ECONS BRIEF

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
Centre for Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia
Foundation of Natural & Built Environments (FNBE)
Principles of Economics [ECN30205]
Prerequisite: None
Lecturer: Chang Jau Ho
Assignment: A Tale of Two Businesses – A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar
Industry in Different Geographical Locations
30% Group Work
Submission: By 12pm, Friday, 22nd
May 2014 (Week 14)
Introduction
The decisions made by firms to compete and thrive in the market place are heavily influenced
by its environments. Factors like the market size, target customers, product(s) sold, and
number of competitors can determine its behaviours and success (or lack thereof) over time.
In this assignment, the students will collect data regarding 2 businesses (of their choice) and
then analyse and compare their competitive behaviours with respect to their own environmental
factors. These findings, together with relevant conclusions, will be presented in a submitted
written report.
Objectives of Project
The objectives of this project:
• To understand the real world, market forces and consumer behaviour.
• To analyze and compare the different types of firm competition in a market.
Learning Outcomes of Project
On successful completion of this project, students will be able to
demonstrate the following:
• Generalize about economic behaviour or economic data.
• Compare and summarize the characteristics of different types of market competition
(e.g. monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition, etc.).
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2. Tasks - Methodology
Your tasks are as follows:
a) Form a group with maximum 5 members (one member will be the group leader).
b) Select 2 businesses within the same industry (one based in Penang and the other
in Klang Valley) for research purposes.
c) You will contact and obtain permission from the relevant persons (e.g. owner,
manager) of those businesses to conduct a face-to-face interview and on-site
observations.
d) Before the interview, you will conduct preliminary research (via books, internet,
newspaper, etc.) and gather background information on the chosen businesses.
e) Interview questions will be prepared and reviewed (by the lecturer) 1 week before the
scheduled interview date.
f) After you have gathered the information, submit a 2000-word report (excluding cover
page and references) based on your findings. The report must be submitted in
softcopy form only.
g) Along with the report, you must also provide links to the videos related to the site visit.
h) For more information on part (f) and (g), read the guidelines in the appendix section
of this brief.
i) The information sources for your research will come from personal interviews, on-site
observations and others (such as books, magazines, newspapers, and the internet).
Ensure that you quote at least 5 different sources of information in the report and the
internet constitutes no more than 40% of those sources.
j) Important: Ensure that you quote your sources (APA style) and refrain from copying. I
conduct plagiarism checks on all assignments submitted. Students caught with said
offence will face severe disciplinary action. Ignore this warning at your own risk.
Submission Requirement
- A 2000-word written report (excluding cover page and references) in softcopy form.
- Video segments relevant to the report (with YouTube Links provided).
Assessment criteria
The assessment for this assignment will be based on:
TGC
Acquired
Assessment Criteria Marks %
Group Component
2

3. Spelling/Grammar & Format 5%
Background Information 5%
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4. Analysis of Competitive Behaviour 15%
Video Segments 5%
TOTAL 30%
Marking criteria
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5. Assessment
Criteria (with
TGC)
30% Excellent (10-9) Good (8-7) Satisfactory (6-5) Poor (4-3) Fail (2– 0)
Spelling/
Grammar &
Format
5%
The report does
not contain any
spelling and/nor
grammatical
error(s). In
addition, the
report is written
coherently i.e.
proper use of
paragraphs,
headings, fonts,
etc.
The report has 1
to 2 spelling
and/or
grammatical
error(s). In
addition, the
report’s content is
written in a
decently coherent
manner.
The report has 3
to 4 spelling
and/or
grammatical
error(s). In
addition, the
report’s content is
moderately
coherent.
The report has 5
to 6 spelling
and/or
grammatical
error(s). In
addition, the
report’s content
does not read
coherently
The report 7 or
more spelling
and/or
grammatical
error(s). In
addition, the
report’s content
does not make
sense at all.
Background
Information 5%
Provides an
excellent
description of the
businesses and
their industry.
Also includes
highly relevant
and informative
graphs, tables,
charts and
photos, etc.
Provides a good
description of the
businesses and
their industry. Also
includes relevant
and informative
graphs, tables,
charts and photos,
etc.
Provides a
satisfactory
description of the
businesses and
their industry. Also
includes
moderately
relevant and
informative
graphs, tables,
charts and photos,
etc.
Provides a poor
description of the
businesses and
their industry.
Graphs, charts,
tables and photos
presented are
neither relevant
nor informative.
Provides a very
poor description
of the businesses
and their industry.
Does not provide
any charts,
tables, graphs
and photos, etc to
illustrate the key
points.
15%
Provides an
excellent analysis
of the competitive
traits of the
businesses. Also
able to draw
excellent
conclusions and
suggest
outstanding
recommendations
for the
businesses.
Provides a good
analysis of the
competitive traits
of the businesses.
Also able to draw
good conclusions
and suggest
decent
recommendations.
Provides a
satisfactory
analysis of the
competitive traits
of the businesses.
Also able to draw
average
conclusions and
suggest
moderately
suitable
recommendations.
Provides a poor
analysis of the
competitive traits
of the
businesses. In
addition, poorly
justified
conclusions and
unsuitable
recommendations
are provided.
Provides a very
poor analysis of
the competitive
traits of the
businesses. In
addition, very
poorly justified
conclusions and
very poorly
considered
recommendations
are given
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6. APPENDIX 1: Guidelines for Report Writing
The following is a suggested outline for your research report:
Cover page
The cover page of your report should include name of module, report title, names of group members
(with student ID) and Taylor’s University’s name logo.
Table of Content
It contains a list of the key sections of your report and their corresponding page numbers.
Key Summary (approx. 100 words)
The key summary is, as the name suggests, a SUMMARY of the content in your report. This will give
the reader a quick idea of what your research is about and the results that you have acquired.
Brief Bio of the Businesses (approx. 600 words)
This section provides background information about the businesses such as:
i) Their names;
ii) Current locations;
iii) Number of branches and employees;
iv) Main products or services sold;
v) Estimated current number of customers.
vi) When were the businesses founded?
vii) Who are the founders?
viii) What was their motive(s) for starting the business; and
ix) Their recent development (i.e. what has the business accomplished or what changes have occurred
in the business over the past 3 - 5 years).
(Note 2: a 4 to 5-minute video with YouTube link is required for this section. You may include
footages of the interviews and visit to the business premises in this video as well.)
Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits (approx. 1000 words)
This section discusses the competitive behaviours of the businesses and their respective markets such
as:
i) (Approximate) number of competitors in their respective geographical markets;
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7. ii) The market share of the business and its top competitors.
ii) Brief bios of each business’ top 3 competitors (E.g. who are they? What are their products? etc.);
iii) How do the businesses compete with their competitors? What strategies were/are employed (e.g.
pricing, advertising, product variety, etc.) and how successful are they?
iv) What are the obstacles faced by new businesses who wish to enter their markets today? Are they
easy or difficult to overcome? Why?
v) What is the nature of their markets (e.g. perfectly competitive, oligopoly, monopolistic competitive)
and your justifications.
vi) You must include a summary table (see appendix 3) to compare the similarities and differences
between the 2 businesses.
vii) Based on your analysis, which business is more commercially successful? And why?
(Note 2: a 4 to 5-minute video with YouTube link is required for this section.)
Recommendation (approx. 300 words)
Based on the analysis of the previous section, you will provide a minimum of 2 recommendations on
improving the competitiveness for each business with proper justifications.
(Note 2: a 1 to 2-minute video with YouTube link is required for this section.)
Appendices
This section will include interview notes, contact details of the businesses and photos (e.g. business
premises, current owners, employees, products or services sold, promotional advertisements, Facebook
pages, websites, competitors’ business premises, competitors’ product and services, etc.).
Reference
Your report must contain at least 5 different sources (in APA style) and the internet constitutes no more
than 40% of those sources.
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8. APPENDIX 2: Suggested List of Interview Questions (Non-Exhaustive)
1) When was the business founded?
2) Who are the key founders?
3) What prompted the founders to start this business?
4) What are your main products or services?
5) Who are your customers? (e.g. Age group, income-level, education-level, etc.)
6) What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
7) How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
8) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
9) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
10) How big is your market share as well as your top competitors?
11) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies
have they used to compete with you?
12) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of
knowledge do you need to run this business?
13) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
14) How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert
customers away from your competitors?
15) How often do you release a new product (note: this assumes the business sells differentiated
products)?
16) Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors? Why or why not?
Important: You must provide the contact details (name, job position, and office phone
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9. number/email address) of your interviewee in the report.
APPENDIX 3: Comparative Analysis Summary Table
Competitive Traits Business A (Melaka-Based) Business B (Klang Valley-
Based)
1. Number of Competitors
(in ranges e.g. 2 to 10, 10 to
50, 50 to 150, etc.)
2. Barrier to Entry (Weak or
Strong? Why?)
3. Differentiated or
Standardized Products (if
differentiated provide 2 to 3
examples)
4. Pricing Power (Price
Maker or Taker? Why?)
5. Other Characteristics
(e.g. Any close product
substitutes, mutual
dependence, constant
advertising)
6. Verdict (Monopoly?
Oligopoly? Perfect
Competition?)
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10. number/email address) of your interviewee in the report.
APPENDIX 3: Comparative Analysis Summary Table
Competitive Traits Business A (Melaka-Based) Business B (Klang Valley-
Based)
1. Number of Competitors
(in ranges e.g. 2 to 10, 10 to
50, 50 to 150, etc.)
2. Barrier to Entry (Weak or
Strong? Why?)
3. Differentiated or
Standardized Products (if
differentiated provide 2 to 3
examples)
4. Pricing Power (Price
Maker or Taker? Why?)
5. Other Characteristics
(e.g. Any close product
substitutes, mutual
dependence, constant
advertising)
6. Verdict (Monopoly?
Oligopoly? Perfect
Competition?)
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