Assessment 1 - Individual essay and video (+ transcript): Business Models (50%)
This is an assignment which must be completed by students individually. It has two components.
Students must write an essay and then explain their essay's main arguments via a short video presentation. The essay should be a minimum of 1,200 words and no longer than 1,700 words, not including the reference list. The video presentation should be a minimum of 2 minutes in duration and no longer than 4 minutes. Your video submission should be accompanied by a (Word document) transcript of what was said in the video.
THE ESSAY (30% of the total mark for this subject)
The objective of this essay is to develop your understanding of the business model as a concept and how a theoretical understanding of business models can be used to explain the exploitation of innovations by organisations in real-life. To successfully complete this assessment, you are required to explore the academic literature on business models and to write an essay addressing the following topic:
"Let's face it: business models are less durable than they used to be. The basic rules of the game for creating and
capturing economic value were once fixed in place for years, even decades, as companies tried to execute the same
business models better than their competitors did. But now, business models are subject to rapid displacement,
disruption, and, in extreme cases, outright destruction.”
(de Jong, M. and van Dijk, M. (2015). Disrupting beliefs: A new approach to business-model innovation, McKinsey Quarterly, July 2015. Retrieved from: www.mckinsey.com.)
Specifically, your essay is required to:
Clearly define the terms 'business model' and 'disruption.'
Identify an industry, company or product/service that has recently (last 7 years) been disrupted and outline the 'new' business model (the one that disrupted), as well as the 'existing' business model (the one that was disrupted).
Critically compare the two identified business models with reference to relevant literature and by so doing clearly highlight the reasons why the new business model disrupted the existing business model.
Conclude by briefly discussing the significance of your findings for the future of business models.
You should include at least 5 references and no more than 20 references. All sources must be highly credible and fully
referenced. Please note that academic misconduct and late submission penalties will apply to this assessment as per the
university policies.
THE VIDEO WITH TRANSCRIPT (20% of the total mark for this subject)
The video is based on your essay's findings. The video submission should be accompanied by a (Word document)
transcript of what was said in the video.
The objective of this video is to develop your (practical) video production skills and ability to explain difficult theoretical
concepts to laypeople.
To successfully complete this part of the assessment, you are required to produce a short video that summarises the key
arguments of your essay. However, your video should not just be a verbatim repeat of what was said in your essay. It
should be uniquely descriptive and explanative and focus on explaining the reasons for and significance of business
model disruption.
To maximise your marks, you should discuss the specific real-life disruption you have presented in your essay. Make
sure your explanations are concise and easy to understand by people with little business training. Students will be
rewarded for using the video medium effectively and creatively.
You should make sure your transcript makes sense without the accompanying video, that is, it makes sense even if
someone reading it does not have the opportunity to view and listen to your video submission first.
Hint: It is a good idea to put together a transcript for the video before starting work on the video. You will be able to work
faster and more efficiently if you do so.
Please note that academic misconduct and late submission penalties will apply to this assessment as per the university
policies.
