MGTS7301 Tools and Techniques for Business Analysis
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · S2 2026MGTS7301 Overview
- University of Queensland
- Semester 2 2026
- Postgraduate management course
- Four assessment components
- No final exam listed
Tools and Techniques for Business Analysis is a postgraduate University of Queensland course about choosing and applying management frameworks to real business decisions.
- Assessed by A 30% mid-semester exam, 10% logbook, 30% boardroom role-play and 30% individual reflection.
- Hardest move Selecting the tool that answers the managerial problem, then applying it to specific evidence rather than listing definitions.
- Marks come from Accurate knowledge, precise application to the context and a conclusion supported by relevant premises.
What you get in the full MGTS7301 Study & Assessment Guide
- 8 chapters, 27 pages — every assessed topic, week by week
- 20 original practice questions, each with a model answer
- 8 worked examples, solved the way MGTS7301 marks
- 8 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Before-you-submit checklist for the Mid-semester exam (30%) — what markers reward, what costs marks
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full study & assessment guide.
How MGTS7301 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-semester exam | 30% | In person and closed book; 90 minutes writing plus 10 minutes planning; 20 multiple-choice marks and one 10-mark business-scenario analysis; scheduled within the 5 to 20 September window shown in the assessment summary. |
| Notebook/Logbook | 10% | Site-visit record due 7 September 2026 at 1 pm. The captured rubric focuses on complete observations and the required visit record. |
| Boardroom role-play | 30% | In person during allocated workshops in Weeks 7 to 9. The captured rubric assesses case analysis, team discussion and recommendation. |
| Individual reflection | 30% | Reflective assessment due 9 November 2026 at 1 pm, connecting course learning with future leadership practice. |
The four numeric rows come from the Semester 2 2026 assessment summary and total 100%. The summary gives 30% for the whole Boardroom role-play, while one extracted role-play rubric is labelled 15% and divides one sitting into three criteria of 5 marks each. This guide treats the summary as authority for the whole-task weight and the rubric as evidence for the criteria used in a sitting. No final exam or hurdle is listed in the captured assessment material.
Assessment structure
What other students are asking about MGTS7301
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for MGTS7301 at UQ?
- The MGTS7301 study guide in AskSia Library covers Tools and Techniques for Business Analysis in 8 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in MGTS7301?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; MGTS7301 is assessed by Mid-semester exam 30%, Notebook/Logbook 10%, Boardroom role-play 30%, Individual reflection 30%.
- What does MGTS7301 cover on managing change across three horizons?
- In AskSia Library's MGTS7301 guide, the Managing Change Across Three Horizons chapter explains current operations, transition experiments and the successor system.
- What does MGTS7301 cover on designing a balanced scorecard?
- In AskSia Library's MGTS7301 guide, the Designing a Balanced Scorecard chapter explains four perspectives, lead and lag indicators, causal assumptions and review.
- What does MGTS7301 cover on reading industry structure?
- In AskSia Library's MGTS7301 guide, the Reading Industry Structure chapter explains industry scope, Five Forces drivers, profit pressure and strategic response.
Current MGTS7301 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 20 September 2026 | Mid-semester exam window | The assessment summary prints this window; the exact sitting time is not fixed in the captured files. |
| 7 September 2026, 1 pm | Notebook/Logbook due | The site-visit record is the 10% assessment. |
| Weeks 7 to 9 | Boardroom role-play | Three in-person workshop sittings are listed in the assessment summary. |
| 9 November 2026, 1 pm | Individual reflection due | The final listed assessment is worth 30%. |
Dates are as published in the captured Semester 2 2026 UQ assessment summary. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What MGTS7301 covers
Eight chapters follow the course sequence from internal and external diagnosis through transition, measurement, industry and stakeholder analysis, integrated strategy, business model design and renewal. Each chapter links a framework to an original decision scenario and an assessment-style practice response.
SWOT and BCG Portfolio Choices
internal and external evidence, portfolio categories and conditional resource choicesThis chapter separates diagnosis from portfolio choice. SWOT classifies evidence by whether it is internal or external and helpful or harmful, while the BCG Matrix frames how a portfolio position may affect investment, harvesting, experimentation or exit.
- 1.1 Internal and external evidence in SWOT
- 1.2 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
- 1.3 Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs
- 1.4 Resource choices and portfolio interdependence
- 1.5 Conditional recommendations and review triggers
Managing Change Across Three Horizons
current operations, transition experiments and the successor systemThree Horizons helps leaders sustain the current business while building transition options and exploring a successor system. Horizon 1 protects reliable operations, Horizon 2 validates adjacent capabilities and Horizon 3 works with disruptive possibilities.
- 2.1 Horizon 1 operations and optimisation
- 2.2 Horizon 2 pilots and capability bridges
- 2.3 Horizon 3 exploration and successor systems
- 2.4 The five-step horizon conversation
- 2.5 Portfolio balance, evidence and stopping rules
Designing a Balanced Scorecard
four perspectives, lead and lag indicators, causal assumptions and reviewThe Balanced Scorecard translates strategy into linked customer, internal process, learning and growth, and financial measures. Its value comes from a credible causal story between lead and lag indicators, not from filling four dashboard boxes.
- 3.1 Strategy before measurement
- 3.2 Customer and internal process perspectives
- 3.3 Learning, growth and financial sustainability
- 3.4 Lead indicators and lag indicators
- 3.5 Causal tests, measure ownership and revision
Reading Industry Structure
industry scope, Five Forces drivers, profit pressure and strategic responseFive Forces examines the structural pressures that shape industry profitability: entrants, suppliers, buyers, substitutes and rivalry. The analysis begins by defining the customer need, offer and geography because scope determines who belongs in each force.
- 4.1 Defining the industry boundary
- 4.2 Threat of entry and structural barriers
- 4.3 Supplier and buyer bargaining power
- 4.4 Substitutes, rivalry and price pressure
- 4.5 Overall attractiveness and strategic response
Mapping Stakeholder Power and Salience
power-interest engagement, legitimacy, urgency and changing priorityStakeholder analysis makes mutual dependence and competing claims visible. The power-interest grid suggests an engagement response, while salience analysis adds legitimacy and urgency to power.
- 5.1 Sources of stakeholder power
- 5.2 Interest and power-interest mapping
- 5.3 Legitimacy and urgency
- 5.4 Latent, expectant and definitive stakeholders
- 5.5 Ethical limits and engagement design
Integrating Choices with the Strategy Diamond
arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, economic logic and coherenceThe Strategy Diamond expresses strategy as five mutually reinforcing choices: arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging and economic logic. This chapter requires each choice to be concrete, then searches for contradictions between them.
- 6.1 Arenas and strategic boundaries
- 6.2 Vehicles for entering or growing
- 6.3 Differentiators and customer choice
- 6.4 Staging and economic logic
- 6.5 Coherence, resources and implementation tests
Building a Business Model Canvas
customer value, delivery architecture, key operations and economic viabilityThe Business Model Canvas explains how an organisation creates, delivers and captures value through nine connected blocks.
- 7.1 Customer segments and jobs
- 7.2 Value propositions
- 7.3 Channels and customer relationships
- 7.4 Key resources, activities and partners
- 7.5 Cost structure, revenue streams and risky assumptions
Renewing Business Models
model patterns, customer insight, ideation, prototypes and learning loopsBusiness-model renewal combines reusable patterns with a disciplined design process. Unbundling, long tail, multisided platforms, free models and open models each depend on a specific mechanism rather than a fashionable label.
- 8.1 Unbundling and long-tail patterns
- 8.2 Multisided platform dynamics
- 8.3 Freemium and open models
- 8.4 Customer insight, ideation and visual thinking
- 8.5 Prototyping, storytelling and learning loops
The Semester 2 2026 materials begin with rational diagnosis and portfolio choice through SWOT and the BCG Matrix, then ask how organisations can protect current performance while building future capability with Three Horizons. The Balanced Scorecard turns strategy into linked financial and non-financial measures.
Five Forces widens the view to industry structure, while stakeholder power-interest and salience tools make competing claims visible. The Strategy Diamond tests whether choices about arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging and economic logic reinforce one another.
The Business Model Canvas and business model innovation topics then connect customer value to operations, partners, costs and revenue, and show how customer insight, ideation and prototyping can renew a model. Assessment is entirely within the semester. A 30 per cent mid-semester exam combines 20 multiple-choice marks with one 10-mark business-scenario analysis under in-person, closed-book conditions.
A 10 per cent Notebook/Logbook records the site visit, a 30 per cent Boardroom role-play runs across workshops in Weeks 7 to 9, and a 30 per cent Individual reflection closes the course. The recurring standard is consistent across these tasks: accurate knowledge, precise application to context and a justified conclusion. This guide is organised around that reasoning sequence.
Each chapter explains what a tool can and cannot answer, shows its core relationship in an original figure, works through a new case and ends with two answerable practice cards. The aim is not to collect labels. It is to make a defensible choice, surface a limitation and state what evidence would change the recommendation.
Worked example · free
Repair an incoherent Strategy Diamond
- 1Name the five-choice test: arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging and economic logic must reinforce one another.
- 1Identify the arena and differentiator: urban renters receive convenient circular furniture with rapid swaps.
- 1Expose the conflict: owning hubs in 4 cities and carrying swap inventory raises fixed cost while the low subscription limits recovery.
- 1Stage the launch in 1 city first, leaving 3 cities until utilisation, repair time and retention support expansion.
- 1Set the decision rule: expand only when one-city evidence shows the economic logic can fund the promised service.
Key terms
- SWOT analysis
- A diagnostic tool that separates internal strengths and weaknesses from external opportunities and threats before a strategic choice is made.
- BCG Matrix
- A portfolio framework that classifies activities as Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks or Dogs to open a resource-allocation discussion.
- Three Horizons
- A framework for managing the current system, transition experiments and a future successor at the same time.
- Lead indicator
- A measure of an activity or capability expected to influence a later result, whose causal link still needs to be tested.
- Lag indicator
- A measure that records an outcome after it occurs, such as retention, margin or complaint volume.
- Industry scope
- The stated boundary of customer need, offer and geography that determines which rivals, entrants and substitutes belong in a Five Forces analysis.
- Buyer power
- Customers' ability to capture value through concentration, price sensitivity, low switching costs or credible backward integration.
- Stakeholder salience
- The priority managers perceive from a stakeholder's combination of power, legitimacy and urgency.
- Arenas
- The Strategy Diamond choice that specifies where the organisation will be active across products, segments, geographies, technologies or value-chain stages.
- Economic logic
- The Strategy Diamond explanation of how an integrated set of choices will generate sustainable returns.
- Value proposition
- The specific problem solved or benefit created for a defined customer segment within a business model.
- Multisided platform
- A business model connecting two or more interdependent groups whose participation creates value for the other groups.
- Long-tail model
- A model that makes many niche offers collectively viable through low distribution cost and effective discovery.
- Prototype
- A deliberately incomplete representation or field test used to learn whether a business-model assumption is credible before scaling.
MGTS7301 FAQ
How is this course assessed in Semester 2 2026?
The captured UQ summary lists four tasks: a 30 per cent mid-semester exam, a 10 per cent Notebook/Logbook, a 30 per cent Boardroom role-play and a 30 per cent Individual reflection. The numeric rows total 100 per cent. The role-play occurs across workshops in Weeks 7 to 9, and the reflection is due on 9 November.
What format does the mid-semester assessment use?
The captured instructions describe an in-person, closed-book paper with 90 minutes writing and 10 minutes planning. It carries 30 per cent of the course grade and contains 20 multiple-choice marks plus one 10-mark business-scenario analysis. The scenario response is judged through knowledge, application and justification.
Does this course have a final exam?
No final exam is listed in the captured Semester 2 2026 assessment summary. The only exam shown is the 30 per cent mid-semester assessment. The remaining 70 per cent comes from the Notebook/Logbook, Boardroom role-play and Individual reflection, so this guide is an assessment bible rather than a final-exam guide.
What happens in the Boardroom role-play?
The summary places the 30 per cent task in allocated workshops across Weeks 7 to 9. The captured rubric for a sitting divides attention among case analysis, team discussion and a justified recommendation, each expressed as a 5-mark criterion. It rewards relevant tools, evidence, stakeholder perspectives, respectful contribution and a clear explanation of implications.
How demanding is this business analysis course?
The sources do not publish pass rates or difficulty ratings. What they do show is breadth and application pressure: students must distinguish several strategic tools, select one for a real business problem and justify a decision. The mid-semester scenario requires developed paragraphs, while the role-play adds live team discussion and stakeholder consequences.
How do I choose the right business analysis tool?
Begin with the decision question. Use SWOT for internal and external diagnosis, BCG for portfolio allocation, Three Horizons for transition, the Balanced Scorecard for linked measures, Five Forces for industry pressure, stakeholder tools for competing claims, the Strategy Diamond for coherent choices and the Canvas for a complete value system.
Can generative AI complete these course assessments?
Use AI only within the rules published for your task and remain able to explain every claim. This guide uses AI as a study partner for retrieval and challenge: ask for a fresh scenario, choose the framework yourself, write the analysis, then invite questions about weak premises. Do not submit generated work as your own or expose confidential case material.
Questions students ask in each MGTS7301 chapter
- What is the difference between SWOT and BCG?
- SWOT diagnoses internal and external evidence around an organisation. BCG focuses on a portfolio position and the resource question it creates. SWOT can inform a BCG judgement, but the matrices answer different managerial questions. Keep the transition explicit so diagnosis does not masquerade as a resource decision. Chapter 01 · SWOT and BCG Portfolio Choices
- Are the horizons fixed time periods?
- No. The captured slides offer time guides, but classification depends on strategic role. A short pilot may be Horizon 2, while a long efficiency program can remain Horizon 1. Ask what the initiative protects or creates. Chapter 02 · Managing Change Across Three Horizons
- Must finance always sit at the top?
- No. A public or community organisation may place mission outcomes above finance. The important task is to explain how the perspectives support the chosen purpose. Financial sustainability can remain a constraint rather than the ultimate result. Chapter 03 · Designing a Balanced Scorecard
- Can I add the number of favourable forces?
- No. Forces differ in magnitude and interaction. One dominant pressure can matter more than several weak favourable conditions. Judge where value is captured and whether capabilities can respond. Chapter 04 · Reading Industry Structure
- Does low power mean low importance?
- No. Low power may reflect exclusion. Legitimacy, urgency, long-run dependence and ethical consequence can make a weakly represented claim decisive. Build a channel that lets affected people provide evidence directly. Chapter 05 · Mapping Stakeholder Power and Salience
- How specific should arenas be?
- Specify products, customer segments, geographies, technologies or value-chain stages where relevant. A phrase such as grow globally is not an arena choice. Boundaries make later vehicle and resource tests possible. Chapter 06 · Integrating Choices with the Strategy Diamond
- Should I fill the canvas from left to right?
- No fixed order is compulsory, but beginning with a specific segment and value proposition helps the other blocks answer a real need. Move outward only after the customer logic is specific. Chapter 07 · Building a Business Model Canvas
- Is a business-model pattern a complete strategy?
- No. A pattern offers a mechanism to test. It still needs customer fit, operational design, economics and an evidence-based implementation path. Copying the label does not reproduce the mechanism. Chapter 08 · Renewing Business Models
How to prepare for the assessments
Study MGTS7301 as a sequence of managerial questions, not a stack of diagrams. For each framework, keep a card with four lines: the problem it answers, the evidence it needs, the limitation it creates and the sentence that turns the diagnosis into a recommendation. Redraw each figure from memory and explain every arrow aloud. Then practise on a new case without notes.
Spend the first minute naming the decision and selecting one primary tool; use a second tool only when it adds a genuinely different lens. After writing, audit the response against the captured rubric: accurate discipline knowledge, precise application to the facts and relevant premises that support a sound conclusion. Prepare separately for the assessment formats.
For multiple choice, drill definitions, components and common confusions. For the 10-mark scenario response, practise three developed paragraphs: tool and evidence, interpretation and tension, recommendation and review condition. For the Boardroom role-play, rehearse making a concise claim, inviting another view and changing your position when stronger evidence appears.
Keep the site-visit logbook factual and complete while observations are fresh. For the reflection, record after each class what changed in your thinking, which assumption was challenged and how the tool may alter your future leadership practice. That weekly record gives the final reflection specific evidence rather than retrospective generalities.
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