This assignment accounts for 35% of the module mark. Your task is to identify and use THREE stories from the national print press that enable you to discuss examples of firms that are either:
1) Merging;
2) Attempting to take over other firms;
3) Diversifying;
4) Expanding fast

You should, with reference to relevant microeconomic concepts:
1) Analyse the firm strategies followed in each case;
2) Assess the likely impact on the specific firms themselves;
3) Assess the likely impact within the specific industries in which the firms are active;
4) Assess the extent to which the specified firms� performances and objectives are in the public interest

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this assignment is to assess your knowledge and understanding of a range of microeconomic concepts including: demand and supply, elasticity, market structures, profit maximisation, and theories of the firm. You should demonstrate your ability to produce a written report and communicate relevant information and concepts.

Your report should show that you can apply:
– relevant substantive microeconomic concepts to your chosen stories.
– relevant research skills including selecting appropriate sources, accurately citing and
referencing sources and avoiding plagiarism.

You will be assessed on the quality of your report presentation (appearance of your submission DOES matter) as well as on written content. You should demonstrate awareness of microeconomic concepts and be able to apply them in a real-world context.

To emphasize, your report must analyse the firms� situations from an economist�s viewpoint and must therefore make use of relevant microeconomic concepts.

REQUIREMENTS
� Summary: Begin with a summary of the three articles and your approach. (200 � 250 words)
� Three stories � description, explanation and analysis: Write 300 – 400 words of text PER article
� Conclusion: A brief assessment of your analysis for the three stories. (200 � 250 words)
� Your total word count should amount to between 1,300 � 1,700 words.
The word count does not include diagrams, references, bibliography or appendices.

REPORT DETAILS
� Produce your report in a clear structured way. Follow this format:
– A front cover to your report, with your name, ID number and title.
– The second page should list the contents of the report. It should identify each story by reference to its title, newspaper used (with date), reporter (if given) and page number.
– Use stylistic devices such as bold, underline, italics, or large font to add emphasis where suitable, e.g. to titles.
– Each article covered in the report should be identified with a clear heading.
– On the last page of the report you should list your references. This should include all three articles and any other sources that you have used. References must be written using the Harvard referencing style.
– Remember that the Turnitin plagiarism detection software will compare your report against an extensive body of published material, including the sources of the three stories. Your referencing must acknowledge all source material, including the original source of the three stories.
– The format of your report should be a word document.

� The report should consist of an explanation or discussion of three relevant articles. Each article should focus on a specific firm or organisation (or in the case of mergers and takeovers, two specific firms).
� You should use different firms for each of your three article discussions.
� Each article discussion should deal with a unique activity from the list of four available, i.e. you should not use mergers twice, for example.
� These articles should come from daily broadsheet newspapers (e.g. The Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph etc). �Tabloid-esque� papers such as The Sun, The Mirror, etc. will NOT be deemed acceptable. Articles can be the hard copy or the on-line electronic version. The newspapers should be dated anytime between Monday 11th November 2013 and Thursday 9th January 2014. You can choose your articles from any combination of newspapers i.e. they can be from the same issue or completely different ones. To emphasise � an appropriate source is a broadsheet newspaper that is published DAILY.

WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE IN YOUR REPORT?
� Clearly summarise the information given in the story and identify relevant microeconomic concepts that aid your understanding of the strategy being pursued.
� Credit is given for information on the specified firms that is obtained from other sources and add to your summary and analysis. These must be appropriately referenced using the Harvard system.
� Credit is given for relevant terminology and theory that you introduce to help your analysis.
� A clear understanding of the microeconomic concepts used should be demonstrated e.g. use of diagrams to explain the context.

MARKING CRITERIA
The summary, conclusion and each of the three stories in your report will be marked with regard to the following:
� Ability to produce a written report and to follow the assignment instructions.
� Ability to communicate information and concepts in a clear way.
� Ability to use appropriate terminology.
� Awareness of relevant concepts in the discussion of firm strategies and their activities.
� Knowledge with respect to the specific cases chosen and theory applied.
� Understanding of the concepts displayed by applying them in a clear and relevant way. This high level marking criteria allows credit for evaluation and analysis.

I would like to use the iphone expanding into china mobile if possible and FireEye acquiring Mandiant. The third article is up to you if possible. Thanks alot.

i was wondering whether the writer will use online articles or newspapers. I would prefer newspapers like the financial times as it is what the teachers would prefer.

just to confirm i had to use three stories, 2 of which i choose to use Iphone expanding into China using China Mobile and FireEye acquiring Mandiant ok