QUESTION
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Literature Review
- Title page−include report title (descriptive of the research topic), student name, student number, tutorial day, time, and your tutor’s name.
• Table of Contents–includes the numbered sections and subsections of the report and associated page numbers (optional).
• Text should be in Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced and margins of 2.5 cm. Use numbered headings and subheadings. Include page numbers in the footer of the report.
• Abstract–The first page, numbered page 1, should include a one-paragraph detailed abstract of 150 or fewer words. The abstract should describe the purpose of the research, theoretical basis of the hypotheses, analyses, and implications of the findings.
• Introduction–The text should begin on page 2. Page numbering should continue through all pages of the report including footnotes, appendixes, references, tables, and figures. Discuss the background to the research problem and provide a justification for the research. Sections should include: Statement of the research problem; Research aims; Significance of the study.
• Literature Review–Review the key literature to identify what work has been completed and published in the research area.
Literature review feedback
Literature review feedback
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
Abstract
5 to >4.25 Pts
HD
The topic is clearly introduced. The purpose, underlying theoretical construct and scope of the literature review are clear. The key findings and overall response to the literature review question (conclusion) are clear and concise. No new material is presented.
4.25 to >4.0 Pts
D
Introduction evident and clear. Research problem and aim of the literature review were very clear. Research question(s) or insight(s) posed. Comprehensive explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review.
4 to >3.25 Pts
Credit
The topic can be identified. The purpose, underlying construct and scope of the literature review are included, but could be improved. Key findings and the overall response to the literature review question (conclusion) are included, but may not be clear or accurate. No new material is presented.
3.25 to >2.5 Pts
Pass
The abstract goes over the word length AND/OR the topic, conclusion is unclear. New material may be presented.
2.5 to >0 Pts
Fail
No Abstract is presented
5 pts
Introduction
10 to >8.5 Pts
HD
Introduction evident and clear. Research problem and aim of the literature review were clearly explained and supported. Innovative research question(s) or insight(s) posed. Outstanding explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review. Definitions and/or key words were clarified. General background/significance of the topic was clearly established.
8.5 to >7.4 Pts
D
Introduction evident and clear. Research problem and aim of the literature review were very clear. Research question(s) or insight(s) posed. Comprehensive explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review. General background or significance of the topic was clearly established.
7.4 to >6.4 Pts
Credit
Introduction evident and clear. Research problem and aim of the literature review were clear. Solid explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review. Have outlined the significance of the topic/issues to be discussed.
6.4 to >5.0 Pts
Pass
Introduction evident but lacked clarity. Research problem and the aim of the literature review evident but lacked clarity. Some explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review.
5 to >0 Pts
Fail
Poor or no introduction. Little or no effort to clarify the research problem and aim of the literature review. Little or no explanation of the methodology and data sources used in the literature review.
10 pts
Discussion, critical analysis and evaluation of the literature (55%)
Claims made
are
supported by
relevant,
current and
appropriately
detailed
research
evidence.
(15%)15 to >12.6 Pts
HD
Discussion of literature was superior. Relevance of the literature to the research problem was very clear.
12.6 to >11.1 Pts
D
Discussion of literature was very good. Relevance of the literature to the research problem was very clear.
11.1 to >9.6 Pts
Credit
Discussion of literature was good. Relevance of the literature to the research problem was clear
9.6 to >7.35 Pts
Pass
Discussion of literature was adequate. Relevance of the literature to the research problem could have been clearer.
7.35 to >0.0 Pts
Fail
Discussion of literature was lacking and/or inappropriate. Relevance of literature to the research problem was unclear.
0 Pts
No marks
15 pts
Critical Analysis
Provided
critical
evaluation of
included
theories and
research
evidence
supporting or
contradicting
the
argument.
40%40 to >33.6 Pts
HD
Critical evaluation and analysis of the literature in relation to the research problem was in-depth and insightful. An outstanding grasp of the literature was presented
33.6 to >29.6 Pts
D
Critical evaluation and analysis of the literature in relation to the research problem was in-depth and insightful. A very good grasp of the literature was presented.
29.6 to >25.6 Pts
Credit
Critical evaluation and analysis of the literature in relation to the research problem was evident and in-depth but could have been more insightful. A good grasp of the literature was presented.
25.6 to >19.6 Pts
Pass
Some critical evaluation and analysis of the literature in relation to the research problem was evident but lacked depth. An adequate grasp of the literature was presented
19.6 to >0.0 Pts
Fail
Critical evaluation and analysis of the literature in relation to the research problem was not evident or lacked depth. A poor grasp of the literature was presented
0 Pts
No marks
40 pts
Conclusions (15%)
15 to >12.6 Pts
HD
Conclusions were logical, thoughtful and insightful. Acted as an outstanding synthesis to the review. Insightful and innovative implications of the review were presented.
12.6 to >11.1 Pts
D
Conclusions were logical and thoughtful. Acted as a well thought out synthesis to the review. Insightful implications of the review were presented.
11.1 to >9.6 Pts
Credit
Conclusions were logical and clearly presented. Acted as a synthesis to the review. Adequate implications of the review were presented.
9.6 to >7.35 Pts
Pass
Some conclusions presented but lacked logic and/or insightfulness. Did not synthesize the review. Could have done a better job in presenting the implications of the review.
7.35 to >0.0 Pts
Fail
No or poorly written conclusion. Lacked relevance. Did not synthesize the review. Did not or did a poor job in presenting the implications of the review.
0 Pts
No marks
15 pts
Presentation, structure, formatting and referencing (15%)
15 to >12.6 Pts
HD
Outstanding presentation. Superior structure evident. Superior attention to detail and to academic conventions was evident. Referencing was comprehensive and faultless. No inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies evident. Literature provided was very relevant to the title.
12.6 to >11.1 Pts
D
Excellent presentation. Structure was very clear. Great attention to detail and to academic conventions was evident. Referencing was comprehensive and very accurate. No inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies evident
11.1 to >9.6 Pts
Credit
Well presented. Structure was clear. Attention to detail and to academic conventions was clear. Referencing was accurate. Minor inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies evident.
9.6 to >7.35 Pts
Pass
Reasonably well presented. Structure could have been clearer. Greater attention to detail and to academic conventions required. Referencing was adequate. Some inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies evident.
7.35 to >0.0 Pts
Fail
Not well presented. Poor structure. No, or poor, referencing. Numerous inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies evident. Lacked attention to detail and to academic conventions.
0 Pts
No marks
15 pts
Total points: 100
Guidelines for Major Project
Business Research Methods, 11172
Total 30%
Part 1: 10% due on week 7, Part 2: 20% due on 1st Nov by 11.59 pm.
Part 1: Tasks and format
Literature Review
(Please note: Additional information for Lit Review will be made available via tutorial, lecture).
As part of unit requirement, students must complete ALL assessments to pass this unit.
Students are required to:
- Identify a research problem within a relevant field (e.g., accounting, finance, marketing, human resource management, management, tourism, economics, information technology and organisational behaviour etc.) and conduct a critical literature review on it.
- Draw on peer reviewed journal articles (available online through the UC library), academic textbooks and other academic sources outside of the materials provided in this unit.
- Students are strongly encouraged to research and source as many academic resources as they can. As a guide, at least 8-10 journal articles should be examined and used.
- Write a literature review report of up to 1500 maximum words (not including title page, abstract, references, notes, figures and tables).
- Critically evaluate and discuss current knowledge and thinking in the topic area.
- An abstract of no more than 150 words should be included in the report.
- The structure of the report should include: Title page, abstract (of no more than 150 words), table of contents (optional), introduction, body, conclusion, and references. Use numbered headings (optional) and subheadings (optional). Include page numbers in the footer of the report.
- The title page needs to include a title, student name, student number, your tutorial date, time and your tutor’s name.
- Text should be in Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced and margins of 2.5 cm.
References should conform to the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. See details: https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/arts-design/attachments2/pdf/n-andmrc-conference/APA-Referencing-Guide.pdf
- Assignment should be submitted to Ouriginal software to check for text matching. URKUND checking may take a couple of days so please factor this into the due date for the assignment. The assignment must be submitted to URKUND in a file that is suitable for URKUND so please convert the file/document to .doc, .docx, or .pdf. If the file is not suitable for URKUND, students' assignment may not be marked or will be delayed.
- High Ouriginal (URKUND) reports will be sent directly to Associate Dean of Education Office for further investigation. As a student from University of Canberra, you are required to familiarise yourself with University of Canberra’s policies and misconduct issues, including plagiarism.
- Upload the Literature Review Report onto the appropriate Learning Management System before or on the due date.
- All request for assignment extensions must be submitted to the unit convenor before the due date on a weekday. Failure to do so will result in an automatic NC. It is highly recommended that students DO NOT upload their assignments at the last minute of the due time. Please keep the online receipt for confirmation purposes.
- It is students' responsibility to read the unit guide/plan carefully alongside information on CANVAS CAREFULLY for assignment details.
The teaching and learning processes in this unit model is participatory and co-operative learning processes used by effective learners. As the content of this unit is mathematical intensive and cumulative, students are strongly encouraged to pace themselves throughout the semester.
Students are responsible in ensuring that they have read and understood the information provided in this unit outline. Students are also responsible for all the content in their textbook, lecture power-point slides and tutorial materials. Finally, students are fully responsible and MUST check and monitor their learning management site for updates regularly. Failure to do so may result in students not having the latest information needed to pass this unit.
- Title page−include report title (descriptive of the research topic), student name, student number, tutorial day, time, and your tutor’s name.
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| Subject | Business | Pages | 6 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Marketing: Product Diversification to Increase Profitability
Abstract
This report is based on review of literature to identify strategies used in product differentiation and to identify benefits of product differentiation. Companies constantly struggle to stay relevant and to survive in a stiff competitive environment. Product diversification ensures organisational survival and profitability. Some of the strategies used in diversification process include mergers and acquisitions, achieving cost savings, cross-selling of products, producing hybrid produces, entering into new markets, and increasing brand image. Other strategies include improvement of the existing product, changing pricing strategies, and be adapting new marketing strategies to as to expand business opportunities. Benefits of product diversification include attainment and sustaining of the competitive advantage, increasing market presence, increased profitability, and improve organizational survival in a competitive environment. However, diversification need to be into related products since diversification into unrelated products can lead to organisational failure.
Marketing: Product Diversification to Increase Profitability
Introduction
Companies and corporations do struggle always to stay relevant and to maintain or improve their performance in the global market. Product diversification is one of the strategies for achieving these goals. Diversification is defined as the act of increasing market heterogeneity of business products (Le, 2019). The scope of this report is to identify product diversification strategies and discuss on the effectiveness of product diversification as a way for increasing profitability. Diversification is thought to have begun in the 1920s. Since them there have been many corporate diversification booms as well as diversification of field of operations around the world. In the period between 1949 to 1974, the single companies dropped from 70% to 37% of all Fortune 500 companies while diversified companies increased from 30% to 63% of all Fortune 500 companies (Le, 2019). This is an indication that the global supply chain has been shifting from product specialization to product diversification. Today, product diversification remains an effective strategy for ensuring survival and performance and for increasing profitability.
Justification for the Research
This study is important since it will identify available diversification strategies to be used by corporations, enterprises and companies to increase their market performance and profitability. Similarly, is important since it will determine whether product diversification is an effective strategy to use to increase market performance and profitability.
Statement of the Research Problem
Today’s world is characterised by existence of companies or corporations that deals in similar goods and services and facing cut-throat competition as they try to outcompete/ out-perform each other. Product diversification is thereby employed as an effective strategy by companies or corporations so as to remain relevant in a competitive marketing environment. However, Le (2019), state there is no strong evidence to demonstrate that product diversification strategy is effective and beneficial to corporate performance. This paper attempts to collect evidence on beneficial outcomes of product diversification to corporate performance.
Research Aims
The first aim of this study is to identify product diversification strategies employed by companies or corporations to increase market performance and profitability. The second aim is to discuss effectives of product diversification as a marketing strategy.
Significance of the Study
The study is important since it informs companies or corporations about available product diversification strategies to employ in order to remain relevant and competent in a competitive marketing environment. In addition, the findings of this literature review will inform companies and corporations about the effectiveness of product diversification as a strategy for increasing profitability.
Literature Review
Diversification is a strategy used to promote enterprise expansion. Diversification has led corporations to rapid expansion and promoted their success in the global market. Through product diversification, large companies have expanded and emerged as international companies with branches across different regions and countries. Companies are now making profits in different industries, which is different from their earlier used product specialization strategies (Le, 2019). Chemical and electronic companies are characterised with the highest degree of diversification while tobacco and petroleum companies have the lowest degree of diversification (Le, 2019).
There are various strategies for diversifying a product. Mergers and acquisitions are some of the main strategies employed around the world. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, many American companies diversified through acquisitions and large-scale mergers (Le, 2019). Other diversification strategies include achieving cost savings, cross-selling of products, producing hybrid produces, entering into new markets, and increasing brand image. In addition, diversification can be achieved through improvement of the existing product, changing pricing strategies, and be adapting new marketing strategies to as to expand business opportunities (Jayathilake, 2018).
Product diversification is an effective strategy for staying relevant in the market and for ensuring long-term survival of a company, corporation, or enterprise. Organisations can gain higher market-power through implementation of diversification strategy (Jayathilake, 2018). Diversification improves performance of a company (Le, 2019). Benefits of diversification include improved economic scope and economies of scale. In addition, it results in acquisition of superior data and information, better ways of sharing information or ideas, and effective utilization of resources (Le, 2019). In addition, it results in improvement of financial performance (Patrisia & Dastgir, 2017). Jayathilake (2018) state that firms can achieve an efficient internal capital market through efficient allocation of resources. Diversification enables firms to improve their profitability and expand their asset base to reach new markets and deal in new products. It maximises value while at the same time helping to minimise the cost for the firm (Jayathilake, 2018). Castaldi and Giarratana (2018), found that one of the advantages of diversification include one-stop-shop considerations. On the other hand, Thakur and Bhatia (2021) found that product diversification is an effective strategy for stimulating growth of a company. Similarly, Alengo, Okello, and Malenya (2019), state that the primary purpose of product diversification is to allow a company or corporation to grow. Diversification is identified as the best strategy to be employed by a company that aims to enter the growth stage of the business life-cycle. Besides, it is a useful strategy for companies that want to survive in the competition or wants to create a competitive advantage (Patrisia & Dastgir, 2017). The highly praised and proven method for attaining and sustaining competitive advantaged is diversification. Diversification enables corporations to increase market presence and to increase marginal profits (Sahni & Juhari, 2019).
Product diversification is an effective approach for reducing risks. Companies and corporations have long used diversification as a way for reducing risks (Le, 2019). Jayathilake (2018), state that diversification is frequently used as a strategy for managing risks. Service industries use diversification to reduce risks by combining their abilities to coordinate large project and provision of complete packages of diversified services so as to satisfy complex needs of large client base (Castaldi & Giarratana, 2018). Diversification is beneficial in risk reduction, creation of synergy, and market power (Patrisia & Dastgir, 2017).
Excessive diversification can at times lead to drastic results. For example, excessive diversification of Chinese companies, namely, the Sun God Group and the Sanjiu Group resulted in their failure. Besides, overdiversification of the other Chinese companies, known as Chunlan and the Giant Group led to their collapse (Le, 2019). Currently, there is a decline in the levels of diversification and the growing pressure to reduce diversification. As such, the levels of diversification into unrelated products have reduced considerably, but the levels of diversification into related products have increased since the mid-1990s; following a decrease in the period between 1970s and 1980s (Schommer, Richter, & Karna, 2018). Companies that over-diversify need to devest some of their side enterprises, which does not perform and not related to their main business so as to ensure their survival (Le, 2019). Alengo et al. (2019), established diversification by the banking industry into related products results I increased number of customers, enhancement of the banking firms, and access to multiple markets. Many diversified Chinese companies faced operational difficulties after the financial crisis of 2008, and this demonstrated the importance of divesting from non-performing businesses as a strategic re-adjustment strategy (Le, 2019). Limited diversification in products that are related to the dominant product have been shown to improve corporate performance while excessive diversification has been shown to reduce synergies with negative impacts on corporate economic performance (Le, 2019).
Diversification need to be effectively managed at the business unit level. Effective management of diversification guarantees the road to success. Managers need to be capable in managing diversification. Through effective management at all company divisions, the relationship between product diversification and firm performance can be realized (Jayathilake, 2018). Managers need to conduct relevant statistical analyses so as to identify an organization’s optimal level of corporate diversification so as to maximise performance of a firm (Thakur & Bhatia, (2021).
Conclusion
Product diversification ensures organisational survival and profitability. Some of the strategies used in diversification process include mergers and acquisitions, achieving cost savings, cross-selling of products, producing hybrid produces, entering into new markets, and increasing brand image. Other strategies include improvement of the existing product, changing pricing strategies, and be adapting new marketing strategies to as to expand business opportunities. Benefits of product diversification include attainment and sustaining of the competitive advantage, increasing market presence, increased profitability, and improve organizational survival in a competitive environment.
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References
Alengo, V. O., Okello, B., & Malenya, A. (2019). Influence of product diversification on the operational performance of commercial banks in Kakamega county, Kenya. Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 6(2), 2342-2353. https://strategicjournals.com/index.php/journal/article/view/1267
Castaldi, C., & Giarratana, M. S. (2018). Diversification, branding, and performance of professional service firms. Journal of Service Research, 21(3), 353-364. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1094670518755315
Jayathilake, H. M. (2018). Product diversification strategies: a review of managerial skills for firm performance. International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 7(7), 90-100. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326840653
Le, H. (2019). Literature review on diversification strategy, enterprise core competence and enterprise performance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 9, 91-108. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2019.91008
Patrisia, D., & Dastgir, S. (2017). Diversification and corporate social performance in manufacturing companies. Eurasian Business Review, 7, 121-139. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40821-016-0052-6
Sahni, J., & Juhari, A. S. (2019). Corporate diversification: a fundamental exploration of general business environments, industry environments and firm characteristics. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 18(2). https://www.abacademies.org/articles/corporate-diversification-a-fundamental-exploration-of-general-business-environments-industry-environments-and-firm-characteristic-8065.html
Schommer, M., Richter, A., & Karna, A. (2018). Does the diversification-firm performance relationship change over time? A meta-analytical review. Journal of Management Studies, 56(1), 270-298. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12393
Thakur, A., & Bhatia, A. (2021). Firm-specific antecedents affecting product diversification: evidence from India. Transnational Corporations Review, 13(3), 293-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/19186444.2021.1873715