ASSESSMENT: INDIVIDUAL PROJECT BRIEF
| Project Title: Analysis – A Sustainable Business Scenario in 2040 |
For this individual project you are requested:
Firstly, to research the current sustainability challenges of an industry/business in a country of your choice, but consider your home country first. I chose to write for Bulgaria and the renewable energy and more specifically green growth and sustainable development of the country.
Include some photos and illustrations(3-4)
Secondly, based on your findings you should project these same sustainability challenges into the future to the year 2040, this should be illustrated at key date intermediate milestones which should be justified through some form of analysis.
Thirdly, based upon your projection and using analytical tools practiced within the module, you should create a scenario, set in 2040, which describes the sustainability challenges your chosen industry/business is facing then. For example, it could be a resource-constrained, low carbon economy, with harsh environmental and social conditions and significant technological advances.
The aim is also to help you establish a context for understanding the sustainability drivers and barriers that affect a chosen industry/business in your chosen country and to demonstrate the relational aspects between global and local sustainability factors. This will support your Summative Assessment.
Articulating this in more detail, this assessment builds on three successive tasks plus a project plan for how you are going to structure your summative report:
Task 1: ‘Situating Sustainability challenges in CURRENT Industry/Business’
You will need to examine the national need for sustainable development and the current mind-set about its benefits and challenges. Based on research, you should select the major challenges in terms of environmental risks and socio-political issues that pose a direct risk to the Industry/company and its community. This will be the baseline from which your 2040 scenario must be linked. This would constitute no more than 20% of your summative project.
Task 2: ‘Trend analysis for future industry/business ’
Starting from what you have established from your research into the current Industry/company sustainability situation you will research emerging and future trends related to the business sector you have chosen, (see PESTLE factors) as well as the predictions and future visions for 2035/40. In addition you need to highlight which environmental factors will impact your business/ industry sector the most such as: fresh water shortage, waste, land-use, climate change, pollution and bio-diversity loss. This will serve as a backdrop for your futures scenario. Key milestones between now and 2040 must be highlighted from your analysis of your projection to form a ‘timeline’. Ask what if? Using ‘blue-sky’ thinking means daring to imagine what the world would be like in the future. This would constitute at least 25% of your summative project
Task 3: Create your scenario, a future sustainable industry/business set in 2040’
Building upon the initial research (current business context and futures trends) you must project the sustainability challenges of your chosen industry/business into the future – year 2040. There will be several possible futures, but you must select and develop one scenario that is plausible but also allows your industry/business to be ‘innovative’.
Secondly you should describe, again using ‘blue sky’ thinking, how your future industry/business is operating and creating competitive advantage by addressing the difficult environmental and social challenges of 2040. Your projected solution should focus around the technical, social and environmental.
This would constitute at least 40% of your summative project.
Formative Assessment Prompts:
Here are some scenario prompts to help you on your way:
- · When: The timeline between now and 2040
- · Where: The geographical location/country, as well as the socio-economic-environmental setting.
- · Who: The users and what does the industry/business cater for? (e.g. demographics, needs,
interests, aspirations, values, range…)
- · Why: the drivers/ barriers/ challenges and opportunities that will affect your industry/business in
2040 and how have they changed since 2015? (think potential environmental and social
impacts?) Think projecting a timeline showing intermediate milestones
- · How: describe how the industry/business is innovative, feasible and responsive to the
sustainability challenges of 2040.
- · What: the innovation/ business offer? What strategy is the best to meet the challenges of the
environmental limitation/s (e.g. water shortage or climate change) and or social issues in relation to the industry’s and country’s specific conditions in 2040?
Research and documentation:
To support your findings you are encouraged to use an array of reliable and relevant sources of information.
The project consists of developing a scenario for a sustainable business set 24 years ahead in 2040.
You should provide a rationale for the future industry context in which the business operates that is plausible. The chosen 2040 business scenario should be justified by analysis of the current situation, emerging and future trends related to the chosen industry sector and country, and take into account likely future environmental limitations and the socio-political issues and technology changes you have researched. This should be illustrated through the creation of key intermediate milestones on a timeline that stretches from today to 2040. This can be approached as either a ‘back cast’ or a ‘forecast’. The aim of the scenario analysis is to help you gain insights into how business can plan and innovate for the future in an uncertain world and into the far medium term.
You should also show that your future business offers a ‘creative’ ‘innovative’ solution to a set of difficult, environmental and social challenges you have identified as might exist at that time.
The aim is to demonstrate your analytical skills, understanding of the complex issues, risks and opportunities business face and apply the appropriate knowledge, as well as creative and entrepreneurial thinking to reach convincing solutions for a sustainable global business. The future setting will allow you greater creative freedom. However, you are also expected to document your rationale using currently credible sources and bibliography based both on key readings on the module as well as in your individual research.
Format
Written report (so can contain illustrations and bullet points) (2000 words +- 10%), Word processed, using 11pt with 1.5 line spacing.
Guidelines for content and structure (Indicative)
This project will be assessed on the way the document is structured and written (though illustrations and bullet points are permitted). Make sure you check spelling and grammar. It is highly recommended to include illustrations such as images, drawings, tables, graphs if appropriate but make sure you acknowledge the sources correctly, authors/ copyright in captions under the image. To construct a coherent structure for your report you should consider the following:
Title page: the title, sub-title if any, date.
Contents page: including the headings for the sections
Introduction: introduce the aims and objectives of the report and then provide the context with the necessary background information in a concise manner.
Main section: You can take a ‘fore cast’ approach (following the structure of the Formative assessment) or a ‘back cast’ approach (see below).
If taking a ‘back cast’ approach you might consider the following main section structure: Introduce the scenario set in 2040 (~20%) that describes the plausible sustainability challenges of a
business/industry that operates within a resource-constrained economy of that time.
Describe the market offer of the sustainable business/industry that is an ‘innovative’ (blue sky) solution (~20%) to the difficult environmental and social challenges previously described in 2040.
Justify the scenario:
Analyse the period between 2040 and today (~25%). For example: What has happened? What has changed? How have environmental limitations impacted your industry, society and global markets? How might governments respond? How can the industry respond? How do the specifics of your home country interact with the limitations and impacts? Why did you prioritise the impacts.
Produce a Timeline illustrating key milestones that have occurred between 2040 and today.
Describe the situation and trends in the industry today (~20%)
Bibliography: All sources need to be cited including Internet. References should be traceable
Research and documentation:
To support your scenario and strategy you should apply core information and concepts presented in the lecture/seminar presentations and textbook, alongside an array of reliable and relevant sources of information that you will research independently. You should consult official (government) as well as industry and company sources. If you use selected quotes from any source you must indicate the source properly. All quotes, and resources used in the report must be referenced using the standard Harvard Author/date system (see the Student University Handbook for guidance). Make sure the sources are relevant to your topic and what you write.
