Understanding Business Failure (LLP206)

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Assessment
Business Failure Case Study – 100% of total mark
2 The final document will be a 3,000 word case study (word limit +/- 10% ok) in
which you present and analyse a company experiencing business failure.
o Sections and approximate weighting:
 Identify – Conduct a multi-level root cause analysis (60%)
5
 Strategise – Develop a turnaround or exit strategy (30%)
From the organisational options you will be given, choose one and justify why you
believe this organisation is failing/has failed. Use tools, theories and concepts drawn
from lecture material, recommended reading, reputable business and news media
sources (e.g. Forbes, BusinessWeek, BBC), and independent study to identify root
causes of failure and develop a turnaround or exit strategy.
A good assignment will:
• Conduct a multi-level analysis to identify and evaluate the root causes of
failure, and any changing conditions or major decisions central to failure
• Have a clear argument and thesis, with a balance of analytical and
descriptive writing, and diagrams where necessary
• Frame and support analysis with relevant company performance
information, industry evidence, references to material from the module
and wider academic reading
• Offer considered rationale for turnaround or exit strategy
• Be clearly structured and written with references in Harvard style format
All assignments will be marked against the standard Institute for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship marking rubric.
Reading List
Due to the nature of this module, there is no one recommended text. We have organised
the recommended reading into themes corresponding with those introduced in the
module.
Introduction to Business Failure
Balcaen, S., Ooghe, H. (2006) 35 years of studies on business failure: an overview of the
classic statistical methodologies and their related problems. The British Accounting
Review, 38(1): 63–93.
Berryman, J (1983) Small Business Failure and Survey of the Literature. International
Small Business Journal, 1: 47-59.
Sharma, S., & Mahajan, V. (1980). Early Warning Indicators of Business Failure. Journal
of Marketing, 44(4), 80–89.
Watson, J and Everett, J (1993) Defining Small Business Failure. International Small
Business Journal, 11: 35-48.ll, T. (2015) Entrepreneurial failure: statistical and psychological
Causes of Failure
Artinger, S., Powe explanations. Strategic Management Journal.
Everett, J., Watson, J. (1993) Small Business Failure and External Risk Factors. Small
Business Economics 11(4): 371-390.
Gelder, J., de Vries, R., Frese, M., Goutbeek, J. (2007) Differences in Psychological
Strategies of Failed and Operational Business Owners in the Fiji Islands. Journal of Small
Business Management, 2007 45(3), pp. 388–400
Khelil, N. (2016) The many faces of entrepreneurial failure: Insights from an
empirical taxonomy. Journal of Business Venturing, 31: 72–94.
Honjo, Y (2000) Business failure of new firms: an empirical analysis using a
multiplicative hazards model. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 18:
557–574.
Mata, J., Portugal, P., Guimaraes, P. (1995) The Survival of New Plants: Start-up
Conditions and Post-Entry Evolution. Journal of Industrial Organisation, 13: 459-481.
Michael, S., Combs, J. (2008) Entrepreneurial failure: The case of franchisees. Journal of
Small Business Management 2008, 46(1), pp. 73–90.
Richardson, B., Nwankwo, S., Richardson, S. (1994) "Understanding the Causes of
Business Failure Crises: Generic Failure Types: Boiled Frogs, Drowned Frogs, Bullfrogs
and Tadpoles", Management Decision, 32(4): pp.9 – 22.
Shepherd, D., Douglas, E., Shanley, M. (2000) New venture survival: ignorance, external
shocks, and risk reduction strategies. Journal of Business Venturing 15: 393–410.
Thornhill, S., Amit, R. (2003) Learning About Failure: Bankruptcy, Firm Age, and the
Resource-Based View. Organization Science 14(5): 497-509.
Effects of Failure
Byrne, O., Shepherd, D. (2013) Different Strokes for Different Folks: Entrepreneurial
Narratives of Emotion, Cognition, and Making Sense of Business Failure.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(2).
Corbett, A., Neck, H., DeTienne, D. (2007) How Corporate Entrepreneurs Learn from
Fledgling Innovation Initiatives: Cognition and the Development of a Termination
Script. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(6).
Khanna, R., Guler, I., Nerkar, A. (2015) Fail Often, Fail Big, and Fail Fast? Learning from
Small Failures and R&D Performance in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Academy of
Management Journal, 59(2): 436-459.
7
Laamanen, T, Lamberg, J., Vaara, E. (2016) Explanations of Success and Failure in
Management Learning: What Can We Learn From Nokia’s Rise and Fall? Academy of
Management Learning and Education, 15(1): 2-25.
Rider, C., Negro, G. (2015) Organizational Failure and Intraprofessional Status Loss.
Organization Science, 26(3): 633-649.
Singh, S., Corner, P., Pavlovich, K. (2007) Coping with entrepreneurial failure. Journal of
Management & Organization, 13: 331-344.
Singh, S., Doyle Corner, P. Pavlovich, K. (2015) Failed, not finished: A narrative approach
to understanding venture failure stigmatization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30:
150–166.
Shepherd, D. (2003) Learning from Business Failure: Propositions of Grief Recovery for
the Self-Employed. Academy of Management Review, 28(2): 318-328.
Shepherd, D, Wiklund, J., Haynie, J.M. (2009) Moving forward: Balancing the financial
and emotional costs of business failure. Journal of Business Venturing, 24: 134–148.
Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., Wright, M., Flores, M. (2010) The nature of entrepreneurial
experience, business failure and comparative optimism. Journal of Business Venturing,
25: 541–555.
Life After Failure
Deichmann, D., van den Ende, J. (2014) Rising from Failure and Learning from Success:
The Role of Past Experience in Radical Initiative Taking. Organization Science 25(3):
670-690.
Mueller, B., Shepherd, D. (2014) Making the Most of Failure Experiences: Exploring the
Relationship Between Business Failure and the Identification of Business Opportunities.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Ucbasaran, D., Shepherd, D., Lockett, A., Lyon, S. J. (2013) Life After Business Failure:
The Process and Consequences of Business Failure for Entrepreneurs. Journal of
Management, 39 (1): 163-202.
Wolfe, M., Shepherd, D. (2013) “Bouncing Back” From a Loss: Entrepreneurial
Orientation, Emotions, and Failure Narratives. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
39(3): 675-700.
Yamakawa, Y., Peng, M., Deeds, D. (2015) Rising From the Ashes: Cognitive
Determinants of Venture Growth After Entrepreneurial Failure. Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice, 39(2).

 
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ACF308 Risk Management in International Banking, Insurance and Finance

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Assignment 1 Guidance
Key points:
 Ensure you read the assignment information sheet and that you understand
the assessment criteria
 You must fulfil the assessment criteria to pass the assignment and the better
you fulfil these criteria, the higher your mark will be
 A critical review requires much more than simply describing what Old Mutual
(OM) does to manage risk. If you find yourself repeating large amounts of
information from OM’s annual report then you are being overly descriptive.
 Make sure you use quality academic sources. It is strongly recommended that
you focus on the sources recommended in class. If you use other sources and
they are not high quality or not relevant then you will lose marks.
 Structure your work around the 3 assignment tasks. Start with any relevant
theory and then use this to analyse the value and effectiveness of OM’s risk
management framework.
 Only complete the 3 tasks; do nothing else.
 No definitions or background is needed; this includes basic information about
OM. If you include any unnecessary information like this you will lose marks
and waste valuable words.
 Do not compare Old Mutual with any other organisation, you are using
academic literature only as the means to review Old Mutual’s risk
management.
 Spell and grammar check your work – there is no excuse for poor spelling or
grammar when Word will check this automatically. Good (high scoring) work
takes time and careful editing.
Introduction
This should be around 50-100 words
Explain that you are investigating the value and effectiveness of OM’s risk
management framework.
Explain that to achieve this you will be looking at the 3 question elements only.
Include no background (including no background on OM) or definitions. Even a
sentence or two of unnecessary material will lose marks.
The theoretical value of OM’s risk management activities
Around 700 words
Start with a brief explanation of why, in theory, risk management can add value to
OM. There is no need to define value, but you should explain that value is linked to
stakeholder satisfaction and ultimately a higher share price. The lecture on how risk
management can add value will be useful here (3 key theoretical reasons for value
are provided), supported by the following key sources:
R Stulz (1996) “Rethinking Risk Management” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance,
Vol 9, No. 3, pp8-25.
V Aebi, G Sabato, & M Schmid (2012) "Risk Management, Corporate Governance,
and Bank Performance in the Financial Crisis." Journal of Banking & Finance Vol.
36, No. 12, pp3213-3226.
S Bartram (2004) Corporate Risk Management as a Lever for Shareholder Value
Creation, Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, Vol 9, No 5, 297-324.
C Smithson & B Simkins (2005) “Does Risk management Add Value? A Survey of
the Evidence” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol 17, No. 3, pp8-17 (see also
Chew, Ch. 11)
Apply this literature to OM. Look for evidence in the annual report of how risk
management is adding value to OM. There is plenty of evidence you can use –
examples will be highlighted in class, so be sure to attend. Be careful not to provide
too much, quality is more important than quantity.
The effectiveness of OM’s enterprise risk management and risk appetite
frameworks
About 700 words
You should not attempt to define risk management or what a risk management
framework is. This would be too descriptive.
Rather you should start by explaining the elements of an effective (1) enterprise risk
management framework (ERM) and (2) risk appetite framework, as identified within
the relevant theoretical literature. This literature can then be used as the basis for
your review of the effectiveness of OM’s ERM and risk appetite frameworks.
The lectures on risk appetite and ERM are essential to help you understand the key
points to focus on within the theoretical literature, so be sure to attend these.
Important considerations include:
 Whether OM consider both risk and return
 Whether OM use soft tools, such as risk culture, as well as harder risk
management tools like risk metrics (see material on Simon’s levers of control)
 Whether OM use different tools to assess and control different types of risk
You will find the following sources especially useful here:
S Ashby and S Diacon (2012) Understanding Enterprise Risk Appetite, Insurance
ERM, 3 rd August, http://www.insuranceerm.com/
CRO Forum (2013) Establishing and Embedding Risk Appetite: Practitioner’s View,
Chief Risk Officer’s Forum, Amsterdam, www.croforum.com
COSO (2017) “Enterprise Risk Management: Integrating with Strategy and
Performance” www.coso.org/Documents/2017-COSO-ERM-Integrating-with-
Strategy-and-Performance-Executive-Summary.pdf
G Kaplan and A Mikes (2014) “Towards a Contingency Theory of ERM”, Harvard
Business School Working Paper, 13-063
(http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/13-063_5e67dffe-aa5e-4fac-a746-
7b3c07902520.pdf)
B Nocco and R Stultz (2006) “Enterprise Risk Management Theory and Practice”,
Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol 18, No 4, pp8-20. Note: this is an easy
paper to read, but a little old, it is recommend that you supplement this with:
P Bromiley, M McShane, A Nair and E Rustambekov (2015) “Enterprise Risk
Management: Review, Critique, and Research Directions” Long Range Planning, Vol
48, pp 265-276
C Callahan and J Soileau (2017) “Does Enterprise Risk Management Enhance
Operating Performance?” Advances in Accounting, Vol 37, pp122-139 (you can
ignore sections 4 and 5)
You should then look for evidence in OM’s annual report to examine whether or not
they have effective ERM and risk appetite frameworks. Look for both positive and
negative evidence. Possible evidence that you could use will be identified in the
relevant classes. Use the ‘Find’ tool in Acrobat Reader to search for more.
Whether OM’s corporate governance arrangements adequately support their
risk management activities
About 700 words
In the lecture on governance we will focus on one key theme: whether integrating
risk management and corporate governance supports, or hinders, effective risk
management. This is the issue that you should focus on here.
The academic literature on risk management has not looked at this issue in detail, as
it is a new area of research. But you will find the recommended reading in the lecture
on corporate governance helpful, as well as the lecture contents. See especially:
A Bhimani (2009) “Risk Management, Corporate Governance and Management
Accounting: Emerging Interdependencies.” Management Accounting Research, Vol
20, No. 1, pp2-5
S Lundqvist (2015) “Why firms implement risk governance : stepping beyond
traditional risk management to enterprise risk management” Journal of Accounting
and Public Policy, Vol 34, pp 441-446
In this section look for evidence on how OM’s corporate governance arrangements
support, or hinder, its risk management activities. Possible evidence that you can
use will be identified in the lecture on governance.
Conclusion
About 300 words
Provide a final answer to each of the three question elements, highlighting the key
evidence you have to support your conclusion. Never say ‘I think’ and never provide
an unsubstantiated opinion. Remember opinion counts for nothing without evidence
(usually this evidence will be from OM’s annual report and/or the relevant academic
literature).
Use the above to sum up whether OM’s risk management activities are both effective
and value adding.
Note that you should not provide any recommendations on how OM could improve –
this is not part of the question. If you include any points that have not been included
in the assignment brief you will lose marks.
Spend time on writing a good conclusion – it will help you to get more marks. Paul
Harington can provide advice on this if needed.

 
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Business Communication

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College
Business Communication
Research & Report Writing
6 Page(s) | MLA | Double-spacing
Apply one of the theories or ideas discussed this term about George Orwell’s novel 1984. Discuss what Orwell is saying about a specific aspect of organizational life, values, and/or meanings in this book; second, using specific examples from the novel and from real contemporary organizations, assess whether the idea you have discussed applies to contemporary organizational life.
Source: chapter 1-6
Complete Instructions:
Please write a paper in response to the topic stated below. Your paper should be approximately six double-spaced pages long (not shorter than five or longer than seven pages). Please use standard margins (one inch) and fonts (11 or 12 point), and include page numbers. Please do not tweak fonts or page layouts to alter the number of pages you submit. I require that you write in an academic tone and style; however, you may use the pronoun “I” when logical to do so. This topic is a starting point, but it needs to be narrowed down, sharpened, and crafted into the basis of an argument. In your paper, you must defend a position based on a clear thesis statement.
In the paper, you should make specific references to our course readings and/or classes. You may also refer to other sources; however, the argument and analysis should be your own. Please do not rely on the opinions of literary or other scholars. Your job is to apply the theories and ideas you have encountered so far in the course to the novel.
Please cite your sources by following APA or MLA documentation conventions. You may learn about citation at Purdue University’s OWL website, easily accessible via Google. Write carefully and grammatically; the quality of your writing counts.
Topic: Please apply one of the theories or ideas we have been discussing and reading about this term to George Orwell’s novel 1984. As you do so, first, discuss what Orwell is saying about a specific aspect of organizational life, values, and/or meanings in this book; second, using specific examples from the novel and from real contemporary organizations, assess whether the idea you have discussed applies to contemporary organizational life.
Class Material:
Main Source: Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint, 8th Edition, by Eric M Eisenberg, H.L. Goodall Jr., Marianne Le Greco an Angela Trethewey. Focus on Chapters 1 – 6.
 
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Employability In Action Module Code: B8LL100

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Title: Reflective journal, the individual student will reflect on one of the following
topics using the Gibbs model as a reference:
 The importance of Emotional intelligence in today’s workplace.
 The changing work place and how that will affect our current notion of
work.
 Technology and how it has changed the art of conversation.
 Communication is a difficult skill? Why?
Academic writing/ references 40%
Reflective content 40%
Formatting and lay out 20%
The assessment cover sheet must be completed and attached to your
assessment (The individual Lecturer may return your assessment not graded if
the cover sheet is not included)
General Assessment Submission Requirements for Students:
1. Online assignments must be submitted no later than the stated deadline.
2. All relevant provisions of the Assessment Regulations must be complied with.
3. Extensions to assignment submission deadlines will be not be granted, other than in
exceptional circumstances. To apply for an extension please go to http://www.dbs-
students.com/Registrar/ and download the Assignment Extension Request Form.
4. Students are required to retain a copy of each assignment submitted, and the
submission receipt.
5. Assignments that exceed the word count will be penalised.
6. Students are required to refer to the assessment regulations in their Student Guides
and on the Student Website.
7. Dublin Business School penalises students who engage in academic impropriety (i.e.
plagiarism, collusion and/or copying). Please refer to the attached referencing
guidelines for information on correct referencing.
What is referencing and why is it necessary?
Please follow this link to the Harvard Style Referencing Guide – all referencing is required in
this format.


The School of Arts generally use APA Referencing , information is available under DBS
library guides on www.library.dbs.ie.

 
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