1. Extended Essay IB Business and Management

2. Popular Choice – Why? 0 Allows students to pursue and develop knowledge of and insight into a topic such as human resource management or marketing which has engaged them in the classroom. 0 University admission tutors regard preparation of a Business EE as a valuable higher-order learning skill which will allow students to flourish in a degree program. 0 If you are a stakeholder in an organization (family-run business) the EE can provide an opportunity to objectively examine a current or future issue with the possibility of suggesting feasible solutions.

3. Narrowing the research 0 Common problem: students try to cover too broad an area of a particular topic. 0 Example: “An evaluation into company X’s new marketing strategy designed to launch a new product into a new international marketplace.” 0 More appropriate research questions: 0 Should company X release product Y into country Z? 0 Given the changing economic environment, to what extent should company X attempt to change its marketing mix for product Y?

4. Other research topics to discuss with your supervisor 0 Should company Z remove product X from its current portfolio? 0 Will company Y be able to survive the significant downturn in economic activity in its host country? 0 Will the release of product Z save company Y from insolvency? 0 What the the implications of company X moving from a niche market to a mass market?

5. Justification 0 Example 1: product portfolio analysis and contribution may be important theoretical concepts. 0 Example 2: the external environment is clearly going to be an important theoretical framework on which to build an argument around whether company Y will survive. 0 Example 3: cash flow, liquidity and marketing may be important topics to guide this essay. 0 Example 4: discuss!

6. Don’t re-invent the wheel! 0 Avoid undertaking an EE which challenge current paradigms: 0 Is all marketing unethical? 0 Given the growth of e-commerce, is the 7P marketing mix model now redundant? 0 Is there a more accurate way for a firm to calculate probabilities on a decision tree, to make the expected monetary values more valuable for decision making?

7. Justification 0 These attempts are very laudable, BUT… 0 This type of EE is too vast for effective treatment within the word limit. 0 These topics may lend themselves more appropriately to a TOK discussion.

8. Follow all the criteria! 0 Students often only focus on the subject-specific criteria. 0 Making sure the criteria is satisfied is a crucial part of the supervisor-student relationship: 0 Is the research question clearly stated in the introduction? 0 Are the arguments presented reasoned and balanced? 0 Has sufficient analysis been carried out including the use of numerical data? 0 Have sources been referenced according to the IB guidelines? 0 Has the abstract been included and does it conform to expectations?