produce a report to the Board of Directors that identifies a potential investment project to help the business grow in the post COVID-19 environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the businesses and economy dramatically. The Board of Directors is currently considering to diversify its business risk and plan to make some investments that would help the business sustain and grow in the long term. Assume you were the Chief Financial Officer of the company/organisation, you were tasked to produce a report to the Board of Directors that identifies a potential investment project to help the business grow in the post COVID-19 environment.
Write a professional report to the Board of Directors. In your report, you shall propose a investment project, considering the risk and return, evaluating the investment opportunity and analysing its potential impact on the company/organisation with consideration of its financial performance before you make recommendation, including the following discussions:

  • Motivation of the proposed investment (200-300 words)
  • Conduct investment appraisal using both quantative and qualitative information (500-600 words)
  • Critically discuss the risk and return and its potential impact on its financial performance (500-600 words)
  • Conclusion and make recommendation (250 words)
    Data can be assessed via FAME for publicly traded UK company, stock exchange, Yahoo Finance, as well as the annual report and official website. If you choose a private company, please ensure you can assess the data for your analysis.
    Analysis, links, examples and applications of the concepts and discussion should be made to current businesses and situations to show understanding of this module and its contents.
    Reference should follow Harvard Referencing Guide. Please do not copy and paste other resources in your report. The appendices of the report shall include relevant supporting data.
Describe concisely your overall marketing strategy and objectives for your product/service.

Please complete each of the following sections in the business plan template and submit to Moodle.
Marketing & Communications Strategy (1,750-2,000 words approx)
Staffing and Operations (1,750-2,000 words approx)
You should submit this draft as one document– i.e. you do not submit sections separately. You could allocate a moderate amount of the word count from one of the above sections to the other e.g the Marketing section could be allocated 2,200 words and the Staffing & Operations section could be allocated 1,800 words, if deemed applicable to the nature of your business idea.
Use the business plan template for guidance on all of the items covered in each section (the relevant sections have been copy and pasted below) however, please be mindful that you may adapt certain elements that are appropriate to suit your individual business.
Marking Scheme:
Section Description Available Marks Actual Mark

  • Marketing & Communications Strategy
    (1,750-2,000 words) Marks will be awarded for completion and quality of:
    • Marketing strategy
    • Pricing
    • Revenue Model & Sales Strategy
    • Sales Forecast
    • Communications Strategy 50%
  • Staffing and Operations
    (1,750-2,000 words) Marks will be awarded for completion and quality of:
    • Organisational Chart
    • Staffing
    • Operations 50%
  • Marketing and Communications Strategy
    This section sets out your strategies for reaching your target market, arousing their interest in your product or service, and actually delivering the product or service to them in sales. The points listed below within each sub-section can vary considerably from business to business, please adapt to suit your particular business.
    5.1 Marketing Strategy
    Initially
    Describe concisely your overall marketing strategy and objectives for your product/service.
    Examine the various levels of your product/service: Examine the Core, actual and augmented levels of a product/service.
    Put forward a Positioning statement. This will outline how you will position your product or service in the market and differentiate it from its competitors? See class notes on this topic.
    5.2 Pricing
    Identify the pricing strategy that your business will adopt for your key target market(s). For instance, cost plus or premium pricing. Justify your choice.
    It is recommended to include a table to compare your target market prices along with those of your major competitors.
    5.3 Sales Forecast
    Discuss your sales forecast which will provide the basis for the sales and cash flow figures in your financial projections. These must be based on realistic assessments. Discussion includes aspects such as:
    • Number of transactions per day
    • Average customer spend or average deal size (if B2B)
    • Sales per month (account for seasonal variations)
    • Length of sales cycle (B2B and B2C)
    • Recurring revenues e.g. subscriptions etc.
    • Cash and Credit Sales (if relevant)
    5.4 Revenue Model & Sales Strategy
    ? How will your business generate revenue? Is there perhaps Recurring revenue e.g Subscriptions, memberships, donations e.g Patreon. It could also be Ad-based or else the traditional ‘transactional model’.
    ? How you will sell your product or service to the target market.
    • Direct selling
    • On or off-line (or both)
    • Retailers/stockists
    • Distributor/Agent
    • Third Parties/partners
    Analyse for each chosen method: the costs involved, justify how it will reach the intended target markets efficiently, the control you would retain over the pricing and positioning, the logistics, and the overall integration with your marketing strategy. State the advantages of the methods you have chosen to sell your product or service.
    5.5 Communications Strategy
    How you will promote your product or service in the marketplace and communicate with your customers. What key promotional tools will you adopt? e.g.
    Traditional Promotional Methods:
    For example:
    • Advertising – where, when, how, to whom. If you are not going to advertise, please justify your reasons.
    • Public relations
    • Direct marketing
    • Exhibitions etc.
    • Word of mouth
    Internet/Digital and Social Media Marketing
    What key forms of Internet and Social Media Marketing will you utilise? Be as creative as possible keeping in mind that costs should aim to be minimized for start ups.
    Identify what you want to achieve from your Social Media Marketing strategy and identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that your strategy is on course.
    You will need to fully cost each marketing communication method and you should have a summary table at the end of this section. For instance:
    Costs Year 1 Costs Year 2 Costs Year 3
    Advertising
    Public Relations
    Direct marketing
    Exhibitions
    Internet and Social Media Marketing
    Total Marketing Costs
  • Staffing and Operations
    This is where you will outline the intended structure of the company in terms of management, number of employees, and the physical operational requirements to produce or supply the product or service. These vary greatly from business to business, please adapt to suit your particular business
    6.1 Organisational Chart
    Include a short diagram of the way in which the management of the new venture will be organized outlining the various Functional responsibilities, who is charged with responsibility for the key functions of the company e.g. Marketing, I.T, Operations, Finance etc. Please provide a short description to accompany the chart.
    You and your business partners (if you have any) may or may not take charge of a number if not all of these during the start-up stage. Certain functions however may be outsourced e.g. Housekeeping/Cleaning, H.R or even I.T.
    6.2 Staffing
    Please explain the skills that you and your management team bring to the business – as well as any possible weaknesses in terms of expertise
    • Does the product/service require skilled people?
    • What will be the mix of Full-time and part-time staff? Perhaps you will utilise self-employed workers (freelancers – widely available on the internet e.g. in the areas of I.T or Marketing), or else perhaps utilise agency staff for certain roles e.g. receptionists, administration etc.
    • What are the appropriate salaries for management staff (management staff are usually paid an annual salary – or perhaps you or your business partners will be the sole manager(s)). What will be the hourly pay for your staff?
    • Students will need to include a staff roster within this section
    Please note: it is not permissible to simply put forward a business idea consisting of only the founder and utilising all outsourced staff.
    6.3 Operations
    State the physical requirements of the business and provide a very brief comment on each expense. These could include how this expense will be set to rise or fall from year 1 to years 2 and 3. The list below is not exhaustive, please adapt to suit your particular business
    • Premises (be creative if possible – perhaps a permanent office is not required at the early stage). Include Rent and Rates of any premises leased.
    • Opening hours of the business
    • Equipment
    • Licenses (if required)
    • Production facilities (if relevant)
    • I.T Infrastructure (perhaps consider outsourcing)
    • Telecommunications
    • Insurance
    • Trade Mark/Patents
    • Miscellaneous e.g. Light and Heat, Postage etc.
    • Suppliers
    Costs involved – please include a summary chart (see below)
    Please note: it is not permissible to put forward a business idea with just the founder working virtually from home with little or no physical and operational infrastructure.
    Costs Year 1 Costs Year 2 Costs Year 3
    Salaries
    Wages
    Premises
    Equipment
    Licenses
    etc.
Explain network, security and operating systems techniques, standards, and practices

Length: 2000 words
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) assessed:

  • Explain network, security and operating systems techniques, standards, and practices 4. Analyse strengths and weaknesses of security protocols for contemporary and emerging
    technologies and systems
    This assignment requires you to investigate and write an essay (in English) on a specified topic relating to networks and security. There are three topics to choose from in different areas that relate to the content of this unit and its extended field of interest.
    • This assignment needs to be completed as an individual. You must not engage nor employ others to write the essay for you – this is considered academic misconduct.
    • You must select and write about one of the 3 available topics listed below, and you may not resubmit work previously submitted for this or other units you have studied in the past.
    • This assignment is to be approximately 2000 words in length (plus or minus 10%, not including the references section). You are highly encouraged to include relevant diagrams and figures to make your essay more readable and interesting.
    • Your essay must not include a table of contents nor an executive summary. However, you should consider including logical sections and subsections (with titles) to improve the essay’s readability.
    Please pay close attention to the section near the end of this document on plagiarism. We treat plagiarism very seriously, and, if detected, it can lead to some serious penalties.
    1
  • Topic list
    Choose from one of the following 3 topics. Your essay title must specify which topic you have chosen (topic 1, 2 or 3):
  • Zero-day attacks associated with hardware or software systems are becoming more common. Discuss these types of attack, including recent examples, why such attacks are increasing in frequency, and what preventative or mitigation actions are possible. Include in your discussion the key drivers behind exploit development for these attacks, who is doing it, and why.
  • The recently discovered Log4J vulnerability has highlighted security-related issues with open source software dependency supply chains (repositories). Discuss the Log4Shell issue in depth, including who is affected, and what steps can be taken for mitigation. Your discussion should also consider the deliberate exploitation of the supply chain in general and why supply chain vulnerability is a security issue.
  • Biometric authentication systems are an increasingly attractive alternative to password schemes that are still the most used authentication method. Discuss the benefits of biometric authentication, what biometric features are commonly sampled, and identify why the wider adoption of such systems has not yet occurred. As part of your answer you should consider the potential vulnerabilities that these systems may have, as well as any ethical and/or legal implications.
  • Citations and Referencing
    This is a research assignment, and as such you are expected to read a range and diversity of content on your topic, and based on your reading, your thoughts, and understanding in the area, condense/summarise the topic in your essay. This means putting content into your own words and citing where it has come from.
    You are expected to use a range of different sources, including academic sources.
    3.1 What is an academic source?
    Most academic sources will likely be formally peer-reviewed articles that have been published in journals or conferences, although other sources are permitted (such as books, and government and/or standards bodies documents). Magazines, web sites, blog posts and news articles are not considered to be academic sources – you may still include them as sources, but your marks will be improved when academic sources are also included (please see the marking rubric).
    3.2 What do I have to cite?
    All source material (anything you have read an obtained from elsewhere) must be cited and then be listed in a references section at the end of the assignment. Correctly citing and referencing the content you have used makes up a significant part of your final mark. You must use citations and referencing when making statements that are not otherwise common knowledge – you provide citations to justify all claims or statements you have made in your essay:
    ‘A citation is a reference to the source of information used in your research. Any time you directly quote, paraphrase or summarize the essential elements of someone else’s idea in your work, an in-text citation should follow. An in-text citation is a brief notation within the text of your paper or presentation which refers the reader to a fuller notation, or end-of-paper citation, that provides all necessary details about that source of information.’ (Suny Empire 2021)
    In other words, any borrowed ideas (which includes direct quotes such as that above), must be acknowledged through the form of an in-text citation in the body of your essay (Victoria University 2015).
    ? It should be noted that any sources you include in your references section must be referred to by in-text citations – you cannot include a source (and have it counted) if you do not actually refer to it.
    3.3 What referencing style do I have to use?
    You are required to use the Harvard referencing style, which in simplest terms, is the Author/Year style. More information can be found by following the links below.
    • https://utas.libguides.com/referencing/Harvard
    • https://mylo.utas.edu.au/d2l/le/content/506348/viewContent/4322786/View
    • https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/harvard/getting-started-with-harvard-referencing
    There is also a brief, non-assessed quiz in unit’s MyLO site to help you consolidate your knowledge on the Harvard referencing style:
    • Assessments? Quizzes? Referencing Quiz
  • Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
    Plagiarism is a very serious matter, and ignorance of this is not an excuse. If you submit work, claiming it to be your own, and it is not original work of your own, this is cheating. This includes (but is not limited to) trying to obscure the source of your work (such as blocks of text submitted as images), using language translation services to source text from one language and convert to another, or paying individuals or companies to do the work for you. Plagiarism can result in academic penalties both in relation to your assignment, and on your permanent university record.
    If the work you submit is that of another person, without appropriate attribution (such as citation and references), then an academic misconduct case may be filed against you with the possible penalties mentioned above.
    4.1 Where can I find more information on academic integrity?
    More information can be found here:
    • https://universitytasmania.sharepoint.com/sites/StudentPortal/SitePages/Academic -Integrity.aspx
    • https://faq.utas.edu.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/1947/~/what-is-plagiarism-andacademic-integrity%3F
    Note: We will be using Turnitin as a plagiarism detection tool.
  • Submission
    The essay is due on Thursday the 7th of April (Week 7) at 11:59 pm. You must submit your assignment in MyLO via the assignment submission link in the Assessment section of the MyLO unit website.
    • The submission must be a single Word document
    • Do not submit in PDF format, and do not ZIP or compress your file before submission
    • You are not required include an electronic cover sheet, as submitting to MyLO is an implicit acknowledgement of accepting the University’s policies around plagiarism and your way of claiming that this is entirely your own work.
  • Hints
    -where should I start?-
    • the library online catalogue search is a good starting place to search for academic references
    e.g. https://www.utas.edu.au/library/find/megasearch (but note however not all search results are academic in nature, some search results are news sites and magazines etc)
    • Google scholar (or international alternatives) are also good for finding academic sources – https://scholar.google.com.au
    • Web sites (for news articles, blogs, security company technical papers etc)
    • Textbooks on networking and security
  • How is your essay marked?
    Your essay will be marked against the rubric that can be found on the next page. Please pay close attention to the weighting % of each criterion and how each grade (HD, DN etc) is assigned. Also note, for example, the Referencing criteria does not mean you will automatically get full marks (25%) if you have 10 or more sources, including 6 academic sources – the mark is assessed on how well you use the sources (e.g. are they relevant), the referencing style, as well as the source quality (for example, are too many of the references from the one web site, or the one company, or the one news report, and are they just blog sites etc).
What policy changes would you implement to address violent crimes toward the most vulnerable victim population in your city or state?

Victimologists seek to answer key questions about crime and how some people are more likely to be victims of crimes than other people. By studying crime statistics, criminologists and victimologists can discover important findings, such as the following:

Rates at which certain crimes occur
Trends that relate to the frequency and location of crimes
Identifying groups that tend to be arrested for (or be victims of) certain types of crime
Impact of laws, correctional programs, or law enforcement efforts on crime

Government data collection systems have their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of providing different types of data (e.g., data provided from police agencies and data collected from surveys).

Explore the following websites:

FBI Crime Data Explorer: An interactive site that allows you to look up your local community crime and victim data
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS): An annual report that provides information on unique crime estimates, victimization estimates, and the number of specific criminal acts.

2019 Criminal Victimization Summary
2019 Criminal Victimization Full Report

Write a paper that addresses the following:

What differences exist between these reporting tools? What did you find most helpful in your understanding of crime and victim data among each of these sources?
Knowing your communities, knowing your services, how would you use this data to provide services in your communities?
What policy changes would you implement to address violent crimes toward the most vulnerable victim population in your city or state?

Can you think of any other technology that has been put into a vehicle or is proposed that could infringe on personal information?

Drunk Driving Could Start to End Forever, as Soon as 2024, Government SaysNew bipartisan Senate bill calls for onboard test equipment in every new car to prevent it from starting if driver’s BAC is 0.08 or higher. In an age in which cars are getting loaded up with active and passive safety equipment to the point of being able to (nearly) drive themselves, a few U.S. senators are looking to put one more piece of safety technology on board. This time, it’s alcohol-detection equipment. With 30 people dying in alcohol-related vehicle accidents on American roads every day, or about one every 48 minutes, it’s no wonder the federal government is looking for a way to make those numbers decline.https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a29555598/government-anti-drunk-driving-plan-revealed/This will increase the price of a car for everyone. Share your thoughts on this legislation. Consider your submission for assignment 2 this week – will this be additional information that a court could access in the case of an accident? Can you think of any other technology that has been put into a vehicle or is proposed that could infringe on personal information?

Describe what the ideal safety management system looks like to you. Do you think it makes a difference in how hazards and risks are managed and controlled?

Describe what the ideal safety management system looks like to you. Do you think it makes a difference in how hazards and risks are managed and controlled? Why, or why not? ALSO PLEASE REPLY TO ANOTHER STUDENTS COMMENT BELOW Michael; The ideal safety management system should be comprehensive. There should be a system that takes data to identify the possible risks. For there the best practices should be enforced to ensure that the problem is solved. This should be done using the hierachy method. The process for managing and controlling hazards and risks will pretty much be the same. There needs to be an identification system followed by the implementation of PPE and control measures. The goal for both is to be proactive rather than reactive.

Discuss the challenges of maintaining information security at a remote recovery location.

We develop good DR plans and some of those plans will include a remote recovery site (hot or cold). How do we ensure that the remote site is protected like we would the main location? Discuss the challenges of maintaining information security at a remote recovery location.***Standard for all discussion posts: Please make your initial post and two response posts substantive. A substantive post will do at least two of the following: At least one scholarly source should be used in the initial discussion thread. Be sure to use information from your readings and other sources from the UC Library. Use proper citations and references in your post.

Explain if you think that global terrorism can be stopped.

Explain if you think that global terrorism can be stopped. Analyze the responsibility of the United States today to be the world’s “policeman.” Assess if peace and stability in the Middle East are vital to U.S. economy and national security. If the United States withdrew its troops from the Middle East tomorrow, would the terrorist threat end. Why or why not? Assess if the use of military force is the only way to prevent terrorism. Are there other possible alternatives? Which strategy is best and why?