OBU Failure… lets all learn from it!

Gene: no problem with having a survey 🙂 good idea
I would only suggest you remove the part about email address – and post the results on this page, after the survey has been closed/ analysed

@gene responses regarding ur survey is it limited to topic 8?

Great idea Gene

Apart from referencing (and there are plenty of good articles on the web about how to reference) most fail because the analysis is poor. Chucking in loads of figures in the text is not the way you are going to pass with a good grade (if at all) and nor with topic 8 is just regurgitating what you have read in the annual report, as this is not analysis. (Remember directors always put a gloss on how the company has performed as they are reporting to shareholders). Instead you need to link the PESTLE factors with the financial analysis and also see what strategic objectives the company has had and assess whether these have been achieved (from analyst and business journal articles and web reports) backed up by relevant data and referenced comments. That way you show you have done proper research, have analytical skills and read widely. Don’t make obvious statements – for example that the gross profit has increased (decreased) by x amount (without saying why) – so what? Anyone can see this if they look at the financial statements! It is the factors that have driven the increase (or caused the decrease) that need to be explained. Use plenty of good appropriate graphs to show the trends (rather than give lots of boring figures with no explanations), then all you have to do is use the words to explain the causes. Read it through – if it sounds boring to you, it sure as hell is going to bore the marker who has read all this type of stuff hundreds of times before. Your grade will reflect how much effort you have put in with how much of your own original analysis there is in your RAP – and I know this because my partner got a distinction for their Masters – the more your work stands out from the crowd the more it will interest the marker and the more likely (provided you have done all your referencing and spreadsheets etc) you will pass with a good grade.

Thanks for your kind comments Neena – I am only too happy to help as I understand how difficult it can be working on your own. You asked about suggestions on how to go about other topics.

For Topic 18 I would base most of the RAP on the 4 P’s (or if appropriate the 7 P’s) of marketing and analyse how the company meets these within its marketing strategies. May be appropriate to compare and contrast some of the most important aspects with a competitor if possible (this would then more than fulfil the evaluation requirements). Might also try to do a bit of ratio analysis e.g. sales to marketing costs or market share to marketing costs (depends what info is available – but remember there will be a time lag so the trends over time are more of an indication than talking about each year’s sales against each year’s marketing costs). Graphs and charts are nice to liven up the text and meet the spreadsheet requirement. Put in a suitable model e.g. Boston matrix, product life cycle (but lots to choose from) – found this website that outlines a few good items to cover (not all of them!!!) – explore some of the ideas further – this is your RAP afterall not mine!!!

https://bizdom.com.au/2011/03/30/top-12-marketing-models-of-all-time/

Reference well – do it as you go along both in the text and in the list – keep a Word.doc open and list things as you use them (using the Harvard system) or put them in italics if you have just read them and pretty it all up at the end by arranging in alphabetical order and shift the items just read (the ones in italics) to the Bibliography. Finally review your aims and objectives and in the conclusion how you have met them by summarising your results. Oh use plenty of headings and subheadings as they break up the text and make it look more interesting. I think if you do all that adequately you should get a good pass (probably would fulfil the criteria set out for at least a B) – but should get you a pass unless you mess up.

Will think a bit about Topic 17 and let you know my ideas but may be a week or two

@gene
Gene what topic r u preparing?