5.2 Planning a business report
Business studies reports follow a structure that is very similar to those normally written to help management to make decisions. The main purpose of these reports is to describe a real life business situation and to provide a list of recommendations.
While the overall structure is similar to that of a science or a technology report, the main text is usually structured using a ‘business model’, i.e. a framework that helps the writer to analyse a situation by looking at its specific features.
The following assignment task is structured using a SWOT model. SWOT stands for:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats.
In other words, it is a framework that analyses a business by looking at its strengths and weaknesses as well as at any opportunities it can exploit and the threats it faces.
Below is a business studies assignment question:
Use a SWOT model to analyse the multinational company Coca-Cola.
Table 6 shows how this report should be structured.
| Element | Purpose | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Attracts the reader's attention | Concise phrase or sentence introducing the content |
| Executive summary | Gives a brief summary | Section or paragraph explaining the purpose of the report, the main findings and the recommendations |
| Introduction | Gives the purpose of the investigation being reported | Paragraph providing background information and explaining why the investigation was required |
| Method | Explains how the investigation was conducted | Explains why a particular model has been used and how the data was collected |
| Analysis | Examines the situation in great detail using the SWOT categories | Four sections or paragraphs under the following headings:
|
| Conclusion | Describes what the study has shown | Paragraph briefly summarising the findings, i.e. the content of the analysis and highlighting the key factors |
| Recommendations | Suggests future action | Paragraph or bullet point list of recommendations based on the findings |