Students’ Performance in BSB123
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The Australian Government spent about $9 billion on higher education (HE) in the current financial year. In a market driven HE environment, to remain competitive universities strive to provide the best possible educational experience and outcomes. They constantly look for ways to better understand and improve student learning. BSB123 Data Analysis is designed to build a strong foundation for statistical literacy and thinking, which is essential for business success and further studies in business. In 2014, the Assistant Dean (Learning and Teaching) QUT Business School approved funding for a survey study to collect information on students’ demographic characteristics, their learning behaviour and learning outcomes in Data Analysis. It aimed to identify key factors that determine learning success with a view to providing more appropriate support for students in Data Analysis in future. The survey result was contained in the datafile: DA Survey 2014.xlsx. It contains information relating to a sample of 703 students who studied BSB123 in 2014, and includes the following variables: • Gender Task As the research officer of this study you have been asked to fully analyse the data, and prepare a report for the Assistant Dean (Learning and Teaching), detailing all important findings derived from the data and your recommendations to the Assistant Dean. Hints: You are expected to apply appropriate techniques learnt from Lectures 6 to 10. When presenting your findings, you should use graphs and tables to help get across your messages. Use concise language when reporting findings from your data analysis. You do not have to include all Excel output (obtained for example from your hypothesis testing and regression analysis) in the body of your report; leave them in the appendices if appropriate. |
Word Limit: 2750
Referencing: Harvard Style
KARRICK Gold & Copper Ltd. (KGC Ltd), an Australian mining firm listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), has been operating a large Open Cast (Pit) gold and
copper mine in the Star Mountain Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for 30 years. The
Star Mountain Range in PNG is very isolated (no roads) and has a wide range of exotic
plants and animals found nowhere else in the world.
Other Information—KGC Ltd. has:
- Revenues of $30 billion Australian dollars (AUD) a year and, in the absence of new ore
finds, has only seven years of ore reserves.
- The Net Book Value (NBV) of the PP&E is $16.5 billion AUD and another $5.0 billion
AUD is needed over the next seven years.
- There is no active prospecting for additional reserves of ore—because the firm’s current
license from the PNG government to mine in that region will expire in eight years.
- While there have been several rich “shows” of silver and lead ore,1 nothing so far is of
commercial quantity and quality. However, the mine manager expects that over the next
eight years large deposits of commercially-viable silver-and-lead ore will be found within the
mine property or adjacent.
5) The KGC Ltd. employs 3,400 full-time employees in its PNG mine, offices, and processing
plant—3,000 are PNG citizens and reside in the Star Mountain Range. The labour-
participation rate in that region of PNG is 32 percent and the unemployment rate (among
those 32 percent) is 45 percent.
NB: If KGC Ltd. shuts down its mining operations in the Star Mountain Range in PNG, the
unemployment rate among the 32 percent participating in the labour market will rise to 95
percent and there are few if any alternative sources of employment.
6) The KGC Ltd. PNG operations pay $4 billion in royalties to the traditional owners of the
land where they mine and process ore and $6 billion in taxes to the PNG government. Also,
they built and operate the only water-processing plants, grade schools, hospitals, and health
centres in the Star Mountain Range in PNG.
7) In the last few decades, the Christian-animist residents of the Indonesian half of the Island of New Guinea (the Indonesians call their half of the island “Irian Jaya” or “Papua”) have been agitating for independence from Indonesia (it is estimated that 100,000 of them have died in the conflict and some of the tribes have resumed headhunting with the Indonesian soldiers
and settlers being targeted. The PNG tribes near the border with Papua are closely related to
the tribes across the border and there is fear the conflict and the police actions by the
Indonesian army will spill into the PNG portion of the Star Mountain Range.
8) A recent collapse of a “tailings” pond dumped 5 million litres of ore-waste sludge into a river from which two local villages draw their drinking water, fish, hunt, harvest lotus root and
water their taro root, yam and cassava crops.2 While most of the sludge flushed through to
the ocean in a few days, many environmental groups in Australia are screaming that KGC
Ltd. is environmentally irresponsible. The complaints got especially loud and strident after
the General Manager of the PNG mine stated at a public meeting: “First) The sludge will
quickly flush out to sea; Second) “At sea the sludge will be vastly diluted; Third) The
solution to pollution is dilution; Fourth) The peoples of the Star Mountain Range in PNG
depend on the KGC Ltd. operations for most of their jobs, clean potable water, health care,
and education”
9) The cost of remediating the sludge spill (i.e. a combination of clean-up, fines, offsetting work elsewhere, and compensating cash payments) is expected to range between $6 billion and
$60, billion, depending on the outcome of a court case in PNG that has been initiated by an
ecological group from Australia. Please note: KGC Ltd. is claiming that the annual benefits
of the KGC Ltd. operations in the Star Mountain Range in PNG offset the harm of the
mining and processing (including the rare sludge spill) by manyfold and that should the mine
be shutdown, the loss to that region and PNG in general would be devastating.
While this case study is adapted from real events and circumstances, names have been
changed to protect the innocent and to avoid lawsuits. Please answer the following
questions using the above information and supplementing it (as needed) with information
from the course, the internet, and other literature. Marks will be awarded for clarity of
thought and succinctness of presentation.
Question
- a) Should KGC Ltd. revalue its major PPE assets from historic cost to fair market value?
(Discuss the principles, potential issues and risks).
- b) The PP&E is estimated to have a replacement value of $20.5 billion AUD and a value
in use of $12.0 billion AUD under current expected operations (i.e. five years) but
Rises to $30 billion AUD if the contract is renewed for 10 years in addition to the
current seven years and new viable ore bodies are found. What is the “True and Fair”
Value of the PP&E? (Explain).
- c) Discuss the merits and risks of KGC Ltd. including a “Triple Bottom Line” aspect to
its reporting approach
- d) Discuss the nature of “Legitimacy” and the importance of KGC Ltd. maintaining
legitimacy in the eyes of the traditional land-owners, the government of PNG, and the
people of Australia.
- e) Is the “Legitimacy” of KGC Ltd. at risk and what consequences that KGC Ltd. may
suffer if it loses “Legitimacy”.
- f) Discuss how KGC Ltd. can restore its legitimacy (include a section on the two types
of stakeholder theory in this discussion).
- g) List the various ways that KGC Ltd. could record the cost of the harm associated with
the sludge spill in its GPFS, discuss the pros-and-cons of each method, choose a
method and defend your choice.
BSB123 Data Analysis Marking Criteria — Assessment 2: Research Report (30% of total grade) Criteria 7 6 5 4 <4 Weight KS (1.1): Demonstrate and apply integrated discipline (including technical) knowledge across the broad field of business with depth in one or more core business disciplines Application of statistical knowledge Selects and correctly uses relevant graphs and statistical concepts throughout the report Selects mostly relevant graphs and statistical concepts, and uses them appropriately throughout the report Selects mostly relevant graphs and statistical concepts, but with occasional inappropriate use Selects only a limited range of relevant graphs and statistical concepts, with some incorrect use Unable to select and use relevant graphs and statistical concepts 20% KS (1.2): Apply technical and technological skills appropriate and effective for real world business purposes and contexts Analysis of data Analysis methods appropriate for comprehensively and critically investigating the research question were selected; all analyses and calculations were correctly performed Appropriate analysis methods were selected comprehensively investigating most aspects of the research question; most analyses and calculations were correctly performed Analysis methods relevant to some aspects of the research question were selected, though narrowly addressing the research question; most analyses and calculations were correctly performed though minor errors are present Some analysis methods relevant to the research question were selected, though minimally addressing the research question; substantive errors are evident in the analysis and/or calculations Analysis methods were not appropriately selected or were not relevant to the research question; multiple major errors present in analysis and/or calculations 30% HO (2.2): Exercise independent judgment and initiative in adapting and applying knowledge and skills for effective planning, problem solving and decision making in diverse contexts Interpretation and explanation of research findings Results are presented clearly and interpreted correctly and comprehensively; research findings are critically discussed in depth and are coherently related to all aspects of the analysis and research problem Results are presented clearly and interpreted correctly in some detail; research findings are well discussed in detail in relation to most parts of the analysis and research problem Results are mostly presented clearly, though minor errors of interpretation are evident; research findings are well discussed in relation to some aspects of the analysis and research problem, though explanation is lacking in detail in parts Some results have been presented and interpreted correctly though substantive errors in explanation and/or interpretation are present; research findings do not sufficiently address the research question and/or analysis, and contain minimal explanation Little or no attempt to present or interpret results, or attempt contains major interpretation errors; research findings lack relevance to the analysis and/or research question and are provided with little or no explanation 30% PC (3.1): Use information literacy skills, and communicate effectively and professionally in written forms and using media appropriate for diverse purposes and contexts Written expression and formatting Writes fluently and clearly using language, format, and structure that always adheres to the report genre; meaning is clearly articulated and effectively expressed, and relevant to task Language is generally fluent and clear; format and structure mostly appropriate for the report genre; meaning is effectively expressed and relevant to task Writes generally fluently with occasional grammatical errors; format and structure not always appropriate for report genre; meaning generally clear and relevant to task but lacks clarity in parts Meaning is apparent but not clearly and fluently expressed, with limited relevance to the task; format and structure not always appropriate for the report genre Meaning is confusing or mostly irrelevant to task with frequent grammatical errors; format/structure inappropriate for the report genre 20%
