26E04350 - Business Model Design, Lecture, 28.2.2022-7.4.2022

Topic outline

• Take home exam instructions and FAQ
  Updated 8.4.2022
  

  EXAM QUESTIONS:

  Answer to 4 questions (write total 4 essays)

  1. Search a value proposition of any firm and analyze it with the help of the course material. In your essay, discuss the key points of your analysis and explain how that given value proposition could possibly be improved.
  

  2. Discuss the concept of "shared value" and how business models may create or destroy such value? Use concrete examples, and frameworks.

  3. Discuss "resilience" by selecting a case firm and give examples of two disruptive events that might happen in the firm's environment. How the firm can be prepared for these?
  

  4. Discuss the concept of “sustainable business models”. How do you identify and approach sustainability in business model design?

  5. What is business model innovation and why it is important for firms?

  6. You are hired as a business model designer to a firm and given freedom to design your own work role responsibilities. Create a job description and explain why the suggested tasks are chosen for this role. Remember to specify the purpose, size and industry of this hypothetical firm to give context.
  

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  EXAM GUIDELINES

  Timelines, q&a about the questions

  • Questions are published in this page 8.4.2022
    
  • You can ask questions about the questions until Monday 11.4. 14.00 (Finnish time). Send your questions to taija.turunen@aalto.fi, the answers will be published in this page 11.4.2022
  • Absolute deadline for submissions is 17.4. 23.59.00. No late submission allowed.
    

  
  

  Answering the questions, evaluation

  • There are 6 questions in total.
  • Please choose 4 questions to answer (write 4 essays). DO NOT ANSWER MORE THAN 4 QUESTIONS.
  • Each essay is valued max 10 points (Together max 40 points in total)
  • Exam is an individual task
    
  • The evaluation will be done according to your ability to analyze and reflect the readings and other material, to show case examples and/or individual experiences, as well as to synthetize and combine different sources of information (same criteria as with the reflective journals)

  
  

  Content of the answers

  • The length of each essay should be approximately 300-600 words. This is a recommendation, but usually this is enough for complete analysis.
    
  • Providing appropriate references is critical! (Here is a good citation guide: https://www.mendeley.com/guides/harvard-citation-guide)
    
  • Definitions for concepts, theories, frameworks, etc. should be given with appropriate references.
    
  • Copy-paste the question to your answer
    
  • Follow academic writing style
  • Note that the questions are quite extensive. Therefore, in each essay, it is important to state why you have chosen certain perspective in your answer, and what that perspective means for your answer.

  
  

  Turnitin use, submission

  • Please note that your submission is analyzed by Turnitin (which will detect e.g. plagiarizing). Draft version submission is possible (you can see the plagiarism check results before final submit). If you quote some statements etc. directly, do it properly with referencing.
  • All times Finnish time

  
  

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  Q&A (updated 8.4., contains q&a from previous years)

  Should I submit 4 different PDF files, or save all my essays to one file?

  - You should submit all your essays as one document.

  I've written a reflection essay on the same topic, can I use this framework as long as I don't quote myself but instead write new text and further analysis around the framework?
  

  - Yes, exactly like that:) You can write about the same topic, but it have to be new text and content.

  Is it ok to use the case companies that I already used in the reflective journals.

  - Yes, you can use the same case companies. However, the exam answers should be understood without any knowledge about your previous assignments.

  Is it ok to take benefit from the already submitted essays (reflective journals).

  - Autoplagiarizing (copypasting own text) is not ok. Further developing own thinking is of course ok. However, the exam answers should be understood without any knowledge about your previous assignments (do not, for example, "cite" or refer to previous journals).

  About the selection of a firm case: can we select a firm that does not exist anymore (e.g Enron) or should we focus only on contemporary firms?

  - You can use any case(s) you find appropriate. Please describe the case(s) shortly, do not assume that the reader knows the case(s). 

  Can we repeat the same type of journal more than one time? Or it’s not necessary that we follow a journal type?
  

  - Journal type restrictions do not apply in the exam. You don't have to follow any particular format. You can use the formats if you want, of course. And you can use one format as many times as you like.

  Can I refer e.g. to answer two in answer one, etc. Can I combine answers?

  One question - one answer. One should be able to understand each answer independently, without reading other answers. 

  
  

  Other FAQs:

  Do I have to stick with my Thursday workshop selection or can I change my participation weekly?

  I principle, you choose the timeslot that fits best to you through the whole course, but send email (taija.turunen@aalto.fi) if you would need to change your slot some week.
  

  How extensive is the take home exam, how much time do I need to complete the essays?

  The exam has 4 essays, each are about a page long. If you have understood and reflected all the material during the course and you are able to write well, it should not take longer than 2-3h. However, it is difficult to estimate the time spent in each case as we have different writing skills, information processing skills and other traits that impact our efficiency in exam situations. Weekly essays will be good time to practice essay writing.