BUSS1000 Future of Business
USBS Consulting Report Assignment
Client: Australian company: Mecca Brands Ltd (Mecca).
Task: USBS Consulting is having issues selling consulting services to medium to smaller businesses because of rising costs and global economic pressures. Companies are now increasingly going to generative AI (gen AI) to complete basic tasks that many consulting firms get junior employees (such as graduates like yourselves) to do, essentially threatening your job.
One of USBS Consulting’s client, Mecca Brands Ltd (Mecca) has raised questions on the value of using USBS Consulting to undertake certain work for them as result of the growing usage of gen AI. Considering this, management want to create a unique report for the client to demonstrate to Mecca that consulting services done by junior staff are more valuable than when done by gen AI, specifically Chat GPT.
To do this, management want you (individually) to firstly conduct an analysis that Mecca has requested. Following that, contrast and compare your analysis to one generated by Chat GPT which will be supplied to you by Management. You need to critically review the gen AI analysis, integrating your discussion of strengths and weaknesses into the report, then conclude by reiterating the persuasive argument that the human generated analysis is more valuable, accurate and compelling for the client.
Specifically, the report will require you to:
1. To conduct a PESTLE analysis using only 3 factors (your choice of either Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal or Environmental) to determine current key drivers of change impacting the Australian Beauty Industry. You must ensure your analysis answers the following points:
• How have these influenced Mecca specifically?
• How has Mecca responded?
• How do these key drivers of change and Mecca’s response impact the achievement of the UN Sustainability Goals of 6. Clean Water & Sanitation; and UN SDG 5. Gender Equality?
This analysis must be solely written by yourself (no use of generative AI), based on your own research and analysis using key skills developed from Week 1-5 in BUSS1000 (suggested word count: 1200-1400 words)
2. Reviewing the Chat GPT generated analysis provided by your manager, compare, and contrast it to your analysis, critiquing the work (using research to support your claim) to build an argument that your produced analysis is more comprehensive and valuable for the client (suggested word count: 600-800 words)
• Do not insert the Chat GPT extract into your assignment.
• Different tutorials will have different extracts.
In your Consulting Report for the client, it is crucial that you integrate recent and relevant research (including academic) and draw on key BUSS1000 theories/concepts with evidence about the client and its industry. This is then used to form an overall argument and position to meet our client’s requirements. Integration refers to having a strong connection between your theory, research, and evidence to help justify your analysis and argument.
Note: no drafts will be reviewed by either your tutor or Unit Coordinator.
Referencing & Research
Referencing and research are critical with a requirement of:
• 2 peer-reviewed articles from the 2022 ABDC list (under 10 years of age/ published since 2014) needed to be cited; AND
• the two journal articles to be supplied by USBS (these are under Module 1.4 under Consulting Report).
Students are expected to additionally use further resources from a range of sources including journal articles; companies, government, and industry reports; news articles/reports and websites.
All items must be cited correctly and presented in the Reference List appropriately using APA 7th ed. Marks will be lost for incorrect referencing or poor research.
Professional writing & building an argument
Being a business report, third person tense must be used (for example you should say: This report recommends…. NOT: I recommend). Ensure you check the correct tense is used throughout the entire report while also checking for inconsistencies and repetitive points.
Furthermore, it is critical that the report is not simply descriptive listing evidence and information with little analysis or critical thinking. Our client is expecting a detailed and well-written business report, not an essay. Simply repeating information, you have found tells our client that you can repeat – not that you understand or are able to conduct an analysis.
WORDCOUNT & FORMATTING
• The wordcount requirement is 2,000 words. You may go 10% over and 10% under (1,800 to 2,200),
• The Reference list is EXCLUDED from the word count, but everything else including in-text citations and headings, are included,
• Make sure to minimise quotes, instead you should paraphrase then cite (reference) the original source. Quotes should be saved for definitions,
• As it is a report, use third person not first person. For example, use: This report… don’t use: I think….,
• Ensure you do not have your name in the report, but rather use your SID, and
• Being a Business Report – every section MUST use numbers as part of the heading (every section and subsection should have headings i.e., 2., 2.1, 2.2 etc.).
REFERENCING
• Must use APA 7th ed. Style,
• The reference list must be in alphabetical order,
• Only use page numbers in in-text citations when it is a direct quote,
• A minimum two peer reviewed journal articles from the 2022 ABDC list (under 10 years old) AND the two journal articles provided by USBS must be used in the Consulting Report. This is a minimum, meaning students should use more than this, and
• Research is key to have a strong analysis and a persuasive argument.
Proposed structure of Consulting Report
You may want to start your report with a small introduction, keeping in mind who the report is for (your client), what the purpose is of the report, and the scope of the report (what it is limited to). You should have two sections, each containing the analysis of a PESTLE factor. You may like to include in those sections (as subsections), discussion about the impact on your client and how they have responded, or you may like to have that in a different section/s (consider what would be the strongest way to present your analysis). Likewise, with the UN SDGs discussion, you may like to integrate that into the earlier sections, or have it as its own section/s or sub-section/s.
Then, you should have a separate section for your critical analysis of the Chat GPT generated work, which you may like to break down into subsections in relation to specific strengths and weaknesses in comparison to your own work. Ensure you have a final section that clearly is reiterating the persuasive argument that human generated work is more valuable, well supported by your research.
USBS Consulting trusts their employees to determine how large/small each section is and if they feel they need to break down the sections further with subsections. You can also choose what you believe to be the best title for each section/subsection.
Other Considerations
• After you finish writing your Consulting Report, review the marking guide – this is how you will be marked. Make sure you meet all the requirements especially in the criteria column you want to achieve e.g., HD or D.
• TURNITIN: All Consulting Reports will automatically go through Turnitin. You will not receive a report about your matching rate. You can submit as many times as you like prior to the deadline BUT after the deadline, the late penalty will apply. There is NO specific matching rate that you need to be below as academic dishonesty is determined by reviewing more than the matching rate number.
• Assignments submitted late will attract a 5% penalty per day so ensure you do not leave it until the last minute.
• Don’t write your Report then research. This will show in the disconnection between your discussion and theory. Research BEFORE you start writing.
• Do not leave getting help to the last minute.
• Do not underestimate how long it takes to complete an ACCURATE reference list. If you’re new to referencing and you have 10 sources to place in the list, it can easily take you two hours to do the list correctly (sometimes longer). The good news is in future assignments you will become quicker and quicker with referencing as you are becoming an expert in this area.
• Cadmus assignment will be released on Wed Week 3 for you to begin writing/comprising notes/researching which will also include the two required articles you must use and the Chat GPT generated extract. You can start working on the assignment though before this.
• If you have questions – ask your tutor or post them on Ed.
Good luck!