TERM PAPER

Course Code: Course Objective:

The aim of the term paper is to provide the students with an opportunity to further enhance their knowledge in a sector of their choice by undertaking a significant practical unit of examining and analyzing various aspects of business management at a level commensurate with the learning outcomes of the various courses taken up y them in the ongoing semester. For students of the first semester, the required term paper is primarily a self worded structured report written by the students after interpreting & analyzing various primary & secondary records of intelligent interviews/readings from several sources on a particular sector.

MIB 130

Credit Units: 04

Conduct of Term Paper

The term paper will be executed & submitted by students in groups. (Maximum four students in each group) The students are to form groups of four and decide the sector of study / company of interest within two weeks of the start of the semester. A Faculty Mentor will be assigned to each group of students undertaking a Team Paper. Special Time slot to conduct the research will be included in the timetable. The Mentor will conduct weekly sessions to guide & follow up the students as well as to clarify any queries or problem faced by the students. Weekly review of the Work in Progress will be maintained by Faculty Mentor & will carry 20% weightage during the final evaluation. This will be substantiated through a proper economic diary maintained by the students documenting their daily objectives, plan of action, activities undertaken, documentation of reading & referencing material, analysis (if any) & learning outcomes. Students may use innovative tools & techniques to maintain this diary such as e-concepts, online blogs, charts, graphs etc. Student will be given some discretion in the choice of sector for the term paper and the approach to be adopted. The term paper has to be formulated with multi disciplinary aspects explained in the section below. Focus Areas of Study 1. Principles of Global Business Management (PGBM) Analysis of International Business Expansion Strategy of 5 companies within the chosen sector while maintaining a scrap book of the latest news & views 2. Marketing Management-A Global Perspective (MMAGP) - General Market Description and Current Marketing Situation with analysis using SWOT & PEST Marketing Strategy Assessment Competitive Assessment Identifying the products' benefits in terms of clinical differentiation. For a specific Company within the sector Product Assessment and Review for a company within the sector Identifying a critical unmet need from the customer and whether the customer will use/buy it Obtaining the optimal product profile from customers Channel Assessment: Success in existing sales, marketing and service programmes and channels, New Programmes and Channels that could increase revenue etc. Brand Assessment, impact of existing campaigns, testing of new positioning initiatives etc.

Pricing Assessment: Understanding Different pricing strategies adopted by different players 3. 2. Accounting for Managers (AFM) a. Analysis of Financial Statements of selected 5 companies of the sector. Essential IT Tools & Techniques for Global Managers (EITTGM) a. Use Statistical Tools & Techniques (predominantly MS Excel & SPPS) to analyze various facts, figures & trends as well as carry out projections & sensitivity analysis. b. Analysis of ICT trends in the sector Quantitative Applications in Management (QAM) a. Practical Application of all methods learnt on some form of live data collected for the sector/ company(s) therein. Economic Analysis (EA) a. Nature of Competition (Number of companies, market share, market dominance, entry and exit barriers etc.) b. Impact of change in the National Income on the growth of the sector. c. Impact on the performance (revenue) of chosen sector due to change in technology, foreign investment and Government Policies d. Major Mergers, collaborations or Takeovers that have taken place in the sector. Organizational Theory & HRM (OT&HRM) a. HRM Policies and Best Practices followed in the sector b. Cross Analysis of various data related to any one major aspect such as employee turnover/satisfaction/training etc.

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Needless to add, effective deployment of Self Devleopment, Interpersonal Skills & techniques of Business Communication is integral to all aspects of the term paper and will be evaluated accordingly.

General Guidelines
Each group must submit an independently written report of their term paper project. All contents need to be sourced from reliable primary & secondary sources; references for which MUST be maintained in proper format. At least one middle level or senior level person of a company from the chosen sector has to be interviewed face to face Though the term paper is more a descriptive report covering the What, Why and How aspects; participation in leg work or field research of a company(s) will add value to the study. The paper should utilise class room learning and industry exposure to evaluate issues on hand and suggest remedial/progressive measures that may be taken by a company(s)

Assessment & Evaluation:

The term paper will be in the form of an integrated report and assignment. A board consisting of all the faculty members who are teaching the students in the first semester will conduct the final evaluation. The faculty mentor assigned to the group will do the continuous evaluation.

All reports will be examined most strictly for plagiarism The groups with the best papers will be given the opportunity to present them in a workshop. Components Continuous Assessment & Economic Diary 20% Presentation Content & Layout of Report 20% Analysis Conclusion & Recommen dations 10% Viva/ Defending Questions 15%

Weightage (%)

15%

20%