MSIN0181 Understanding the Information Economy
Understanding the Information Economy
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Coursework Assessment Brief
Module code/name MSIN0181 Understanding the Information Economy
Module leader name Peter Antonioni
Term 2
Assessment title Coursework articles
Individual/group assessment Individual
Content of this assessment brief
Section Content
A Core information
B Coursework brief and requirements
C Module learning outcomes covered in this assessment
D Groupwork instructions (if applicable)
E How your work is assessed
F Additional information
Published 20th October 2021
Section A: Core information
Submission date 24/03/2022
Submission time 3:00 PM
Assessment is marked out of: 100
% weighting of this assessment
within total module mark
50%
Maximum word count/page
length/duration
2500 words in two sections of 1250 word maxima each.
Footnotes, appendices, tables,
figures, diagrams, charts included
in/excluded from word count/page
length?
Footnotes are included in word count. Tables, charts diagrams
etcetera and any text within the diagrams, any titles to the
diagrams, and any text in legends are excluded.
Bibliographies, reference lists
included in/excluded from word
count/page length?
Bibliographies and reference lists are not included within word
count.
Penalty for exceeding word
count/page length
If the word count/page length is exceeded the excess content will
NOT be marked.
assessment#3.12
Submitting your assessment Please submit to the relevant Moodle dropbox. PDF format is
preferred as Turnitin renders it better.
Anonymity of identity. Normally, all
submissions are anonymous unless
the nature of the submission is such
that anonymity is not appropriate,
illustratively as in presentations or
where minutes of group meetings
are required as part of a group work
submission
The nature of this assessment is such that anonymity is required.
Published 20th October 2021
Section B: Assessment Brief and Requirements
There are two tasks for this assessment. Each must be completed within 1250 words of text, given the
exclusions above. Each task gives a choice of options, you are asked to choose one of the options and to
execute the generic task at the top, so for example on question 1, you would write as requested for the
generic task, but have a choice over which industry and specific case. Each task asks you to direct your
writing towards a different type of reader. Please bear this in mind. One requirement across both tasks is
that you take note of the point detailed in section F, and acknowledge that you will receive less credit for
a copy and pasted diagram than you will for one you created yourself.
1. You have been requested by your management to carry out a prospective analysis on one of the
following industries. Your managers are interested in the strategic position of the companies in
the industry and may wish to explore investment opportunities in that industry. They are primarily
concerned with the potential for competition, entry and profitability over the immediate, and
short term horizon (which they acknowledge is not easily defined but would suggest you take
operationally to mean about three years). Your managers have been disappointed in reports that
merely give a discounted cash flow projection, and they are more interested in how many
competitors there might be, whether there is likely to be growth in the market over this period,
whether there is likely to be exit or consolidation in the market. Your managers are, as will be
most managers, a little less technically aware then you, and are not always sure of the definition
of the industry, so will use a company as an exemplar, leaving the actual definition of the industry
up to you. The industries that they are interested in are:
a. Mobile and casual gaming (exemplar: King.com)
b. Microblogging and social networks (exemplar: Twitter)
c. Off the shelf rapid delivery services (e.g. Getir)
d. Streaming Television and content services (e.g. Netflix)
Your managers are hard pressed for time so they want you to use no more than 1250
words, and ask you, please, to pay attention to the clarity with which you express your
insights.
2. The Financial Times has approached you looking for a take on the question of whether there are
more competition or anti-trust cases in the pipeline for Big Tech, and if so, on what grounds such
a case might be brought by the European Commission. In doing so, you must assume that the
jurisdiction of the Court is the EU (and by extension under current regulatory convergence, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.) They ask you to do so drawing on the
cases already brought against Microsoft and Google (Adwords, Shopping and Android cases might
all be relevant) and although they don’t ask you to limit the cases to particular companies, they
note that the most immediately interesting potential monopolies to their readership are the
FAANG group of companies: that is, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google. The article is
expected to be Long Form, which is double the normal commission length of 600 words, and have
agreed an expected schedule of payment for your delivery of an article of no more than 1250
words in total. In doing so, the FT does not want to second guess your choice of take on this, but
they do ask that your article is suitable for publication, even if it might require a little editing work.
They remind you that the audience is serious, professional, intelligent, but not necessarily
informed on all aspects of the case, so they will want you to be coherent with their values for this
essay,
Published 20th October 2021
Section C: Module Learning Outcomes covered in this
Assessment
This assessment contributes towards the achievement of the following stated module Learning
Outcomes as highlighted below:
Using the basic economics of the Information Technology Sector to understand an industry
Communicating complex arguments about the industry to stakeholders and management
Understanding the role of competition law and policy in the information industries.S
Published 20th October 2021
Section D: Groupwork Instructions (where
relevant/appropriate)
No applicable guidelines.
Published 20th October 2021
Section E: How your work is assessed
Within each section of this assessment you may be assessed on the following aspects, as applicable and
appropriate to this assessment, and should thus consider these aspects when fulfilling the requirements of
each section:
• The accuracy of any calculations required.
• The strengths and quality of your overall analysis and evaluation;
• Appropriate use of relevant theoretical models, concepts and frameworks;
• The rationale and evidence that you provide in support of your arguments;
• The credibility and viability of the evidenced conclusions/recommendations/plans of action
you put forward;
• Structure and coherence of your considerations and reports;
• Appropriate and relevant use of, as and where relevant and appropriate, real world examples,
academic materials and referenced sources. Any references should use either the Harvard OR
Vancouver referencing system (see References, Citations and Avoiding Plagiarism)
• Academic judgement regarding the blend of scope, thrust and communication of ideas,
contentions, evidence, knowledge, arguments, conclusions.
• Each assessment requirement(s) has allocated marks/weightings.
Student submissions are reviewed/scrutinised by and internal assessor and are available to an External
Examiner for further review/scrutiny before consideration by the relevant Examination Board.
It is not uncommon for some students to feel that their submissions deserve higher marks (irrespective of
whether they actually deserve higher marks). To help you assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of
your submission please refer to UCL Assessment Criteria Guidelines, located at
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/sites/teaching-learning/files/migrated-
files/UCL_Assessment_Criteria_Guide.pdf
The above is an important link as it specifies the criteria for attaining 85% +, 70% to 84%, 60% to 69%, 50%
to 59%, 40% to 49%, below 40%.
You are strongly advised to not compare your mark with marks of other submissions from your student
colleagues. Each submission has its own range of characteristics which differ from others in terms of
breadth, scope, depth, insights, and subtleties and nuances. On the surface one submission may appear to
be similar to another but invariably, digging beneath the surface reveals a range of differing
characteristics.
Published 20th October 2021
Section F: Additional information from module leader
(as appropriate)
For the first week after posting, this document will not be added to, in order to give you some time to examine
and explore without pressing on the particular question. Similarly, we won’t take questions until the beginning of
5th week, or issue clarifications until then. After that we will append a grading outline and some infrequently asked
questions that will, we hope, be helpful.
You cannot possibly hope to cover all aspects of either cases. You will need to select, and you may need to justify
the importance of the points you make.
We place a higher value on pieces which involve independent research, go beyond the basics, or draw links with
other non-course research. You’ll do better still if you also question the information you might receive, sanity
check it against other facts, consider different predictions against each other, or do other pieces of sleuthing as
part of the work,
We will weight more highly any charts that you produce yourself above those that might be copied in.