Guides: Entrepreneurship: BUSS 3102: Enterprise Design and Value Creation

About this guide

This page will assist you to find scholarly information to support your assessments.

Please see your course outline and course learnonline site for the full assessment details.

Plan your search

Once you have chosen your company, visit their website. Key information to find out:

Is your company Australian or international?
Is your company private or public?
What industry/market does your company fit into?
What is their mission?

Tip: Also look at your company's social media accounts which are key communication tools.

Company and industry information

Have a look at our online guide to finding Company and industry information.

This guide will help you search the web and our databases to find company and industry information, financial information, annual reports and country information.

High growth firms

For examples of young high growth companies look at The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 2023 Australian program, which profiles and ranks the fasted growing public and private technology companies in Australia, based on percentage of revenue growth over 3 years (2021-2023).

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 2023 Australian Program

Searching in business databases

Passport

Below is an example search in Passport for the company MODIBODI, who make period and incontinence underwear.

Passport
This database provides access to Euromonitor reference and source data that covers countries and markets - offering historical statistics and forecasts, information sources, brand and company information, plus full-text market analysis. Passport is continuously-updated as it links directly to the in-house research databases used by Euromonitor analysts and consultants.

On the Home Page, select the Industries heading and relevant subheadings.

Scroll down to the Explore Analysis box. Select Country Report, your product category, and the region. Select GO.

Your country report should automatically open.

Using the menu at the top of the report, you can navigate through different information such as industry analysis, datagraphics, and related industries.

IBISWorld

IBISWorld
Contains detailed reports on select Australian industry sectors.

Type your chosen industry into the search box.
Use the Country filter to select Australia and the Reports filter to select Industry (the results list will update automatically).
Select the industry report that is relevant. When in a report the menu on the left hand side allows you to navigate easily to sections of the report, including Competitive Forces and Companies
When in an industry report, the lightning bolt symbol next to it indicates that a Risk Rating Report is available for that industry - click to access.

D&B Hoovers

D&B Hoovers
Includes access to industry and market research reports, both Australian and Global. Also includes SWOT Analysis reports for the top 5,000 global companies.

The following videos on D&B Hoovers will get you started:

More resources

ABI/INFORM Collection
This database contains articles covering all aspects of the broad area of business, applied economics and law. It also incorporates titles from Asian Business Database, European Business, Accounting & Tax database and Banking Information databases plus thousands more. It has archives, trade publications and Wall Street Journal (Eastern)
Keeping current
To find out what is trending in the entrepreneurship and small business world have a look at our recommended resources in our Entrepreneurship Guide.

Analysis and recommendations

Illustration of STEEP acronym: Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political

A STEEP analysis examines factors affecting the Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political landscape around your industry or company.

For more information on conducting STEEP analysis:

PESTLE analysis - Video (3 min 17 sec)
This video from CIPD describes a PESTLE analysis (very similar to a STEEP analysis).

The below diagram is adapted from Porter's 2008 article, The five competitive forces that shape strategy.

Diagram of Porter's five competitive forces that shape strategy

For more about Porter's Five Forces, see the suggestions below:

Industry analysis: the Five Forces - PDF (242 KB)
A guide to Porter's five forces from Purdue University
The five competition forces that shape strategy - Video (13 mins)
A video of an interview with Michael E. Porter, Professor, Harvard University, discussing Porter's five competitive forces.

SWOT analysis is a model that analyzes an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to create the foundation of a marketing strategy.

Have a look at these sites for help with conducting a SWOT analysis:

Why you need a SWOT analysis
An Australian government SWOT analysis tool.
Using a SWOT analysis to develop a marketing strategy
An explanation of SWOT analysis from Oxford Reference
SWOT analysis - Video (4 min 39 sec)
A short video from AssistKD which introduces the concept of the SWOT analysis and looks at how it influences understanding of the strategic position of an organisation.

SMART is an acronym for the 5 steps of setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals.

For more help with SMART objectives, have a look at these sites:

Project Objectives: Defined, Tips & Examples
Includes a section on how to write SMART Project Objectives.
Creating SMART goals - PDF (265 KB)
A guide to creating SMART goals and objectives from Ohio State University, including examples.

Market Research

WARC (World Advertising Research Center)
Full text of significant case studies, statistics, leading edge papers, conference papers and journal articles in the areas of advertising, marketing, branding, media and marketing research.
Business Source Ultimate
Provides information covering all areas of business including accounting and finance; banking; finance and insurance; construction; computer science; economics and more. Includes country economic reports as well as detailed company profiles.

Reflective Writing

If you are unfamiliar with reflective writing as an assignment task, this short video (2 min 14 secs) may help you to understand what is required.

The following links may also be of assistance:

Study Help: Reflective writing
Find examples of reflective writing produced by the Student Engagement Unit in Study Help.
Introduction to reflective practice (UniSA)
This online module was developed by the Student Engagement Unit and is designed as an introduction to reflective practice for students at the University of South Australia.
Reflective writing (UNSW)
A guide to reflective writing developed by the University of NSW.
Reflective writing (QUT)
A quick guide to reflective writing from the Queensland University of Technology.

Report writing

Watch this short video (2 min 53 sec) for tips on how to write a report.

More help

Referencing support

Referencing website
Resources on different referencing styles. Find examples of in-text citations and references for diverse formats including articles, books and book chapters, websites and more.
Note: Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the referencing style required for your course.

Managing your references

What do you do with all those references you have found? You can use a bibliographic management software to store, organise, and cite your references.

There are many free systems available. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. EndNote automates citing your references and allows you to create and organise a library of references. For more information and to download the software, check out the EndNote Guide:

EndNote Guide