Online Platforms Essay
Write an essay with the following title: Many small businesses look to increase sales by having an online presence to either advertise (e.g. social media) or encourage sales (e.g. third party platforms).
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of having an online presence for a small business; and evaluate its effectiveness as a resource for growing a small business.
Your answer should be written as an essay with a length of 2500 words.
Remember that when writing an essay you should include an introduction and conclusion and you should only use headings occasionally in your work.
Also use relevant examples when writing your essay which can be from your own research. To add depth to your answers please use relevant sources and reference these. In addition to using online sources you should also refer to relevant books that you have found.
Many small businesses look to increase sales by having an online presence to either advertise (e.g. social media) or encourage sales (e.g. third party platforms).
• This part outlines the context of the question
• This is your introduction…references are also expected here
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of having an online presence for a small business; and evaluate its effectiveness as a resource for growing a small business.
• Critically Assess: consider several options/arguments and then weigh them up to formulate a conclusion. i.e. what would you recommend (include Assumptions, Exclusions and Dependencies)
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of having an online presence for a small business; and evaluate its effectiveness as a resource for growing a small business.
• Online presence simply means being online in some capacity. Are some outlets more impactful than others; e.g. website vs review sites vs market places vs social media vs business listings…
• …is it possible to NOT have an online presence?
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of having an online presence for a small business; and evaluate its effectiveness as a resource for growing a small business.
• Note the importance of a small business in this question (e.g. do review sites like Trip Advisor impact a small business more or less than a big business?)
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of having an online presence for a small business; and evaluate its effectiveness as a resource for growing a small business.
• Evaluate: after considerations of the arguments, what is your final judgment?
• This is your conclusion
Structure – introduction and conclusion should form 300 to 500 words each, rest is main body • Tables and appendices do not count to word count
• The more references the better, make sure they are varied, and unbiased as possible (e.g. company websites)…
• Statistical/market data, journal articles, trade journals (if appropriate), text books for reference to relevant theory only
