INF11114: Digital Business Environments – Assignment Solution

Digital Business Environments

COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENT 2021/22 – REPORT 2

1.   Requirements

This is a formal piece of work, worth 70% of your mark for the module.

Report 2 assesses the following module learning outcomes:

LO1: Evaluate the concepts and applications underpinning the exploitation of digital technologies by businesses and other organisations

LO2: Assess the organisational, managerial and competitive implications of digital technologies

LO3: Critically assess operating models that businesses deploy for the online environment

LO4: Synthesize solutions to the problems of customer engagement across different channels and ‘touchpoints’, online and offline.

LO5: Present the output of independent and directed study in the form of reports

You must produce a report on the ways in which a specific organisation is exploiting the digital environment.  The organisation can operate within the private, public or third sectors.  The report wordcount should be 3000 words (plus or minus 10%).  See further requirements below.

In Report 1 you undertook preparatory work for a study examining how one organisation is operating within the digital environment.  In Report 2 you will move beyond preparation and undertake the actual analysis.  You may have decided to change your focus and approach as a result of undertaking Report 1 – no justification of any change is required within Report 2.  That said, if you are changing focus, you may wish to repeat the main tasks of Report 1 for your ‘second choice’ organisation to ensure you are adequately prepared.  In this instance, you are encouraged to contact the module leader to discuss further.

The preparatory work undertaken for Report 1 should have helped define your subject, locate relevant secondary (and potentially primary) data and consider your analytical approach.

2.   Report Content Areas

The following elements must all be included in your report.  Please use the exact headings underlined below, and take note of the explanatory text under each heading indicating what is required:

Abstract

The abstract summarises the entire content of the report.

Introduction

To set the focus and scope of the work.

Identification and analysis of contextual factors affecting the organisation’s exploitation of the digital environment

The contextual factors will vary depending on whether the organisation operates in the public, private or third sectors, is ‘pureplay’ digital or ‘bricks and clicks’, and has physical or virtual products and services.

However, the section could potentially address:

• Analysis of micro and macro environments including assessment of competitive opportunities and threats balanced against capabilities
• The consumer channel structures and the supply chains (digital and/or physical) in operation in the sector (external view, looking at the sector as a whole rather than your business)
• Analysis of customer segments and online behaviours (again, taking an external view)

Analysis of the current contribution of digital capabilities to the organisation

In this section you should draw on the tools and frameworks covered in the lectures and tutorials to analyse how the organisation is exploiting digital capabilities to succeed in the digital environment.  Again, the content covered should be appropriate to the organisation and sector, but could potentially address:

• The business model (using the business model canvas)
• Digital Marketplace Map (using a Persona and showing the importance of digital intermediaries online) or else a Customer Journey Map (also based on a Persona but showing offline as well as online experiences and interactions)
• Value configurations in operation, and the place of ‘digital’ in supporting value-adding processes
• Development of the business’ consumer channel structures and wider supply chains
• Analysis of how the business is exploiting the ‘search’, ‘social’ and ‘mobile’ ecosystems (drawing on relevant analytics data). (n.b. data discussed here can also be drawn upon for Digital Marketplace Map or Customer Journey Map)
• Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current customer-facing website or App, compared to that of one direct competitor

Conclusions, recommendations, and critical assessment of the work that has been undertaken

Clear conclusions derived from your analysis linking to specific and actionable recommendations.  Critical assessment which highlights the strengths of the approach that you have taken, together with the scope for further work.

3. Format

The report should contain a Title Page showing the word count and your matriculation number (do not include your name). It should also include a 300-word Abstract. The maximum word length of the main text of this assignment is 3,000 words (plus or minus 10%).  This word count excludes title page, abstract, all tables and figures, reference list, appendices – please enter this total on the title page.  Reports with a word count over 3,300 will gain a maximum grade of P1 (the lowest pass grade possible). A report of much less than 2700 words is unlikely to contain adequate content, which will reduce the marks available.

This is an academic report, and as such must make explicit reference to the concepts, tools and theories covered in the module.  Therefore, appropriate literature should be cited.  However, it is also important that you critically assess the operations of the organisation, and present some clear recommendations as to its future direction.

Following the Title Page containing the word-count, matriculation number and Abstract, the report must contain the following mandatory sections:

1. Introduction
2. Identification and analysis of contextual factors affecting the organisation’s exploitation of the digital environment
3. Analysis of the current contribution of digital capabilities to the organisation
4. Conclusions, recommendations, and critical assessment of the work that has been undertaken

Use the marking criteria (overleaf) to plan the report – this shows the relative weighting of each section.

All sources consulted must be formally acknowledged through good referencing practice, adhering to the School of Computing Guidelines linked from here: https://my.napier.ac.uk/your-studies/improve-your-academic-and-study-skills/referencing-and-academic-integrity/referencing-guidelines

Page layout: Submissions should be in Arial font, 12 pt, 1.5 line spaced.

Figures and tables, appendices: Captions for tables and figures should use the same font as the main text. They should be referred to in the text using Arabic numerals, e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, Table 2, etc., in order of appearance.

Before you submit the report, it should be spell-checked and proof read. The final version must be submitted using the Report 2 submission link on Moodle. Late submissions that have not been approved by your Programme Leader will be capped at P1.

Marks and feedback will be provided within three working weeks from submission.

 

4. Marking Criteria

Feedback on the Report will be provided electronically via Moodle, using Turnitin’s Grademark system.

Each element of the marking grid will be graded using the University’s 16-point grading scale (ie F6-F1, P1-P5, D1-D5). Please refer to the rubric below to understand the weightings of the criteria and their expectations.