Excelsior Business Strategy 495

[joel66]

Just curious how many pages is that case study? The annual report project I just completed at my local community college for the financial accounting was 17 freaking pages :eek:

[ivanjak]

Just curious how many pages is that case study? The annual report project I just completed at my local community college for the financial accounting was 17 freaking pages :eek:

There are outlines for Case Analysis floating around. In the syllabus it states that the Analysis is 30% of your grade. I would choose a Case Study(located in the book) with an industry you are familiar with for an easier analysis. I ended up with a case in the publishing industry, which I know nothing about, and it provided more of a challenge. My Analysis was 5 pages including the cover page. Implementing subject matter concepts and verbiage correctly helps. Received an "A" for the course and though my professor pointed out the brevity he also pointed out the quality. Later.

[gcalvin]

When I took BUS495 a year ago, the case study was assigned -- you didn't get to choose it. I got a B in the course, but frankly my case study wasn't very good. The key is to apply the techniques taught in the text, and to be brutally clear that this is what you're doing. For instance, you might take the SWOT approach, in which case you would have sections of your paper with explicit headings of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Have a clear and specific recommendation for the company's strategy for, say, the next five years, and back it up with data. Bring in some sources from outside the textbook, as much to illustrate that you can find information and cite sources properly as to back up your recommendations.

-Gary-

[gcalvin]

By the way, the length isn't specified, as I recall, but you should probably think in terms of five to six pages, single spaced, in a Word document. You actually won't post a Word document, but rather paste the text into a web form, so consider that length a guideline. Mine was actually considerably shorter than that, but then again, mine kind of sucked. You definitely don't want to pad out your project for length. If anything, edit out anything that might be considered fluff.

-Gary-

[joel66]

Thanks for the info. I am hoping to get my degree by this Summer and getting buttlerflies. lol

[cbrchris]

You can now post your case study in a word doc to the instructor. So all your formatting will remain intact.


I just completed this course, I was able to receive an A in the course.

Chapter Quizzes 50 %
On line Participation 20 %
Case Project 30 %
Total 100 %

As mentioned earlier in the thread, you should be able to get all 20 questions for each chapter exam correct since the questions come straight from the book and usually follow the chapter. Meaning question 1 is usually seen at the beginning of the chapter. There are 14 Chapter exams each with 20 questions. Sometimes the wording is a little tricky and you might miss one or two questions. My lowest was 18 out of 20.

For online participation, there are questions regarding the chapter and questions regarding a short case study for each 14 weeks. Usually I would only answer 1 question each week for both the chapter and the case study. There are usually between 5-8 questions for each chap/cast study to choose from. Some students would answer all the questions. I only responded to others answers every once in awhile. I tried to make an effort to answer 1 question at the beginning of the week, since most students would wait till the weekend to work on them. This way I could just answer them and not have to build upon the discussions of others answers.

For the case study I was given 29 out of 30. Mine ended up being 9 pages long. Single spaced with size 10 font. I did have 1 page of of cash flow statements taken from the annual report. I also included some graphs to show the revenue stream, and percentages of expenses and revenue.

For my case study I included:

Intro
Business Model
Financials
I detailed the Service being offered from the company
Management Team Assessment - (Gave overview of the team past companies they worked for or anything notable. Listed Management team and Board of Directors.
Competition and Partnerships
SWOT Analysis
Recommendations (What you would recommend the company if you were a Senior Leader of the company.
References - I had 9

In my course with Dr. Harter he listed about 20 different choices of Case Studies to choose from the back of the book. It was first come first serve, until they were all chosen. So sign on and select one of interest for you as soon as the class opens.

There is also a extra credit exam taken at the end of the course. It is 100 questions and is optional. The points are awarded based on how you score.
100 – 95; 10 points 79-75; 6 points
94-90; 9 points 74-70; 5 points
89-85; 8 points 69-65; 4 points
84-80; 7 points less than 65; no points.

I thought the extra credit exam was very challenging. It was similar to a CLEP exam, but on steroids. It covered various areas you should have knowledge in for a business degree (Accounting, Economics, Information Systems, Marketing, Finance, Quantitative Analysis, Strategy, Operations, I think there was 1 or 2 more). This was the only timed test in the course. You are give 3 hours to complete, which does allow some time to look things up while taking it. One book I think that might help give you an overview before you attempt the extra credit test is Amazon.com: The Ten-Day MBA: A Step-By-step Guide To Mastering The Skills Taught In America's Top Business Schools: Steven A. Silbiger: Books or any similar book would help. I did not use this book, but I wish I had of reviewed something similar. I was only able to score a 73 on the exam.

Overall I did not find the course that difficult and I think I stressed about it more than I should of. I went in with only wanting a C out of the course and was shocked I was able to get an A. I think the Case Study project is really what determines your grade, if you have done all the chapter exams and posted some discussions. I think I ended up with only about 34 postings for the course in the discussions.

Good Luck to any students who take this course in the future.

[jorai]

I am done with my course and I have the book for sale. It is in great conditions like new. PM with an offer.

J.

[joel66]

On the BUS495 course, are you able to save quizzes and go back later to complete prior to submitting?

[cbrchris]

On the BUS495 course, are you able to save quizzes and go back later to complete prior to submitting?

If I remember correctly once you start a quiz you need to complete it. Only allowed one attempt. They were untimed.

[joel66]

If I remember correctly once you start a quiz you need to complete it. Only allowed one attempt. They were untimed.

Yeah, these quizzes is pretty simple. I also noticed that you can take the quizzes and post the message board ahead of schedule, so it appears you can complete the ahead of schedule. The instructor has all the questions for the message board, and quizzes and final already posted. Only problem, I was the first one to post both questions for each of chapter 1 sections and getting drilled with additional questions. ERR, I just want to move onto chapter 2 discussion board posts. hilarious