How to write a top mark IB CUEGIS Essay?

Manoj Arachige -

What is the CUEGIS Essay

The CUEGIS essay is an extended response question on Paper 2 (section C). It is graded out of 20 marks and contributes a lot to your final score. Both SL and HL students must write a CUEGIS essay.

What does CUEGIS stand for?

CUEGIS is an acronym for the concepts: change, culture, ethics, globalisation, innovation, and strategy. Well, what do these 6 concepts mean? 

  • Change: Refers to the transformation or adaptation that businesses undergo in response to internal or external factors, such as market trends, technology, or regulations.
  • Culture: Represents the values, beliefs, and practices shared by members of an organization or society, influencing business operations and decision-making.
  • Ethics: Focuses on principles governing a business's behaviour, including corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and stakeholder treatment.
  • Globalisation: Refers to the interconnectedness of the world’s economies, markets, and cultures, examining how businesses operate and compete internationally.
  • Innovation: Highlights the importance of creativity in developing new products, services, or processes to maintain competitiveness.
  • Strategy: Involves long-term planning and decision-making aimed at achieving specific business goals and sustainable growth. 

In your exam, you will be presented with 3 different CUEGIS questions to choose from, with each question having two concepts. However, you are only required to respond to one of the questions. 

CUEGIS Requirements

 To write this essay successfully, start by selecting real-life organizations that align well with the CUEGIS concepts. Analyse these organizations from various perspectives, such as their approach to cultural shifts, handling of ethical challenges, strategic management, or adapting to global changes. By examining these different aspects, you’ll not only gain a deeper understanding of the organizations but also develop a more comprehensive approach to your essay.

Hence to prepare for this vital component of the exam, you must be familiarised with your company. This includes understanding the basics of the company such as:

  • The industries they operate in
  • The goods and services they provide, and
  • Their CEO, founding year, and any major changes.

Once you have an understanding of your company, you can delve into research for each concept.

How to Research your Company

A lot of students end up researching their company and finding a lot of information, however it is only useful if you can relate it to the 6 concepts. Hence to maximise efficiency, we recommend research your company in relation to each concept first. Once you have thorough research completed for each concept, see how these points can relate to other concepts. 

You word document full of your research should look something like this:

Company Name

  • Basic information including industries, products and services, CEO, organisational structure, major changes to organisation.

Change

  • Point 1: Relates to Culture. Provide explanation on how it relates.
  • Point 2: Relates to Strategy. Provide explanation on how it relates.
  • Point 3: Relates to innovation. Provide explanation on how it relates.

Continue this for all concepts.

Remember to have strong links between concepts with strong examples that have a lot of research. For each point include the reference as it is advised to intext reference in your essay! 

Structuring the Essay

To maximise marks, we recommend an introduction paragraph, a definition paragraph, 2 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

Introduction

  • Background to the company
    • Historical performance as well
  • Lead into what they do
    • Goods and services they provide
    • Main industries and market
  • Segway into the question concepts
    • For example, if your company is Nike and your question involves change and strategy: As part of Nike’s strategy to expand the number of markets they target, they have introduced changes to not only their organisational structure but product offerings.
  • Then expand on the two concepts and be more specific.
    • For example: To achieve their goals, they have introduced branches within the company specific for countries and have developed more products that cater to regions, such as country specific colorways of shoes.

Definitions

For the definitions paragraph, you must simply:

  • Define the two concepts in your business’ context.
  • Define all key IB Business terminology you will use in your essay.

For example, if your question is discussing impact of change and culture on organisational structure, you would:

  • Define the organisational structures you will mention in the essay. Hence it is key you have quality research done prior so when you see a question, all the research and key terms come to your mind immediately!

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs are where it gets more confusing, but don’t worry, we are going to break it down!

 For the body paragraphs, you can have 2 structures depending on the question:

  1. If it is asking to explain Concept #1 EFFECT on Concept #2
  2. If it is asking to explain how Concept #1 AND Concept #2 impacted the organisation

For scenario 1, we recommend for each body paragraph to:

  • Explain how Concept #1 impacts Concept #2 using real-life examples and key IB Business terminology and course content.
  • In paragraph 1: explain the advantage of the real-life example on the business.
  • In paragraph 2: explain a disadvantage of the real-life example on the business.

Note: You should use two different real-life examples for paragraph 1 and 2, with one paragraph having a key benefit and the other a key negative

Then:

  • Explain the short-term impact, and the advantages and disadvantages, and how the business has or is planning to address it.
  • Explain the long-term impact, the advantages, and disadvantages, and how the business is planning on addressing it.

The body paragraph is the chunkiest portion of your essay, but once done, you are left with the conclusion, a much easier task!

 For scenario 2 we recommend for each body paragraph to:

  • Focus on one concept at a time.
  • Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the concepts impact.

Then:

  • Explain the short-term impact, and the advantages and disadvantages, and how the business has or is planning to address it.
  • Explain the long-term impact, the advantages, and disadvantages, and how the business is planning on addressing it.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, summarise all the main points.

  • Ensure you restate concepts and all terminology you used.
  • Briefly recap advantages and disadvantages.
  • Talk about the short-term and long-term impact.

Explain how the two concepts were important for the business as a closing statement.

Final Words

Although the CUEGIS essay is daunting for all IB Business students, it is very achievable to score top marks if you are well prepared. Following this guide on researching and structuring your essay to ensure you get a 7 on your final exams!

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