Small Business Management

Final Summative Assessment Written Report

BCO 314 – Small Business Management Online campus Lecturer: Timothy Kotowich [email protected]

Description The final assessment is a report on a company of your choice (start up or well-established), precisely describing the first steps of their growth.

Your document is to include the following parts :

1- Introduction (firm name, location city/country, year of inception, CEO/founder / main partners, business model)

2- Description of product/services/marketing approach

3- How and why did they start, what was the idea/goal? the opportunity? what is their strategy (cost leadership? differentiation?) their mission and vision statements?

4- How they financed their start

5- How they grew (born global; in domestic country first and then abroad? Only local, regional or domestic? Do they plan to go public (IPO) at a point in time? How many years each step took.

6- How did they develop: on their own? through a franchise model? partnership with large firm?

7- Conclusion/recommendations: express what you learned from your research for this task , what would you recommend to the entrepreneurs, ¼ to ½ page

Format This activity must meet the following formatting requirements:

• Word count 1200 words +/- 10% • Submissions are to include a cover page with the

student’s name, the class name, lecturer name and word count

• Submissions are to also include a bibliography using the Harvard Referencing System.

• Outside research is expected, and all citations and quotes are to be clearly indicated using the Harvard Referencing System.

• Font: Arial 12 pt. Double-spaced • The required cover page and bibliography, and

an optional table of contents and eventual appendices are excluded from the total word count. Any tables, graphs or images should be included as an appendix.

Goal(s) Searching for and identifying a start up that is worth describing from inception and understand what was the underlying idea and how it grew. If it failed after few years, the goal is to understand the reasons for the failure.

Due date Monday, July 19, 2021 Time: 14:00 CET

Weight towards final grade

This activity has a weight of 60% towards the final grade.

Learning outcomes

• Explain key components of the strategic management of growth to small business contexts.

• Analyze the development of a start up • Critically use the concepts learned in class

Assessment criteria

Please find the rubrics below

Rubric : Written Assessement

Exceptional 90-100 Good 80-89 Fair 70-79 Marginal fail 60-69 Knowledge &

Understanding (20%)

Student demonstrates excellent understanding of key concepts and uses vocabulary in an entirely appropriate manner.

Student demonstrates good understanding of the task and mentions some relevant concepts and demonstrates use of the relevant vocabulary.

Student understands the task and provides minimum theory and/or some use of vocabulary.

Student understands the task and attempts to answer the question but does not mention key concepts or uses minimum amount of relevant vocabulary.

Application (30%) Student applies fully relevant knowledge from the topics delivered in class.

Student applies mostly relevant knowledge from the topics delivered in class.

Student applies some relevant knowledge from the topics delivered in class. Misunderstanding may be evident.

Student applies little relevant knowledge from the topics delivered in class. Misunderstands are evident.

Critical Thinking (30%)

Student critically assesses in excellent ways, drawing outstanding conclusions from relevant authors.

Student critically assesses in good ways, drawing conclusions from relevant authors and references.

Student provides some insights but stays on the surface of the topic. References may not be relevant.

Student makes little or none critical thinking insights, does not quote appropriate authors, and does not provide valid sources.

Communication (20%)

Student communicates their ideas extremely clearly and concisely, respecting word count, grammar and spellcheck

Student communicates their ideas clearly and concisely, respecting word count, grammar and spellcheck

Student communicates their ideas with some clarity and concision. It may be slightly over or under the wordcount limit. Some misspelling errors may be evident.

Student communicates their ideas in a somewhat unclear and unconcise way. Does not reach or does exceed wordcount excessively and misspelling errors are evident.