Introduction to Business
The module is designed to provide the student with an understanding of the basic concepts of business. It serves to provide an informative background on business systems and help students understand the different types of business organizations; the know-how in starting and managing a business; and the importance of ethics and social responsibility of businesses.
Assignment 1: Business Presentation
The aim of this assignment is to broaden students’ knowledge and awareness in contemporary business issues. Students will research one issue (of their choice) and then explain their findings in a class presentation.
My groupmates and I consists of those who just came back from London, namely Lim Joe Onn, John Feng and myself. After some discussion, we came out with an idea to sell bird nest drinks and brainstormed about the business plan.
Besides that, we did some market analysis. We found that healthy drinks that provide energy to people are sold well locally. Also, we realised that people nowadays felt that cooking bird nest is troublesome.
Thus, we came out with this product design which is designed by me:
Customers will buy our product because:
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It is healthy
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Its design is simple yet visually appealing
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It doesn't require a long time to prepare
We also came out with several types of bird nest drinks to cater multiple target markets:
Our facebook page:
Our promotional material:
Our presentation:
Our slides:
Conclusion:
I've learn that good presentation skills improve the perception and attention of the audience and we need more pracctice to achieve that
Interpersonal skills are also important as communicating to our groupmates is vital.
Digital Skills such as using powerpoint also helps us in this assignment
Tutorial: Maslow Hierachy of needs
During a tutorial session, Mr Chang divided our tutorial class into three groups. Our group got the topic 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs' and were required to perfrom a short play about refugees in Malaysia to let everyone understand this theory.
My group consists of Arvind, Harwinder, Hong Da, Joe, Jaclyn, Wei Shan, Jia Xin, two Daniels and of course, myself.
After a group discussion, we came out with an idea that in a parallel universe, the country of Bangladesh was struck by war and poverty. Thus, three Bangladeshi citizens came to Malaysia to seek refuge.
They were greeted with warm hospitality by Malaysians and had fulfilled both their basic and self-actualization needs. The video on the right shows our play.
Conclusion:
This tutorial session taught me a lesson that physiological needs come first because humans are mortals. Food , air and water are the most basic requirements for a living thing to survive. When the basic needs are fulfilled, self-actualization needs motivate us to thrive for greater success in life.
Besides that, good communication skills in group discussions are important. This is to ensure that a given task is done within the designated time limit.
Final Project: Charity Drive
The aim of this project is to let students apply the various concepts they have learnt in classrooms (e.g. leadership, production management, marketing strategies) by running a one-week business operation for the purposes of charity. They will also need to document the decisions that they have made and the results achieved in a report known as the business report.
The Brief:
Our group consists of me as the project leader, Carlson, Harwinder and Daniel Chow
During our discussion, we have decided to sell foods because everyone needs it and thus we came up with selling:
1. Dominos pizza
2. Ikea curry puffs
Reason:
1. Famous Branding
2. Easy to get at low prices
3. Guaranteed quality
We then decided to name our group Eat&Go because our foods are fast and easy to carry around
Our promotional material:
Our booth:
Our Report:
Our reflection video:
Our donation video
To conclude, we raised RM2546 within a week! A great acheivement for us!!
I learnt that earning money is not an easy task as the process of promotion and selling was more energy-consuming than we thought. Also, certain events happened such as being chased ignored by people and internal group conflicts between teammates but our team still managed to pull it off.
Business is mostly about being practical. From this project, we improved our communication skills, most prominently on ways to persuade others. Interpersonal skills are essential when it comes to doing business and the lessons learnt in this project gave us valuable experience.
Reflective Essay
In the modern era of globalization. Business plays an important role in our daily lives. Through the lectures in class, I learnt about the fundamentals that keep businesses running. The tutorial sessions conducted in class were fun and interactive, yet informative at the same time, making it more interesting.
Firstly, we had to form a group of 3-4 and do a presentation regarding a business plan. This assignment trains us to understand the fundamentals of certain business theories regarding human resource management, marketing, production and finance. This assignment taught me the importance of planning strategies and team management when doing a business. Interpersonal skills are vital in group projects such as this one. I am glad that during the preparation process, my team members and I communicated well by conveying ideas with one another clearly and efficiently.
Besides that, a real experience on business management and product marketing is essential for students like us as business is not just about theories. In the final assignment, we utilized the skills learnt in class and had a practical experience of earning money. This assignment gave us the opportunity to run a mock business and earn profit for a charity organization. As it was my first time being an accountant of a team, writing receipts and creating an accounts report were new experiences to me. we also got the chance to promote our products to strangers, how cool is that?
In conclusion, the Introduction to Business module gave me valuable experiences and lessons that are definitely useful as I venture into society in the future. As this module comes to an end, I would like to express my thanks to Mr Chang, our lecturer for teaching us in this module.