9694 International Business PG Sem 1 2020 Take-home Exam
International Business PG Sem 1 2020 Exam
The take-home exam will involve one essay of no more than 4,000 words (including reference list). The essay requirement is released at 9:00am on Monday 11 May 2020. The due date is on Friday 22 May, 2020 at 11:55pm. No extension will be granted.
Background
In January 2020, news reports began to circulate of a new respiratory virus spreading in Wuhan, China. By the 1st February, 14.3K cases had been identified, and were no longer limited to Wuhan, but had been identified in other major cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai. What initially appeared to be a problem limited predominantly to China, soon became a global issue as countries in Europe, North America and Africa declared their first cases. The World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency on 30th January, and on 11th March, a pandemic. The situation has continued to dramatically escalate: at the time of writing, there have been 395,647 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 17,241 deaths. It is estimated that 20% of the global population is now living with restricted movement.
The impact of this outbreak can be felt globally, as countries around the world close their borders, and cities shut down. Economies worldwide have stalled. The rhetoric everywhere becomes ever more forceful as politicians seek to motivate populations to comply with restrictions of movement. Emmanuel Macron declared ‘We are at war’ as he issued the decree locking down France for the next fourteen days. Now, as we collectively adjust to the new normal, we begin to think about what this pandemic means for the world, both now and in the future.
Source: Adapted from Elsevier 2020 Social Sciences & Humanities Open.
Task
Write an essay on the present implications OR on the longer term implications of the coronavirus.
Students can choose their own topics related to the unit – International Business.
The following topics are prompt suggestions and should not be considered an exhaustive list of possible topics.
The impacts of the outbreak upon firms, especially SMEs Firms’ business strategies during and after the outbreak
The recovery in economic, political, social or cultural perspectives – Will the world remain globalised, or will the world witness a return to greater localisation?
Global value chain restructuring/resilience
The outbreak and firms’ digitalisation transformation
Structure
The essay should be structured according to standard practice for research essays, including a title page, an abstract, an introduction (which should briefly set out the context for your essay, the main argument(s) you will make, and the structure of the essay), a set of coherent paragraphs containing the body of the essay and a conclusion. No need to include a table of contents.
Referencing
As this is a take-home exam where you will have access to other materials, you will be required to reference your work as per standard UC requirements and include a reference list.
Acceptable non-academic sources include articles from reputable newspapers (e.g. Sydney Morning Herald, New York Times) or other news sources (e.g. ABC or BBC News), and reports/blog posts from thinktanks or research institutes. Wikipedia entries, other online encyclopedias or dictionaries cannot be used in your references.
In-text citations and references used in the essay MUST follow UC Harvard author-date referencing system. The guide to UC Harvard author-date referencing is at http://canberra.libguides.com/referencing/harvard
Word limit
No more than 4,000 words including reference list (minimum 3,500 words).
Submission
Please submit your take-home exam essay in a single Word document. The file name should include your student number and the essay topic you have chosen, e.g. u1234567_ The impacts of the outbreak upon firms, especially SMEs.docx
Submit your take-home exam essay via Canvas. The electronic submission of your exam will serve as the official record of the time and date of submission for the assignment. The essay will not be marked if it has not been submitted via Canvas.
No extension will be granted on the take-home exam.
Marking and Feedback
This exam is worth 45% of the unit. The essay will be marked out of 100 marks. As this assessment falls within the exam period, the marks will need to be processed quickly to have the unit overall grade finalised by the School’s assessment board. Therefore, you will receive a final mark for your exam but not detailed feedback on your essay.
