Business Finance

Business Finance

ORDER A PLAGIARISM FREE PAPER NOW

Faculty of Business Administration Business 2331-FAO Business Communications 1 Fall 2019 RESEARCH PROJECT REVIEW (Informational Report) DUE: NOVEMBER 22, 2019: 11:59 p.m. Share (submit) via Google Docs You are to prepare a report detailing your participation and contributions to the Group Research Project (Informational Report). Identify your team and include the sections you worked on, meetings you attended, creative suggestions you put forth, your key learnings, and any other information you may deem pertinent (if applicable). Other requirements: • • • • • • • Please include a cover page, table of contents, section and subsection headings, and references. You may use appendices. Use APA citation. Use a minimum of five sources. Size 12, Times New Roman font. Not to exceed 6 pages, excluding cover page and reference list. There is no page minimum. BUSI 2331 FAO Rubric: Group Research Paper Grade → Content (25%): original thinking expressed in depth and detail; relevant and persuasive evidence for points being made; appropriate use of secondary material. Organization (25%): wellarticulated argumentative thesis statement; well-structured introduction and conclusion; paragraph unity and coherence. Style (25%): appropriate diction and language level for the audience; rhetorical flair; varied sentence structure; clear, concise prose. A+ 90-100% A 8089% B 70-79% C 60-69% D 5059% E 40-49% F 1-39% Mechanics (25%): correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax, word usage, proofreading, and integration of quotations; accurate documentation ; accurate use of APA style. Additional Comments: Marking Standards: An A+ paper has exceptional content and is organized very well. It is also well-written as a whole and has no errors at the sentence, the paragraph, or the word level. It has a consistent point of view for a well-defined audience and it has a clear purpose. It uses rhetorical devices competently and its style is clear and interesting. Above all, this essay is unusually creative and intelligent. It has an extra something that makes it stand apart from the others. A(80-89 %) EXCELLENT An A paper is well-organized and well-written both as a whole and at the sentence, the paragraph, and the word level. It has no major errors in any of these areas. It has excellent content with a consistent point of view for a consistent audience. The writer clearly understands the reason for writing the document and offers a well thought-out argument. The essay shows competence in the use of rhetorical devices, and it is written in a clear and interesting style. B(70-79%) GOOD A B paper has good content and is well-organized and well-written in general, with a strong thesis and a coherent, logical argument. But it has some problems, such as lack of clear paragraph structure or consistent lack of transitions so that the relationships between ideas in sentences or between paragraphs are not clear and probably have not been thought out by the writer. It might also have a few grammatical, spelling, or punctuation problems. C(60-69 %) SATISFACTORY A C paper shows some competence in organization and development, but it has only a moderately successful analytical argument; noticeable problems at the paragraph or sentence level; some development problems; some grammatical and spelling problems; some consistent word choice problems; or some comma splices or sentence fragments. D(50-59%) MINIMAL PASS A paper with a mark of D represents a barely acceptable performance. It shows an attempt at generating ideas but no real analysis of the ideas. It has little clear focus or evidence of a thesis and has little clear idea of purpose or audience. Therefore, it does not have satisfactory content and as a result it has serious development problems. It also has numerous paragraph and sentence problems, grammatical errors and punctuation problems. A mark of D on an essay indicates that the student should make a concerted effort at improvement. E(40-49%) BORDERLINE FAIL An E paper has no clear thesis and offers either very little or no evidence at all or evidence that is not related to the essay’s argument. It might have such serious problems of style, mechanics, organization or content that a reader would have trouble following the main ideas from the beginning to the end. F(1-39%) FAILURE An F paper demonstrates severe errors in mechanics, content, style, and/or organization that are unacceptable at the university level. This essay may have nothing to say about its subject, it may be off topic, it may lack a thesis, it may lack clear and adequate paragraphs, and/or it may contain such repeated and serious errors in grammar, sentence structure, and diction that its meaning is obscured. F (0) ACADEMIC DISHONESTY Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else’s words and/or ideas. Not sufficiently acknowledging your debt to the ideas of a secondary source, failing to use quotation marks when you are quoting directly, buying essays from essay banks, copying another student’s work and working together on an individual assignment except for the clear purpose of giving useful feedback in peer editing all constitute plagiarism. All work plagiarized in whole or in part will receive a mark of zero and will be reported to the Dean. It might also be subject to more severe academic penalties. See the “Code of Student Behaviour” available from the Registrar’s office for more details. Resubmitting material that you have already submitted to another course is also academic dishonesty. Running Head: Shopify Informational Report Shopify Informational Report William Das Neves, Abel Sunil, Michael Diseri, Anmol Randhawa Business Communications 1 – BUSI 2331 Professor Lauren McEachern November 15, 2019 1 Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 2 Shopify is one of the largest companies in the e-commerce space. Likely anyone who has ever bought something on the internet that was not from Amazon or EBay has used a Shopify site and not even realized it. This paper will be an informational report on Shopify encompassing; Business areas, products and services, CEO and Leadership Team, Stakeholder Relations/Community Relations/Sustainability, Industry and Trends Therein, Competitors and Sustainability as well as Relevant Public News Stories. Products and services Shopify describes itself as “The all-in-one commerce platform to start, run, and grow a business” (Shopify, n.d.). The organization’s entire model is about giving entrepreneurs all of the tools necessary to launch and run an e-commerce business (Raz, 2019). The main service Shopify offers is their commerce platform. Users of Shopify can create their own store on the site and sell in multiple places, including web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces and brick-and-mortar locations. This Commerce platform offers tools one would have needed to hire a computer programmer to develop previously (Shopify, n.d.). Shopify’s service is cloud based and hosted, meaning businesses do not have to worry about upgrading or maintaining servers. This allows for the user to access and run the business from anywhere they have internet access (Shopify, n.d.). Shopify currently offers the platform as a subscription service. Currently there are three different plans offered by Shopify. Currently offered are: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. Businesses can choose which level makes the most sense for them based on the size of Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 3 their business. By purchasing a subscription, the business gains access to Shopify’s tools. These tools still allow for the business to maintain its own domain name (Shopify, n.d.). This means that the customer visits the company website and would not realize that Shopify is the platform behind the site, the customer is exposed to the company branding without ever seeing any reference to Shopify. This is important because main competitors such as EBay and Amazon have sellers on their respective platforms, Shopify instead gives the tools for the business to have its own platform. CEO Tobias Lutke said, when talking about how Shopify stores have no branding, “I was told this was a business only a Canadian could build” (Raz, 2019). When using Shopify, the business will get an inventory system whereby the business can check inventory in real time. This allows for the business to know when they should order/make more of a product as well as avoid selling items that are not in inventory. The inventory tool is also useful to see the history of inventory levels and see the buying patterns of the customer in order to better serve them. This inventory system can be tied together with the online store a business operates with physical locations as well (Shopify, n.d). Shopify’s commerce platform also takes care of the payment process, allowing for sellers to choose which payment options they will offer. Shopify also offers its only payment solution, Shopify Payment. If the business chooses to use Shopify Payments they will automatically accept all major payment methods (Shopify, n.d.). Shopify takes away the hassle of having to setup each of these independently. Shopify also takes care of calculating taxes for the business. Taxes are an important piece of doing business. Shopify will keep track of taxes throughout the year for the business. Shopify will also help to calculate sales taxes based on the customer’s location and the product Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 4 they are buying (Shopify, n.d.). This is important because each area has its own taxes and Shopify will automatically calculate the provincial, state or regional taxes as the customer checks out; making it easier on both the customer and the business. One of the most important pieces of e-commerce is ultimately the delivery of the product. Shopify’s platform tries to make this piece as simple as possible for the business. Shopify allows for the business to choose what type of shipping they want to offer so that customers can make a choice at checkout. Shopify has also started offering “Shopify Shipping” to its users in Canada and the United States. Shopify Shipping allows for the business to buy shipping labels directly from Shopify at discounted prices. This removes the necessity of having to setup an account with a shipping company. As soon as an order comes in the business can simply print the label generated and attach it to the shipment; taking the complexity out of shipping (Shopify, n.d.). Shopify is investing into fulfillment centers in order to increase this functionality and allow for users to simply send their inventory to Shopify and have them fulfill orders (Li, 2019). In addition, Shopify has also setup a notification system for when an order comes in so that the business is able to fulfill it. Again, helping to aide in the fulfilment of orders and create a seamless customer service experience. In addition to the core features Shopify offers, they also offer a digital marketing kit. This kit allows for the business to create marketing campaigns with email, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms that will direct back to their Shopify Store. The store has a discount code option the business can use for seasonal sales or for influencer marketing (Shopify, n.d.). Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 5 Additionally, Shopify is available in virtually every country worldwide. With ability to have the store in any language, as long as the theme used for the store supports the given language. Shopify communicates with their business customers in the following languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. The wide variety of available language options means that as business customer will likely be able to set up their website and communicate with Shopify in their own language, this leads to high levels of understanding and usability for business’ around the world. (Shopify, n.d.). CEO and Leadership Team The current CEO of Shopify is Tobias Lütke, he more commonly goes by Tobi Lutke. Lutke is one of the co-founders of Shopify. Lutke is a German born Canadian entrepreneur. Lutke founded Shopify with Scott Lake. Lutke describes their partnership as a classic computer programmer and MBA relationship (Raz, 2019). Lutke was always responsible for the product the company was supplying and Lake was to be the business head of Shopify. Lake would go on to leave Shopify early on, leaving Lutke as the CEO. Lutke describes this as a very frightening time in the history of Shopify (Raz, 2019). As he says he never wanted to be CEO and believes in some ways he held the company back when he stepped into the role in 2008. Lutke said he had to grow into the job and it took some time before he felt comfortable as a CEO. By 2014 the Globe and Mail had named Lutke as CEO of the year (Raz,2019). Lutke has surrounded himself with a great team, including a talented group of executives in the c-suite. His team currently includes: Running Head: Shopify Informational Report • 6 Harley Finkelstein serves as the Chief Operating Officer, Finkelstein has been evolved in many start-ups and has been with Shopify since 2010. • Craig Miller currently serves as the Chief Product Officer, Miller has been with the company since 2011 and started out in marketing. Miller spent time at EBay and Kijiji before joing Shopify. • Amy Shapero is currently Chief Financial Officer, Shapero has been with Shopify since 2018. She was previously a CFO with a wealth management company and has a history in investment banking. Jeff Weiser, Chief Marketing Officer • Jeff Weiser is currently the Chief Marketing Officer; Weiser has been with Shopify since February 2018. Weiser has held multiple senior roles in marketing throughout his career (Shopify, n.d.) Shopify currently lists 6 members of their board of directors on its investors site. Including Tobi Lutke as well as John Phillips, Jeremy Levine, Colleen Johnston, Gail Goodman and Robert Ashe (Shopify, n.d.). Shopify industry and trends therein Shopify is one of the largest organizations in the e-commerce world. It is important to understand what e-commerce is as it is a new term. E-commerce according to the government of Ontario is “the process of buying or selling goods and services over the internet”.(Government of Ontario, 2016) The E-commerce industry has created some of the largest companies in the world and is an important part of business for both large and small organizations. Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 7 Shopify is positioned well as E-commerce continues to grow, taking over the traditional retail market space. An article from 2018 in the Harvard Business Review writes “No industry is failing faster than retail” (Yu, 2018). As we see household names such as Zellers, Macy’s, Sears, Toys ‘R’ Us and others fail, E-commerce giants such as EBay, Shopify and Amazon continue to benefit. Even still there is a lot of room for growth. As of 2019 82.5% of retail sales still belong to traditional brick and mortar (Orendorff, 2019). Meaning there is still the opportunity for Ecommerce to take an even larger share of the market. One of the most interesting trends in the E-commerce space is direct to consumer brands. Entrepreneurs are growing exceptionally large companies without going through the traditional retail channels. Brands such as Tesla Motors and Kylie Cosmetics are examples of direct to consumer brands that have built massive businesses that use Shopify’s infrastructure (We Make Websites, n.d.). Brands now have more control over their product because of Ecommerce. In the past there were middle men, in the case Tesla: a dealership. The internet has eliminated that middle space between the consumer and the brand. The CEO of Vayner Media (Multinational digital marketing agency), Gary Vaynerchuk, says he believes “We are walking into the golden era of direct to consumer brands at scale” (Vaynerchuk, 2019). This is because of companies such as Shopify putting the platform in place to allow for these brands to be successful as well as the ability for people to communicate directly with brands using social media in a way never before seen. Stakeholder Relations/Community Relations/Sustainability Shopify is a very interesting business when it comes to Stakeholder relations. While Shopify has the regular stakeholders one would expect with a publically traded company, Shopify’s Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 8 customers take on a different role than with most companies. This is because the customers of Shopify are more like partners, in that, the more successful the customers are the more successful Shopify is as a whole. Because of this, Shopify creates content on its own site as well as on the different social media platforms. Boasting over 400,000 followers on Instagram (Shopify, n.d.). This content is directed at entrepreneurs who may be using Shopify and functions as coaching tools for entrepreneurs to help them succeed in the E-commerce world. This was the original goal of Shopify, to help entrepreneurs on their journey and Shopify continues to do this at scale. In addition to bringing value to its customers and shareholders Shopify is also involved in many community related initiatives. Shopify even has a section on its site for people to submit sponsorship requests for their events and organizations. Shopify states: We believe commerce is a powerful tool for social impact. By partnering and investing in our local communities we can work together to make commerce better for everyone. We’re proud to partner with inclusive organizations and initiatives that support entrepreneurs and advance tech education in Canada and around the world for the long term(Shopify,n.d). Shopify is also committed to the sustainability of the company. In a letter from Tobi Lutke in Shopify’s F1 filing in 2015, Lutke wrote “I want Shopify to be a company that sees the next century.” (Lutke, 2019) Lutke also wrote that he wants to be sure the next century is “worth reaching” (Lutke, 2019). Saying he feels he wants to make commerce better but also use commerce to help the planet. Shopify has taken many steps to build a sustainable company these include becoming carbon neutral. They have also been able to set best-in-class standards Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 9 by buying offsets for the carbon the company has ever used and will ever use. They have also chosen renewable energy to heat and power their operations (Lutke, 2019). Despite these efforts Lutke wrote a letter in September of this year on the sustainability of Shopify. Lutke has said these efforts are not enough and still aims for Shopify to help make a bigger difference in the health of the environment. In the letter Lutke announced the Shopify Sustainability Fund. The fund commits to spending 5 million USD per year to fight for the environment. Shopify plans to scale this amount up as their revenue increases. As it stands now this fund, according to Shopify will: • Buy one million dollars worth of sequestered carbon annually at any price: Shopify is doing this with the goal to kickstart the demand and predictability of the sequestered carbon market so industrial engineering can scale and the price can come down. • Carbon-neutral operations: Shopify bought enough renewable energy to neutralize its carbon footprint in Canada. Shopify plans that in 2020 they will power 100% of global operations with renewable energy. • Carbon-neutral platform: All of Shopify runs in data centers powered by renewable energy. • Sustainable offices: Shopify commits to looking for LEED-certified office space, with most of their office square footage already being LEED Gold or Platinum. They have chosen and commit to continue choosing buildings in areas with high transit and walkability scores, and built with local materials wherever possible. This also includes minor but locally impactful things like adding bike racks and storage to every office. Running Head: Shopify Informational Report • 10 Sustainable shipping: Sustainability will remain a core principle of the Shopify Fulfilment Network, with a focus on sustainable packaging. • Merchants can participate: Shopify has a plan to offer merchants the ability to achieve carbon neutrality or negative carbon emissions on their shipments through a simple app they can install in their stores. • Buyers can participate: Shopify plans to use their fund to automatically offset the carbon impact of all shipments tracked through the Shopify Arrive app. All customers who use the app will have their orders carbon impact offset (Lutke, 2019). Through these efforts Shopify hopes to be a leader in the E-commerce industry and ensure the sustainability of the company. Competitors Shopify is in an interesting place in its industry. Shopify is much larger than its closest competitor, Magento, which has a revenue of 150 million annually versus 1.4 billion annually for Shopify. (Owler, n.d). Magento and Big Commerce are the two largest direct competitors. Although Shopify is still the dominant force. Shopify should continue to be the largest subscription service for an E-commerce site, as the company is currently spending money to increase its infrastructure and capabilities. The resources Shopify has should see them continue to dominate this section of the E-commerce market. Shopify also competes less directly with EBay and Amazon. Sellers may choose to have their inventory live on one these platforms rather than having a separate store. Although many businesses choose to use more than just one of these major platforms. Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 11 While Amazon and EBay are the two largest E-commerce competitors to Shopify, there are many other different platforms that exist for buying and selling on the internet. Shopify occupies a niche within this market, and as E-commerce continues to grow Shopify should grow as well. Relevant Public News Stories Shopify has been in the news of late because of its Stock Price. Shopify’s stock on January 3rd of this year was worth $137.60 USD. It peaked this year at $406.99 USD on August 27th (Yahoo Finance, n.d.). So it is safe to say Shopify has been on a very good run in 2019. Shopify has found itself in the news at it stock dropped 3.8 percent following the release of the company’s earnings, which were lower than predicted. Although in the short term this does not look good for Shopify it is part of the plan for the expansion of the company. Shopify in June committed to spending over a billion dollars on fulfillment centers that would allow for the company to grow even larger (Li, 2019). Shopify is in an interesting place now, as some analysts are selling the stock and others are buying it as they expect the stock to continue its strong growth. Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Baird, pointed out that this earnings miss was largely driven by a “A significant one-time tax item,”(Li, 2019) and as such Baird has placed a 12 month target of $410 USD per share valuation which would be a 36% increase from the date of the earnings miss(Li, 2019). Another interesting story surrounding Shopify is that criminals have started to use Shopify’s software in order to scam people. An article in the Financial Post writes “It’s dead simple for a criminal to set up a fake storefront using Shopify’s software; getting one up and Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 12 running takes minutes” (Thompson, 2018). An example of the way scammers are using Shopify, is what happened with My Pillow. MyPillow, which makes pillows, sheets and mattresses in 2018 noticed that a scammer had used Shopify to create an almost exact copy of mypillow.com called mypillowstore.com. This fraudulent store claimed to sell My Pillow products. In April 2018 MyPillow sued Shopify alleging it supported trademark infringement. Shopify took down the site and has not commented on the suit but has said they are committed to addressing the problem (Thompson, 2018). This will be continued challenge for Shopify as scammers try to take advantage of the platform Shopify offers. Ultimately, this incident has not seemed to effect Shopify’s growth much as the stock has seen huge gains since that time. It will be interesting to see if Shopify is able to prevent similar problems from happening in the future. Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 13 References Government of Ontario. (2016, January 25). E-commerce: purchasing and selling online. Retrieved from https://www.ontario.ca/page/e-commerce-purchasing-and-sellingonline#section-6 Li, Y. (2019, October 29). Shares of Shopify Drop on Surprise Loss, but Cramer Says You’ll Regret Selling. Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/sharesof-shopify-drop-on-surprise-loss-but-cramer-says-youll-regret-selling.html Orendorff, A. (2019, January 31). What Is the Future of Ecommerce? 10 Insights on the Evolution of an Industry. Retrieved from https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/the-future-ofecommerce Owler. (n.d.). Shopify. Retrieved from https://www.owler.com/company/shopify Lutke, T. (2019, September 12). We Need to Talk About Carbon. Retrieved November 2, 2019, from https://news.shopify.com/we-need-to-talk-about-carbon Raz, G., & NPR. (2019, August 5). Shopify: Tobias Lutke. On How I Built This With Guy Raz[Podcast]. Apple Podcast. Shopify. (n.d.). Company Info. Retrieved November 2, 2019, from https://news.shopify.com/company-info Shopify. (n.d.). Governance – Board of Directors. Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://investors.shopify.com/Governance/Board-of-Directors/default.aspx Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 14 Shopify. (n.d.). Managing inventory. Retrieved from https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/inventory Shopify. (n.d.). Products. Retrieved from https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products Shopify. (n.d.). Shopify FAQ. Retrieved from https://www.shopify.com/faq Shopify. (n.d.). Shopify Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/shopify/?hl=en Shopify. (n.d.). Shopify Sponsorships. Retrieved November 5, 2019, from https://www.shopify.ca/sponsorships Shopify. (n.d.). Shopify- About Us. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.shopify.ca/about Thompson, P. (2018, August 9). Fraudsters using Shopify to scam people, and critics say the company isn’t doing enough to stop them. Retrieved from https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/canadas-shopify-battles-thescammers-behind-fake-web-stores Vaynerchuk, G., & Apple Podcast. (2019, June 27). The One Thing That Won’t Be Commoditized By the Internet | Inside 4Ds. On The Garyvee Audio Experience [Podcast]. We Make Websites. (n.d.). 37 of the biggest brands on Shopify. Retrieved from https://wemakewebsites.com/blog/37-of-the-biggest-brands-on-shopify Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Shopify Inc. (SHOP) Stock Price, Quote, History & News. Retrieved November 10, 2019, from https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SHOP/ Running Head: Shopify Informational Report 15 Yu, H., & Harvard Business Review. (2018, December 4). What Big Consumer Brands Can Do to Compete in a Digital Economy. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/12/what-bigconsumer-brands-can-do-to-compete-in-a-digital-economy Faculty of Business Administration Business 2331-FAO Business Communications 1 Fall 2019 CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Lauren McEachern Contact: lmceach1@lakeheadu.ca Office Location: Orillia Academic Building, 3rd floor, Desk 13 Office Hours: By appointment (please email me to arrange). Supplementary Course Website: D2L/ myCourseLink COURSE DESCRIPTION This course emphasizes the development of writing skills for business students. Topics include grammar, usage, style, format, and documentation. The writing process is specifically focused on various types of business communication (e.g. memos, letters, and requests for proposals, proposals, and reports). DELIVERY MODE/LOCATION Course Location: OA1025 Campus: Orillia Academic Campus Times: Fridays from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. This class will involve both lectures and participative components, group and individual work. Students are expected to read the text, attend classes regularly, and participate in classroom activities and discussions. COURSE OBJECTIVES Business Communications I is designed to give you the writing skills required of you as a business student and as a professional. The course content covers the special considerations involved with communicating in a digital workplace, including choosing content, organization, style and channel based on analysis of the target audience. Students learn about tone, format, and other content and stylistic choices to write hard copy letters, memos, and informational reports. Research and APA documentation style are also important focuses. LEARNING OUTCOMES Proficiency with the following theoretical and practical aspects of business communications is required in this course: 1. Understand how to analyse a communication situation and communicate effectively based on that analysis. 2. Adapt communication for different audiences to meet the audiences’ content, format, and organizational needs. 3. Understand the theory of communication and how barriers distort messages. 4. Organize and compose routine electronic and hardcopy business memos, letters and informal reports. 5. Create the proper professional tone in communication. 6. Practise strong, deep research skills to produce fully developed and supported reports. 7. Understand the types of reports used in business and how they are geared to the reader and purpose of the writing situation. 8. Use APA documentation, the standard used in the Faculty of Business to cite sources, in an informational report. 9. Organize and compose an informal informational report requiring research and documentation. 10. Produce written and digital work which meets the standards of format, style, and expression which are expected in a professional business setting. Expression includes correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence and paragraph structure. COURSE SCHEDULE The following is the planned course schedule. In the event that a class is scheduled cancelled, a make-up class will be scheduled, and the course schedule adjusted accordingly. Class 1 2 3 Date Friday September 6, 2019 Friday September 13, 2019 Friday, September 20, 2019 4 Friday, September 27, 2019 5 6 7 8 9 Friday, October 4, 2019 Friday, October 11, 2019 Friday, October 18, 2019 Friday, October 25, 2019 Friday, November 1, 2019 Topic Chapter 1 – Business Communication in the Digital Age Material Read the chapter. Be prepared for in class discussion and exercises. Chapter 1 – continued The focus is on the communication process and barriers which create miscommunication. Chapter 2 Professionalism Participating professional meetings, and professional etiquette online. Chapter 8 – Positive Messages Chapter 4 – especially Analyzing and Anticipating the Audience and Using Expert Writing Techniques to Adapt to your Audience Chapter 6 – Revising Business Messages (As you complete the in class writing assignments, Chapters 4 and 6 will be covered.) Case 1 Cases 2 and 3 Students must be in class to complete these assignments in groups. In order to receive permission to complete assignments outside of class, students must inform me of an absence before missing the class. Correct format is important. Cases 4 and 5 Reading Week Reading Week. Cases 6 and 7 Chapter 12 – Writing Informational Reports An assignment and library orientation will be provided in this class. 10 11 12 13 Friday, November 8, 2018 Friday, November 15, 2019 Friday, November 22, 2019 Friday, November 29, 2018 Chapter 11 – Reporting in the Workplace Research review after library orientation. Chapter 5 – Organizing and Drafting Business Messages Group Presentations about Informational Reports Next week groups will be presenting their topic, approach and outline for their reports. The class should be prepared to discuss the presentations to provide suggestions and encouragement for to presenters. Question and Answer Session IMPORTANT DATES: ITEM: FALL STUDY BREAK FINAL DATE TO WITHDRAW LAST DAY OF THIS CLASS EXAMINATION PERIOD EXAM CONTINGENCY DATE —— DUE BY/DATE: October 14 – 18, 2019 November 8, 2019 November 29, 2019 December 5 – 15, 2019 December 16, 2019 REQUIRED MATERIALS Textbooks: Please purchase the following textbooks and bring them to class every day: Business Communication: Process and Product. Guffey, Loewy and Griffin. 6th Brief Canadian Edition. Cites & Sources: An APA Documentation Guide, Haig and Macmillan, Newest edition. Check BUSI 2331 on D2Lfor assignment information and downloadable supplements that will be needed in class. EVALUATION Assignment In-Class Writing Assignment #1Digital Communications (In-Class) In Class Writing Assignment #2- Letter Writing (In-Class) Group Presentation (Informational Report) Group Research Project (Informational Report) Research Project Review (Uploaded to Google Docs) Final Exam Value Due Date 12.5% September 27, 2019 Individual/Group Group Group 12.5% September 27, 2019 15% November 22, 2019 20% November 15, 2019 Group Group Individual 15% November 22, 2019 25% TBA Individual Assignments: The assignments have been designed to allow you to practice the writing strategies and instruction covered in class. Paragraph structure, grammar, spelling and punctuation count in each assignment. Rubrics will be provided and will correlate to the Faculty’s grading criteria. In-class assignments (Research Workshops), are expected to be completed as a part of the scheduled day’s work. Other projects are expected to be completed outside of classroom time. Final Exam: The final exam will include content from throughout the course (in-class and readings). The exam will be written and include a variety of short answer, long-form answer, and multiple-choice questions. The date is TBA. GROUP INFORMATIONAL REPORT: EDITORIAL SIGN OFF Team Member (please print) Percentage of Contribution By signing above, I acknowledge that our group has agreed with the above assessment of group member contribution. If the group is unable to reach agreement, they must meet with the instructor prior to the due date. Team Member (please print) Signature Date By signing above, I acknowledge that I have read the final report. I have offered comments and corrections to the final report with regard to grammar, spelling, punctuation and duplication of content. To the best of my knowledge, everything in this report represents original work. Any ideas or concepts that are not original have been referenced. * This form must be submitted November 15, 2019, the same day as the report. SAMPLE RUBRIC: GROUP INFORMATIONAL REPORT RUBRIC Grade → A+ 90-100% A 8089% B 70-79% C 60-69% D 5059% Content /25 (25%): original thinking expressed in depth and detail; relevant and persuasive evidence for points being made; appropriate use of secondary material. Organization (25%): wellarticulated argumentative thesis statement; wellstructured introduction and conclusion; paragraph unity and coherence. Style (25%): appropriate diction and language level for the audience; rhetorical flair; varied sentence structure; clear, concise prose. Mechanics (25%): correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax, word usage, proofreading, and integration of quotations; accurate documentation; accurate use of APA style. GRADING SCHEME: A+ 90 to 100% A 80 to 89% Outstanding understanding of the course concepts including integration of materials and ideas, ability to apply knowledge to situations F 1-49% B 70 to 79% C 60 to 69% D 50 to 59% F F 1 to 49% 0 Above average to excellent knowledge, ability to apply knowledge to situations Satisfactory knowledge including ability to recognise and apply major course concepts, and to progress to next level of course Some grasp of course concepts; will likely encounter difficulty with higher levels Failed to meet minimum requirements of the course Failure resulting from academic dishonesty Students are advised to refer to the University Calendar to ensure that they have adequate grades and/or average to proceed in their program. Some course /program requirements require a higher average than the minimums stated above. COURSE POLICIES Students may use laptops in class for class-related activities only. Students are encouraged to contact the instructor via the email address provided, as required. Students should expect a minimum of two businesses day for an email response. The instructor will contact students through the lakeheadu email address provided. Students are expected to maintain an excellent attendance record. If you know you will be absent, or if extenuating circumstances prevent you from being in class, please notify me by email before class. No substantive changes to the course outline will be made. Tests and due dates will not be moved back. Only changes to the content for individual classes will be made when necessary. Class requirements/preparation expectations: ▪ Bring the textbook to every class. ▪ Bring writing materials and take notes. ▪ Work as a group on group assignments, rather than take turns completing assignments. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Late assignments will be assessed a penalty of 10 percent for each day they miss the due date beginning from the posted due date. All work prepared outside of class must be word-processed using 12-point Times New Roman font with unjustified right margins. No cover page is needed. A hardcopy MUST be submitted. For further information on your classroom obligations, please go to the following URL: http://policies.lakeheadu.ca/policy.php?pid=60. Disruptive behaviour is not permitted. GENERAL REGULATIONS ACADEMIC DISHONESTY The University takes a most serious view of offences against academic honesty such as plagiarism, cheating and impersonation. Penalties for dealing with such offences will be strictly enforced. A copy of the “Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures” including sections on plagiarism and other forms of misconduct may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar. The following rules shall govern the treatment of candidates who have been found guilty of attempting to obtain academic credit dishonestly. (a) The minimum penalty for a candidate found guilty of plagiarism, or of cheating on any part of a course will be a zero for the work concerned. (b) A candidate found guilty of cheating on a formal examination or a test, or of serious or repeated plagiarism, or of unofficially obtaining a copy of an examination paper before the examination is scheduled to be written, will receive zero for the course and may be expelled from the University. Students disciplined under the Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures may appeal their case through the Judicial Panel. Note: “Plagiarism” shall be deemed to include: 1. Plagiarism of ideas as where an idea of an author or speaker is incorporated into the body of an assignment as though it were the writer’s idea, i.e. no credit is given the person through referencing or footnoting or end noting. 2. Plagiarism of words occurs when phrases, sentences, tables or illustrations of an author or speaker are incorporated into the body of a writer’s own, i.e. no quotations or indentations (depending on the format followed) are present but referencing or footnoting or end noting is given. 3. Plagiarism of ideas and words as where words and an idea(s) of an author or speaker are incorporated into the body of a written assignment as though they were the writer’s own words and ideas, i.e. no quotations or indentations (depending on format followed) are present and no referencing or footnoting or end noting is given. The University Regulations regarding academic dishonesty can be found at: https://www.lakeheadu.ca/faculty-and-staff/departments/services/provost-vice-presidentacademic/academic-integrity-plans-policies/academic-dishonesty-regulations The code of student behaviour and disciplinary procedures can be found at: https://www.lakeheadu.ca/faculty-and-staff/policies/student-related/code-of-studentbehaviour-and-disciplinary-procedures ACCOMMODATIONS Lakehead University is committed to achieving full accessibility for persons with disabilities. Part of this commitment includes arranging academic accommodations for students with disabilities to ensure they have an equitable opportunity to participate in all their academic activities. If you think you may need accommodations, you are strongly encouraged to contact Student Accessibility Services (SAS) and register as early as possible. For more information, please visit: http://studentaccessibility.lakeheadu.ca MISSED EXAMS Make-up examinations will only be given with written documentation from a healthcare practitioner using the official Student Health Certificate, available at https://www.lakeheadu.ca/sites/default/files/forms/Certificate%20of%20Illness_Incapacit y.pdf Final examinations run from December 5th to 15th, 2019, inclusive. There will be no rescheduling of examinations to accommodate holiday travel or extracurricular activities. No one will be allowed to write examinations prior to the scheduled date. Missed Examinations and Tests: To be eligible to write final examinations that they have missed due to illness or other extenuating circumstances, students must comply fully with the applicable section of University Regulation IV (accessible on-line at http://csdc.lakeheadu.ca/Catalog/ViewCatalog.aspx?pageid=viewcatalog&catalogid=25& chapterid=7015&loaduseredits=False). Note: Documentation must be provided no later than three (3) working days after the date of the original final examination. The Certificate of Illness or Incapacitation must be dated as seen by the Medical Professional no later than one (1) working day after the examination. With respect to eligibility to write the final exam, there must again be full compliance with University Regulation IV – except that the completed and signed “Certificate of Illness or Incapacity” or, in the case of exceptional circumstances other than illness, official supporting documentation, must be submitted directly to the instructor rather than Enrolment Services.
Purchase answer to see full attachment