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Business Studies

What is a Business Report? Why use Business Report Format? Types of Reports and when to use them The Structure of this Guide Syllabus Outcomes Addressed

Note: This guide was produced by David Browne © 2006.

Welcome to Business Studies. Over the next 2 years you will be using the �“Business Report�” text type for much of your written work. This guide is designed to assist you become familiar with the process of writing a business report and is itself a model of an extended report. We will work through the activities in class. The guide uses content in the Preliminary Topic 1: Nature of Business with a number of activities based around content from this part of the course. We will use the guide at various points throughout this first topic (ie, you will not spend 10 consecutives lessons on it �– the activities are spread out). The last activity requires you to write a full Business Report response covering the entire topic: Nature of Business.

Symbols and Icons

Something to think about �– answer my questions if you can.

Syllabus Topic Area: So you know where this content fits in to the course Tips and Advice, to help you along the way Activity: Yes! You actually have to things in this book.

What is a Business Report? Generally, an information report identifies then classifies and/or describes the features of something. A business report identifies and describes a particular business situation and, typically, uses this information to support recommendations or proposals. The business report has very distinct and specific features that distinguish it from other writing. Some combination of these features must be present in your report writing and are examined in detail in this guide.

Why use Business Report Format?

There are two reasons to use the report format. Firstly, report format is the standard written form in business. Since you are learning about business, you need to know how to write in the style of business. This is Secondly, the HSC Business Studies syllabus requires that students effectively use the business report format throughout the course. There are several specific references to report format in the syllabus:

(Page 11 and throughout)�“P 5.2 / H5.2 [The student] plans and conducts an investigation into business to present the findings in an appropriate business format.�”

(Page 16) �“Students �…prepare and present an individual or group report on the key functions of a business.�”

(Page 23) �“Student research findings should be presented in a report format�… The Small Business Plan should be presented in a report format.�”

(4) �“This section comprises ONE question that requires an answer in a business report format. This question will incorporate elements from two or three of the topics in the HSC course.�”

Types of Reports and when to use them I wonder what style of report this Guide is?

Types You will need to decide how to present your report. There are 2 options:1

Conservative style is best for you if you are good at writing complex essays and are not comfortable with using all of the visual features of reports (such as highlighting words, diagrams, graphs, etc). You should still try to include some visual features in this style. Key Point style utilises all (or many) of the report writing features discussed below and is thus more overtly �“report-looking�”. Students using this style should be sure that all features used contribute to the meaning of the report. That is, they should all have a purpose and not just be used for their own sake.2 There is no �“best�” style of report, your choice depends entirely on what you feel most comfortable with. When Throughout the Business Studies course, you will write reports for:

Assessment Tasks Major Business Plan Exam Reports

The Structure of this Guide This guide will lead you through the process of writing a business report. You will complete a number of activities that will introduce the components of the business report format. The activities are based around the

. At the completion of the Guide, you will be able to answer an extended response question in business report format without assistance.

Syllabus Outcomes Addressed By the time you complete this guide, you should be able to:

write an extended response in the business report format (P5.3); describe the nature of business and its role in society (P1.1); explain business responsibilities to internal and external stakeholders (P3.2); appreciate various values and attitudes about the role of business in society.

This guide does not try to cover the entire �“Importance of Business�” topic. Your activities in class will form the bulk of work, this guide supplements that work.

Companies encourage shareholders to take the annual report in electronic format instead of printing them on paper. I wonder why? Could this be related to their social responsibilities?

Activity

Tick the features that are evident in the Report:

Headings Bullet Points Graphs Tables Photographs or graphics Technical language (ie, meta-language)

Highlighted (bolded) key terms A clear strong opening statement

Financial data (ie, numbers and percentages) within the text

Would you include these things in an essay? What does the above list tell you about the important features of business reports?

What groups of people (ie, general categories) does the report refer to?

research business information online and understand its purpose.

Activity

Activity

Business Reports are really great and I really like them because they

don�’t get distracted and go on and on about irrelevant things, they just state

information clearly and succinctly, which is really useful for business people so

business people really like them and generally always use them. The report format

uses 3 main groups of features: structural features, language features, visual

features. All reports written for the HSC should contain some of each of these

features. Structural features that reports use include headings, a synopsis or

executive summary, a clear and direct opening sentence to begin the report and

they only ever put 1 idea per paragraph. The language features are pretty easy to

list and I usually describe them by saying that reports will generally use present

tense, objective, evidence based conclusions (which means they are not

imaginative or speculative and they don�’t use personal opinion). They use concise

phrasing, non-personal pronouns (so they avoid using �“I�”, �“me�”, �“my�” etc), use

appropriate meta-language and have a professional �“tone�”. A really interesting

way of distinguishing Reports from other text-types is that they use diagrams and

graphs and other non-text features. These non-text features allow lots of

information to be communicated in a simple and clear manner. Examples of visual

features are graphs, diagrams, flow charts, mind-maps, tables, or calculations.

Some professional reports and use photographs or

illustrations.

This requires lots of BRAIN POWER. I can�’t do it, but you can! You need to read the text in Box 1 so that you understand. This is called �“reading for meaning�”. Once you know what it is saying, you should be able to use that understanding to help you draw your mind-map and write your paragraph.

Activity

Which of the �“structural�” features could also be �“language�” features?

Activity

Activity: Language Features

Present Tense action verbs

Objective, evidence based conclusions

Concise phrasing

Metalanguage

Non-personal pronouns

General classes of things discussed

Each paragraph starts with topic sentence

[see the hint below]

One idea per paragraph

�“being, having and doing words�”; using examples to support your recommendations; getting to the point in short clear sentences; technical words related to business; avoid using �“I�”; talkabout groups or people, not individuals; short paragraphs, keep it simple.

growing profits�” or �“falling costs�”; �“The figures discussed above support the conclusion that�…�”; Short sentences. 1 idea per sentence (see next page); Consumers, customers, shareholders, community groups; �“this report recommends�” (instead of �“I recommend�”); short paragraphs

Activity: Meta-Language Focus

Business has both economic and social roles in society. Economic and

social roles are important both inside the businesses and outside the business.

The economic roles of business include making things or doing things, paying people

to work, making money for the people who own the company and these features are

the most well known parts of the role of business. These roles are generally thought to

be �“internal�” to the business. Economic roles �“external�” to the business might include

paying part of the business earnings to the government, paying other businesses who

supply things that go into the final product. The social role of business is less simple

to describe. Some people don�’t think that business has any other role than making

money for its owners. Others think that the economic roles lead to social roles.

External roles and responsibilities generally involve people or groups who have a

interest in what the business does, even if they are not interested in the money. The

social roles can be internal or external and the internal roles could include things like

paying to look after the children of people who work at the business, paying of a

minimum wage, provision of a safe working environment, or not discriminating

against people. External social roles include all the internal roles (because anyone

who is involved internally in the company is also a member of society generally, eg

employees) as well as things like looking after the environment and making sure that

the business advertises its products responsibly and doesn�’t lie or be misleading in its

TV ads to people who buy things from the business. The Government has a lot of

influence about the social roles of business. It can make laws to make businesses do

things they don�’t want to do. Some examples of these laws are: Occupational Health

and Safety Act 1983, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Trade Practices Act 1974, Fair

Trading Act 1987.

: producing goods and services, profit, wages, consumers, customers, management, directors, employees, taxation, contracting, childcare services, occupational health and safety, anti-discrimination and equal opportunity, shareholders, stakeholders, financial interest, environmentally responsible, ethical advertising, legislation.

Activity

producing goods or services making things or doing things

Mind-Maps are a visual tool! Notice how they make complex information easy to read. That�’s exactly what Report Format is designed to do. So, if you�’re confused in an exam �– draw a mind map of the concepts to get started.

Activity

Activity

The key idea stated without examples or detail

more information on the general idea

Specific evidence to support idea.

Your own ideas, recommendations or proposals based on the evidence noted earlier in the paragraph

Oh, and don�’t forget your headings!

Exams and assessment tasks require you to write a business report in response to a specific question.

. There are 3 aspects to this: the rubric; directive terms; and making recommendations.

Remember the 3 tasks that require reports: assessment tasks, major business plan, and exams.

Part III of the HSC requires you to write a business report. This is how the 2004 HSC rubric looked.

The rubric for Reports in business studies is always the same. It means that you will be assessed on (fill in the blanks below):

This guide does not fully cover the subject of HSC directive terms. Appendix 1 has the full list of terms and their meaning and should be consulted. If you have questions about the directive terms please come and see me. Box 3 gives a short summary of directive terms.

Using directive terms The questions asked will always give a student a directive, such as assess, discuss, explain, evaluate, list, recount and so on. Students need to quickly distinguish between those that require short responses and those that require more in-depth thought. The directive terms are summarised in the Table below.

�

High Order (‘hard’) directives�

define, identify, recall, recount�

Median order (‘moderately difficult’)

directives�

account, clarify, demonstrate, describe, explain, outline, summarise, apply, calculate, construct, extract,

interpret, analyse, contrast, compare, discuss, examine, investigate�

Low order (‘easy’) directives�

recount, recall, restate, list, identify, state, outline, label and define�

�More time and effort needs to be allocated to achieving high order directives, whereas much less time and effort needs to be allocated to lower order directives.

Adapted from: Mohan Dahl <http://ink.news.com.au/>

This looks a lot like �“Bloom�’s Taxonomy�”. What are the levels in Bloom�’s �– and how do they apply here? Appendix 1 might help answer this.

Reports in Business Studies should use facts and evidence to support a position. The position will usually be in the form of recommendations or proposals about a particular situation. You should make your recommendations after you have considered the facts or evidence (remember Reports are evidence-based) that lead you to that recommendation. If you make recommendations throughout the report (after considering the evidence on each point), you may wish to conclude your report with a summary of recommendations.

So far we have looked at the different components of business reports. But a report is longer than 1 paragraph. You should use the typical structure in your writing. Box 4 indicates that Business Reports in HSC Business Studies typically contain : Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. You have 2 main options for the body of your Report.

The synopsis or executive summary sets up the report and classifies what the report is about.�

A series of paragraphs using key headings and integrating the features of report writing (eg diagrams, meta-language, tables, statistics).�

Option 1 Option 2

Evidence + Recommendation or Proposal

Evidence (identify, describe, classify)

Evidence + Recomm. or Proposal


Evidence + Recomm. or Proposal


�

Recommendations and Proposals

� The summative section that draws it all together. It can have a summary of recommendations.

Source: Mohal Dahl <http://ink.news.com.au/>

Identify and describe the ethical and social responsibilities of business. Propose two strategies to

enhance the social role of business and explain how these would operate.

Activity

1. Match the right heading to the right paragraph;

2. Put the headings and paragraphs in order to make the whole report. 3. Label the SECTIONS of the report (Introduction, Body and

Conclusion) on the LEFT.

4. Write out the Table of Contents of this report or draw a Mind Map

below.

Don�’t under-estimate the power of good, clear headings. Headings make the entire report easy to read. Make sure you know what headings you are going to use BEFORE you start writing your reports.

Structural Features

Title Improving Ethical and Social Responsibility in Business

Introduction Business activity impacts upon a range of stakeholders in society. Business responsibility can be divided into economic or social factors and internal or external responsibilities. This report makes recommendations aimed to improve the outcomes of business activity in its social role.

Body Responsibilities to Society

To be responsible, business should obey the laws of society and protect the environment. Laws reflect the values of a society and so business should be responsible by, for example, ensuring that all taxes are paid on time so that the government has enough funds to provide services. Businesses should conduct operations using ecologically sustainable methods so that future generations are not disadvantaged by the business operations of today.

Shareholders

Business has the responsibility to shareholders to provide open information about business dealings. Businesses that avoid this responsibility not only break the law, but often produce very damaging financial results, for example Enron in the United States.

Customers

Customers deserve to be dealt with honestly and ethically. Business must not deceive or trick customers into buying products and should ensure that the quality of the product matches the description and price. For example, the customers in the Westpoint Investment scheme were tricked into investing millions of dollars, most of which were lost when the scheme collapsed in 2005.

Employees

Business should provide a safe working environment for its employees. A good example of this responsibility is the Tasmanian Mine rescue when the business took full responsibility for the safety of its workers. Other ethical responsibilities include access to child care for employees, however, few business provide these services for their employees.

Managers

Business needs to properly resource management and ensure that decision making is supported. This is sometimes a difficult area, because different parts of management in a business can operate in different ways.

Proposals Proposals to improve Social Responsibilities

Consumer Action

Businesses are very interested in the desires of their customers. Without customers the business would fail. Therefore, customers should demand that business act in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is seen in the growing demand for green energy and the removal of polystyrene burger packaging.

Community Action

Non-government organisations that act at the community level can effectively influence business decisions. A good example of this is the campaign by Planet Ark to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags in supermarkets.

Conclusions Conclusion

Business has many ethical and social responsibilities, but it also has economic responsibilities. It is possible to balance these interests and consumers and the community can act to influence the way business decisions are make.

So far we have looked separately at the features of the report style. Now it is time to put it all together and examine a sample business report. 3

In your answer you will be assessed on how well you:

use your knowledge and the information provided

communicate using relevant business terminology and concepts

present a logical, well-structured answer to the question in the form of a business report

Outline the financial performance of the National Australia Bank in the year 2001. Propose future strategies for financial growth and explain how these strategies will produce a strong financial position in the future.

Outline

Explain

+

�“Propose future strategies�” (not strictly a directive term, but important for the structure and content of the report)

Activity

Section Features

INTRODUCTION BODY BODY

The NAB is in a very strong financial position. Although net profit is down on previous years, dividends and shareholder assets (or equity) demonstrate that the bank remains the largest of Australia�’s banks.

Net profit decreased for the first time in more than ten years (see Figure 1) due to an abnormal loss incurred in an overseas operation. Net profit is expected to rise above 2000 levels in the next financial year.

Dividends paid to shareholders rose by a significant 9.7 per cent to 135 cents per share, the fifth consecutive year that dividends have increased (see Figure 2). Dividends continue to be fully franked.

Report Title Strong, clear opening sentence. Meta-language

Use of non-personal pro-noun. �“The NAB�” not �“we�”.

Heading Evidence based (ie, clear reasons for lower profits)

Figures are clearly labeled. Visual Features to clearly show the level of profit over time. General classes of people Concise, fact-based, use of data

Reference to visual features within text to link report together Visual Feature

Section Features

In the past five years shareholders�’ equity has nearly doubled (compare 1997 and 2001 in Figure 3). The National Australia Bank remains the largest of all Australian banks.

Growth into the future is ensured by the implementation of 3 core strategies:

�“Process Enhancement Project�” (PEP). PEP is delivering ongoing cost savings and benefits to customers leading to lower costs and increased revenues. Eliminating non-performing assets: All divisions are being assessed against strict criteria .his will prevent a repeat of the decline in net profit suffered in 2001 due to a poor performance in an off-shore division. Diversification of Product Offering: The bank has previously relied on a small range of products. The strategy widens the range of financial products and services available with direct benefits in customer loyalty and overall revenues in the future.

With the strong results in 2001 and the clear strategies for future growth, the National Australia Bank is well positioned to remain the leader of Australia�’s banking sector.

Activity:

In your answer you will be assessed on how well you: use your knowledge and the information provided communicate using relevant business terminology

and concepts present a logical, well-structured answer to the

question in the form of a business reportBig Business has had some bad media attention recently. You are a consultant hired by the Business Council of Australia. You must produce a business report examining the Nature of Business in Australia. Describe the economic and social responsibilities of business in Australia relating to 3 specific groups in society. Use the economic performance of the

as an example. Make 2 recommendations about how this business can better fulfill its social responsibilities and explain how these recommendations will lead to this outcome.

At the end of this Step you should be able to…write a business report covering several aspects of the Nature of Business topic.

Writing your first Business Report

The key to all extended response questions is a

. Make sure you know what your

is in this report. State the idea in the opening paragraph and

.

That way, the reader will always understand you.

Synopsis or executive summary�

� Evidence, fact based description

Evidence, fact based description

Evidence, fact based description

Etc (as many as required)

Proposals or Recommendations

Concluding statement (possibly with a summary of recommendations)

Structural Features

Language Features

Visual Features

Title

This guide has focused on some aspects of Topic 1: Nature of Business. The question below looks at other aspects of this topic and you will need to refer to your work in class and at home to answer the question. Answer the question on A4 paper.

In your answer you will be assessed on how well you: use your knowledge and the information provided communicate using relevant business terminology and concepts present a logical, well-structured answer to the question in the

form of a business reportSME Pty Ltd is a small business located in Western Sydney. It is established and the owners wish to focus on rapidly growing the business for 2 years. You are a small business advisor employed by the NSW government to assist in situations like this. SME asks you for a report. In your report describe the phases of development that businesses go through and explain which phase is most important for SME at this time. Outline the impacts that the business environment could have on the business and make 3 proposals to the business to safeguard against negative impacts

It would be a good idea to use the to

create this final report. Good Luck.

Bloom�’s taxonomy is a method of structuring learning. It ranks certain activities from easiest (low order) to hardest (high order). All the directive terms used by the Board of Studies can be

organised according to Bloom�’s taxonomy.

Blooms Taxonomy of Learning

Knowledge Understanding Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Blooms Taxonomy

BoS Directive Term

BoS Glossary Definition Student Action: Groupings of syllabus knowledge, skills and understanding

Knowledge Define State meaning and identify essential qualities

Absorb, respond, remember: Knowledge, recall and understanding

Knowledge Identify Recognise and name Absorb, respond, remember: Knowledge, recall and understanding

Knowledge Recall Present remembered ideas, facts or experiences

Absorb, respond, remember: Knowledge, recall and understanding

Knowledge Recount Retell a series of events Absorb, respond, remember: Knowledge, recall and understanding

Understanding Account Account for: state reasons for, report on. Give an account of: narrate a series of events or transactions

Explain, translate, demonstrate: Skills in application and performance

Understanding Clarify Make clear or plain Explain, translate, demonstrate: Skills in application and performance

Understanding Demonstrate Show by example Explain, translate, demonstrate: Skills in application and performance

Understanding Describe Provide characteristics and features Explain, translate, demonstrate: Skills in application and performance

Understanding Explain Relate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how


Understanding Outline Sketch in general terms; indicate the main features of


Understanding Summarise Express, concisely, the relevant details


Blooms Taxonomy

BoS Directive Term


Application Apply Use, utilise, employ in a particular situation

Build, demonstrate knowledge, problem solve

Application Calculate Ascertain/determine from given facts, figures or information


Application Construct Make; build; put together items or arguments


Application Extract Choose relevant and/or appropriate details


Application Interpret Draw meaning from Build, demonstrate knowledge, problem solve

Analysis Analyse Identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications

Discuss, uncover, dissect: skills in analysis and critical thinking

Analysis Contrast Show how things are different or opposite

Discuss, generalise, relate, compare and contrast

Analysis Compare Show how things are similar or different


Analysis Discuss Identify issues and provide points for and/or against


Analysis Examine Inquire into Discuss, uncover, dissect: skills in analysis and critical thinking

Analysis Investigate Plan, inquire into and draw conclusions about


Analysis Distinguish Recognise or note/indicate as being distinct or different from; to note differences between


Blooms Taxonomy

BoS Directive Term


Synthesis Classify Arrange or include in classes/categories


Synthesis Propose Put forward (for example a point of view, idea, argument, suggestion) for consideration or action


Synthesis Recommend Provide reasons in favour Discuss, generalise, relate, compare and contrast

Synthesis Extrapolate Infer from what is known Discuss, generalise, relate, compare and contrast

Synthesis Deduce Draw conclusions Discuss, generalise, relate, compare and contrast

Synthesis Predict Suggest what may happen based on available information


Synthesis Synthesise Putting together various elements to make a whole


Evaluation Appreciate Make a judgement about the value of

Evaluate, dispute, develop criteria

Evaluation Assess Make a judgment of value, quality, outcomes, results or size


Evaluation Critically Analyse or evaluate

Add a degree or level of accuracy depth, knowledge and understanding, logic, questioning, reflection and quality to (analyse/evaluation)


Evaluation Evaluate Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of


Evaluation Justify Support an argument or conclusion Evaluate, dispute, develop criteria

Activities in this Guide are not intended to run in sequential lessons. The Guide is designed to be used for lessons spaced throughout the introductory topic. This way, students will build content knowledge and contextual literacy skills over a period of several weeks (rather than abstract skills over a period of lessons). Most of the graphics in this guide are colour. Printing in Greyscale may affect the readability of some text and this should be checked before proceeding with greyscale copies. The title page of the Guide should be adapted to the school (ie, insert school and teacher name) to ensure students understand that it is for , rather than generic. Step 1 requires the use of example business reports. It is designed to immerse students in good examples of the Report genre. The aim is to use electronic sample reports that are to be saved on the school intranet. Four samples are provided on the CD as a starting point. These should be loaded onto the school intranet. Note that some reports break the �“rules�” �– eg the NAB report refers to �“we�” throughout. Students may pick this up and an answer should be prepared. Step 2 is very optional and could be set as homework or skipped altogether. The first activity in Step 3 (reading for meaning), can be conducted as a dicta-gloss activity if preferred. The activity in Step 5 (understand structural features by putting a chopped-up report back together) has been completed for this sample to show that the finished product fits on the page. It has not been labelled (this is part of the activity for students). A sample of the chopped up pieces is also attached in an envelope. An overhead of the finished product is also included for students to refer to when finished.

Further Reading about Report Writing

This Guide draws heavily upon the work of the leading writers about and teachers of the report format. All references below were consulted.

M Dhall, G Hannelly and L Nixon (2001), (Five Senses Education, Seven Hills). W Sheridan (1996), 32(4) December, Economics �– Journal of the Economics and Business Educators New South Wales, 46. R Ross and P Fowler (1997), , 33(2) June, Economics �– Journal of the Economics and Business Educators New South Wales, 56. R Ross and P Fowler (1997), , 33(4) December, Economics �– Journal of the Economics and Business Educators New South Wales, 31. <http://www.tki.org.nz/r/esol/esolonline/classroom/teach_strats/checklists/report_e.php> accessed 29 May 2006. <ink.news.com.au/classmate/HSC/Reportwriting.html> and <ink.news.com.au/classmate/HSC/BUSSTUDIES%20exam.htm> (see endnotes). <http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/business_studies/intro/writing/writing.html> accessed 29 May 2006. <http://www.tki.org.nz/r/esol/esolonline/classroom/teach_strats/checklists/report_e.php> accessed 29 May 2006. <http://portals.studentnet.edu.au/literacy/DeskTopDefault.aspx?tabid=327>

See over for endnotes.

ENDNOTES 1 M Dhall, G Hannelly, L Nixon, (2001, Five Senses Education, Seven Hills). Note: Dhall et al refer to 3 styles of reports, the third being the holistic style. It was felt that this style is too complex and too difficult to achieve for students new to the text-type. 2 This text draws heavily from Dhall et al and from the �“cached�” versions of two websites:

<ink.news.com.au/classmate/HSC/Reportwriting.html> and

<ink.news.com.au/classmate/HSC/BUSSTUDIES%20exam.htm>. Neither of these sites is directly accessible as at 30 May 2006. However, they can be read via the cached version that Google makes available. 3 This report is mainly derived and partially adapted from: <http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/business_studies/intro/writing/writing.html> accessed 29 May 2006.

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