Group Report: FC 37-3 Small Business Finance Report & Presentation Guide

Module title & code
FC 37 -3: Small Business Finance

Assessment type
Group Report and Presentation

Weighting of assessment
70% (Group Report 50% and Presentation 20%). Students are required to pass in both components and failing in one will result in failing both the components. In case of re-sit for group reports and presentations, the referral assessment willalways be individual.

Module learning outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding

Discuss and explain various aspects of financial management of a small business and its successful sustenance.

Skills and Abilities

Develop abusiness plan with forecasted financial statements for a small business.

What am I required to do in this assignment?
2A Group Report: (50%)

SMEs are widely recognised as key drivers of economic diversification, employment and innovation OECD frameworks highlight that new business creation should be supported through access to finance, digital transformation and the adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices for sustainable growth (OECD, 2023).

In Oman, Vision 2040 positions SMEs as a strategic pillar for private sector and non-oil economic development, supported by the SME Development Authority through financing and incubation initiatives (Oman Vision 2040, 2021; ASMED, 2022).

These efforts also align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8 and SDG 9 (UN, 2015).

Therefore, this business plan evaluates the establishment and growth potential of a new SME within this policy and sustainability framework.

References:

ASMED(2022)SME Development Strategy and Entrepreneurship Support Programs. Muscat: Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (ASMED), Sultanate of Oman.

OECD(2023)OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook 2023. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Available at:https://www.oecd.org(Accessed 19 February 2026).

Oman Vision 2040(2021)Oman Vision 2040: National Development Framework. Muscat: Government of the Sultanate of Oman.

UN(2015)Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York: United Nations.

Considering the above statement, you are required to prepare a business plan for a startup business. The plan should cover:

Executive SummaryBusiness description and a Mission/ vision statementIndustry analysis (PEST)Customer ProfileMarket Analysis (4P’s)Competitor AnalysisOperational planFinancial plan: Five-year forecasted financial statements.
Report guidelines:

The report will be graded considering the following points. The students should prepare the following sections.

Cover Sheet:

Business Name (a catchy and memorable name)AddressPhone NumberS1 – Executive Summary
An exciting and interesting executivesummary which give all the reasons why you believe it will be successful. Close with financial requirements. Mission & Vision: Explicitly tie ESG values to the companys purpose.

Strategic Objectives: Add ESG-related KPIs alongside financial ones.

S2 – Description of the Business one page

A brief of all the sections closing with the Mission and Vision statement.

S3 – Industry analysis (PEST)

Four external environmental factors done well and supported with data/ research/ statistics/ ranking etc. with reference to Oman.

S 4 customer analysis

3 profiles geographic, demographic, and psychographic profiles of your customer

Close with your strategy.

S 5 – Market Analysis (marketing strategy 4p’S)

Details of your 4 PS – product, price place and promotion and your strategies in each area.

S 6 Competitor Analysis

Start by listing 3 or 4 competitors both direct and substitute. These are real businesses.

Then do a strength and weakness analysis of the above competitors. Close with your strategy to use their weaknesses and overcome their strengths.

S 7 Operational plan: Management and staffing

Profiles of each partnerA functional organisation chart.Staffing detailsSourcing plan from where you are sourcing your staff local/ international.S 8- 5 Years Forecasted financial statements.
Prepare these in the excel file and copy into this section.

Your report should include a Title, Table of contents and References. You may make any suitable assumptions while composing the report.

2B Viva: (20%)

The group presentation will be in the form of an Elevator Pitch on the selected business plan covering Key areas such as product, location, market, competitors, and financial outcome.

For Operational Guidelines refer toStudent HandbookSection IV: ASSESSMENTS.

Deliverables
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Your work will be graded on the following aspects:

This is a group work.The assignment MUST be submitted on-line (through MOVE) on or before the due date.Your assignment shall reflect the depth and breadth of your original analyses clearly and coherently.Use of the relevant academic literature to support ideas and issues discussed. The range of academic sources such as texts and journals to support your arguments and comments.This is group assignment and carries a weighting of 40% (pair report) +20% for individual viva towards the final grade in this assessment.This assignment follows an essay format and must be original and creative. An analytical piece of work is required. The use of cut and paste approach will be penalized. It must be presented in a structured manner, with appropriate cover page, content page, introduction, body (with appropriate heading / sub-headings), conclusion, references, page numbered and any required appendices.The cover page should be attached with the assignment and uploaded through MOVE (on-line). Name of the student, The Programme, Module Title, Assignment Title and number of words must be reflected on the cover sheet.All assignments must adhere strictly to the deadlines specified by Majan University College. Failure to hand in the assignment for any reason and without prior approval and a valid written extension from the module tutor will not be marked and will be awarded a grade G (0) irrespective of the quality of the work.See section 4.4 of Undergraduate student handbook. Soft copy of the student handbook is available on MOVE.Unacknowledged use of work of others (plagiarism) is regarded as a dishonest practice and will be penalized.See section 5.7 & 5.8 of Undergraduate student hand book.The role of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and Bard is limited to the purpose of gathering ideas, getting structural inputs, understanding theoretical frameworks and their applications, gleaning examples, checking grammar, outlining your thoughts, tuning research questions, and refining your ideas. If you have used any generative AI tools in your assessment, you need to ensure that this is very clearly flagged in the assignment cover sheet. However, these tools should NOT be used to write/produce content related to assessments as this leads to an Academic Offence and your submission will be referred to the Academic Integrity Committee.Any reference to authors and other writers shall be quoted with due acknowledgement in your assignment report using theHarvard Referencing System. For details of Harvard referencing style, refer section 7.3 of Undergraduate student handbook.Submission
The Assignment Submission link on MOVE will be open, a week ahead of the submission date.

You can submit your assignment multiple times, until the submission deadline. Note that Turnitin could take up to 24 hours to produce similarity reports for submissions.The last submission, within the deadline, will be considered as your final submission.Assignmentsshould be submitted by 6 pm on the day of the deadline. There is a grace period until midnight to allow for any technical difficulties, but any assignmentssubmitted after this will be counted as late. Technical problems will not be accepted as an excuse for submitting after the day of the deadline.You are required to tick to confirm the statement: I confirm that thisassignmentis my own and all sources have been acknowledged. I understand that the use of other peoples work or ideas without acknowledgement is plagiarism and could result in failing theassignment. You will not be able to submit theassignmentwithout ticking this box.In a case of group work, it is recommended that the group should identify a leader who can be responsible for uploading the assignmenton Turnitin and to share the feedback received from lecturers with the group members.The similarity percentage of your final submission will be one of the factors considered, for assessing the originality of your assignment.However, the decision to report an assignment for plagiarism is taken by the Lecturers, who mark your assignment.The Lecturers will consider several factors such as Assignment type, Part of the assignment where similarity occurs, Nature of similarityetc.,along with the similarity percentage of your assignment, to assess the originality of your assignment. Therefore, similarity percentage willnotbe accepted as a basis for disputing academic judgments regarding plagiarism.
Note that the similarity percentage of your submission can change until the submission deadline if the submissions of other students have similarity to your assignment. Therefore, the similarity percentages arenotfinal, till the assignment submission is closed.

You have to pass both the components of this assessment to pass assessment 1. Failing in one lead to fail in the other.

What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations)
Create a business plan carrying out a PEST analysis, customer and competitor analysis and put forth a marketing strategy along with forecasted financials statements.

How do I produce high quality work that merits a higher grade?
To achieve higher grades students, have to demonstrate evidence of relevant academic reading, illustrations, and appropriate examples, construction of logical analysis and arguments drawing up an appropriate conclusion.

The presentation should demonstrate.In-depth coverage of the topic selected.Evidence of the information collected.Evidence of relevant academic readingEvidence of wider readingUse of real-world examples specifically those relating to OmanCritical evaluation of the sources of financeClarity of expressionLanguage and use of Harvard referencing style.
How does assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?
During the practical sessions, guidance and help relating to the conceptual framework will be given. The practical sessions will be used to develop the prerequisite knowledge and skills in terms of forecasting Financials, carrying out PEST, customer, competitor analysis. Note that you will also be expected to work outside of the practical sessions

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