Write a 4000 word essay to analyse the performance of your company in the business simulation of BiP using concepts and materials from three of the six main academic sessions linked to the organisational functions covered in Business in Practice.
These include Strategy, as well as Marketing, Finance, Operations, HR and Innovation. Remember that Sustainability
is a cross-functional theme that should also be included and discussed in your analysis.
Specifically, we expect you to:
• Use the ideas, models, frameworks and materials covered in the academic sessions to
frame and support your analysis.
• Use data from the simulation to support your analysis and include relevant outputs
(e.g. graphs) to evidence company performance.
• Use your own executive team notes to explain and appraise decisions.
• Draw on examples of real auto companies where relevant to compare and support
your analysis, and use ideas provided by the Industry Speaker of each of the academic
sessions
• Use the readings provided for each academic session and make sure you use at least
15 academic references (5 per theme) to ground your analysis of the three functions
You should use the materials above to analyse the performance of your BiP simulation
company and offer a critical analysis of the decisions you have made as part of the
management team of your business. You will have access to your company’s information on
the simulation platform throughout the summer. You can choose any three academic sessions
from the six available even if they don’t include the role that you played in the BiP simulation.
You can deal with each function separately but MUST provide an overall analysis which
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emphasises the interdependencies and intertwining of decisions across functions. Remember
that the business functions do not operate in isolation and this needs to be reflected in your
essay. This joined up view and analysis is very important. You must engage with the academic
readings provided for each theme and use at least 15 academic readings from the list (5 per
theme). The list of references for each theme is available on the module page on myWBS –
please make sure you familiarise yourself with the readings before writing the essay.
Also, just to make it explicit that this exercise is NOT about your personal role or team
dynamics – so it is different to the individual reflection assignment. In this assignment you
need to analyse the business, NOT YOU or the team.
Suggested structure for the Firm Analysis essay (these are guidelines only):
1. Introduction, review of the company and structure of essay (Approx. 500 words)
2. Review of function 1: using simulation data and academic concepts (Approx. 800 words)
3. Review of function 2: using simulation data and academic concepts (Approx. 800 words)
4. Review of function 3: using simulation data and academic concepts (Approx. 800 words)
5. Comparison with real companies: this does not necessarily need to be a separate section
but could be incorporated throughout the essay to support observations about your own
company performance and business decisions (Approx. 300 words)
6. Integrated view across functions: this can be in the conclusion but should also be built into
the essay to establish links between the three functions throughout (Approx. 300 words)
7. Conclusion, overview of key ideas covered and what have you learned (Approx. 500 words)
Adhere to the following formatting guidelines:
• Font: Calibri (body), size 12. With justified paragraphs.
• Line spacing: please use 1.5 line spacing.
• Use of clear headings to separate the discussion of the different functions, and use clear sub-headings to organise different ideas and organise them in a logical way. This helps signpost to the reader the location of the various elements of your work and help the reader navigate through the essay.
• Clearly label figures with informative titles, large enough to clearly read, figures should be clearly cited in the text. You should include a selection of important figures within the main body of the report to clearly evidence your discussion. Additional relevant but supporting diagrams and data to be included in an appendix but please do not overdo this.
• Harvard referencing must be used throughout.
