Business Capstone Project: Activities, Reflections, and Learning Outcomes

This report discusses the activities completed, self-reflection commentary, and criticism on each activity and learning outcomes of the Business Capstone Project. It also includes a summary of the text, subject, and university name.

Running head: BUSINESS CAPSTONE PROJECT
BUSINESS CAPSTONE PROJECT
Student’s Name
University Name
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Part A - Activities completed.....................................................................................................3
Part B – Self Reflection commentary and criticism on each activity and you’re learning........6
Part C – Self Reflection commentary and criticism on your learning outcomes from working
in a team.....................................................................................................................................9
Reference List and Bibliography.............................................................................................12

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Part A - Activities completed
In the first week, the four Capstone skills were conveyed to the students. Followed by
this, a strategic management session was carried out which demonstrated the implementation
of the skills learned to a real life scenario. The specialisation skills that were taught during
the first week helped us to develop business action plans for real life scenarios experienced
by business organisations. This weekly session have been conveyed from the end of the
university to make the students develop essential business, academic as well as cultural skills
that are of utmost requirement in the context of international business management. During
this week, emphasis have been given on both- strategic leadership as well as strategic
management and also aimed at including the prospect of critical thinking. Critical thinking
have been taught to the students by making analysis an assessment of the strategic plans
implemented by the companies. Based on the organisational contexts of the students, this
weekly activity requires each student to develop a plan for personal development. The
activities in the first week have been prepared, based on the following objectives:
 Demonstrate how the students have understood and are able to use their skills of
strategic leadership and are able to deal with the real life challenges in the
workplaces.
 Demonstrate the level of understanding of the elements of a strategic plan and its
impact in context to how well critical thinking have been implemented in the strategic
planning
 Create a business plan that makes proper demonstration of the skills of strategic
thinking in the context of the major problems faced by an organisation.
 The final outcome is: prepare, assess and deliver a professional strategic plan

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In the next week, the topic chosen was development of competitive advantage through
strategic knowledge. In this context, how information management contributes to competitive
advantage was described in detail and the models on competitive advantage like Porter’s
model for cost differentiation, cost leadership as well as focus strategic was described to us.
In the following stage the lecturer conveyed to us the strengths and limitations of the above
described models (Palinkas et al. 2015). The students were also taught the various aspects
regarding how to make the competitive advantage sustainable.
The activities of the third were aimed at developing strategic Knowledge regarding
Operations and Marketing. In this context, the Resource based theory of marketing was
critically discussed in the session. The lecturer through various day to day activities made us
understand how the firms use the methodology of this theory to exploit the full competitive
potential of their inherent capabilities (Bhatt et al. 2015). We were also made acquainted with
the theoretical as well as the empirical insights in to the relative impacts of the multiple
market based resources regarding the performance across various marketing contexts.
The fourth week focused on development of strategic knowledge regarding innovation
as well as growth. In this context we learned the theory of business model renewal and
ambidexterity as well as the Disruptive Machine model. The best learning outcome in this
context have been the concept of technological disruptions versus business model disruptions
(Zerfass et al. 2018). The complexities as well as uncertainties in these business contexts
have been highlighted by the instructor in this context.
The next week focuses on problem solving and the related business models. In this context, it
is essential to know that whether the focused business problem is a real business problem or
not. In a real context, it might so happen that a company is losing out in terms of sales
volume (Valentine, Nembhard and Edmondson 2015). However, it is possible that the actual

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problem is different from that. There can be much deeper problems in the internal contexts of
the company that is giving rise to these business problems in the superficial level of the
company.
The next week had been the study week. This week incorporated the practical learning
outcomes so far and as an outcome of this the personal development progress of the students
were mapped. We were made to indulge in practical activities to map the advancement we
had achieved in this context.
The next activity in week 7 was a very critical point of research. The various methodologies
of research analysis were conveyed. We learned critical pathways of data collection from
various primary as well as secondary sources and also learned the behaviour of various
analytical tools.
The next week’s activities were focused at leadership and communication. The
avenues in which proper communication compliments effective leadership were conveywd
(Fleuren et al. 2018). Again, in this regard, the theory of communicative leadership also
helped us to understand how an efficient leader engages the employees in informal and
formal dialogues, sharing and seeking active feedback and also open and involving forums
(Terek et al. 2015).
The next week that is week 9 was dedicated to development of understanding among the
students regarding making and parallely enhancing the business report presenting skills of the
students. We got to clearly understand what a business report is and also gained ideas
regarding how a business report is created. At first I gained ideas regarding which are the
main components of a business report (Jackson 2015). In this context, a sales report example
was provided for our understanding. The major inclusions of a sales report are up to date
sales reporting, forecast of future sales and also analysing the past sales trends.

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The activities of the week 10 were mainly focused at detection and fulfilment of the key
performance indicators of the company. In this context, it is necessary to understand the
sustainability factors that are really crucial for determining the KPIs of the company (Quinlan
et al. 2019).
The activities of week 11 were primarily focused at making us understand the key concepts
related to employability. Employability is related to key concepts regarding initial
employment, maintaining the employment and obtaining new employment if it is required in
some way. Employability requires a set of subtle attributes also (Wang, Pauleen and Zhang
2016).
The last week that is week 12 was focused upon think tank and the decision review process in
an organisation. The design thinking process of an organisation allows space for undertaking
innovative strategies so that the business promotional activities of the company could
flourish.
Part B – Self Reflection commentary and criticism on each activity and you’re learning
Outcomes.
• Week 1
Lecture facilitated me in attaining learning regarding the ways in which strategic thinking can
be developed by me through which I can support people in my future career in thinking,
assessing, viewing and creating entire critical skills set. I have also attained increased
learning regarding the ways in which I can ensure practical implementation of my expertise
in real situations (Miller and Hadwin 2015).
• Week 2

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Lecture has increased my learning on developing the ability of recalling knowledge that I
have attained in the past along with developing the capability to solve problems through
implementing several theoretical concepts. The lecture also increased my knowledge
regarding enhancing my ability to use qualitative and quantitative information in problem
solving process.
• Week 3
Lecture has enhanced my learning on RBT that can serve as an approach through which I can
attain competitive advantages through its proper implementation in my future career (Helyer
2015). Moreover, I have also attained an increased understanding regarding the ways I can
obtain a “resource based view of a company”, company resources and sustained competitive
advantage. I have also relied that I can identify more than one competitive advantage in my
future organization so that I can match core competencies with opportunities.
• Week 4
Lecture has attained an increased learning on the ways in which horizontal and vertical
integration strategies are implemented by companies so that they can attain competitive
advantages (Fook 2016). Métier, I have also attained an increased understanding regarding
amalgamation, joint venture and innovation strategies implemented by businesses in ensuring
competitive sustainability.
• Week 5
Lecture has increased my understanding on the implication of business intelligence process
through which I can use relevant data in making better business decisions (van den Heuvel,
Demerouti and Peeters 2015). I can also implement the business intelligence technology in
my future career in which I will include analytics that can act as a non-technical process of
attaining better competitive advantages.

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 Week 6
The study week have been a reflective session on our part to recommend what
learning outcomes we had achieved so far. As an outcome of accomplishing this task, the
assessors could have a clear idea regarding up to what extent we have learned the key
concepts in the weekly sessions.
 Week 7
Owing to the activities of this week, we got to learn what data sources can be used to
make a business report most relevant. We had a fair idea regarding what primary data or
secondary data is. Primary data is actually first hand evidence regarding an event, object, or
any personality. Before accomplishing this weekly activity I had very less idea regarding
what sources of primary data we can use regarding creation of business reports. Besides, the
process to determine a research problem was also not clear to me before attending this week’s
activities.
 Week 8
The activities of week 7 have been most helpful for me. The concept of change
management had always been a matter of great concern for me. Nevertheless, I not only had a
clear understanding of the process of change management but also clearly understood the role
of message dissemination in change management after attending this week’s activities.
 Week 9
Business reporting seemed to be a less complicated process to me before I conducted
the weekly activities. However, after the week 9, I have gained fair idea regarding Business
audit and feasibility study. However I still need in depth study about interim reporting and
visual analytics

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 Week 10
The week 10 have been very crucial for me in the context that I had no idea regarding the
Business metrics which are a crucial part of the KPIs.
 Week 11
The difference between hard and soft skill had not been clear to me before this week.
However after attending this week the concepts like disruptive economy and labour
displacement, which are directly related to employability, are now clear to me.
Part C – Self Reflection commentary and criticism on your learning outcomes from
working in a team.
I have obtained a detailed learning on all the weekly lectures through working in
team. In completing the cause several weekly lectures on certain subjects have been carried
out in which my project team was the one that was capable to collaborate efficiently along
with maintaining suitable communication (Carmeli, Dutton and Hardin 2015). In working
within my team I also faced certain challenges in the learning process that was related to time
management and increased distractions. However, my team was also able to maintain their
strongest characteristics along with maintaining interdependence upon one another to deal
with such issues and complete the task. Through working in a team I have attained an
increased learning on the ways in which I have been able to deal with the issues related
within the transition process that includes mission analysis of planning (Easterby-Smith and
Cunliffe 2017). In carrying out team work within the learning process I have attained
increased knowledge on the ways in which individual strengths and weaknesses can be
enhanced by all the team members to attain constructive research knowledge on the subject of
developing strategic mindset. Moreover working in a team facilitated me in analyzing the

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ways in which we can attain practical and reflective skills along with developing a strategic
mindset in accomplishing any course based activity through working in collaboration.
From carrying out all the activities in the weekly lecture activities I have attained an
increased learning on maintaining an engaging teamwork. This has also facilitated me in
developing effective teamwork skills along with developing my communication skills. In the
learning course, team work has facilitated all of us in explaining our ideas on each week topic
and developing listening skills that has facilitated us in feeling the ways in which others feel
on the non-verbal communication (Hitt and González-Martín 2015). Moreover, my weekly
learning course in a team work can facilitate me in initiating conversations regarding group
process in which we faced sense attention brewing. I have also learned knowledge regarding
maintaining an open communication in which the group members shared their ideas, thoughts
along with feelings for maintaining a successful group work. Attaining the weekly learning
course activities through teamwork has facilitated me in developing sense of cohesion along
with developing certain skills such as openness, self-disclosure and trust, support and respect
for my fellow team members.
I have also attained a detailed learning on developing the ability of individual
accountability and responsibility, constructive feedback and problem solving. I have also
attained knowledge regarding designing a group task that can ensure all the team members
are accomplishing the learning activates in unity (Jackson 2015). In working within a team,
all my group members developed a knowledge regarding being motivated and committed
towards group work along with making my expectations very clear to them. In attaining
learning through teamwork, we have been able to attain a detailed learning regarding the
ways in which my fellow team mates discuss the way in which they can respond to different
scenarios on the weekly lectures. Moreover, certain negative scenarios that were dealt by all
of us in the teamwork includes absents or late coming group members those were not able to

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complete their assigned tasks in the weekly learning process. Through team work I have
attained an increased capability to work effectively in a team or group that can serve as a
necessity for my successful career and can also prove to be helpful for me in providing
meaningful contribution to the society (Savery 2015).
All the team members including me have attained an increased understanding the
ways in which a shift from a control oriented management can be maintained in developing
facilitative leadership approach. Through studying numerous elements and aspects of the
group and team dynamics, I have attained an increased opportunity to attain a detailed insight
on team working principles through developing a team and working on the team projects
during the semester. In carrying out teamwork for accomplishing weekly learning activities I
have attempted in developing a tea charter that facilitated me in realizing abilities of all my
team members. Moreover, I was also able to attaining exceptional teamwork performance
through realizing our purpose, roles, expectations, goals, group values and norms in
developing an effective team (Hitt and González-Martín 2015).

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Reference List and Bibliography
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the effectiveness of application performance management (APM) tools for detecting
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13th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories (pp. 1-12). ACM.
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Paul A. Heidenreich, Jeffrey P. Jacobs, Frederick A. Masoudi, Eric D. Peterson, and Karl F.
Welke. "ACC/AHA/STS statement on the future of registries and the performance
measurement enterprise: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart
Association Task Force on Performance Measures and The Society of Thoracic
Surgeons." Journal of the American College of Cardiology 66, no. 20 (2015): 2230-2245.
Carmeli, A., Dutton, J.E. and Hardin, A.E., 2015. Respect as an engine for new ideas:
Linking respectful engagement, relational information processing and creativity among
employees and teams. Human Relations, 68(6), pp.1021-1047.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach
Publications.
Easterby-Smith, M. and Cunliffe, A.L., 2017. From reflection to practical reflexivity:
Experiential learning as lived experience. In Organizing reflection (pp. 44-60). Routledge.
Fleuren, B., Van Amelsvoort, L., De Grip, A., Zijlstra, F. and Kant, I., 2018, July. Time
Takes Us All? A Two Wave Study of Age and Time Effects on Sustainable Employability.
In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2018, No. 1, p. 10807). Briarcliff Manor, NY
10510: Academy of Management.

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Fook, J., 2016. Critical reflection and organizational learning and change: A case study. In
Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization (pp. 67-84). Routledge.
Helyer, R., 2015. Learning through reflection: the critical role of reflection in work-based
learning (WBL). Journal of Work-Applied Management, 7(1), pp.15-27.
Hitt, F. and González-Martín, A.S., 2015. Covariation between variables in a modelling
process: The ACODESA (collaborative learning, scientific debate and self-reflection)
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learning: Changing the landscape of support in CSCL. Computers in Human Behavior, 52,
pp.573-588.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. and Hoagwood, K.,
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Essential readings in problem-based learning: Exploring and extending the legacy of Howard
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Terek, E., Glušac, D., Nikolic, M., Tasic, I. and Gligorovic, B., 2015. The Impact of
Leadership on the Communication Satisfaction of Primary School Teachers in
Serbia. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 15(1), pp.73-84.
Valentine, M.A., Nembhard, I.M. and Edmondson, A.C., 2015. Measuring teamwork in
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van den Heuvel, M., Demerouti, E. and Peeters, M.C., 2015. The job crafting intervention:
Effects on job resources, self‐efficacy, and affective well‐being. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 88(3), pp.511-532.
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communication and improve business performance in SMEs. Industrial Marketing
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Communication Monitor 2018. Strategic communication and the challenges of fake news,
trust, leadership, work stress and job satisfaction. Results of a survey in 48 Countries.