher marks than you

deserve. Copying, word for word, large chunks of writing from any source (e.g. paper, book,

the internet) without acknowledgement of the author or owner, is plagiarism. With modern

technology this has become increasingly easy to do and anyone who suspects that it is

happening should seek advice immediately. This also applies to a situation where you have lent

someone your work to help them and they have substantially reproduced it without

acknowledgement.

All students should be aware that the Bangor Business School imposes penalties on any

student who is guilty of plagiarising work or of engaging in unfair practice in any

assessment. You should be aware that cheating has resulted in disqualification from the

degree.

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Individual Assignment: 10 September 2019 Page 3 of 5

ASSIGNMENT ADVICE

Help with English: Please use the Manchester Academic phrasebook, this phrasebook provides general ideas on phrases that can be used in good academic writing and includes a section on critical writing. http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

How to Read a Research Paper: An important part of academic writing and research is the process of establishing what is already known about the subject (i.e. what have others already written in the field?) and evaluating this is in some way. You are required to use journal articles in your assignment. Essentially, the journal is an outlet for contemporary thought in a discipline or area, containing peer-reviewed work (research papers), which is often more current than that found in books.

When you are forming your presentation, you will find much useful information in research papers, but an important failing in academic writing is the tendency to simply describe what the authors have said/found. It is common for students to report findings on literature in a narrative and descriptive way, without bothering to evaluate it in the context of the research issues being investigated. This is an important cause of indifferent marks in essays. In evaluating you can use your own judgements, or counter arguments presented by other researchers, to do it for you. There are no hard and fast rules for evaluating research papers, and with experience you will improve, but some useful questions to ask when reading and evaluating papers are:

What have I learned from this paper? What has it told me?

Has the researcher presented any evidence (data/findings) to support his/her theory? Are the results generalisable to other situations/applications?

What conclusions does the author draw from the findings? Do you agree with them, or

are they over-the-top? Is there any other explanation or a simpler explanation for what is reported?

How to Handle Citation and References for Written Assignments: the importance of getting your citation and referencing right.

Internal and external examiners are invariably impressed by meticulous citation and referencing. It is one of the first things most of us look for in any kind of written assignment, before we get down to reading the content in detail. What better reasons do you need for using this document to ensure that first impressions of your own work are favourable?

Terminology: Citation describes any formal mention that you make in a written work of yours to something written by someone else. For formal documents such as continuous assessment assignments, seminar papers or dissertations, every citation must be supported by a reference, which supplies the details a reader would need in order to follow up the citation.

As a general rule, you should always cite your source whenever you are reporting on someone else’s work or using their terminology. You will lose no marks for “borrowing”; on the contrary, you are supposed to have read the literature and assimilated the ideas of others. Examiners are usually pretty familiar with the most popular writers on a given subject, and will

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Individual Assignment: 10 September 2019 Page 4 of 5

have a shrewd suspicion your explanation owes something to an undiscovered primary source. You will lose marks for not citing. Inadequate citation could leave you open to the suspicion of plagiarism (which results in a mark of your explanation owes something to an undiscovered primary source. You will lose marks for not citing. Inadequate citation could leave you open to suspicion of plagiarism.

Using the Harvard System: When you include a citation (i.e. you want to use someone else’s work), put the year of the publication in brackets, after the author’s name, to signal that it is a citation. The corresponding reference will be found in an alphabetically arranged list at the end of the article, paper or dissertation, in a section headed “References”. There is no need for any other indication.

A guide to the Harvard Referencing style is also posted under the assignment section of Blackboard.

Marking Criteria

Percentage Grades Criteria Remarks

0 – 29 Fail Lack of enough evidence in relevant area of

knowledge – understanding and comprehension of

concepts/theories.

Error in identifying question requirements and/or

theoretical concepts.

30-39 Marginal Fail Limited and/or superficial knowledge of relevant

concepts/theories. Inadequate ability to

conceptualize and/or to apply appropriate

theoretical concepts.

40-49 Pass Knowledge and comprehension are adequate but

somewhat limited - narrow and/or superficial. In the

most part, descriptive instead of critical logical

reasoning. Reasonably clear understanding of the

key issues, but insufficient evidence for a critical

analysis.

50-59 Good Knowledge and comprehension are above average

and relevant. Good ability to apply theory,

concepts, ideas and their inter-relationship. Clear

articulation and evidence of reasonably holistic and

critical analysis and discussion.

60-69 Very Good Knowledge and comprehension of relevant

concepts and theories is current and appropriate.

Good ability to relate and apply theory, concepts,

ideas and their inter-relationship. Good articulation

and evidence of holistic and critical analysis and

discussion.

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70-100 Distinction Besides, satisfying all of the basic learning

requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight.

Ability to research, analyze and apply relevant

skills, concepts and theories.

Exceptional ability to synthesize, integrate and

evaluate knowledge

Provide holistic and critical evaluation and

discussion of the identified issues/opportunities.

END OF ASSIGNMENT