How to Structure a Business and Management Internal

Assessment

Here is a layout you can follow for your HL Business Management IA. The layout has changed a
bit recently (November 2016) for example in terms of the cover sheet requirements, but this is
up-to-date.

The Proposal and the IA should be included in a single document, using double-spaced Arial,
sized 12 font.

Pre-Research Proposal Material

Title page

Include:

Your Research Question,

Intended Audience (i.e. To Company X)
The IB Number (Something in the format "abc123" (i.e. fjk932)
Session (i.e. May 2017)
Proposal word count and IA word count. (Note that the Executive Summary is not
counted in the 2000 words allowed for the IA.)
(Also, notice that the student's name, school, candidate number and student number
should not be on the cover sheet anymore).

Acknowledgements

This is not really required, but it's customary to include this.

Contents page

Include information about (and page numbers for):

 Your proposal,
All parts of your IA,
Your Appendices

The Research Proposal Layout

Research Proposal (500 words)

The research proposal section is written in the future tense.

Include:

RQ

Rationale - How this RQ relates to current company priorities or challenges. This is not why YOU are
interested in this topic, but rather why the COMPANY has an interest in this question.

Theoretical Framework - Course sections (i.e. chapters), with specific tools listed and an explanation of
how each will help you answer the RQ.

Methodology - The sources of primary and secondary information you will pursue, citing specific names
of people you will interview (and why), as well as specific information you will focus on finding.

Anticipated Difficulties. Explain some possible problems you will likely face and how you plan to deal
with them. Try to go beyond the obvious ones, such as bias and access to information. Tell us why some
of the information you need could be hard to get or unreliable.

Action Plan. Include dates and also a section where you show modifications you've made, as you
completed your work. This shows that you actually used your action plan during your IA. Also, at least
one of these modifications should show that you actually learned something (or realized something
related to business) and that's why you made the change. This again shows that you were growing as a
result of your work --which starts to build the case for Criterion I (Reflective Thinking).

The word count for the entire proposal.

The IA Layout
Executive Summary (Abstract) (200 words --not included in the word count)

From this point onward everything should be written in the past tense. For example, "First the
owner was contacted to discuss possible areas of concern..." Also, include page numbers
Include:

Give a very quick (i.e. 1 or 2 sentence) background of the type of company and it's
situation
Give the RQ
State the tools used
Explain major primary and secondary sources used
Explain your major findings,
Mention a limitation of the findings.

Introduction (approx. 200 words)

Include:

State the company name and explain what the company does (make sure this is really
clear),
Explain one of their current strategic priorities,
Explain what you are going to research (your RQ),
Explain the sections of the course which are involved.
The word count for this section.

Method Employed (approx. 200 words)

Include:

More detail about your procedure --what kinds of primary and secondary sources you
used to explore your RQ
Explain some of the sources of information you used (i.e. 'an interview with X and Y and
a survey of Z')
(Very briefly) the benefit of using these sources.
The business techniques and tools you used, and
(Very briefly) the purpose of your business tools. (Watch this YouTube clip if you aren't
sure about how to choose your tools, because using the right tools is essential to scoring
well in your IA.)
Explain how valid and reliabile your data collection was. For example, how there may
have been room for bias or a limited scope to your research.
Explain how valid your methods of gathering data were.
Mention any changes made to your IA approach as the work progressed. There should be
several.

Main Results and Findings (approx. 300 words)

Include:

A graph of some kind is recommended,

A summary of your research, perhaps as a list of a few of the key facts uncovered and
their primary or secondary sources.
Analysis and discussion (approx. 900 words)

This is where you J.A.M. For each tool (3 or 4 of them) include:

A clear justification of the use of the theory (how it will help answer the RQ),
Make sure you are using the JAM structure and that as much of your infomation as
possible is coming through the tools (rather than in paragraph form).
The analysis (i.e. the SWOT, etc), and then
The mini-conclusion (linking the findings of the tool to the RQ).
I recommend at least one financial tool, but this should come after your qualitative tools.
In general we like to see qualitative tools (such as SWOT and PEST) come before the
quantiative ones (like ratio analysis and decision trees), because the qualitative tools set
the scene and provide context for the financials.

Conclusions (200 words)

No new data here.

Pull your mini-conclusions together (synthesize them), make some interesting insights
based on them (i.e. pros and cons, short-term vs long-term effects, possible stakeholder
conflicts).
This is where you really get to shine. Take time with your conclusion, so you can really
emphasize everything you've discovered and how it all fits together to answer your RQ.
Mention some limitations to your research. There needs to be at least one, probably two.
Show you have really reflected on your work.

Recommendations (approx. 200 words)

Include:

At least 3 recommendations,
At least one additional type of research which would help ensure the reliability of your
findings.

Works Cited (No word limit)

Include:

At least 2 books (one of these can be the textbook)

At least 2 interviews,
At least 4 internet sources,
At least one source which shows your willingness to work hard and go beyond the
minimum requirements (i.e. a trade journal, an advanced academic paper, an interview
with a competitor).

Appendices (No word limit)

Include:

Transcripts from your interviews,

Additional analysis you did which didnt fit in the body of your IA.
Questionnaire results, details of the calculations you did for your financial tool,
Any other interesting data which you would like to refer to in the body of your work (i.e.
a market map, which you mention in the main body of your work.

Tim Woods teaches in Singapore and helps IB students around the world
through IBMastery.com I've got a lot more tips and tricks I can share with you if you need some
more help with this.
https://www.ibmastery.com/blog/how-to-structure-a-business-and-management-internal-
assessment