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Subject Title ECONOMICS AND FINANCE FOR BUSINESS

Subject Code ECO600
Lecturer / Tutor HEMANATH SWARNA
Trimester FEBRUARY 2023

Assessment Title CONSULTING REPORT (RESEARCH REPORT)

Learning Outcome/s (found in the 1, 2, 3
Subject Outline)
Assessment type (group or GROUP
individual)
Weighting % 35%
Word count 3,500 WORDS
Due day & date WEEK 9, SUNDAY, 11:59 PM
Class submission Lecture ☐ Tutorial ☐
Submission type Paper copy ☐ Turnitin X
Format / Layout of Assessment
(details of what to include) Report:
Yes, cover page
ICMS cover page No TOC
Table of contents (TOC) No abstract
Abstract
Yes, intro
Introduction Yes, findings
Findings Yes, conclusion
Conclusion
Optional, references
References No appendices
Appendices

Assessment instructions
(clear, succinct, without When will question be issued?
repetition) 1. By end of Week 4.

How and when to submit the report?

2. One group member (on behalf of the team) submits
the completed report on Moodle.
3. Submit it through the ‘Group Research Report’ link
under ‘ASSIGNMENT 2’.
4. Submit by 11:59 pm, Sunday, Week 9 (due date).

What else to do after submitting the report?

5. ALL students in the group must complete a ‘Group
Peer Evaluation Survey’ under the same submission link
(see Point 3 above).
6. Do this after the report is submitted, within 5
working days (or else you will lose marks).

What is this assessment about?

7. See in Moodle, under ‘ASSIGNMENT 2’, in the
‘Questions for your research report + sample report’

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document. Read the questions.

8. You are a business consultant.

Your job: to produce a business consulting and

intelligence report for your client, which is a small,
independent business in Sydney or Manly. It must be an
actual retail outlet with an actual premise.

The goal: to formulate business strategies that can make

your selected business more profitable.

Examples of businesses you could select:

- A restaurant, café, bakery, bar
- A fitness centre (gym, yoga studio)
- A pharmacy
- A laundrette
- A footwear store or a toy store
- A small budget or boutique hotel
- And so on (if unsure, consult your lecturer).

 Choose, on your own, one (1) small business located

in Sydney or Manly (or the lecturer will choose the
business for you).

 Inform your lecturer about the (i) name of the

business, (ii) its location in Sydney or Manly and (iii)
provide a website (if this business has one).

 Conduct a site visit to the premise. Collect relevant

information that helps you answer the assessment
questions.

These could include the following, and more:

- photographs of the shop: inside and outside (e.g.,

signboard, the immediate area outside the shop, menu,
interior design and furnishing, equipment)
- description of the business itself: information about the
business, the environment and ambience of the premise,
products or services offered, pricing and non-pricing
methods of enticing customers, number and type of
workers and equipment used, opening and closing
times, the number and type of customers observed at
any given time, online reviews of the business, and so
on.
- description of nearby competitors: the number of rival
businesses that could be considered as selling
substitutes to your business’s products and services
located in the same shop row, block, across the road
etc., which businesses they are and what they offer, who
their customers are and are they as busy as your chosen
business, and so on.

 If a visit is not possible (e.g., if you are located

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overseas), select the right business in Sydney such that

you are able to collect ample information from the
Internet, e.g., through the company’s website, online
reviews, Google Earth/Maps/Streets which can help
you see where the business is.
- The Internet may contain photographs of their premise, information
about location, information about their products or services, their
prices, how many staff they employ or the kind of equipment they use
(you can make reasonable judgements about these by yourself if that
information is unavailable)

 Helpful: approach or contact the company’s staff

members or owners and email them a list of questions
you prepared early about their business, operations or
rivals that will help you create a good consultant’s report.

 Helpful: as mentioned before, you might also like to

collect information about competitors located near
that business, which you can use to help your company
outcompete those rivals.

9. With the information you gathered, answer the

questions in the ‘Questions for your research report +
sample report’ document.

Your strategies should be:

- realistic and feasible; specific to that business (if the
strategy is so general that it could apply to just about any
business, this is not good enough); contain sufficient
detail so that the business owner can

What must I write in the core part of the report?

10. To make the business profitable, advise the business on
strategies it can use to:

(i) increase revenue by boosting demand (applying the demand

theories and concepts suitable or relevant for this business and its
situation)

(ii) become more cost-efficient (inventively lower costs without

seriously compromising the value delivered to customers)

(iii) compete better in the market versus rivals nearby (how would
you make your firm stand out from rivals nearby in the eyes of your
customers? How could it snatch market share from these rival
businesses? How can you keep your existing customers loyal with
customer lock-in?)

(iv) grow the business (find innovative ways to expand the market or
customer base in a way that is realistic)

(v) design their pricing and non-pricing strategies (could their

existing prices and non-pricing methods be improved to entice
existing and new customers?)

(vi) use other theories or techniques from your own readings in

economics, business marketing and psychology to create
additional, winning strategies.

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What must you ideally demonstrate?

11. That you made your site visit and can apply theory to business
 convince me that you visited the business premises and had
examined the business with the aim of producing strategies for it
(relevant images, can mention here and there about the restaurant’s
details when providing your strategies)
 demonstrate you can apply to a real-life business the cutting-edge
economic concepts from Weeks 2 to 6, or other concepts from other
relevant fields from the Internet (and be able to cite and reference
them in your report).
 remember: the more effectively you connect the actual specifics
of the particular business you examined to your strategy, the
better

12. Business strategies that are resistant to criticism

 think long, deep, hard, intelligently to generate your strategies
— great strategies require focused thinking and time that is free from
distraction
 use critical thinking to envision possible problems, challenges
or weaknesses in your strategies and improve them— or discard
them to develop new ones

13. Creative and original strategies

 be creative (use your imagination) and, wherever possible, be
original (i.e., create novel strategies that are not already widely used
in business)
 if you researched and used other concepts and ideas from the
Internet (concepts other than those from Weeks 2-6), cite and
reference them

14. Be balanced: realistic and feasible strategies

 The strategies must, however, still be realistic and feasible for
the business. Your client must be able to implement them easily and
confidently (e.g., don’t say you will install an expensive robot to be
the front-desk staff if your business doesn’t have the money to do it)

15. Remember your goal, which is to make the business

 more successful financially (higher sales and profits and lower
costs)
 more resilient (sales is less likely to collapse during hard times,
such as when facing fierce competition or difficult economic
conditions) and able to expand when the opportunity arises

16. A professional-looking report

 with systematic structure, excellent formatting and English
 contain intelligent analysis, strategies and justifications for these
strategies

Is there a sample report?

17. Yes.
 See ‘Questions for your research report + sample
report’ document
 See also exemplar report under ‘ASSIGNMENT 2’ in
Moodle.

Figures and tables in the report

18. If you have a figure or table:

 you must mention it in the text:  It is incorrect to

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have a figure or table, but nothing in the text refers

to it or discusses it.

19. Here is an example of the proper way to do it:

“The restaurant has many ways of obtaining a competitive edge; see

Table 1. We choose ‘scale economies’ in the third column. Thus,
because currently many potential customers wait in long queues
outside for existing customers to leave, we propose redesigning the
floor space (Figure 1) so that the business can not only get more
customers but benefit from economies of scale.

20. For the example above, Table 1 and Figure 1 should

then appear immediately after the paragraph in which
you mention them.

21. All relevant figures (which include diagrams and

photo images) and tables must be in the body of the
report
 Do not use appendices.
 All figures and tables musts have labels/captions
describing what they are about.
 Captions for figures should go underneath a figure:

Figure 1: An alternative floor plan for Happy Restaurant to maximise

floor space and achieve economies of scale… .

 Captions for tables should be above a table:

Table 1: The various factors that could give restaurant businesses a
competitive edge (Bieber, 2023).

In what style should the report be written?

22. It can be written in the first person (“I found that this
restaurant has…”) or third person (“This restaurant

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has…”).

Another suggestion on style: it would be nice if your

report has a polished and stylish design. First impression
can matter.

What if you do not submit your report on time?

23. See the college’s policy on late submissions. In

general, 5% will be deducted if you submit late by one
day, 10% (two days), 15% (three days) and so on. If you
are late by seven days, you fail with 0%.

How do I avoid committing plagiarism?

24. ICMS takes the issue of copying, plagiarism and
contract cheating seriously.
 the penalties for these offences include a ‘fail’ grade
for the assignment or the subject.
 Read the college’s policy on academic integrity and
honesty.

25. Write the report in your own words, using strategies

you generated by your own self, or by modifying
relevant strategies learnt from another business but cite
your source of information (Internet websites, books,
journals etc.)

26. Do not copy the work of other students (present or

former). Do not use contract cheating or artificial
intelligence (AI).

27. If you used any sources accessed through the

Internet (websites, articles etc.), cite and reference them
in your report.
 See the ‘ICMS Style Guide’ on how to do this.

Readings for the assessment

(instructions where they can be Should not be limited to textbooks or reading material
found, e.g., MyAthens database, provided by the lecturer. Search, find, read and use any
Moodle etc.) literature you can get hold of, out of your own initiative.

Grading Criteria / Rubric

See the general grading criteria below.

The marking rubric is to be found in the Moodle link

called ‘Assessment 2 Marking Rubric: Group
Research Report (35%)’

General grading criteria

No. Criteria Comment
1 1. Knowledge (30%)
Correctly refers to and uses the relevant
Demonstrates correct and adequate economic theories, concepts, frameworks, and

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economic knowledge of how modern
businesses might boost profits by
boosting demand or revenue and
being cost-efficient); competing
against rivals; growing their businesses
prudently; and positioning their
product with their price and non-price
strategies
2 Clear and specific (20%)
Makes statements or arguments that
are clear and coherent in general
Provides sufficient clarity about the
chosen business
Can develop strategies that are
specific to the business
3 Critical and creative thinking (40%)
Demonstrates an ability to analyse the
business well and then apply economic
theories and concepts to formulate
relevant and creative business
strategies, and the ability to justify
why these will work or be beneficial to
the business
Possess the ability to be critical of
one’s own strategies
4 Flow and language (10%)
Displays a high standard of (i) written
English and (ii) presentation that is
clear, logical flow and contains few or
no errors. If referencing is used it is
used well.
economic terms in the report.
Applies the above correctly in creating
strategies for the actual business examined.
Crystal-clear and sensible writing. The writing
should not be fuzzy or wordy; be concise, even
when conveying a complex idea. Keep
sentences short or moderately long— e.g., 15
to 25 words. Avoid wordy, rambling or unclear
sentences that do not convey your point
succinctly and which indicate you are unsure
about what you are saying. It helps also if
sentences or paragraphs flow logically.
The writing and development of strategies
reflect information about the specific business
being examined.
The strategies that are developed for the
business are specific to the business and its
competitive situation (that is, it is not so basic
and general such that they would apply to just
any business or industry).
You can convert what you learnt about the
business into intelligent strategies/proposals
that are creative, original or novel (where
possible; more marks), specific to the business,
and feasible and realistic at the same time. You
can tell the business client how these strategies
can be beneficial to the business.
You are also able to convey to the business
client possible challenges or weaknesses in
implementing your strategies and— where
possible— ways to overcome or mitigate these
challenges or weaknesses.
It would be a bonus if you can demonstrate
some interesting or insightful points, patterns,
behaviours or complexities— demonstrate
‘perspicacity’, if you can, which means “having
or showing an ability to notice and understand
things that are difficult or not obvious”
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
Mistakes in spelling, grammar and in the use of
punctuation will be penalised. Marks will be
deducted for incomplete sentences or
sentences that do not make sense.
The style, formatting, and language used
should be neat and consistent.
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The components of the report (the various

sections of the report and the figures and
tables used within it) should follow the
lecturer’s sample report, or, if you like the
ICMS Style Guide.

Inconsistent font type or font size, improper

spacing between paragraphs (paragraphs
should be separated from each other by a line
of spacing) result in lower marks.

Final score ___ %

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