Individual Report on Contemporary Issue
Instructions for Assessment 3: Individual Report on Contemporary Issue
During the entrepreneurial process of new venture start-up, managing the growing business, and harvesting the venture, entrepreneurs are constantly facing new challenges. The final assignment is an individual project where you are required to do secondary research on a contemporary issue or emerging trend, of current interest and relevance that can potentially impact any stage in the life cycle of an entrepreneurial venture.
TASKS
- An individual report (max. 2500 words) on a chosen contemporary issue of entrepreneurship.
You must demonstrate how and why it is relevant to entrepreneurs and explain the specific challenges they face while operating in complex, dynamic and uncertain business environments. In your systematic and in-depth review of the extant literature on your specific topic you must be critical and reflective while at the same time integrate your knowledge and skills from other business courses in order to make informed judgements and conclusions. A specific requirement is to link theoretical foundations (from academic sources such as journal articles) with entrepreneurial outcomes.
Example topics: The Lean Startup is an important entrepreneurship tool; Design thinking truly benefits entrepreneurship; Crowd sourcing – an effective way for funding startups; Why startups need to devise exit strategies; What does entrepreneurial leadership mean?; Effectuation – why should entrepreneurs take notice?; Should entrepreneurs be concerned with triple bottom line? ; Youth Entrepreneurship; Senior Entrepreneurship; Global Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in Australia; Types of entrepreneurs, such as lifestyle, necessity, sports entrepreneurs. More recent contemporary issues include the link between entrepreneurship and Blockchain, Virtual Reality, disruptive technologies and Artificial Intelligence.
Suggestions:
- Clearly identify the issue you have chosen as a contemporary issue, in other words, what makes your topic contemporary (new, innovative, thought provoking).
- Provide evidence of the contemporary issue, identify leading scholars, authors, academics and practitioners in your chosen topic.
- What is novel or new about your chosen topic?
- What is the value add you provide or suggest, what is your contribution to this body of knowledge?
FINDINGS:
Your findings must be documented in the format of a management report. All information must be supported by references and this assignment must include at least five references to credible academic journals. Please refer to the report template on Moodle in the Assessments section.
Your presentation should be an appropriate summary of your report, and clearly identify your rationale, justification and argument of your chosen contemporary issue of entrepreneurship. A significant link to theory is a requirement. Since you only have 2 minutes, creativity is required, similar to the trait of a successful entrepreneur.
REPORT FORMATS
All three assignments must be presented in the format of a management report that complies with the following:
- Format: Microsoft Word.
- Font: 12 point, Times New Roman.
- Text [Including references]: 1.5 line spacing, left-justified.
- Page Layout: 1-inch (2.54cm) margins on all sides with page numbers in the bottom right corner and no header/footer.
- A front cover page that contains the report’s title, author(s), submission date and word count.
- An executive summary of no longer than one page.
- A table of contents. Main and sub-sections must be numbered and linked to page numbers.
- The report must be paginated.
- The report must be spell-checked.
- All Figures/Tables/Graphs must be sequentially numbered and captioned.
- All Figures/Tables/Graphs must be referred to and discussed from within body of text.
- In-text citation of sources must be done correctly (using APA6 or Harvard).
- A reference list must be provided and comply with prescribed style (APA6, Harvard).
- Appendices must be sequentially numbered and appropriately captioned.
- The abstract/executive summary is the foundation of your assessment!
- Each report must have an introduction and end with a conclusion.
A report template is provided on the course Moodle site. You can edit and modify its appearance to your liking.