OBS 370 Group Assignment | 2024

Topic: Business Opportunities and Organisational Development in South Africa

and Beyond*

Instructions

In this group assignment, there are three phases that form part of the final deliverable. Group
members have been assigned at random by the lecturers, and it is critical that all group
members contribute equally. Please refer to ClickUP to see and engage with your group
members. On average you should be 6 members in a group.

Importantly, students will be given an opportunity at the end of the semester to provide
anonymous contribution weightings of fellow members to ensure fairness. To this end, please
log your work contributions as we take non-engagement seriously and do amend marks
accordingly.

Phase 1: Use Your Business Analytics Knowledge

Assess the greatest business opportunities in various regions in South Africa using provided
data sets and statistical techniques.

Tasks
1. Industry Analysis
o Perform descriptive statistical analysis to identify the best performing
industry in Cape Town, South Africa from 2020 to 2023.
o Include measures of central tendency (mean, median) and dispersion
(standard deviation, variance).
o Consider factors such as number of establishments, FTE, and Wage Band.
o Include visualisations (e.g., scatter plots, line graphs, bar graphs) to illustrate
trends and findings.
o Provide a comprehensive report summarising the results.

2. Industry Profile
o Discuss the implications of the findings on regional economic policies and
business strategies.

Further reading
Industry Analysis: Endri, E & Fathony, M. (2020). Determinants of firm’s value: Evidence from
financial industry. Management Science Letters, 10(1), 111-120.
Industry Profile Example: Hermans, Raine; Kulvik, Martti; Tahvanainen, Antti-Jussi (2005).
Survey on the Finnsh biotechnology industry: Background and descriptive statistics, ETLA
Discussion Papers, No. 978, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA), Helsinki
Industry Potential Example: Ahsan, M., Ahmad, K., Ahamed, J., Omar, M., Ahmad, K.A. Bin,
2023. PAPQ: Predictive analytics of product quality in industry 4.0. Sustainable Operations and
Computers 4, 53–61.
General Guide: Cooksey, R.W. (2020). Descriptive Statistics for Summarising Data. In:
Illustrating Statistical Procedures: Finding Meaning in Quantitative Data . Springer, Singapore.

Phase 2: Develop Your Organisational Profile

Create your own conceptual organisation that addresses a gap in the highest potential
industry identified in Cape Town.

Tasks
1. Vision and Mission
o Define the vision and mission statements of you organisation.
o Ensure these align with the identified business opportunity and industry
potential.
2. Business Functions
o Describe the main business functions (e.g., Research and Development,
Marketing, Sales, Customer Support).
o Explain how these functions will support the organisation’s objectives.
3. Product or Service Example
o Provide a detailed description of a product or service that the organisation
will offer.
o Highlight its unique selling points and potential market demand.
4. Data Types and Sources
o Identify the types of data your company will work with (e.g., customer data,
market data, sales data).
o Describe the sources of this data (e.g., government databases, market
research firms, customer surveys).
o Discuss the value of each data type to the organisation.
5. Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD)
o Create an ERD for one of the organisation’s service or product.
o Include key entities, relationships, and attributes.
o Ensure the ERD is clear and accurately represents the data structure.

Further readings
Gordon, K. (2017) Modelling Business Information: Entity relationship and class modelling for
Business Analysts. Swindon: BCS Learning & Development Limited.
Bagui, S. and Earp, R. (2003) Database design using entity-relationship diagrams. Boca Raton:
Auerbach.
Muniandi, M., 2020. The reflections on the using of Oracle Data Modeler in creating Entity
Relationship Diagram (ERD). ResearchGate.
 Deliverables

Presentation Deck
o Participants' names and contributions (with clear percentage contributions
totalling 100%).
o Statistical analysis of the three key areas.
o Insights from findings.
o Conceptual organisation profile with branding and product/service overview.
o Business recommendations (scaling, market entry, data requirements, data
value).
o References using the Harvard referencing technique.

Due Date
• Submission of the presentation deck: 1 November 2024.
• Groups will present their findings 4-6 November. Please see your assigned slot HERE.

Arrangements
• Groups will be randomly assigned.
• Each presentation will last 15 minutes [5 minutes of which are assigned for setup
and Q&A], managed diligently to ensure equal time for all groups.
• No late assignments will be accepted.
• All references should be listed at the end of your assignment.
• Assignments will be checked for plagiarism, AI and incidents of similarity.

Rubric Item Marks Learning Objectives Alignment

Phase 1: Statistical Assessment of Data Sheet
Industry analysis (descriptive statistics) 15 Identify and analyse various types of data and
correctly describe variables with knowledge gained
from the module.
Visualisations and interpretation 8 Explain business findings from data, noting data
ethics, business strategies and economic policy
implications where applicable.
Phase 2: Organisational Profile
Vision, mission, and business 3 Describe business functions and formulate
functions organisational goals.
Example product or service 6 Apply business concepts to create a
products/service that addresses the selected
industry.
Data types and sources 3 Identify data sources and explain their value.
ERD development 5 Describe data management concepts and create
data model.
Presentation Demonstration
Quality of presentation 10 Effective communication and presentation skills.
Total 50