Business Environment, IT and Law for Business

EduQual Diploma in Business
and Marketing Management
(SCQF Level 8)
COMBINED ASSIGNMENT TWO: Business Environment, IT and
Law for Business
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
Contents
Assessment Guidelines 2
Context 2
Confidentiality 2
Assessment Criteria and Mark Sheets 2
Tutor Guidance 2
Word Count 2
Referencing and Professionalism 3
Plagiarism and Collusion 3
Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment; IT and Law for Business 4
Task 1 4
Task 2 4
Task 3 4
Task 4 5
Assignment Word Count 5
Combined Assignment 2: Criteria and Mark Scheme 6
Assessment Criteria for All Assessments 9
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
Assessment Guidelines
Learners of EduQual qualifications must complete the tasks given in the assignment brief approved by
EduQual. Learners are able to request assistance from tutors about completing the tasks, mark
schemes and grade descriptors. Learners are expected to adhere to policies and guidelines set out by
the centre, which includes word/page/slide count andplagiarism/collusion.
Context
Learners are required to refer to the guidance notes and assignment brief in order to present an
answer that would fall within the required context.
Confidentiality
Learners must seek permission and advice when using organisational/business information that would
be considered sensitive or confidential within their assignments. If the organisation’s consent is given,
and anonymity is a given requirement of the organisation, then the learner must respect this.
Assessment Criteria and Mark Sheets
The assignment brief will include the mark scheme along with grade descriptors for learners to refer
to if needed. The guidance notes before the assignment questions should be used for reference in
order to ensure that learners are equipped with the information and formats required. Learners are
requested to obtain necessary advice on assignment context, format and other supporting
information to clarify and help understand the requirements.
The assessment criteria and the mark sheets will help learners identify how and where themarks have
been allocated and allow them to structure their answers accordingly. Please note that learners must
achieve a minimum of 40% of the marks allocated for each task and that the average mark awarded
to all tasks of an assignment must be a minimum of 40% of the overall marks awarded.
Tutor Guidance
Learners are allowed one piece of feedback for draft answers they present. Any subject-related
questions relating to the module can also be directed to the tutor.
Word Count
It is mandatory that learners adhere to the specified word count given in the assignment brief within
a margin of -/+10%. For certain tasks, the assignment brief may specify the page count depending on
the task requirement and, although a word count may not always be applicable for these, the page
count must be adhered to at all times. All tables, charts, diagrams, referencing (in-text) will be
considered a part of the assignment word count.
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
If the task requires learners to make a presentation, the word count will only be applicable to the
notes provided. The assignment questions may also specify the number of slides, in which case the
learners are also required to adhere to this.
Any supporting documents used to reinforce a learner’s answer need to be attached at the end of the
report as appendices. Such supplementary material will equip the examiner with the required
background knowledge on the information provided within the report. However, these will not be
considered for grading nor as part of the word/page count.
All assignments submitted with clear disregard for the stipulated page/word counts may be
discounted, and the learners may have to resubmit his/her work for assessment pending
revision/review of their work.
Referencing and Professionalism
To ensure that they follow a professional stance at all times, learnersmust:
 Use the Harvard system of referencing for all citations and references (including in-text)
 Use professional, formal English in presenting theirwork
 Refrain from writing in a first-person perspective (i.e. ‘I’, ‘We’, ‘Me’, etc. should not be used within
the answer).
Learners should bear in mind that marks are awarded for professional format and presentation, and
that considerable marks can be awarded for validity and quality of referencing. Therefore, referencing
and professionalism will be assessed in every task.
Plagiarism and Collusion
Plagiarism and collusion will be considered an academic offence and will be dealt with as a serious
issue.
Plagiarism can be defined as: the presentation of the work of another author without appropriate
referencing and/or attribution (leading to the false assumption that the learner is the originator of the
text).
Collusion can be defined as a circumstance in which: two or more learners present work with distinct
similarities in concept and ideas.
Learners must have access to valid plagiarism software (i.e. Turnitin) to assess ‘similarity index’
between their work and work that has been published elsewhere. This Turnitin report must be
submitted along with their final assignment scripts for referencepurposes.1
Excessive referencing (i.e. where unneeded/irrelevant) will also be considered an academicoffence,
which will lead to learners being penalised in marks awarded for structure and format of their work
or, in serious cases, leading to the work of learners being discounted as unfit for assessment. Such
matters will be decided by academic panel along with EduQual.

1 Note that centres must provide their learners with access to Turnitin software or else submit learners’ work for analysis via
Turnitin upon receiving learner assignment scripts. In either case, the Turnitin report must be included with the submission
of any learner work for assessment.
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment; IT and
Law for Business
The four tasks shown below constitute 90% of the overall mark (see Mark Scheme). 10% of the overall
marks for the assignment must be given to ‘Structure andFormat’.
As a senior Manager for your company, your CEO has asked for a report on how different
organisations respond to their environment with consideration of their IT needs and the legal
awareness they must have. Formulate a report that encompasses the following elements:
Task 1
 For a minimum of three selected, different types of organisation; explain their responsibilities
and how they try to meet them.
 Explain the typical, elements for the formation of a legal contract between organisations and a
third party and:
o Describe the importance of different terms in a contract, giving examples
 Apply knowledge of contract and tort to selected business scenarios with your response
showing:
o Evaluate the impact of, and possible problems with, different types of contract in given
scenarios
o Compare, distinguish between, contractual liability and liability in negligence
o Explain the importance of vicarious liability to business organisations giving examples of
such liability
Business Environment: LO 1; Law for Business: LO 1; Law for Business: LO 2; Law for Business: LO 3
Task 2
 Explain the impact of the UK business environment and international trade on selected business
organisations.
 Explain the benefits and barriers to a business, including those relating to security, which face
an online business organisation. Within your answer you should describe scope and types of ebusiness processes and transactions
 Explain the legal issues facing an online business organisation.
Business Environment: LO 2; IT for Business: LO 1
Task 3
 Explain how market forces affect a range of different organisations and their impact on
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
determination of pricing and output decisions of organisations.
 Evaluate the impact of environmental factors on markets.
 Evaluate the benefits and elements of internetmarketing and explain the tools that may be used
for effective internet marketing.
 Explain the key features of interactive orderprocessing.
Business Environment: LO 3; IT for Business: LO 2
Task 4
 Evaluate existing communication and information systems in a selected organisation. Your
considerations should cover collection, storage, and sharing of information and knowledge
 Create a plan to improve existing communication and information security and storage systems
for a chosen organisation.
IT for Business: LO 3
Assignment Word Count
Task 1 1500 words
Task 2 750 words
Task 3 750 words
Task 4 Presentation with notes and a maximum of 12 slides
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
Combined Assignment 2: Criteria and Mark Scheme
Assessment Criteria Marks
allocated
Typical Content Mark
Given
Task 1:
 For a minimum of three selected,
different types of organisation; explain
their responsibilities and how they try
to meet them.
 Explain the typical, elements for the
formation of a legal contract between
organisations and a third party and:
o Describe the importance of different
terms in a contract, giving examples
 Apply knowledge of contract and tort to
selected business scenarios with your
response showing:
o Evaluate the impact of, and possible
problems with, different types of
contract in given scenarios
o Compare, distinguish between,
contractual liability and liability in
negligence
o Explain the importance of vicarious
liability to business organisations
giving examples of such liability
Business Environment: LO 1; Law for Business:
LO 1; Law for Business: LO 2; Law for Business:
LO 3
90 Type: E.g. private company, public company,
government, voluntary organisation,
cooperative, charitable.
Purposes: Mission; vision; aims; objectives;
goals; values; profits; market share; growth;
return on capital employed; sales; service
level; customer satisfaction; corporate
responsibility; ethical issues.
Responsibilities of organisations: Stakeholder
interests; conflict of expectations; powerinfluence matrix; meeting stakeholder
objectives; legal responsibilities (e.g. consumer
legislation, employee legislation, equal
opportunities and anti- discriminatory
legislation, environmental legislation, health
and safety legislation); ethical issues.
Essential elements: Offer and acceptance;
intention to create legal relations;
consideration; capacity; privity of contract.
Types of contract: Verbal; written; distance
selling; impact of type of contract.
Types of terms: condition; warranty;
innominate term; express; implied; exclusion
clauses and their validity.
Case Law: Cited wherever appropriate.
Negligence: Differences to contract; duty of
care; breach of duty; damage – causation and
remoteness of damage; personal injuries;
damage to property; economic loss; occupier
liability.
Liability: Employer’s liability; vicarious liability;
health and safety issues.
Case Law: Cited wherever appropriate.
Elements of contract: Express and implied
terms; exclusion clauses; effects of terms;
breaches of contract and remedies.
Principles of liability in negligence: Differences
compared with contract, duty of care, breach
of duty, remoteness of damage, occupier and
employer liability, defences and remedies.
Case Law: Cited wherever appropriate.
Task 2:
 Explain the impact of the UK business
environment and international trade on
selected business organisations.
 Explain the benefits and barriers to a
business, including those relating to
security, which face an online business
organisation. Within your answer you
should describe scope and types of e35 The UK economy: Size (GDP, GNP);
structure; population; labour force, business
and consumer behaviour; government
policies and their impact on business.
Global factors: International trade and the
UK economy; market opportunities; global
growth; protectionism; World Trade
Organisation (WTO); emerging markets; EU
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
business processes and transactions
 Explain the legal issues facing an online
business organisation.
Business Environment: LO 2; IT for Business:
LO 1
membership.
The internet; the worldwide web (www);
intranets; extranets; e-business and ecommerce; transaction types: Business-toconsumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B),
customer-to-customer (C2C), customer-tobusiness(C2B).
Benefits to businesses of e-business: E.g.
24/7 trading, global marketplace; overt
and covert information collection; reduce
transaction and marketing costs.
Barriers: Set-up costs; difficulty of changing
processes; ongoing maintenance (e.g. lack of
skill, security and protection concerns);
managing a 24/7 global response; methods
and role ofsecurity in e-business.
Task 3:
 Explain how market forces affect a range
of different organisations and their
impact on determination of pricing and
output decisions of organisations.
 Evaluate the impact of environmental
factors on markets.
 Evaluate the benefits and elements of
internet marketing and explain the tools
that may be used for effective internet
marketing.
 Explain the key features of interactive
order processing.
Business Environment: LO 3; IT for Business:
LO 2
35 Markets: Market structures; market forces;
PESTEL analysis. Supply and Demand
considerations.
The elements of internet marketing:
Definition of digital marketing; definition of ecommerce and e- business; the internet
micro- and macro- environment.
Benefits of internet marketing: E.g. reach,
scope, immediacy, interactivity, targeting;
adaptive and closed-loop marketing.
The internet marketing mix: Product and
branding; place (e.g. channels, virtual
organisations); price (e.g. auctions);
promotions; people; processes; physical
evidence; digital marketing tools/e-tools;
the online marketing matrix including
business and consumer markets.
Interactive order processing: Order
tracking, payment
Task 4: IT for Business LO 3
 Evaluate existing communication and
information systems in a selected
organisation. Your considerations
should cover collection, storage, and
sharing of information and knowledge
 Create a plan to improve existing
communication and information
security and storage systems for a
chosen organisation.
IT for Business: LO 3
20 Types: Meetings and conferences, workshops
and training events, internet and email,
written, telephone, video conferencing, oneto-one meetings.
Information sharing and storage: controlling
access to information, data protection and
privacy issues and legislation, security of
information, anti- malware and spam
controls (e.g. consideration of technologies
to support globalisation); communication;
change; networks and virtual teams; global
and cross-cultural teams
Structure and Format
 Relevance to the tasks,
professional tone and format of
20
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
response (2 marks).
Harvard Referencing (8 marks)
 In-text citation
 Bibliography, listed correctly and
correlates to references made
 Accurate, correctly-formatted
footnotes
 Integration of: supporting
concepts, frameworks, critical
thinking.
Total Mark 200
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BMM Combined Assignment 2: Business Environment, Copyright © EduQual Ltd. 2016
IT and Law for Business (SCQF), Issue 1.0, March 2017
Assessment Criteria for All Assessments
Marks Criteria
70-100  The answer submitted has an outstanding result with negligible amount of mistakes.
 The answer shows an appreciative level of knowledge and clear understanding of related models,
theories and frameworks. Analytical techniques used show the wide area of knowledge the learner
has.
 The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is clearly recognisable.
 The analysis and the use of research data, as well as the ability to use the data to reach acceptable
and accurate conclusions, is exceptional.
 Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner has led to an overall focused and
evaluative answer.
 The answer has followed proper Harvard referencing.
60-69  The answer shows an above average standard with few errors.
 The answer shows a decent level of knowledge and fairly clear understanding of related models,
theories and frameworks. There is a very good level, and use of, analytical techniques that is obvious
throughout the answer.
 The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is of a good standard.
 The analysis and the use of research data, as well as the ability to use the data to reach acceptable
and accurate conclusions, is above average level.
 Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner answer has led to an overall focused
and evaluative answer with little inconsistency.
 The answer has followed proper Harvard referencing.
50-59  The answer shows an above average standard with errors.
 The answer shows a general level of knowledge and a fairly clear understanding of related models,
theories and frameworks. There is a good level, and use of, analytical techniques that is obvious
throughout the answer.
 The ability to apply and contextualise the models, theories and frameworks is of a reasonable
standard. However, the link between theory and practical knowledge appears to be
restricted/limited.
 The answer shows more assumptions than conclusive deductions/evidences and valid arguments.
However, the ability to interpret and evaluate is evident.
 Answers show independent thought and clarity of the learner answer has led to an overall focused
and evaluative answer with some inconsistencies.
 The answer has followed Harvard referencing at an acceptable level.
40-49  There are several shortcomings throughout the answer.
 The knowledge level reflected in the answer is limited, especially in understanding of related models,
theories and frameworks.
 The case material has been repeated instead of evidencing knowledge.
 The use of analytical techniques is inadequate.
 A certain level of relevance is evidence in Harvard referencing.
30-39  Answer submitted is quite weak and lacks proper focus.
 The answer shows a number of spelling errors and/or poor grammar/syntax.
 The lack of understanding in subject knowledge, related models, theories and frameworks is evident.
 Contextualisation, interpretation, and evaluation are of a poor standard.
 Reflects only basic levels of Harvard referencing.
0-29  Requires more work on answering skills; overall output is well below the required standard. Answer
has little relevance to the assignment briefs. Spelling/syntax poor.
 Little or no evidence of appropriate subject knowledge.
 Use of models, theories and frameworks is quite poor.
 Little to no evidence of, and/or unacceptable mistakes in, Harvard referencing.