BUSI22700: Digital Entrepreneurship

BUSI22700: Digital Entrepreneurship (20CP)
Assessment Brief and Marking Criteria

The aim of the assessment is to analyse and interpret trends in a chosen market sector with the intent of informing an internet-based business strategy. The assignment is an individual 3,000 word management report which is based on market research relating to the use of web-based or mobile technology to effect behavioural change amongst customers in a country outside the UK. The report may include words, graphical and tabular representations. It must explore (with appropriate theoretical support) at least:

the internet-based market opportunities (and offline differentiation if using a multi-channel approach)
the proposed business and revenue models
proposed customer segmentation and value proposition(s)
proposed methods of communicating value and developing a customer base
suggested organisational design and start up requirements.

In groups you must gather market data on the allocated area and begin constructing a business strategy. Formative feedback will be available in Dragon’s Den style seminars; come prepared! The data gathering component for this is team-based, and the assignment should be written as an individual report. Supporting evidence and data gathered should be from reputable academic, governmental and industry sources. A useful starting point is the theoretical frameworks and models addressed within the module. Assignments using appropriate theory and evidence to support your proposal will gain higher marks than those that do not; not providing theory or evidence is a guaranteed way to attain a low (probably failure) mark! The use of Wikipedia, BusinessBalls and sites of a similar ilk will be looked upon extremely unfavourably.

A conceptualisation of the assignment process is seen within the Figure 1 below, and a fuller illustration of the assignment can be found on the following pages.

Figure 1: A conceptualisation of the suggested process to undertake the assignment

The rest of this document details the suggested format, plus indicators of questions that you should think about when attempting the assignment. This concludes the introductory statements and briefing for this document. The next section outlines the market for investigation and provides a more detailed schema for the way in which you must approach this:

Allocated Marketplace: the Health and Fitness industry.

How do you get people to change their behaviours to be more productive, diet, learn a new language, or buy new products? Behavioural change is a major area appearing within organisations, and more sophisticated methods of change are appearing. Large organisations are particularly interested at improving employees, enhancing business processes and recruiting or keeping customers. Individuals are interested in making real changes to their behaviours to aid their learning, to improve their fitness, to stop smoking or reduce their weight, or for improving their wider wellbeing. Companies such as the BBC, Accenture and the NHS have been developing methods to improve behavioural change, to not just reduce bad behaviours or increase good behaviours, but to ensure that these behaviours are maintained. Increasingly technology is used to gather data, analyse for targeting and to pinpoint moments to intervene to reinforce good behaviours. The web and smartphone apps are often marketed as part of this “service”. It’s up to you on how you might make revenue out of this new area.