01. Critically analyse and interpret business and economic environments to formulate business and marketing strategies

Activities:

Students will learn about business operation and business structures through online lectures and will apply the knowledge in weekly case studies to develop a good understanding of marketing, legal, financial factors impacting business operation. Further to this, students will be exposed to a range of business areas by industry professionals in weekly guest lecturers throughout semester. Assessment will include participation in the weekly case studies, weekly quizzes, and in group assignment developing a business plan for a product/service.

02. Apply basic legal principles and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) requirements relevant to practicing engineers

Activities:

Students will be introduced to the Australian legal system and how it applies to business and operations for engineers. Furthermore, law of tort & professional negligence & industrial relations, insurance/risk /ACCC legislation will also be covered and discussed with industry professionals. Content will be delivered in several online lectures, 2 case studies and 2 industry lectures. Students will be required to demonstrate an understanding of basic legal principles and OHS in 2 online quizzes, in discussion during 2 case studies and in an applied manner with the submission of their final business plan. Students are expected to present during case studies and further develop their persuasive arguments based on evidence.

03. Apply basic financial principals required for budget management

Activities:

Students will be introduced to the basics of financial principles, profit loss statements general accounting, creating budgets, budget management and basic project costing. Two weeks of the subject are dedicated to these topics. Two case studies are undertaken; 1. Daily booking, balance sheets and statements and 2. Creating basic budgets. Students will be required to demonstrate this understanding and will be assessed accordingly in 2 weekly quizzes, 2 case studies. The application of the financial knowledge will be assessed in the group work in the submission of the business plan assignment. Two guest lecture from industry professionals will be given around finances and project proposals/tenders to emphasize the importance of these skills in the professional world of engineering.

04. Apply knowledge of marketing research, consumer behaviour and market segmentation

Activities:

Students will learn how to undertake marketing research and the differences between marketing of services and products and Consumer behaviour and market segmentation. Content will be delivered in 2 weeks of online lectures and by 2 guest lectures by industry professionals. 2 case studies will be undertaken to further support the learning process; 1 strategic marketing and use of SWOT analysis 2. Consumer vs enterprise marketing strategies. Assessment of marketing will be undertaken in 2 weekly quizzes and during the case studies where students will undertake critical analysis of marketing by global and local organisations. Assessment of marketing will be undertaken in individual assignment and the group business plan.

05. Collaborate effectively in teams to achieve goals

Activities:

Online lectures provide the basics of business plan formulation and writing. Students will need to have weekly team meetings to develop the business plan resulting in a team presentation and a written business plan. Students will need to document team meeting in a professional manner taking minutes, resolving disputes and assigning action items using collaborative tools such as Wunderlist and IEEE Collabratec. Furthermore, students will need to keep all documentation in an online portal so that it is accessible to staff for assessment and progress report writing. Staff will assess meeting minutes and progress based on team integration and ability to utilise each others strengths.

06. Produce well-structured business plans and engaging oral presentations

Activities:

Students will be introduced to methods of conducting business related research. An entire week is dedicated to Business Plans (Business Plan Development, Costing of Business/Business Plan) through online lecture material. Furthermore students will be given an industry lecture on the topic of 'What makes a good business plan'. The weekly case study will focus on business plan analysis and methods of pitching to venture capital lead. Students will need to work in a team of 5 to deliver an effective team business plan presentation. The business plan presentations will be assessed by a panel of academics and industry representatives.

07. Develop effective self-branding strategy, presentation and engagement using online tools

Activities:

Students will be introduced to the concept of self-marketing or personal branding. The job market has grown more competitive over the years. An increasing amount of skilled workers are competing for a shrinking pool of jobs, and every year millions of undergraduate and graduate students enter the labor force to compete against more experienced workers. Self-marketing gives students opportunities to effectively communicate their values, skills, experiences, and vision to potential employers. Students will learn how to communicate their attributes via CV#s, create business cards, linkedin profiles and other online tools. Students will observe an online lecture, undertake a face to face guest lecture on self-marketing/personal branding and apply the knowledge in a case study.

08. Understand and apply fundamental management tools and resources for information and decision making

Activities:

Students will be given 3 weeks of online lectures on management tools and resources which includes information management. Students are required to conduct research, locate information from various sources and scope out business related topics prior to and during weekly case studies. Students will be taught how to succinctly gather, summarise and analyse data to form informative conclusions. Students will be required to learn about and apply IEEE & Harvard style referencing in their business research and justification in weekly case studies and in particular when developing their business plan and will learn how to collect, collate, label and manage information/documents and track versions of a business plan using the latest online and offline collaborative information management