ECA Submission Guidelines

Please follow the submission instructions stated below:

A – What Must Be Submitted
You are required to submit the following item for marking and grading:
A Report
Please verify your submission after you have submitted the above item.

B – Submission Deadline
The Report is to be submitted by 12 noon on the submission deadline.
You are allowed multiple submissions till the cut-off date.
Late submission will be subjected to mark-deduction scheme by the University.

Please refer to Section 5.2 Para 2.4 of the Student Handbook.

C – How the Item Should Be Submitted
The Report: submit online to Canvas via TurnItIn (for plagiarism detection)
Avoid using a public WiFi connection for submitting large video files. If you are using public wireless (WiFi) connection (e.g. SG Wireless at public areas), you might encounter a break in the connection when sending large files.

D – Additional guidelines on file formatting are given as follows:

1. Report  Please ensure that your Microsoft Word document is
generated by Microsoft Word 2016 or higher.

The report must be saved in .docx format.

E – Please be Aware of the Following:

Submission in hardcopy or any other means not given in the above guidelines will not be accepted. You do not need to submit any other forms or cover sheets (e.g. form ET3) with your ECA.

You are reminded that electronic transmission is not immediate. The network traffic may be particularly heavy on the date of submission deadline and connections to the system cannot be guaranteed. Hence, you are advised to submit your work early. Canvas will allow you to submit your work late but your work will be subjected to the mark-deduction scheme. You should therefore not jeopardise your course result by submitting your ECA at the last minute.

It is your responsibility to check and ensure that your files are successfully submitted to Canvas.

F – Plagiarism and Collusion

Plagiarism and collusion are forms of cheating and are not acceptable in any form in a student’s work, including this ECA. Plagiarism and collusion are taking work done by others or work done together with others respectively and passing it off as your own. You can avoid plagiarism by giving appropriate references when you use other people’s ideas, words or pictures (including diagrams). Refer to the APA Manual if you need reminding about quoting and referencing. You can avoid collusion by ensuring that your submission is based on your own individual effort. The electronic submission of your ECA will be screened by plagiarism detection software. For more information about plagiarism and collusion, you should refer to the Student Handbook (Section 5.2.1.3). You are reminded that SUSS takes a tough stance against plagiarism or collusion. Serious cases will normally result in the student being referred to SUSS’s Student Disciplinary Group. For other cases, significant mark penalties or expulsion from the course will be imposed.

G – Use of Generative AI Tools (Allowed)

The use of generative AI tools is allowed for this assignment.

You are expected to provide proper attribution if you use generative AI tools
while completing the assignment, including appropriate and disciplinespecific citation, a table detailing the name of the AI tool used, the approach
to using the tool (e.g. what prompts were used), the full output provided by the
tool, and which part of the output was adapted for the assignment;

To take note of section 3, paragraph 3.2 and section 5.2, paragraph 2A.1 (Viva Voce) of the Student Handbook;

The University has the right to exercise the viva voce option to determine the
authorship of a student’s submission should there be reasonable grounds to
suspect that the submission may not be fully the student’s own work.

For more details on academic integrity and guidance on responsible use of
generative AI tools in assignments, please refer to the TLC website for more
details;

The University will continue to review the use of generative AI tools based on
feedback and in light of developments in AI and related technologies.

Section A (100 marks)

Answer all questions in this section.

Question 1

Service innovation in the retail industry in Singapore (word limit 2,000)

In Singapore, the retail industry comprises diverse sectors such as apparel and footwear, furniture and household, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and minimarts, food and alcohol, as well as cosmetics, toiletries, and medical goods, amongst others (IMDA, 2024). In recent years, retailers in Singapore have faced several challenges across various business areas, including delivering excellent customer experiences, achieving
operational efficiency, and driving business growth. On a brighter note, advancements in technology have enabled retailers to leverage retail technology to provide sustainable service experiences.

For this assignment, you need to select a real-life example of an actual service
organisation in the retail industry in Singapore. Please provide some brief background on your selected service organisation, including its mission, vision, services, and target customers. Apply the example to the following three questions.

Design a customer journey map for your selected retail organisation, taking into consideration the (1) pre-core service encounter, (2) core service encounter, and (3) post-core service encounter. (40 marks)

Question 2

The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford describes design thinking as a fivestage process. These stages are not always sequential, and designers can often run the stages in parallel, out of order and repeat them in an iterative manner.

Formulate a service design thinking process that can improve the design and delivery of sustainable service experiences for your selected retail organisation. (20 marks)

Question 3

Recommend TWO (2) emerging technologies that can be integrated to enhance service interactions across two stakeholders. Please be specific in your elaboration. You need to align your discussion to your selected retail organisation. (40 marks)

Appendix:

Reference:

Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) Industry Digital Plan: Retail
Industry Digital Plan, Updated 07 Nov 2024, retrieved from:

https://services2.imda.gov.sg/CTOaaS/RetailIndustryDigitalPlan?utm_source=google

&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=retail+IDP&gad_source=1
Word limit = 2,000 words excluding cover sheet, references, and appendices.