ICT3642/ASSIGNMENT 4/2022

Assignment 4/2022

Business Informatics IIIB

ICT3642

Year Module

Department of Computer Science

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This document contains information and questions regarding Assignment 4.

 ICT3642/ASSIGNMENT 4/2022

Contents
General information about Assignment 4 ............................................................................. 3
Assignment 4 Questions ............................................................................................................... 4
APPENDIX A: PESTEL Analysis........................................................................................................ 6
APPENDIX B: Porter’s Five Forces Model ...................................................................................... 7
Appendix C: SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................................... 8
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General information about Assignment 4

Dear Student

This assignment is a ‘written’ assignment. This implies that you need to type the answers in MS-Word,
convert the document to PDF [do not encrypt the PDF with a password] and submit the PDF file on
myUnisa on or before the due date of this assignment. This assignment deals with the initial stages
and research into the creation of an e-business plan. You need to work through the Business Plan
Development Guide provided to you under Additional Resources [OER document].

Format Due Date Unique Number Weight Contribution

towards Yearmark
Written/PDF upload 8 July 2022 175354 70%

By now, you should have an idea of a business that you wish to start. Even if you do not feel you
have entrepreneurial abilities/personality, you still need to be able to develop a business plan should
you be in a position that you are unable to rely on salaried income.

NOTE: DO NOT provide an e-business plan which is not conducive to the online environment. You are
required to submit an e-business idea that is suited to e-commerce or that has a VERY STRONG online
presence. Failure to do so, will result in the marker awarding zero to your assignment 4. You will then
have to redo the initial stage of your e-business plan/portfolio. You should not include generic
information – i.e. information that is ‘general’. All the information that you provide must be APPLIED
to your e-business idea.
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Assignment 4 Questions

Question Question Mark

No Allocation
1 Write down a brief description of your e-business idea. The following (15)
should be provided:
What is the idea? E.g. Providing an online platform to parents for transport
assistance to school and after school activities [NOT a school transport
system – a system where parents assist each other by picking up kids in their
area]. Registration fee is X amount, etc. (More information can and should
be provided here to aid understanding). You need to provide sufficient
information so the marker can determine what it is you want to achieve. A
suggestion is to tell someone about your idea to see if they understand what
you want to achieve. Make sure that you include the problem statement/
opportunity so that it is clear how your e-business idea will solve the problem
or address the opportunity with the services or products that you will offer.

2 Based on the e-business idea you provided in question 1, you are required (74)
to complete the following research [DO NOT copy and paste information
from the Internet and expect marks and/or provide ‘generic’ information –
marks will not be awarded for such answers]:

2.1 What are the overall factors that might affect your business concept? You are [18]
required to apply PESTEL analysis technique/methodology to answer this
question. Answer this question by utilising the diagram provided in Appendix
A.

2.2 Analyse the particular industry in which you intend to operate by applying [16]
Porter’s Five Forces Model. Redraw the diagram [see Appendix B] and apply
YOUR e-business plan information to this diagram. Make sure that you record
all the Internet sites [reputable sites – such as Statssa] for your final reference
list [Question 3].
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2.3 Analyse the market within your chosen industry by applying a market level [14]
analysis. You should be able to answer the following questions:
• Who are the potential customers?
• What are the potential customers buying habit?
• What is the size of the target market?
• How much are the potential customers willing to pay for the
product/service?
• Who are the main competitors?
• What are the main competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?

2.4 Formulate and evaluate potential strategies for your e-business by [16]
conducting a SWOT analysis. You need to make sure that you incorporate the
threats and weaknesses identified by the PESTEL analysis [question 2.1] into
the SWOT analysis. Your SWOT analysis must reflect the e-business idea
provided under question 1 and you need to utilise the SWOT box with the
appropriate headings. You should provide AT LEAST three items under each
heading with a brief explanation of why each item is included in your analysis.
See Appendix C for the template.

3 You need to provide a complete list of all the resources you utilised to [10]
answer Question 2.
The format of the reference list should be as follows:
Site name, URL and date of access.

TOTAL MARK ALLOCTATION: (89)

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APPENDIX A: PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL ANALYSIS
P E S T E L
Political Factors Economic Factors Social Factors Technological Factors Environmental Factors Legal Factors
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APPENDIX B: Porter’s Five Forces Model

Add information here:

Threat of
New
Entrants

Rivalry
Bargaining Bargaining
Among
Power of Power of
Existing
Suppliers Buyers
Competitors

Threats of
Substitutes
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Appendix C: SWOT Analysis

SWOT ANALYSIS

Helpful [to achieve the objective] Harmful [to achieve the objective]

Strengths: Weaknesses:
1 1
[attributes of the

2 2
Internal origin

organisation]

3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6

Opportunities: Threats:
External origin [attributes

1 1
of the environment]

2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6

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