The SL Business & Management IA

How important is this IA?

• The Extended Essay is worth:

1.5 points

• The Business IA is worth:

2.5 points

To write a commentary based on 3-5 documents covering a common theme, 1,500 words.

Your Task:

Meaning

• You have to write a commentary on a real issue or problem, not a fictional one, 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.

There are two parts to the IA:

Commentary

25 / 25

=

25 % of the final

mark=

Every mark you get

1% of your final

mark

Or:

How will you do this?

• Stage 1 – Find the supporting documents & identify the tools & techniques to use. May – June

• Stage 2 – Use the tools & techniques to analyse the supporting documents

June – August

• Stage 3 – Write up final draft of the Report

September - October

An Example question

How can British Airways resolve the

industrial dispute with its cabin crew?

An Example question

What impact will the recall of Toyota cars have on the brand?

An Example question

How will the introduction of pay per view for Times online

be profitable?

An Example question

Will the merger of Continental and

United Airlines be a success?

The Format:1. Title (in the form of a question)

2. Introduction (including a description of methodology)

3. Findings (based on the supporting documents)

4. Analysis of the findings

5. Conclusion(s)

6. Bibliography and references

7. Appendices: supporting documents

Stage 1 - The Supporting Documents:

Supporting Documents Some secondary sources:

• market research surveys

• articles from local, national or international press

• financial reports

• business accounts

• business plans

• mission statements

• web based surveys

• extracts from co’ websites

• gov’t and other statistics

• academic publications

Some primary data:

• questionnaires

• interviews• discussions with focus

groups • observations

• surveys

Supporting Documents

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.

Tools & Techniques

Decision Making Model

Ratio Analysis & Final Accounts

Forecasting SWOTAnalysis

Product Life Cycle

Motivational Theory

TQM CSR

Marketing Mix Stakeholder Conflicts

Economies of scale

PEST Analysis

Investment Appraisal

Motivational Theory

Break Even Analysis

BCG Matrix

Benchmarking Ansoff Matrix Channels of Distribution

Leadership Theory

Communication Theory

Organisational Charts

Stage 2 - Using the tools & techniques

• Confirming the tools & techniques

• Applying the tools & techniques

• Writing the first Draft

The data Sources

• You must collect secondary data. • You may want to collect primary –

but you don’t have to.• There are two factors that are

important when deciding what type data to collect:

1. How is it to be used?2. How reliable is the data source?

An example – A Product Positioning Map

If your commentary is a marketing one then you may well decide to introduce a product position map.

High Price

Low Quality

High Quality

Low Price

Apple

Oregon

Creativeiriver

Source:

• “I did a survey of 20 ’randomly’ selected students from my school – as they are the ones who use MP3 players the most.”

High Price

Low Quality

High Quality

Low Price

Apple Nano

MPman

Oregon

Rio

SharpCreative (Muvo)

Beosound

Archos

iriver

Ministry of Sound

Apple Shuffle

Apple Photo

Source:

•“What Hi Fi? Sound & Vision Awards 2005”

Survey criterion – System: MP3, AAC or WMA; Radio, Microphone, Storage capacity, USB, FireWire, Battery life, Dimensions & Weight

The Techniques to use

We recommend two general points

1. Use 3 or 4 techniques.

2. Use at least 1 qualitative and 1 quantitative technique.

Stage 3 - The final write-up

There are four elements in this stage:

1. Reworking the first draft 2. Writing the analysis & evaluation

3. Writing a conclusion & recommendation 4.  Producing the completed project

Writing the analysis & evaluation

You need to consider:

• How to link the analysis to more than one of your supporting documents

• Be succinct and ordered

• Integrate your data, analysis and evaluation

• Avoid relying too heavily on one document

• Avoid unsupported generalisations

• Be critical – don’t take everything for granted

Assessment Criteria

Total = 25 marks

D = 3 marks

E = 3 marks

F = 3 marks

A = 4 marks

B = 6 marks

C = 6 marks

Assessment criterion ‘A’: supporting documents

• 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.

Assessment criterion ‘B’: Choice and application of business

tools, techniques and theory • 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.

Assessment criterion ‘C’: Use, analysis and synthesis of

data • 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.

Assessment criterion ‘D’:Conclusions

• 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.

Assessment criterion ‘E’: Evaluation and critical thinking

• 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.

Assessment criterion ‘F’: Presentation

• 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.