GMIS Business and Management - Business and Management



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Contents

|Contents |Page Number |

|Introduction |p2 |

|Topics |p3 |

|Organisation |p4 |

|Stage 1 – Planning, |p5 |

| Concept testing |p5 |

| Possible questions |p6 |

| Past Titles |p7 |

| Presentation |p8 |

| Checklist for your plan |p10 |

|Stage 2 – The First Draft |p11 |

| Collecting the data |p11 |

| Collating the data |p13 |

| Writing the first draft |p15 |

| IB Format |p16 |

| Checklist for first draft |p17 |

|Stage 3 - The final draft |p18 |

| Reworking the first draft |p18 |

| Writing the analysis & evaluation |p18 |

| Checklist for analysis & evaluation |p20 |

| Writing conclusion & recommendation |p20 |

| Checklist: conclusion & recommendation |p20 |

| Completing the project |p21 |

| Organising the material |p22 |

| IB Requirements |p24 |

| Making Hard & Soft Copies |p25 |

| Checklist for writing final Assignment |p26 |

|Appendices |p28 |

| Assessment criteria |p28 |

| Assessment Checklist |p32 |

| Letter of confidentiality |p33 |

| Time schedule |p34 |

| Teacher Guidance Checklist |p35 |

1 Introduction

The standard level internal assessment is a written commentary. This requires standard level candidates to demonstrate the application of business and management tools, techniques and theories to a real business issue or problem.

Candidates must select a real issue or problem, not a fictional one, and must produce a commentary with a title presented as a question. The commentary must refer directly to a single business organisation, but may consider industry wide issues that impact on that organisation.

▪ The commentary must be based on primary and/or secondary data, selected for its suitability, depth and breadth.

▪ The commentary requires analysis and evaluation of the issue or problem, and the student must form judgments, and incorporate them into the commentary in light of the question posed in the title.

▪ Students must provide a declaration of authenticity on the coversheet of the written commentary

2 Requirements

The Commentary

2.1 The issue or problem selected for the commentary must relate to the standard level syllabus and refer directly to a single business organisation.

2.2 The title of the commentary must be phrased in the form of a question.

2.3 The commentary requires the application of business tools, techniques and theory to a contemporary business issue or problem.

2.4 The commentary must not exceed 1,500 words. A word count must be included as part of the commentary.

2.5 The commentary requires analysis and evaluation of the business issue or problem. Judgements are likely to be made throughout the commentary, but are essential within a conclusion.

2.6 The candidate must attach to the commentary three to five supporting documents from which the majority of the information for the commentary has been obtained. Any additional sources, such as textbooks, class notes and DVD/videos, must be referenced, but will not be accepted as supporting documents.

2.7 Candidates must highlight the parts of each supporting document that relate directly to their commentary.

2.8 All supporting documents and additional sources must be fully referenced and included in a bibliography.

Selection of supporting documents

2.9 The supporting documents must be of a contemporary nature and written within a maximum of two years of the submission of the written commentary.

2.10 Candidates must select their own supporting documents, which must not be provided to the candidate by the teacher.

2.11 Candidates must work independently and it is recommended that candidates not use the same supporting documents as other candidates within a centre.

2.12 The highlighted parts of supporting documents not in the language for which the candidate is entered must be translated.

3 Guidance

3.1 Candidates should, with the teacher’s support, choose an issue or problem for investigation and develop a title in the form of a question.

3.2 The teacher should approve the candidate’s question before work is started to ensure that it is suitable for investigation and allows access to all levels of the assessment criteria. It is highly advisable that every candidate is supplied with a copy of the assessment criteria.

3.3 The commentary can be based on secondary sources and/or primary data.

Examples of secondary sources might include:

• market research surveys

• articles from the local, national or international press

• financial reports

• business accounts

• business plans

• mission statements

• web based surveys

• extracts from company websites

• government and other statistics

• academic publications

Examples of primary data might include:

• responses to questionnaires (candidates should include a blank copy of the questionnaire and a tally/summary of results)

• transcripts of interviews and discussions with focus groups

• results of surveys

The selection of the documents is very important. To achieve the highest levels of each assessment criterion, it is strongly recommended that the supporting documents will present a range of ideas and views. The selection of three to five documents, for instance, published by a single company or three to five surveys of similar populations would not provide balance or objectivity.

An example of an appropriate question might be, ‘Can company X, an independent food retailer, survive?’ The commentary could then examine business concepts such as economies of scale, mergers and acquisitions, distribution chains, the marketing mix, and the impact of changes in the external environment represented as economic, social and demographic trends.

The candidate is likely to make judgements throughout the commentary about the significance and nature of change, but would also be expected to answer the overall question regarding survival of the independent food retailer in the commentary’s conclusion.

The commentary may include tables and/or graphs. Supplementary information such as diagrams, figures, tables and references are not included in the 1500 words. The supporting documents are also not a part of the word count.

Although there is no mandatory format for the written commentary, the following is a suggested format that might help you organise their work.

|Suggested Format |

|Title (in the form of a question) |

|Introduction (including a description of methodology) |

|Findings (based on the supporting documents) |

|Analysis of the findings |

|Conclusion(s) |

|Bibliography and references |

|Appendices: supporting documents |

4. Organisation

You will produce the project with the guidance of one of your teachers. The project will be broken down into three distinct stages each of which will be internally assessed and then the final piece will be assessed externally by the IBO. You will be expected to produce a hard and soft copy of your project. The soft copy will be one file (disk, CD, Thumbdrive or email) delivered to your supervisor. This will then be submitted to ‘’ which will determine if you have sourced everything correctly.

The table below outlines each stage of the project.

| |Task |Dates |

|Stage 1 |Planning |May – June |

|Stage 2 |Data Collection & collation |June – August |

|Stage 3 |Writing the final commentary |September - November |

There are three elements in this section. They are:

Concept testing

Presentation

1. Concept Testing

After your teacher has introduced the coursework then you need to think about a suitable question. You will be given 2 weeks to come up with an appropriate question. You are advised to consult your teacher during the two-week period.

You need to be aware that the single biggest cause of stress with this coursework is in the right choice of question. Get it right and the Commentary writes itself, get it wrong and you are scrabbling for things to say – and of course, you lose marks straightaway!

The following may cause problems:

• If you are using a business for primary research, you may need to convince the business of the confidentiality of your research. This is assured – only three people will see the data – you, your supervisor and the business itself. A letter of confidentiality is available on request.

• You may find it difficult to access suitable financial information -be prepared for this and be very careful about relying on company websites.

• Your question has to be current – you cannot take an event that happened previously – that is before you started on the course.

• Your commentary has to be written within 1,500 words – don’t choose a ‘big’ question, keep it simple and straightforward

• Your question must not be descriptive. Avoid questions beginning with ‘how’ instead aim for ‘should’?

Examples of titles/questions

An infinite number of titles are possible. Here are a few, to give you some ideas…note how each is set out as either a question or a hypothesis.

Possible questions that have worked well in the past: (grades 6-7)

| |

|Should “XYZ“ College expand when the market may be turning? |

| |

|Should the Premier League introduce the 39th game internationally? |

| |

|Should Yahoo accept the Microsoft buy out offer? |

| |

|Should Lufthansa introduce ‘business class’ only planes? |

| |

|Will bank ‘X’ survive the current credit squeeze? |

| |

Possible questions that could work: (grades 4-5)

| |

|How can company ‘Z’ increase sales? |

| |

|Should company “Y” relocate to China? |

| |

|Should Company “B” change its marketing strategy? |

| |

Questions that would fail: (grade 3)

| |

|How will the banks get their money back? |

| |

| Can company “y” increase awareness of its product? |

| |

| How will company “c” make more sales because of the Olympic games sponsorship? |

| |

2. Presentation

After you have chosen your question then you need to think in terms of how you may go about answering it. To help you, we ask that you present your idea to your supervisor and the class and they can give you immediate feedback.

You will be asked to produce a minimum 5 slide PPT presentation. Of course you can always add to the presentation by role plays, Podcasts, costumes etc. The slides will follow the format of the Research proposal and will help you complete that document. A typical presentation may look like:

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There are three elements in this section. They are:

1. Collecting the data/supporting documents

2. Collating the data/supporting documents

3. Writing the first draft/supporting documents

1. Collecting the data/supporting documents:

You must collect secondary data for your supporting documents. You may wish to use primary data too but you don’t have to. There are two factors that are important when deciding what type data to collect:

▪ How is it to be used?

▪ How reliable is the data?

Use of the data.

Your data has to be useful, that is it must be linked to a particular business technique. There is no point in collecting company accounts unless you will use them appropriately. In fact you will lose marks if you include unnecessary or irrelevant data.

The first thing then is to decide how to apply the data/supporting documents. You should be able to link your data directly to a business technique. Here are some of the possible business techniques used in the past:

|Decision Making Model |Ratio Analysis |Forecasting |Decision Trees |

|Organisational Charts |Statistics |TQM |SWOT Analysis |

|Marketing Models |Motivational Theory |FFA |PEST Analysis |

|Investment Appraisal |Ansoff Matrix |Ishikawa Fishbone |BCG Matrix |

|Benchmarking |Communication Theory |Surveying & Sampling Techniques |

|Leadership Theory |Break Even Analysis |Channels of Distribution |

None of these is better than another it is all a matter of relevance. However, given the maximum word limit of 1,500 words you cannot choose more than 4 at an absolute maximum. More is certainly not better – you lose marks for going over the word limit and for including extraneous material. We recommend two general points:

▪ 3 techniques.

▪ at least 1 qualitative and 1 quantitative technique.

Reliability of the data

One of the single biggest mistakes students make is to rely on only one source of data. This makes the data – and your analysis invalid. It is too biased to be useful – again you will lose marks here if you have single source data.

Examples of single source data are when the source for your information is:

▪ a newspaper article

▪ a survey

▪ an interview

▪ a textbook

▪ a website

▪ only the business itself

This data is unreliable because there may be intended or even unintentional bias. It is only one point of view and may distort your conclusion.

Data that is reliable will lead to a valid conclusion. The way to achieve this is to triangulate the data – that is back it up with at least one other source. The more triangulated the data the more valid will be the conclusion. Commonly primary data is backed up with secondary data. You should aim for at least 3 supporting documents to validate your analysis.

2. Collating the data

After you have collected the data then you have to begin the task of organising it in your project. This crucially depends on when and how you will collect the data. We expect students to have all of their data ready by the start of grade 12. If you have no evidence of any data by that time then the chances are you never will have and so we will ask you to start again with a different business and another decision.

Once you have all of the data then you need to consider two points:

▪ Arranging the data

▪ Referencing the data

Arranging the data:

You need to consider what forms of presentation you will want to use. Some common types are set out below.

|Maps |Tables |Calculations |Accounts |

|Pie charts |Histograms |Bar Charts |Organisational charts |

|Excerpts |Quotations |Articles |Interview Transcripts |

|Diagrams |Venn Diagrams |Flow diagrams |Mind Maps |

Once again no one form of presentation is better than another. However, you must think in terms of standardisation – presentation is much more effective if there is a consistent style. Secondly, you must source every piece of data you include. This is critical; you will lose marks if you do not. Sourcing can also be useful as it points to the reliability of your data. At the very worst you could also be accused of plagiarism if you do not source all the data.

Referencing the data

References must be included to show where statements, ideas and evidence come from. It is very important to cite all sources used; not just your supporting documents.. “If students do not reference their work, issues about the authenticity of the work may be raised.” (IBO, TSM, referencing, 2008)

Sources should be referred to in the text, and a standard referencing format should be used for the bibliography and footnotes. Students should ensure that their method of referencing is consistent throughout, and that all the relevant information is provided. The referencing system must enable the reader to locate the original sources easily.

How to reference sources

The following guidance is based on the Harvard author−date system. It is offered only as an example: the IBO permits any accepted convention for citing and acknowledging sources.

Body text

Use brackets or parentheses to set off a reference in the text. Give the author’s last name, if it is not part of the text, the page number(s) and the date of publication.

• (Johnson, p98, 2006) A full reference should appear in the bibliography at the end of the piece of work.

Footnotes

Footnotes provide related information that does not belong in the text. There should be as few of these as possible and they should be identified with a superscript number1and placed at the bottom of the same page.

Bibliography

The bibliography, or list of references used, should appear at the end of the piece of work.

List sources alphabetically by the last names of authors or editors. If there is no author or editor, list sources by titles and put them in order by date.

Books: Author’s last name and first name, or initial if name is unknown. Date. Title (in italics). Place of publication. Publisher’s name.

• Hall, D, Jones, R, Raffo, C. 2001. Business Studies (2nd edition). Ormskirk United Kingdom. Causeway Press Ltd.

Articles in journals: Author. Date. Title of the article (in quotation marks). Name of the journal (in italics). Volume number, first and last pages.

• Lindner, James R. June 1998. “Understanding employee motivation”. Journal of Extension. Volume 36 Number 3, pages 23–38.

Information from the Internet: Author’s name if possible. Title (in italics). Date site was visited. URL (address for the home page). Heading as listed on the web page (if there is one).

• Webber, Sheila. The marketing mix, visited July 17 2006. marketing mix

3. Writing the first draft:

The IB expects you to have created more than one draft of the Commentary. This does not mean that you have to produce endless drafts. A first draft is not a complete run through of all the material. Rather it is meant to be the completion of the first phase of the Commentary. It is not set in stone but it should be a fairly solid foundation.

A complete Commentary format is set out below and we have indicated the parts that you would be expected to complete by your first draft. You can of course do more than this but the parts set down below are a minimum and will be assessed as such when you come back to college in the first week back after the long holiday.

|Section |Minimum to be completed for first draft |

|1. |Title Page |√ |

| | | |

|2. |Acknowledgements |√ |

| | | |

|3. |Contents Page |√ |

| | | |

|4. |Introduction |√ |

| | | |

|5. |Findings |√ |

| | | |

|6. |Analysis of the findings | |

| | | |

|7. |Conclusion | |

| | | |

| | | |

|8. |Bibliography & References | |

| | | |

|9. |Appendices | |

| | | |

There are four elements in this stage. They are:

1. Reworking the first draft

2. Writing the analysis & evaluation

3. Writing the conclusion & recommendation

4. Producing the completed project

1. Reworking the first draft:

It is very unlikely that you will have a perfect first draft but hopefully the bulk of your work is useful and just needs reorganising and streamlining. Review the material with your supervisor and don’t forget to make amendments to your Commentary. The IB expects you to do this! Sometimes you will have realised that your whole project will not work out, now is the time to recognise the fact and you still have time to change – don’t keep your worries to yourself.

This process can begin as soon as you come back to College after the long holiday, remember the sooner you start the sooner you will finish. This is really important as experience shows us that the students that get the most stressed during this term – the ones who leave things to the last minute – invariably score the lowest marks for most of their subjects.

However, don’t spend too long on this, there should be no need to keep reworking old material. If things look solid then move onto the next section.

2. Writing the Analysis & Evaluation:

This is the most significant area in the whole project. 20% of your total marks (4% of your final exam!) come in here. It pays to get this bit right, so to help you consider the following points:

▪ Link the analysis to your research data

▪ Be succinct and ordered

▪ Integrate your data, analysis and evaluation

▪ Avoid relying too heavily on a single source (one newspaper)

▪ Use independent sources

▪ Avoid unsupported generalisations

▪ Be critical – don’t take everything for granted

An example:

Imagine a student is writing a Report on whether a Hi Fi company should change its existing marketing strategy; they might produce the following SWOT Analysis as part of their data.

|Strengths |Weaknesses: |

| | |

|1. The company is making strong sales. |1. There are many (but smaller) competitors |

|2. The company has a well motivated workforce |2. The changes may cost money |

|3. The company produces the best quality products | |

|4. They have very loyal customers | |

| | |

|Opportunities: |Threats: |

| | |

|1. The company can expand |1. The competitors can steal their ideas |

|2. The company can earn more profits | |

|3. The company can increase awareness. | |

| | |

Source: Company x (interview with CEO)

Now they will need to analyse that data – they will face some immediate problems because the data is single sourced and weak. Any analysis from this would score 1-2 out of the 4 marks from this section.

What could the student do? They could link the data to another source -

3. Writing the Conclusion

This section should really be quite brief and it must continue on from the previous material. Some points that you may want to bear in mind when writing your conclusion:

▪ There should be no new material introduced here

▪ The conclusions must be consistent with the evidence presented

▪ Don’t ignore evidence because you don’t agree with it.

4. Producing The Completed Project

This final section involves tidying up and putting the whole project together. There are three areas to consider:

▪ Organising the material

▪ Meeting IB requirements

▪ Making Hard / Soft copies

Organising the material

The Final Commentary – format details

| |Format |

|Title page |- This should give a clear indication of what is contained in the research project. |

| | |

| |- Example of a title page: |

| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

| |- This is a good example of a title because it: |

| |is a question |

| |is specific |

| |is manageable |

| |it encourages the application of business terms |

| | |

| |- The title question must be clear and focused, allowing the student to answer it by carrying out a limited amount |

| |of research, supported by chosen documents. If sufficient sources are not available for the research to be carried |

| |out, the question should be replaced. |

| | |

| |- The following are examples of suitable questions. |

| |Is including a line for male customers a profitable decision for company X? |

| |Is an increase in wages an effective way to increase productivity and motivation in company Y? |

| |Is company Z’s decision to increase productive capacity by building a new plant a sound financial decision? |

|Contents page |- This should include the major headings in the Commentary, beginning with the Introduction. Page numbers should be|

| |clearly indicated. |

|Introduction |- A brief and focused introduction should explain the purpose of the commentary and the methodology used to |

| |investigate the problem or issue. Business tools, techniques and theory should be included to present the |

| |commentary in appropriate business format and to support the analysis and the judgments with relevant business |

| |concepts and theory. |

| | |

|Findings |In order to write the commentary the student should refer to secondary sources and may collect primary sources |

| |depending on the issue or problem investigated. These sources provide a vast and varied amount of information for |

| |the student to analyse and answer the question. |

| | |

| |Three to five of these sources have to be selected and presented as supporting documents for the commentary. They |

| |should be included in the appendices, with the relevant sections highlighted by the student. |

| | |

| |Although it is mandatory to include three to five sources as supporting documents, this does not mean that the |

| |investigation should be limited to these documents. Any sources consulted by the student but not chosen as |

| |supporting documents should be referenced in the body of the commentary and included in the bibliography. |

| | |

|Analysis of the findings |- The above findings have to be analysed in the light of the title question, taking into account business theory |

| |and using, as far as possible, business tools and techniques. This analysis could be included as a separate |

| |section, or it could be included together with the findings (findings and analysis). The different supporting |

| |documents should be analysed in such a manner that their relevance to the question is clearly established. The |

| |analysis should also show how the supporting documents relate to each other. |

|Conclusion |- The title question must be answered, based on the analysis of the findings and, in particular, on the analysis |

| |of the supporting documents. The conclusion should not introduce ideas or judgments that have not been discussed in|

| |previous sections of the commentary. It is good practice to include those aspects of the question that have not |

| |been fully answered in the commentary or that might need further analysis or investigation to be judged more |

| |effectively. |

| | |

|Bibliography and references |- The commentary should contain correctly presented references and a bibliography. Only books and web pages |

| |actually consulted should be included. The access dates to the web pages consulted should be specified. If the |

| |student refers to sources of any type, these should be referenced through the use of footnotes. |

| | |

|Appendices: |- The appendices should only include the three to five supporting documents, chosen by the students as the |

|Supporting documents |structuring documents for the commentary. The chosen documents have to be included in their complete form, although|

| |relevant parts to the investigation have to be clearly highlighted. |

Making hard / soft copies

You will be expected to produce a hard and soft copy of your project. The soft copy will be on file (disk, CD, Thumbdrive or email) delivered to your supervisor. This may then be submitted to ‘’ which will determine if you have sourced everything correctly.

It must be a single file of text only material. If you do not do what is required the College cannot support you in the case of plagiarism. Don’t forget you will also be asked to sign that the work is all your own and no one else’s.

Meeting IB Requirements

The following are the general requirements made by the IB, you must make sure that you have met these:

|Action |Requirement |

|Page Numbering: |- All of the pages in the commentary must be numbered consecutively, beginning with the |

| |Introduction. |

| | |

| |- The commentary should be word-processed and the number of words should be included on the title |

| |page. |

| | |

|Word Limit |- Commentary 1,500 words |

| | |

| |- Candidates who exceed this limit will score 0 marks in the criterion ‘F', (see assessment|

| |criteria). The maximum word limit does not include supplementary information such as: |

| |title page, |

| |acknowledgements |

| |contents Page |

| |diagrams |

| |figures |

| |tables |

| |references |

| |appendices |

| | |

| |NB: |

| |- Moderators are also instructed not to read beyond the word limit. This means, apart from the |

| |loss of 4 marks, students could potentially lose more marks. |

| |- It must also be noted that it is unacceptable to use tables and boxes for text (for example, |

| |for analysis and evaluation), thereby trying to exclude it from the word count. It will be included |

| |in the word count |

|Authenticity |You will sign the Commentary to confirm that the assignment is your own work. If there is doubt, |

| |authenticity may be checked by a discussion on the content of the commentary. This would involve |

| |close scrutiny of one or more of the following: |

| | |

| |( your research proposal |

| |( the first draft of the assignment |

| |( the references and bibliography for your assignment |

| |( the style of the writing compared with your other work |

| | |

| |- All students will be required to sign a written declaration when submitting your assignment, to |

| |confirm that it is your own work. Supervisors are also required to verify the same thing. |

| | |

|Teacher Guidance |- It is the student’s responsibility to initiate both discussion and the framework for the |

| |discussions during the planning stages and after. |

| | |

| |- It is important that the project is the student’s own work, although some assistance and |

| |guidance is allowed. Most of this advice will be related to the choice of research question, the |

| |methodology and the theory to be employed. When the first draft is submitted, this should not be |

| |heavily annotated or edited. Constant drafting and redrafting is not allowed and the second draft |

| |should be the final one. |

| |- Teachers will allocate a maximum of 6 consultations with individual students. |

| | |

|Group work |- Planning and early discussions can be in groups but all research and analysis must be |

| |individual. |

| | |

|Extended Essays |- You are allowed to use the same company for both Extended Essays and Commentary; however, the |

| |data collected and the analysis must be completely unrelated. |

Checklist for Commentary

|Criteria A: Supporting documents |Student |Teacher |

|There are three to five supporting documents. | | |

|The documents cover a range of ideas and views. | | |

|The supporting documents are contemporary in nature, written within the last two years. | | |

|The relevant parts of the supporting documents are highlighted. | | |

|The documents are relevant to the issue or problem being examined. | | |

|Different types of documents are included. | | |

|Criteria B: Choice and application of business tools, techniques and theory |Student |Teacher |

|Business tools and techniques are included in the commentary. | | |

|Business theory is included in the commentary. | | |

|The tools, techniques and theory are relevant to the question posed. | | |

|The commentary includes a range of tools, techniques and theories. | | |

|Criteria C: Use, analysis and synthesis of data |Student |Teacher |

|There is evidence that data is used, analysed and synthesized. | | |

|Data from the supporting documents is used to help answer the question posed. | | |

|The ideas are written in a clearly structured and logical manner. | | |

|Criteria D: Conclusions |Student |Teacher |

|The conclusion(s) are relevant and answer the question posed in the title. | | |

|The conclusions are supported by the data from the supporting documents. | | |

|The conclusions are a logical extension of the arguments. | | |

|Criteria E: Evaluation and critical thinking |Student |Teacher |

|Judgments are made. | | |

|All judgments are substantiated. | | |

|The nature of the supporting documents has been considered. | | |

|The reasons why the problem or issue exists have been discussed. | | |

|Criteria F: Presentation |Student |Teacher |

|The written commentary is within the word limit. | | |

|Sources are provided for all the supporting documents. | | |

|Sources are provided for any quotations used in the written commentary. | | |

|The referencing is consistent throughout. | | |

|An appropriate bibliography is provided. | | |

|Subject-specific terminology has been used throughout the commentary. | | |

|The title question has been answered. | | |

|The word count is provided on the commentary. | | |

|The commentary is focused on the issue or problem identified. | | |

|The commentary follows a logical structure from identifying the issue or problem through to he conclusion. | | |

1. Assessment

General

The method or assessment used by the IB is criterion referenced, not norm-referenced. This means that the method of assessing the Business and Management Written Commentary judges each candidate in relation to identified assessment criteria and not in relation to the work of other candidates.

Assessment Criteria

The Standard Level Business and Management Written Commentary is assessed against six criteria which are related to the objectives for the Business and Management programme.

|Criteria |Concept |Mark (max) |

|Criterion A |Supporting documents |4 |

|Criterion B |Choice and application of business tools, techniques and theory |6 |

|Criterion C |Use, analysis and synthesis of data |6 |

|Criterion D |Conclusions |3 |

|Criterion E |Evaluation and critical thinking |3 |

|Criterion F |Presentation |3 |

Achievement Levels

A Supporting documents

If fewer than three supporting documents are presented, a maximum of three marks can be awarded.

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |There are no documents presented in support of the commentary. |

|1 |The supporting documents are irrelevant. |

|2 |The supporting documents are generally relevant but some lack depth. |

|3 |The supporting documents are relevant and sufficient in depth. |

|4 |The supporting documents are relevant, sufficient in depth and provide a range of ideas and views. |

B Choice and application of business tools, techniques and theory

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |There is no use of business tools, techniques or theory. |

|1 |There is a limited selection of business tools, techniques and theory. |

|2 |There is a limited selection of business tools, techniques and theory, and these are superficially applied. |

|3 |There is appropriate selection of business tools, techniques and theory, but these are superficially applied. |

|4 |There is appropriate selection of business tools, techniques and theory, and these are suitably applied. |

|5 |There is appropriate selection of business tools, techniques and theory, and these are competently applied. |

|6 |There is a broad and appropriate selection of business tools, techniques and theory, and these are skillfully applied. |

C Use, analysis and synthesis of data

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |There is no use of data from the supporting documents. |

|1 |There is inappropriate selection of data from the supporting documents. |

|2 |There is appropriate selection of data from the supporting documents. |

|3 |There is appropriate selection of data from the supporting documents with superficial analysis. |

|4 |There is appropriate selection of data from the supporting documents with appropriate analysis. |

|5 |There is appropriate selection of data from the supporting documents with appropriate analysis. There is some integration |

| |of ideas. |

|6 |There is appropriate selection of data from the supporting documents with appropriate and detailed analysis. There is |

| |coherent integration of ideas. |

D Conclusions

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |There are no conclusions. |

|1 |Conclusions are inconsistent with the evidence presented. |

|2 |Some of the conclusions are consistent with the evidence presented. |

|3 |The conclusions are consistent with the evidence presented and answer the commentary question. |

E Evaluation and critical thinking

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |There is no evidence of evaluation. |

|1 |There is limited evidence of evaluation. |

|2 |There is evidence of evaluation, but not all judgments are substantiated. |

|3 |There is evidence of evaluation, and judgments are substantiated. Critical and reflective thinking occurs in the |

| |commentary. |

F Presentation

|Achievement level |Descriptor |

|0 |The commentary exceeds 1,500 words. |

|1 |The commentary is disorganized and lacks structure. Sources are not appropriately referenced. |

|2 |The commentary is sufficiently organized and structured with some use of appropriate business terminology. Sources are |

| |appropriately referenced. |

|3 |The commentary is well organized and structured, with consistent use of appropriate business terminology. Sources are |

| |appropriately referenced and an appropriate bibliography is provided. |

2. Letter of confidentiality

An official headed copy of the following letter is available on request from the Business Office should you require it.

Dear Sir / Madam

LETTER OF CONFIDENTIALITY

This is to certify that the student showing you this letter is a Business & Management IB student at the United World College of South East Asia, and has to write a 2,000 word commentary, counting for 20% of their course.

Any information you release to the student will be treated in the upmost confidence. Only the student, sponsor and possibly the Examiner will see the final piece. If necessary the organisation can remain anonymous throughout the report.

When the coursework is complete, the student will present you with a bound copy, should you wish.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Yours faithfully,

Phil Woolrich

Economics & Business Education Dept

1. FAQ’s

General questions

Should students use primary or secondary data?

Either or both. It does not matter, as long as the data is relevant and helps answer the commentary question.

Must the title of the commentary be in the form of a question?

Yes. It will help focus the commentary.

Do the supporting documents have to be submitted?

Yes. They are part of the assessment criteria (criterion A).

The supporting documents must be contemporary in nature. What does this mean?

They must have been written no more that two years before the date of submission.

If a supporting document is not in the registered language, does it have to be translated?

Only the highlighted parts of the document need to be translated.

What will happen if a student uses fewer than three supporting documents?

The student will lose marks under criterion A and will be severely disadvantaged in the other criteria.

Is a penalty imposed when a student does not follow the requirement on the length of the written commentary?

Yes. The maximum word limit for the commentary is 1,500 words. If a student exceeds this word limit, the student will receive 0 marks for criterion F. It is unacceptable to use tables and boxes for text (for example, for analysis and evaluation), thereby trying to exclude it from the word count. It will be included in the word count.

Is data and information in appendices assessed?

No. Information in appendices will not be directly assessed. It is reference material only.

Are students allowed to submit group work for internal assessment?

No.

Are students allowed to do work in groups?

In preparing and discussing the internal assessment and its requirements, students may work in groups. However, it is strongly advised that no research is conducted in groups. The work submitted for final assessment must be entirely the work of individual students.

How much assistance and guidance should the teacher give to students?

It is important that the commentary is the student’s own work, although some assistance and guidance is allowed. Most of this advice will be related to the choice of research question, the methodology and the theory to be employed. When the first draft is submitted, this should not be heavily annotated or edited. Constant drafting and redrafting is not allowed and the second draft should be the final one.

Is every student required to sign a candidate declaration on the front cover?

Yes. Every student must authenticate his or her work by signing the following declaration: “I confirm that this work is my own work and is the final version. I have acknowledged each use of the words or ideas of another person, whether written or oral.” Once the sheet has been signed the declaration cannot be retracted if plagiarism is suspected. If the teacher adds a comment on the sheet that the work may not be authentic, the student will not get a grade. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure the work is authentic.

Criteria-specific questions

What is the difference between the terms appropriate and adequate?

Appropriate refers to relevance, while adequate refers to breadth and depth.

What is an example of a business tool?

The Boston matrix.

What is an example of a business technique?

Investment appraisal.

What is an example of a business theory?

McGregor’s theory X.

Is a conclusion found only at the end of the commentary?

No. While it is expected that a final conclusion answers the commentary question, it is possible to make conclusions about data, ideas or theories throughout the commentary.

What does synthesis mean?

Compiling data and information differently by integrating ideas and elements in a new way.

What does evaluation mean?

Critically examining data by making judgments about the quality of information and the validity of ideas.

[pic]

Note

• Your sponsor may wish to see you, or evidence of your work at any time. Be prepared.

• It is not acceptable to use the class time to “do some research on the internet” or some other time filler. You are expected to use the lessons productively.

• Try and get the bulk of the work done as early as is possible – there is a direct correlation between students who come back with a complete 1st draft in August – and those who get a high grade. The first slot for handing in completed Reports is early. You can of course, hand in work even earlier!

• “My printer/computer broke down” is not an excuse just a delaying tactic – the deadline is final. There are no extensions.

-----------------------

Internal Assessment:

How to write your Research Project

Business and Management: SL

Analysis & Evaluation

SWOT

Company responses (not just managers – but workers & suppliers too)

Valid Conclusion

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CJOJQJ^J[?]aJ&hD!?h•D

5?>*CJ OJQJ^J[?]aJ hD!?h-hì5?OJQJhD!?h-hìOJQJ-hD!?h-hì5?>*[pic]CJ(OJQJ-hD!?h-hì5?>*[pic]CJOJQJhD!?h-hData Source

Data Source

Invalid Conclusion

Data Source

Stage 1 – The Planning

Independent market research – from What Hi Fi magazine

Product positioning map made from customer (not just this companies customers) responses.

Stage 3 – Writing the final Assignment

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Stage 2 – The Data Collection & Collation

Appendices

To: Managing Director

Title: Should company ‘x’ increase the salary of its workers?

From: (student name & IB number)

Date: November 2008

CC: Board of directors

Word count: 1,860 words

I confirm that this work is my own and that it is the final version. I have also acknowledged each use the words or ideas of another person whether written or oral.

Signed :

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