Subject Code & Title :– DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills
Assignment Type :– Written Assignment
Word count :-
The word count shown with each question is indicative only. You will not be penalised for exceeding the suggested word count. Please do not include additional information which is outside the scope of the question.
How to use the study plan
We recommend that you use the study plan for this subject to help you manage your time to complete the assignment within your enrolment period. Your study plan is in the KapLearn Business Management Skills (DIPMB3v3) subject room.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
Before you begin
Read everything in this document before you start your written assignment for Business Management Skills (DIPMB3_AS_v3)
About this document :-
This document includes the following parts:
• Instructions for completing and submitting this assignment
• CCF & MB case study and tasks covering Business Management Skills:
• Task 1 — Developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals and third-party referrers
• Task 2 — Growing the business
• Task 3 — Identifying risk and applying risk management processes
• Task 4— Improving the business
• Task 5 —Managing people performance
• Task 6 — Showing leadership in the workplace
1. Task 7 – Standards and values
2. Task 8 – Develop a Performance plan
Instructions for completing and submitting this written assignment
Saving your work
Download this document to your desktop, type your answers in the spaces provided and save your work regularly.
• Use the template provided, as other formats will not be accepted for these assignments.
• Name your file as follows: Student number_Subject Code_Assignment_version number_Submission number
(e.g. 12345678_DIPMB3_AS_v3_Submission1).
• Include your student ID on the first page of the assignment.
Before you submit your work, please do a spell check and proofread your work to ensure that everything is clear and unambiguous.
Additional research
When completing this assignment, assumptions are permitted although they must not be in conflict with the information provided in the Case Study. You may also be required to source additional information from other organisations in the finance industry to find the right products or services to meet your client’s requirements, or to calculate any service fees that may be applicable.
Submitting the written assignment :
Only Microsoft Office compatible written assignments submitted in the template file will be accepted for marking by Kaplan Professional Education. You need to save and submit this entire document.
The written assignment must be completed before submitting it to Kaplan Professional Education. Incomplete written assignments will be returned to you unmarked.
The maximum file size is 20 MB for the Written and Oral Assignment. Once you submit your written assignment for marking you will be unable to make any further changes to it.
You are able to submit your written assignment earlier than the deadline if you are confident you have completed all parts and have prepared a quality submission.
Your written assignment and oral assignment must be submitted together on or before your due date. Please check KapLearn for the due date.
The written assignment marking process
You have 12 weeks from the date of your enrolment in this subject to submit your completed assignment.If you reach the end of your initial enrolment period and have been deemed ‘Not yet demonstrated’ in one or more assessment items, then an additional four (4) weeks will be granted, provided you attempted all assessment tasks during the initial enrolment period. Your assessor will mark your written and oral assignment and return it to you in the Business Management Skills (DIPMB3v3) subject room in KapLearn under the ‘Assessment’ tab.
Make a reasonable attempt
You must demonstrate that you have made a reasonable attempt to answer all of the questions in your written assignment. Failure to do so will mean that your assignment will not be accepted for marking; therefore you will not receive the benefit of feedback on your submission. If you do not meet these requirements, you will be notified. You will then have until your submission deadline to submit your completed written and oral assignment.
How your written assignment is graded
Assignment tasks are used to determine your ‘competence’ in demonstrating the required knowledge and/or skills for each subject. As a result, you will be graded as either Demonstrated or Not yet demonstrated. Your assessor will follow the below process when marking your written assignment:
• Assess your responses to each question, and sub-parts if applicable, and then determine whether you have demonstrated competence in each question.
• Determine if, on a holistic basis, your responses to the questions have demonstrated overall competence.
You must be deemed to be demonstrated in all assessment items in order to be awarded the units of competency in this subject, including:
• all of the exam questions
• the written and oral assignment.
‘Not yet demonstrated’ and re submissions
Should sections of your assignment be marked as ‘Not yet demonstrated’ you will be given an additional opportunity to amend your responses so that you can demonstrate your competency to the required level.
You must address the assessor’s feedback in your amended responses. You only need amend those sections where the assessor has determined you are ‘Not yet demonstrated’.
Make changes to your original submission. Use a different text colour for your resubmission. Your assessor will be in a better position to gauge the quality and nature of your changes. Ensure you leave your first assessor’s comments in your assignment, so your second assessor can see the instructions that were originally provided for you. Do not change any comments made by a Kaplan assessor.
Units of competency
This written assignment is your opportunity to demonstrate your competency against these units:
Note that the written and oral assignment is one of two assessments required to meet the requirements of the units of competency.
We are here to help
If you have any questions about this written assignment you can post your query at the ‘Ask your Tutor’ forum in your subject room. You can expect an answer within 24 hours of your posting from one of our technical advisers or student support staff.
Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB)
George and Mildred are very happy with the way you service your clients and are sure that you are a good fit for the team. They now want you to turn your focus to your primary task, which is to assist in expanding the business by building relationships with selected real estate agents, accountants and legal firms through strategic alliances. They also want you to consider how CCF & MB can consolidate its relationships with its existing strategic partners.
Let’s recap on what you already know about Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB).
It’s a family owned business providing a range of mortgage and finance broking services to the business and
private sectors, with experience in all facets of finance and insurance, providing expert advice covering a multitude of products and options existing within the market.
CCF & MB specialises in home loans, commercial lending, business lending, personal and motor vehicle finance and insurance (life and general) and focuses on helping clients find the finance service suited to their individual circumstances.
It provides its services through its association with the following partners :
• Australian Aggregators: a rising company within the aggregation business, with an extensive panel of residential and commercial lenders, and asset finance.
• ABC General Insurance: a boutique insurance company specialising in a full range of general insurances.
• XYZ Life: a small family-owned insurance brokerage specialising in the full range of life insurance products.
Based in the city, CCF & MB has the capacity to service clients from their office or anywhere at their clients’ convenience through its team of mobile brokers.
CCF & MB does not hold a credit license but operates as a credit representative of Australian Aggregators.
Since its inception 13 years ago, CCF & MB has built a loan book of almost $1.2 billion and averages over $120 million in new loans annually.
CCF & MB’s vision is to be the mortgage and finance broker of choice in the greater metropolitan area.
CCF & MB’s mission statement is: ‘to operate professionally in accordance with legislation, our licence and professional standards’.
CCF & MB’s values are as follows:
• to act with honesty and integrity at all times
• to provide unbiased advice and conduct business, free from any conflict of interest
• to maintain confidentiality in all dealings
• to meet all NCCP regulatory requirements
• to comply with all mortgage industry laws and regulations
• to ensure quality and efficiency in its loan processes.
CCF & MB’s people
CCF & MB is owned by husband and wife, George and Mildred Spencer.
With over 35 years’ experience in finance and business ownership, George established and built a successful business dedicated to assisting clients with managing their finances effectively. Starting the business with his wife Mildred 13 years ago, George gained immense satisfaction in seeing it expand, to service more and more clients across the city and greater metropolitan area. Although in recent years he has stepped back from dealing directly with clients, he still maintains a small select clientele. He also takes great pride in training and mentoring his team to enhance their performance.
Mildred has over 22 years of lending experience and is qualified, not only to assist her clients with their mortgage requirements, but also to assist them with their commercial finance requirements. She also holds financial planning qualifications. She specialises in asset finance.
The company has a small team of five additional consultants and two administration staff members. Profiles for the team are as follows:
• Jennifer Dee is recognised as one of the top female brokers in Australia. She has been in the broking industry for over 10 years and has a passion and dedication to assist and accommodate all of her clients’ needs with their financial dreams. Jennifer is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
• Louise Spencer (George and Mildred’s eldest daughter) is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) and has been working as a loan consultant for almost two years. Louise started off in the lending industry in the office as an administrator to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible before taking a broking role. Her passion for helping her clients ensures that she is always available to her clients at a time and place convenient for them.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
• Michael Spencer is George’s younger brother and is CCF & MB’s equipment finance specialist. He has over 25 years working in the equipment finance industry. He has developed an in-depth understanding of the transport and agricultural industries, and also provides finance for general equipment, motor vehicles and computer equipment.
• Martin Long has specialised in equipment finance for the last three years, but prior to this he spent five years operating his own retail food business. This practical experience allows him to see things from his client’s point of view, including experience with equipment finance. He specialises in plant and equipment in the machinery, woodworking and packaging industries. Examples of some of the equipment he has financed are farm machinery, extrusion lines, plastic injection moulders, commercial catering equipment, woodworking plant, packaging lines, forklifts, office fit-outs and many different motor vehicles.
• Luis Ramirez migrated to Australia as a young boy; 25 years ago with his family. After completing high school he graduated from university with an accounting degree and worked in ANZ in commercial lending. He joined CCF & MB four years ago and specialises in vehicle and capital equipment financing. He provides ITC and general equipment lease funding options for clients. By providing better outcomes, both during and at the end of their equipment leases, Luis’ many clients have been able to reduce costs and maximise the value of their available budgets.
CCF & MB is a member of the MFAA, as a broking business dealing directly with the public. Both George and Mildred are fellows of the MFAA. CCF & MB is also a corporate member of the FBAA.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
All staff members, including consultants, are paid an annual salary plus superannuation. Consultants also receive a car allowance plus a percentage of trail commissions, which are paid quarterly based on their performance targets.
CCF & MB’s panelled lenders
With access to an extensive panel of lenders, CCF & MB can meet most clients’ expectations. Residential lenders are listed in the following table.
Future developments :-
George and Mildred are very keen to expand and grow their business and are in the process of speaking with a number of real estate agents, accountants and legal firms with a view to forming strategic alliances.
Due to the expected increase in business, George and Mildred are seeking to employ another consultant to take on the extra work. This person will be required to:
• build strategic relationships with a number of real estate agents, accountants and legal firms already identified
• identify and foster relationships with other real estate agents, accountants and legal firms
• provide finance and mortgage broking services to new clients identified through these strategic alliances.
Business management skills
Task 1 — Developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals and third-party referrers
George and Mildred now require you to write a plan to assist in developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals and third-party referrers.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
The layout and content of your plan should address the following:
1.How CCF & MB’s policies and procedures and legislative, regulatory and professional codes of practice impact on developing and nurturing relationships.
2.How you would use CCF & MB’s social, business and ethical standards to develop and maintain positive relationships.
3.The importance of confidentiality and how you would maintain it in your dealings with colleagues, clients and other parties.
4.How you would adjust your interpersonal style to the needs and situation of other parties.
5.How you would go about developing and maintaining business and professional networks and other relationships to benefit the organisation; and how you would use them to identify and cultivate relationships in order to promote and market the organisation.
6.How you could use and cooperate with other professionals and third parties to expand and enhance the reputation of the organisation, and to identify new and improved business practices.
7.How you would build referral business through appropriate communication channels, to find and secure new business relationships.
8.How you would identify referral needs and provide information about CCF & MB’s relevant products and services.
9.How you would secure interviews with referral business so that the needs of clients can be met.
You may use any format for your plan but you are not permitted to simply answer the points above. If you are unsure as to how to write a plan, you can refer to the Business Growth and Marketing topic and use the suggested SMEAC format outlined in Part 6, Section 13. You may also refer to the internet for other example business or marketing plans.
When completing this task, assumptions are permitted, although they must not be in conflict with the information provided in the background information.
Task 2 — Growing the business
Having considered how you would go about building and nurturing relationships, George and Mildred now require you to turn your attention to marketing and promoting CCF & MB’s business. This requires you to develop, implement, monitor and adjust a Marketing Plan for the business. When doing this, you will need to:
1. Ensure your plan is developed in line with CCF & MB’s vision statement.
2. Conduct some research (or make assumptions) and identify key market data for the plan. This can include, for example, customer demographics, product types (i.e. census data if available), marketing media data (i.e. social media).
3. Identify of target markets, using a combination of research and your own personal experience.
4. Identify your major competitors (at least two) with a competitor analysis developed for each competitor.
5. Conduct a review of CCF & MB’s current market position based on your research findings in conjunction with competitor analysis; and identify where improvements can be made.
6. Document changes you could introduce to improve the brand of CCF & MB, and what
7.promotional activities you could introduce to build the customer base.
8. The provision of options for increasing yield per existing client.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
To develop and implement the marketing plan, complete the table below:
When completing this task, assumptions are permitted although they must not be in conflict with the information provided in the background information.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
3.To make adjustments to the marketing plan, complete the table below:
NOTE to students: You can add lines to the tables if necessary
Task 3 — Identifying risk and applying risk management processes
George and Mildred have become very concerned about the potential risks that could jeopardise CCF & MB’s business operations. They were very impressed with your growth and marketing plans for CCF & MB so they have now moved you into more of a general manager’s role with expanded responsibilities, including managing CCF & MB’s risk.
1.As part of your new responsibilities you are required to develop a risk management plan which:
• Establishes the context for CCF & MB’s risk management plan.
• Lists and explains the tools you will use in assessing the risks you identify.
• Identifies the stakeholders you would consult in establishing context and the tools you would use in
identifying CCF & MB’s risks.
• Identifies at least two risks that CCF & MB could face for each of the six categories of business risk
including strategic risks, compliance risks, financial risk, operational risks, market and environmental
risks and reputational risks with an appropriate risk statement for each identified risk.
Note: You may make any assumptions in producing your plan, but these should be documented either in the body of your plan or separately before you produce it. You are not permitted to simply answer the points detailed above.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
3.Refer to the Risk treatment mapping guide in the toolbox. Using the following steps, complete the Risk evaluation and treatment table below:
Step 1. Through analysis, identify the risks CC & MB’s business may face; and complete that column.
This is to include both legislative and financial risks.
Step 2. By using the Risk treatment mapping guide in the toolbox, appraise the likelihood and consequence for each risk identified and include these in the table.
Step 3. Define how each risk can be treated, and whether a potentially serious risk should be escalated to management.
Step 4. Develop recommendations to mitigate identified risks.
Step 5. Provide recommendations on how to monitor and review the risks identified.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
Task 4 Improving the business
Over the last few months business for CCF & MB has been very good with a number of new clients coming
on board as a result of implementing your business growth and marketing plans. However, neither you or
the business owners are satisfied with maintaining the status quo; as you and they are committed to a
program of continuous improvement.
You all feel that CCF & MB’s competitive advantage needs to be strengthened and a SWOT should be under taken to establish CCF & MB’s strengths and weaknesses including bench marking the business against the industry. You now decide that you will carry out a diagnosis of the business including a SWOT analysis and a bench marking exercise to improve CCF &MB’s competitive advantage and its business. You are to produce a document covering your diagnosis, which will be distributed amongst CCF & MB’s key personnel.
As a minimum, your document should cover the following :-
1.The data you have used as part of your diagnosis to identify CCF & MB’s competitive advantage.
2.A SWOT analysis to identify CCF & MB’s strengths and weaknesses, its threats and opportunities.
3.How you identified and sourced relevant bench marking data.
4.How you selected the key indicators (and who you consulted with) for your bench marking exercise.
DIPMB3_AS_v3 Business Management Skills Assessment – Kaplan University Australia.
5.A consolidated list of the areas for improvement you have identified with a cost-benefit ratio established for each of them.
6.Recommendations on the changes that may be required that will affect existing workflows or CCF & MB’s organisational structure
7.A high-level action plan that will implement and monitor the recommended changes to be made. In addition to the material on your Part 2 learning guides, the following link gives you access to a step-by-step guide to bench marking and determining competitive advantage: