What is expected from your

assignment?
Dr David Yoon Kin Tong
IUMW Business School (IBS)
 From your Module Guideline
Title: (Related to the New Business)

1) Executive summary (To write last by summing up the contents)

2) Introduction
3) Critical evaluation of company’s core business
4) Corporate entrepreneurship Initiative
5) New Business Opportunity and Innovation
6) Recommendations
7) Conclusion (Conclusion is not a summary but you are required to emphasise on the
importance of your evaluation, initiative and business opportunity and innovation)

• References (Use the APA 6th Edition references and citations methods)
 Number of pages

• With references to the online word counter (Word Counter, n.d.), a

4000 words with 1.5 spacing and in Times New Roman, it is about 12.7
pages, excluding the cover page, contents, and references.
 Executive Summary

• When it comes to writing an executive summary (ES), always

aim to write it when you have completed all the sections.

• In this section, all you need to do is to summarise each

section concisely.

• Just write about 400 words or about 1 page.

 Introduction

• The aim of an introduction is to describe to the readers what

would be in the report and it includes the following (APA, 2010):

➢Existing literature of the topic. E.g. HR, Strategic Management, etc

➢Short historical perspectives of the topic (if any)
➢Frame the various concern of the issues to be studied
➢Framing can incorporate the theory, potential application, uses, policy,
and others
➢Describe the purpose or objectives of your study.
➢Describe the goal(s) of the method you intend to use to address the
issues. [About 400 words or 1 page]
 Critical evaluation of company’s core business
• Know the following about your company:
➢Type of business
➢Core business
➢Organizational structure
➢Mission and vision
➢Number of employees, managers, senior managers, etc.
➢Departments
➢Competitors
➢Capabilities and weaknesses
➢Organizational culture and others

• Note: If you are not working, search for a company that provide sufficient
information about the company. [About 1000 words or 3 pages]
• Note: Words and pages are for guidance only.
 Corporate entrepreneurship Initiative

• Know the definition or meaning of initiative and what CE initiative

entails? (Don’t forget to define CE and innovation).

• Is your CE initiative(s) related to product, service, process, supply

chain, line extension, and others? Please state and justify.
 Corporate entrepreneurship Initiative
• Why this CE initiative(s) are proposed? Is it due to internal or cause by external
environment? How do you scan it to confirm it is internal rather than external?

• If it is internal, evaluation on current technology, new application to existing

competences, shelved concepts and ideas and others must be considered.

• If it is external, is it related to competition, technology, shorter product life cycle or

others?

• What will be the projected outcome of the firm performance? Is it for value
creation, revenue growth, market expansion, and others? (McFadzean, O'Loughlin,
& Shaw, 2005) sales growth or stakeholder satisfaction (Bedoya, Alzate, & Giraldo,
2018). Make assumptions!
 Corporate entrepreneurship Initiative
• For innovation, you need to decide whether it is incremental innovation, radical
innovation, modular innovation, and others (search and read type of innovations).

• Is it an improvement initiative or commercialization initiative or novelty initiative?

• Who will be in your new team, new CE structure, reporting system, and others?

• What is the capabilities of your new team members? Which department expertise
do you intend to recruit for the CE team? Is there any new recruit to the team? Or
just upskilling will suffice.

• Details, details, details….

 New Business Opportunity and Innovation

• In this section, it is recommended that you create a figure or

framework for the new business opportunity and innovation. The
figure or framework should incorporate the following:
➢The CE initiative and its mission
➢State the idea (input) for the new business: product, service,
process, supply chain, line extension, and others
➢Type of innovation and its process
➢Problem solving and risk taking
➢Implementation
➢Expected performance outcome
➢CE governance and ownership
 New Business Opportunity and Innovation

• Once your framework is established, describe them systematically.

• Why figure or framework is required?

• To spike the writing and a picture tells a thousand word.

• The aim is to explain to the readers your approach to the new

business and innovation.
 Recommendations

• Write your recommendation in bullet form BUT include a brief

descriptions of the recommendation (with citation, if relevant). For
example:

• Upgrade the software for the 3D printer.

Currently, the 3D printer software in the plant has some limitations. It
can only print the square and round shapes. It does not have the
provision to print different contouring shape. An upgrade of the
current 3D software version 2 to 5 will have this capability (3D Printer,
2020). The budget should include the cost of upgrading.
 Conclusion
• Remember that a conclusion is not a summary, and summary is not a
conclusion.

• Poor transition of writing a conclusion include using the word, ‘In

conclusion’…. ‘To conclude’….(it is redundant)

• Outline the context of your study or short overview of your study to the
readers, a recap or reminder.

• State the importance of your study. Think as if you are trying to “sell your
product” to the readers. Without your product, company may not
benefit/edge/achieve/etc., against the competitors/economy/market
share/etc. [300 words or ¾ to 1 page]
 References
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• At least 25 references: Journals (15 research articles), internet
articles, online news, podcasts, and others.

• Note: Number of references are for guidance only.

• Note: Number of words for Corporate entrepreneurship Initiative and
New Business Opportunity and Innovation sections, you can juggle
with the remaining of the words count.
 Title

• Interesting title attracts.

• E.g. Ladies’ purchase intention during retail shoes sales promotions
(Tong et al., 2012)
• Lengthy title, boring
• Writing title is a skill by itself.

Impress me!
 Gentle Reminder

•Good transition between paragraphs

•Good transition between paragraphs
•Good citation and reference format
 References
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA dictionary of
psychology. (6th ed). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association (2010).

• Word Counter. Net. (2017, July 21). Retrieved from

https://wordcounter.net/words-per-page

• McFadzean, E., O'Loughlin, A., & Shaw, E. (2005). Corporate entrepreneurship and
innovation part 1: the missing link. European journal of innovation
management,8(3), 351-372.

• Bedoya, M. A., Alzate, B. A., & Giraldo, L. M. (2018, August). Corporate

entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation: The impact on managing
capabilities for innovation. In 2018 Portland International Conference on
Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.