Students

MQBS1030 – Decision Making for Business

2025 – Session 1, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
Paul Crosby
paul.crosby@mq.edu.au
Contact via email
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
Throughout their careers, leaders and managers will need to make sound decisions and they will need to take into account and assess many sources of information in the process. In this unit, students will develop skills in economics and analytics to help them develop critical decision-making capabilities. Students will explore drivers of behaviour using economic frameworks and models. Students will explore the validity, reliability and relevance of information and data provided to them and develop an understanding of how to interpret the information and data to make sound decisions. Students will work on analytics techniques and develop problem-solving skills to simplify complex economic information and data for decision-making by business stakeholders.
 

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Explain business issues using economic and analytics theories and concepts.
  • ULO2: Apply economic and analytics techniques to solve business problems.
  • ULO3: Analyse business decision making using economics and analytics frameworks.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments) 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.  

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Skills development: Economic decision-making 30% No Week 7
Skills development: Data analytics 30% No Week 10
Professional practice: Solving business problems 40% No Week 13

Skills development: Economic decision-making

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 30%

 

The purpose of this assessment is to develop your ability to analyse business decision-making using economic frameworks and data-driven insights. This task will enhance your ability to interpret economic data, apply theoretical models, and communicate their findings effectively.

You will analyse and apply relevant economic frameworks to a case study and data set.

Skills in Focus: - Application of Economic Frameworks - Data Analysis and Interpretation - Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking - Structured Economic Reporting - Professional Written Communication

Deliverable: Written report Individual assessment

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse business decision making using economics and analytics frameworks.

Skills development: Data analytics

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 30%

 

The purpose of this assessment is to develop students’ ability to analyse and interpret business data using analytics techniques, and demonstrating how analytics can be used to inform decision-making within an economic context. This task will enhance their skills in data cleaning, visualisation, and business intelligence generation to support decision-making. You will be provided with a dataset and will apply business analytics techniques to clean, summarise, visualise, and interpret the data. The report will present key business insights.

Skills in Focus: Business Analytics and Data Interpretation Data Cleaning, Summarisation, and Visualisation Application of Economic Frameworks Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Professional Written Communication

Deliverable: Students will submit a 4-page report.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply economic and analytics techniques to solve business problems.

Professional practice: Solving business problems

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 40%

 

The purpose of this assessment is to strengthen your ability interpret data and evaluate business decisions by applying economic frameworks and business analytics techniques to a real-world business problem.

You will apply economic frameworks and business analytics techniques to a contemporary business problem or scenario of your choice. You will showcase your analysis, insights and reflections on the process in a video presentation.

Skills in Focus: - Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking - Discipline knowledge - Analytical skills - Communication skills - Reflection skills

Deliverable: Video presentation [7 minutes] with supplementary slides. Individual assessment

 

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Explain business issues using economic and analytics theories and concepts.
  • Apply economic and analytics techniques to solve business problems.
  • Analyse business decision making using economics and analytics frameworks.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

This unit is an inter-disciplinary unit of Economics and Business Analytics

Economics - Optional textbook

  • Principles of Economics (Richard Holden, Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers), First Edition 2023

The text is available for purchase from Booktopia or directly from the publisher. There are also copies available at the Macquarie University library.

Additional weekly readings and resources will be made available on the unit iLearn site during the session.

Only topics and materials that are covered in classes are examinable. This textbook includes material beyond the scope of this unit.

Business Analytics - Optional resources

This is a suite of 3 Massive Open Online Courses produced by Macquarie University in partnership with Coursera. You can access the entire specialisation here.

You may wish to access this suite of resources for more practice, to further enhance your Microsoft Excel skills beyond this unit, and/or obtain the additional certifications to populate your portfolio and LinkedIn profile.

Only topics and materials that are covered in classes are examinable. This resource includes material beyond the scope of this unit.

Microsoft Office including Microsoft Excel

  • All Macquarie University computer labs have Microsoft Office including Microsoft Excel.
  • All workshops will be conducted in computer labs.
  • If you have a laptop, you are encouraged to bring this to lectures - to work alongside the lecturer for any Microsoft Excel activities. 
  • If you do not have a laptop, you are encouraged to borrow one from the library (for free!) for the duration of the lecture (https://www.mq.edu.au/about/facilities/library/study-support/facilities) - to work alongside the lecturer for and Microsoft Excel activities.
  • You can install Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Excel) on your own devices (for free!) by following these instructions: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/technology/software/microsoft.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Academic Success

Academic Success provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2025.03 of the Handbook