Bachelor Dissertation Hand Book 2019-2020 PDF

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-20 The Bachelor Dissertation is a major individual academic project and is a mandatory component of the IBPM program for the student profiles identified in the table below. The Bachelor Dissertation is validated in Course Unit BD301N_B and gives rise to 10 ECTS. The following student profiles MUST validate a Bachelor Dissertation under supervision from Rennes School of Business: French students post IBPM 1 & 2 Parcours (60 ECTS)

All students (Except Special case of IBPM students studying on a Double Degree Programme). The Bachelor Report will be written in France (students returning to Rennes after a Transfer Credit exchange in Semester 5) or abroad (Students on exchange in Semester 6 or Full Year) Special Case: French students on Double Degree programs abroad must check the DD agreement signed by the Partner University with the International Studies Coordinator. As a general rule these students will complete the obligations of the Partner University as concerns the BD but must do the 8-week internship.

Direct 3rd year Entry French students Parcours 3.2 (63 ECTS) Direct 3rd year Entry International students Parcours 3.3 (64 ECTS)

All students who have joined Rennes School of Business in September 2019 and will complete 1 full year in order to obtain the IBPM Bachelor degree. These students will write their Bachelor Dissertation in Rennes and do the 8 week internship under a Rennes internship contract.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

PART ONE

1. Purpose of the Bachelor Dissertation This project is the final assessment of the IBPM program. Through this project, students must demonstrate that they have become a “Field Manager” in their area of specialization. This implies that the student is capable of a significant individual piece of work such as may be required in working life later. This involves collecting, analyzing, and communicating information, and making pertinent recommendations, in the form of a well-structured analytical report, with a view to facilitating the decision-making process. The project allows students to expand their personal skills and knowledge into a particular field of interest of their choice. It is important that the report writer demonstrates rigor and clarity, which are essential aspects of good communication.

2. Subject of the Bachelor Dissertation The Bachelor Dissertation must correspond to the following criteria: Linked to Specializations:

The Bachelor Dissertation topic must be clearly linked to the student’s chosen specialization: Sales & Marketing, Finance & Banking, Purchasing & Supply Chain

Use of Knowledge acquired in the specialized classes

The student must select, apply and integrate concepts and skills studied in the program to a new subject area or new application field.

Sector Based

Project topics should be based on a particular sector of activity, in a particular country) (e.g. banking in France)

Managerial Function

Project topics should be based on a particular managerial function (private banking advisor, junior product manager).

Collection of secondary data

The project should go beyond the existing knowledge of the student and deepen his/her knowledge of a given area of study. The student should do this by gathering, analyzing and interpreting secondary data from various academic and business sources.

N.B: The Bachelor Dissertation is not directly linked to the Internship as it is completed before the internship starts. However, it is highly recommended that students choose a topic which is related to their professional aspirations. Research for the Bachelor Dissertation can give students the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge about sectors of activities, companies, interview managers, demonstrate their mastery of a complex subject and potentially distribute their CVs. The topic itself could arise from: 1) The student’s own experience, desire to pursue a topic from a course, personal connections, intended job area etc.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

2) Companies who have expressed research needs in a particular problem area during an exchange or during a prior internship. 3) News articles in specialized press and readings or discussions with teachers

3. Schedule and Time Line DATE

15 décembre 2019

EVENT Submission of Bachelor Dissertation Topic Proposal Submission on E-Learning (Moodle)

January 2020

Nomination of Supervisors

Jan-May 2020

Independent research on Bachelor Dissertation, aided by the supervisors

7 May 2020

Final submission date for all students: 1 electronic version to be submitted on 7th May 2 PM Submission on E-Learning (Moodle). Penalties apply after this deadline

4. Effort and Workload The project represents approximately 150 hours of student work in total (4 weeks full-time). The Bachelor Dissertation should be approximately 7000 words (30-40 pages if 250 words per page) and certainly no more than 10 000 words.

5. Language The project can be written in French or in English. Students should specify their choice so that appropriate supervision can be arranged. A minimum level of English / French is required to allow the reader to understand what the writer is trying to say. If the reader does not understand, the project will be awarded a lower grade. Students should use automatic spell check and grammar check software to avoid basic errors. It is advisable to ask a third party to read the report to find errors that have been missed.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

PART TWO – PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

1. Preparation Students in Rennes during the Fall semester attend 3 hours of classes (TS301E_B). For those students overseas in the Fall semester, identical resources are made available on Moodle. Students are strongly advised to make use of vacant time in January to advance their research.

2. Supervision Each student is appointed an academic supervisor who is available to discuss the academic requirements of the project. Each student has 3h contact time. The supervisors are nominated in January, according to the language selected by the student. Supervisors can give advice on methodology issues but are not subject experts. It is not their job to read and comment upon your final draft. Students must answer the survey by 15th December 2019, the link is available on Moodle.

3. Final Bachelor Dissertation Submission All Bachelor Dissertations should be submitted within the final deadline May 7th, 2020 – 2pm. Penalties will be applied to all projects handed in after this deadline as follows: Lateness

Penalty on report grade Work accepted, grade capped at “D” Work refused, “F” grade awarded

1 day to 7 days 8 days or more

A student who fails to submit a project will be classified as FAIL. He/she will have one chance to resubmit within the academic year at a deadline fixed by the administration. Failure to meet this deadline will mean that the student cannot resubmit until the next academic year (if the student is still within the 4year time period allowed to complete his studies / 2-year period in case of direct entry in the 3rd year of the programme). Students should submit an electronic version via E-Learning /Moodle.

NB: All projects are automatically checked for plagiarism by the software: TURNITIN. Students who plagiarise will automatically FAIL and will have to resubmit the work as a RESIT (if successful grade capped at D).

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

4. Assessment The Bachelor Dissertation is examined by the supervisor nominated by Rennes School of Business using a framework of criteria including form, structure and content. An internal moderator reviews all reports to maintain consistency of marking. The Bachelor Report is evaluated according to the enclosed marking sheet in Appendix 1. The minimum required grade for the project is D (50% or more). Students failing to achieve this grade will be asked to resubmit their work for a given deadline in August. In this case the student must keep the same topic.

NB In the case of a new failure at the resit, students will have to re-enrol in the next academic year and will have to submit a new project with the new cohort of students (earliest submission May 2021). This will lead to NON-GRADUATION and will block students in their Progression to Masters.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

PART THREE – DETAILED WRITE-UP INSTRUCTIONS

The Bachelor Dissertation report should constitute a well-structured and convincing account of a study. The projects are assessed on 3 main elements, form, structure and content. This section briefly describes the nature of each of these elements. Concerning FORM: a. TYPING, PAGE SIZE AND LENGTH The report must be typed on A4 (29.7 cm x 21 cm) paper and be 1.5 spaced. Pages should be typed on one side only. The main text should be in 12-point type and headings should be larger. b. SUB-SECTIONS AND NUMBERING The decimal numbering system should be adopted. Sub-sections should have some distinguishable heading. c. PAGE NUMBERS Page numbers before the main body of the text, i.e. before chapter 1 begins, are in lower case roman numerals, i.e. i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc. The main body of the text should use normal Arabic numerals, i.e. 1,2,3,4, etc., starting at chapter 1. Appendices may continue the main body numbering or use a different numbering system perhaps distinguished by a prefix, such as A1, A2, A3. d. TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Photographs, maps, graphs, tables and other illustrations should be placed as close as possible to where they are referenced or described in the text. Each table and illustration should have a unique reference number and be referred to in the text. Sources and dates should be clearly identified. e. PROJECT TITLE The title should describe the content of the project accurately and concisely. It should be written as a question. f.

STYLE

The style of writing should be passive and indirect (eg “The following recommendations can be made” instead of “I recommend the following..” . References should be used appropriately in order to distinguish what the AUTHOR did and what OTHERS did. g. TITLE PAGE The title page gives the following information in the order listed:

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

BACHELOR DISSERTATION International Bachelor Programme in Management Specialization Track …………………….

Complete Project Title and subtitle Full name of the author Student Rennes School of Business email: Date, month and year of submission Supervisor Name

h. TABLE OF CONTENTS The table of contents immediately follows the title page. The table of contents lists in sequence all the relevant subdivisions of the report and their page numbers, including:  Executive Summary  List of abbreviations (if necessary)  Title of chapters, sections and subsections of the report as appropriate  List of references  Appendices i.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The summary must be no longer than one side and should not exceed 300 words. The summary may be single-spaced if necessary. It should contain the main points of the project, i.e. objectives, context, approach, major findings and conclusions. j.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Where abbreviations are used, a key should be provided as a list of abbreviations and their meanings. For an abbreviation in common use, the term should be stated in full in the first instance followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Thereafter the abbreviation may be used. If there are a large number of abbreviations, a list of abbreviations should be used.

k. THE MAIN TEXT The main text should be arranged in logical sections and sub-sections, allowing the reader to follow the development of what you have done. New chapters should start on a new page.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

l.

REFERENCES

It is essential to reference any work, ideas, diagrams etc. that are not the author’s own work, whether quoted directly of paraphrased. Failure to do so is plagiarism (see Rennes School of Business rules on Academic Integrity). References are proof of quality and can be used to the student’s great advantage. (Please read the Rennes School of Business Library Fact Sheet on Harvard Referencing) If there is more than one author, there is no need to list them all when making a reference. You can simply say « et al ». For example, for the production book by Laverty and Demeestère, you can refer to Laverty et al, 2013. The list of references appears immediately after the main text. All authors (regardless of whether a book or an article is being referenced) appear in alphabetical order, with author’s name in full, for example: Laverty J., Demeestère R. (2013), "Les nouvelles règles du contrôle de gestion industrielle", Dunod Wild R. (2012), "Production and Operations Management", Cassell, Fourth Edition In an IBPM Bachelor Dissertation, the student it is not expected to show that they have read all the relevant literature. Nevertheless, he/she should show that they have read some key elements of it and the best way of doing this is by using references. The data items required to describe a book, whether as a reference or part of the bibliography, are the following and in order: Author's surname Author's first names or initials Year of publication Title (underlined) Publisher Edition (if any) The data items required to describe an article, whether as a reference or as part of the bibliography are as follows and in order: Author's surname Author's first names or initials Year of publication Title of article Name of journal (underlined) Volume number Part number Month(s) (if any) Page numbers (start to finish of article) It is not necessary to state the page number of the book. References should be listed on a separate page after the main body of the text.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

Students may quote statements from other authors directly in their text, but they should avoid doing this more than a few times. The best way is to paraphrase the main points from the work. Company brochures and handbooks should also be referenced. m. APPENDICES Appendices contain further data or information which is useful but not directly necessary to understand the main text. It should be possible to read the main body of the text without the appendices and still understand the project. All appendices should be referenced from the main body. Each appendix should start on a new page.

Concerning STRUCTURE: Structure refers to the elements of the report such as summary, main body of work, references. The structure of the report is critical and determines whether the reader is able to follow what has been done or not. BASIC OUTLINE The general approach is as follows:  Title should summarise the problem area which will be dealt with in the Bachelor Dissertation  Introduction to scope and nature of the problem being addressed. It should grab the reader’s attention and encourage him/her to read further  Objectives of the project – what the student set out to achieve  Background information required to understand the project work – concerning the sector of activity, the managerial function which interests the student. This should include some trend analysis (political, economic, sociological, commercial developments) of the context in which the research is set and the current state of knowledge as discovered via a literature review undertaken by the student.  Description of the methodological approach used and justification of this methodology  Analysis and summary of the results or findings relating to the problem area studied.  Recommendations for further work (areas of study not dealt with or beyond the scope of the study)  Personal comments (acknowledged shortcomings of the work)  Conclusions of managerial practice within the chosen sector of activity / management function Note that the above headings are only used for the purpose of explaining their content and are unlikely to be used as chapter headings in the report.

Concerning CONTENT: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION The section “analysis and discussion” allows the student to show their understanding of what they have done, as well as the significance of what they have done. The student should be able to carry out a « self-

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

criticism », highlighting the weak points and strong points of his work, how general or specific it might be, and what its implications are. A project which contains no analysis will be penalised. Students should not simply answer WHAT / WHEN / HOW questions, but also WHY questions (purpose, objective, solutions, difficulties encountered, alternative courses of action ….) The purpose of such questions is to allow the student to demonstrate understanding and application of the courses that have been taken at Rennes School of Business. A project of this nature is a very good measure of the ability of a student to integrate and apply what he or she has learned. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER WORK It is not possible to complete a perfect project in a limited period. There will always be unanswered questions and this is healthy. It means that the work is capable of being developed. This section may be one or two paragraphs long on each idea that the student thinks should be pursued. This could include recommendations for primary research or further secondary sources not consulted.

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

Appendix 1: PROJECT EVALUATION SHEET

IBPM3 – Bachelor Dissertation 2019-2020 Note Importante aux superviseurs : Merci de bien vouloir adresser au plus tard pour le 05/06/2020 Cette évaluation (2 pages) à :

[email protected] Et d’adresser les autres pages (commentaires) à l’étudiant(e) / format mail ([email protected])

Nom de l’étudiant : ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Titre du Bachelor Dissertation : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

EVALUATION Rapport exceptionnel / Exceptional Report

70% or above 65% to 69% 58% to 64% 50% to 57% ≤ 49%

Très bon rapport /. Very good Report Bon rapport / Good Report Rapport moyen / Average Report Rapport insuffisant / Inadequate report

EVALUATION / MARK (indiquez le % exact)

……. %

COMMENTAIRE GENERAL JUSTIFIANT VOTRE EVALUATION / GENERAL COMMENT TO JUSTIFY YOUR EVALUATION :

Superviseur/correcteur ………………………………………… Date…………………………………………….

Signature...........................................................................................

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IBPM3 BACHELOR DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2019-2020

REMARQUE IMPORTANTE Dans la perspective du retour d’expérience, merci de renseigner le tableau ci-dessous / to allow student feedback please, complete the following table :

COMMENTAIRES CRITERES DU RAPPORT LA FORME ET LA QUALITE GENERALE DU RAPPORT : Orthographe, et fautes de frappe, table de matières, références selon la méthode de Référencement Harvard, clarté de présentation et de numérotation des graphiques, tableaux, pages annexes, etc., classification décimale des titres et sous-titres et, bien sûr, clarté et style rédactionnel.

PART DANS L’EVALUATION

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