Popular Choice – Why?
0 Allows students to pursue and develop knowledge of and
insight into a topic such as human resource management
or marketing which has engaged them in the classroom.
0 University admission tutors regard preparation of a
Business EE as a valuable higher-order learning skill which
will allow students to flourish in a degree program.
0 If you are a stakeholder in an organization (family-run
business) the EE can provide an opportunity to objectively
examine a current or future issue with the possibility of
suggesting feasible solutions.
Narrowing the research
0 Common problem: students try to cover too broad an
area of a particular topic.
0 Example: “An evaluation into company X’s new
marketing strategy designed to launch a new product
into a new international marketplace.”
0 More appropriate research questions:
0 Should company X release product Y into country Z?
0 Given the changing economic environment, to what
extent should company X attempt to change its
marketing mix for product Y?
Other research topics to
discuss with your supervisor
0 Should company Z remove product X from its current
portfolio?
0 Will company Y be able to survive the significant
downturn in economic activity in its host country?
0 Will the release of product Z save company Y from
insolvency?
0 What the the implications of company X moving from
a niche market to a mass market?
Justification
0 Example 1: product portfolio analysis and
contribution may be important theoretical concepts.
0 Example 2: the external environment is clearly going
to be an important theoretical framework on which to
build an argument around whether company Y will
survive.
0 Example 3: cash flow, liquidity and marketing may be
important topics to guide this essay.
0 Example 4: discuss!
Don’t re-invent the wheel!
0 Avoid undertaking an EE which challenge current
paradigms:
0 Is all marketing unethical?
0 Given the growth of e-commerce, is the 7P marketing
mix model now redundant?
0 Is there a more accurate way for a firm to calculate
probabilities on a decision tree, to make the expected
monetary values more valuable for decision making?
Justification
0 These attempts are very laudable, BUT…
0 This type of EE is too vast for effective treatment within
the word limit.
0 These topics may lend themselves more appropriately
to a TOK discussion.
Follow all the criteria!
0 Students often only focus on the subject-specific criteria.
0 Making sure the criteria is satisfied is a crucial part of the
supervisor-student relationship:
0 Is the research question clearly stated in the introduction?
0 Are the arguments presented reasoned and balanced?
0 Has sufficient analysis been carried out including the use of
numerical data?
0 Have sources been referenced according to the IB guidelines?
0 Has the abstract been included and does it conform to
expectations?