Course coordinator
Dr Rajendra Adhikari
By appointment: Please email to organise a meeting appointment if you wish to discuss the course matter.
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2026 (23/02/2026 - 20/06/2026)
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Location
- Gatton
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- Gatton
- Coordinating unit
- Agriculture and Food Sustainability School
Export marketing and practices for agribusiness firms.
This course was last offered in external mode in 2024.
Exporting agricultural commodities and value-added products represents an important part of the Australian economy and the lifeblood of many regional industries and communities. This course aims to equip students with skills and knowledge to manage food and fibre exports. The course is presented in followingﾠmodules:
- Export readiness, principles and practices
- Identifying and prioritising export markets and market entry.
- Export market planning, financing and supportﾠ
- Export regulations, risks and mitigation.
These modules reflect what agribusiness firms need to consider when planning to start exporting for the first time or increase the effectiveness of existing export activities.ﾠ
At the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, we are committed to creating an inclusive and empowering learning environment for all students. We value and respect the diverse range of experiences our students bring to their education, and we believe that this diversity is crucial for fostering a rich culture of knowledge-sharing and meaningful exploration. We hold students and staff accountable for actively contributing to establishing a respectful and supportive learning environment.
Bullying, harassment, and discrimination in any form are strictly against our principles and against UQ Policy, and will not be tolerated. If you have any concerns about your experience in this course, we encourage you to tell a member of the course teaching team. Your well-being and a positive learning atmosphere are of utmost importance to us.
Course requirements
Assumed background
It is assumed that students have an understanding ofﾠmarketing principles and methods.
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
The weekly three-hour scheduled learning activities include lectures and tutorials. These sessions are delivered on campus, for which in-person attendance and participation are essential. Please refer to the list of weekly learning activities and assessment sections for more details. To bring industry insights into the classroom, guest lecture sessions areﾠintegral to this course. Depending on theﾠavailability and practicality, the guest lecture delivery mode would remain flexible, and their schedules could change with short notice, which will be announced via the course blackboard site.
If you have any concerns regarding your official timetable or course allocations, or there are no suitable class times available, contact Faculty of Science Timetable science.mytimetable@uq.edu.au for advice. If you have any questions about missing class activities, please contact your course coordinator.
Aims and outcomes
The aim of IBUS3960 is to equip students with the knowledge required to plan and implement export strategies for agribusiness firms.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Assess an agribusiness firm's readiness for export.
LO2.
Prioritise international markets for commodity and value-added agricultural products.
LO3.
Prepare an export plan.
LO4.
Identify and plan for risks including financial issues associated with exporting.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Project | Progressive development of Export Plan (Export readiness and market exploration and prioritisation) | 20% |
16/03/2026 2:00 pm |
| Project | Final submission of Export Plan - Full Report | 40% |
25/05/2026 2:00 pm |
| Examination |
Final Exam
|
40% |
End of Semester Exam Period 6/06/2026 - 20/06/2026 |
A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied in order to receive a specific grade for the course. Check the assessment details for more information about hurdle requirements.
Assessment details
Progressive development of Export Plan (Export readiness and market exploration and prioritisation)
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Project
- Weight
- 20%
- Due date
16/03/2026 2:00 pm
Task description
This is the first progressive assessment of your practical guide to exporting. Students are invited to select their own product/organisation for this assignment. This assessment is best suited to a value-added product for retail and/or commercial buyers.
You are an international marketing consultant and have been asked to provide advice to an agribusiness organisation that is not only considering exporting for the first time but also planning to apply for the next round of Export Market Development Grants (EMDG). The organisation believes that exporting will provide increased profitable sales. As the organisation is new to export, the owners have sought your advice and would like you to prepare a document to guide them in the export initiative. This part (Part I) of the export plan should contain the following sections.
- Introduction - Clearly specifying the purpose/objectives of the report.
- Provide a brief description of the industry, the organisation and its core exporting product
- Motivation, purpose and objectives of exporting
- Assess the organisation’s readiness for export
- Identify 3 priority markets from 3 separate countries where the business could potentially export. Justify your market selections with evidence, using secondary market research. Prepare a table showing priority markets, criteria used to prioritise, and justification
- Select the top priority target export market (1) and justify your selection (Consider providing an in-depth overview of the selected market, highlight its market characteristics, opportunities and challenges of exporting in the marketing, and the gap you may like to fill)
- Competitor Analysis – Identify 3 competitors you may encounter in the market and use SWOT to assess the relative position of your agribusiness against the competitors, and
- Identify 3-4 salient risks associated with the exporting,
Prepare your Part A report in a format that would be suitable to be presented to an agribusiness client, and ensure appropriate referencing is used. You must include a 300-word Artificial Intelligence (AI) Reflection, as Annex, explaining tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly) and prompts used, outlining AI related disclosure and providing critique of AI use for the purpose of this assignment.
Word length for Assessment Task 1: 2000 words+-10% (excluding cover page, content page, figures and references, and AI related attachment)
Reference style: APA 7th
This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance. A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct. To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI and MT tools. The use of AI or MT must be referenced appropriately. Please see assessment guidelines in blackboard course site for specific instructions. A useful link: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/ai-tools-assignments
To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI and MT tools.
Submission guidelines
You must submit your Assessment task, in Blackboard, via the assessment Turnitin link by the submission deadline. You should also retain an electronic copy of every piece of assessment you submit.
Legal Declaration:
By submitting your work via this website, you formally declare that (1) it is your own original work, and no part of the work has been copied from any other source or person except where due acknowledgement is made; (2) no part of the work has been previously submitted for assessment in this or any other institution; and (3) you have read the Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and understand its implications.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Submission of an Extension of Assessment Due Date (EADD) should be completed online through your My Requests tab via my.UQ Dashboard, in accordance with the University's Assessment Procedure (located in the Policies and Procedures section of this course profile) which outlines the requirements for requesting extensions to assessment due dates. Extensions require the correct evidence/documentation to support the requested length of time of the extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
For example, a report worth a maximum of 40 marks, submitted 28 hours late will attract a penalty of 8 marks, calculated as 2 periods of 24 hours x 10% x 40 marks.
Assessment deadlines are firm and must be met. Late submission without permission or non-submission of assessable work will result in penalties being applied. Late submission of assessment will only be granted for documented medical reasons, accident, bereavement, jury service and other circumstances allowed in the UQ Policies and Procedures Library (PPL).
Final submission of Export Plan - Full Report
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Project
- Weight
- 40%
- Due date
25/05/2026 2:00 pm
Task description
This is the second of the two submissions of your progressively developed and assessed export plan, a practical guide for exporting and preparing for EMDG. Continuing from Assessment task 1 (Part I), this part (Part II) of the export plan should contain the following sections:
- Validate or reassess the top export destination using newly gathered data
- Assess the 4P (product, price, place, promotion) strategic options and recommend the best 4P strategies. Justify your selection with evidence. Include any financial calculations in the appendix.
- Outline Intellectual Property (IP) consideration applicable to the product
- Identify available support structure (supporting institutions) and type(s) of support that you wish to leverage for the exporting
- Discuss the preferred payment option and terms of payment
- Identify and assess the five most critical risks likely to be faced by the exporting agribusiness and suggest mitigation measures.
- Enlist documentary requirements (export documentation), including regulatory approvals that must be completed before and when export transactions occur.
- Assess the eligibility of the business for the Export Market Development Grants (Assume that the provisions for the next round are going to be similar for the most recent round)
- For the business, outline potential export marketing activities eligible under the EMDG scheme and estimated eligible expenditure, the expected export outcomes and justify how the proposed activities align with EMDG objectives and Australia’s export development priorities.
- Conclusion and recommendations for management
- References
- Appendices (if any)
- Prepare your report (Part II) in a format that would be suitable to be presented to an agribusiness client, and ensure appropriate referencing is used.
- You must include a 500-word Artificial Intelligence (AI) Reflection, as Annex, explaining tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly) and prompts used, outlining AI related disclosure and providing critique of AI use for the purpose of this assignment.
Word length for the final submission: 3,000 words +-10% (excluding cover page, content page, figures and references, AI related attachment)
Reference style: APA 7th
This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance. A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct. The use of AI or MT must be referenced appropriately. Please see assessment guidelines in blackboard course site for specific instructions. A useful link: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/ai-tools-assignments
To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI and MT tools.
Submission guidelines
You must submit your Assessment task, in Blackboard, via the assessment Turnitin link by the submission deadline. You should also retain an electronic copy of every piece of assessment you submit.
Legal Declaration:
By submitting your work via this website, you formally declare that (1) it is your own original work, and no part of the work has been copied from any other source or person except where due acknowledgement is made; (2) no part of the work has been previously submitted for assessment in this or any other institution; and (3) you have read the Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and understand its implications.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Submission of an Extension of Assessment Due Date (EADD) should be completed online through your My Requests tab via my.UQ Dashboard, in accordance with the University's Assessment Procedure (located in the Policies and Procedures section of this course profile) which outlines the requirements for requesting extensions to assessment due dates. Extensions require the correct evidence/documentation to support the requested length of time of the extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
For example, a report worth a maximum of 40 marks, submitted 28 hours late will attract a penalty of 8 marks, calculated as 2 periods of 24 hours x 10% x 40 marks.
Assessment deadlines are firm and must be met. Late submission without permission or non-submission of assessable work will result in penalties being applied. Late submission of assessment will only be granted for documented medical reasons, accident, bereavement, jury service and other circumstances allowed in the UQ Policies and Procedures Library (PPL).
Final Exam
- Hurdle
- Identity Verified
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Examination
- Weight
- 40%
- Due date
End of Semester Exam Period
6/06/2026 - 20/06/2026
- Other conditions
- Secure.
Task description
The final exam will be short answer questions.
The exam will be an on-campus, paper-based exam. Have your UQ student ID card available for all your exams. Students must attend the exam in-person.
The final exam will be Closed-Book – no written materials permitted. No calculators permitted.
This assessment task is to be completed in-person. The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT) tools will not be permitted. Any attempted use of AI or MT may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Hurdle requirements
Refer to Additional Course Grading for more information.Exam details
| Planning time | 10 minutes |
|---|---|
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Calculator options | (In person) Casio FX82 series only or UQ approved and labelled calculator |
| Open/closed book | Closed book examination - no written materials permitted |
| Exam platform | Paper based |
| Invigilation | Invigilated in person |
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 0 - 34% |
| 2 (Fail) |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 35% - 46% |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes Course grade description: 47% - 49%ﾠOR failure to meet course hurdle requirement |
| 4 (Pass) |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 50% - 64% |
| 5 (Credit) |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 65% - 74% |
| 6 (Distinction) |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 75% - 84% |
| 7 (High Distinction) |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: 85% - 100%ﾠ |
Additional course grading information
Course grading hurdle:
Students must pass the end of semester exam in order to pass the course, in addition to an overall pass mark in the course.
If a student obtains an overall percentage greater than the cut-offs set to achieve a 4 or higher for the course based on marks from a combination of progressive assessment and the final exam and the student does NOT score a passing mark in the final exam, they are unable to achieve a grade higher than a 3 (failing grade) for the course.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Should you fail a course with a grade of 3, you may be eligible for supplementary assessment. Refer to my.UQ for information on supplementary assessment and how to apply.
Supplementary assessment provides an additional opportunity to demonstrate you have achieved all the required learning outcomes for a course.
If you apply and are granted supplementary assessment, the type of supplementary assessment set will consider which learning outcome(s) have not been met.
Supplementary assessment can take any form (such as a written report, oral presentation, examination or other appropriate assessment) and may test specific learning outcomes tailored to the individual student, or all learning outcomes.
To receive a passing grade of 3S4, you must obtain a mark of 50% or more on the supplementary assessment.
Additional assessment information
Please note the following when writing assignments
You must not re-use past work from previous assessments in your assignments.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
All reported work must be done by the individual student. Assignments that look and sound alike will be reported as plagiarism – a serious offence at UQ. Please note the university’s policy on academic integrity and plagiarism which can be accessed at Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy.
TurnItIn assignments
Assignments that are required to be submitted through TurnItIn, must only be uploaded to the assessment specific Turnitin link on the relevant course Blackboard site. If you submit any version of your assessment item to any alternative link, this is considered cheating, and you will be held liable for this action.
Results
Unless specifically indicated by the lecturer involved,ﾠevery attempt will be made to haveﾠthe results for progressive assessment tasks available within 3 weeks of submission. For items of assessment submitted in the last 2 weeks of the semester, the results will be available before the day of your end of semester examination in the course, unless otherwise indicated by the Course Coordinator. Results and feedback availability for progressive assessment will be announced via the course Blackboard site.ﾠ
Feedback in this course
Feedback is welcome in this course as any information on how students find this learning experience is constructive. Please use the course evaluation process which will occur in the last few weeks of semester.
Re-mark Applications – refer to the University's Re-mark Policy to check your eligibility.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
Other course materials
If we've listed something under further requirement, you'll need to provide your own.
Required
| Item | Description | Further Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| IBUS3960 course blackboard site - Learn.uq.edu.au/ | Blackboard is the main method of communication for the course |
Additional learning resources information
Students must regularly refer to Australian government's (both at federal and state level) resources for exporters, including but not limiting to, Austrade, Trade and Investment Queensland, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Department of Primary Industries Queensland. Students are also encouraged to search the Internet and library sources widely for additional information.ﾠ
Guest speakers from industry, research and government agencies will be invited to contribute industry-relevant discussion into this course.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 13 |
Lecture |
Lecture-cum-Workshop Series Lecture-cum-Workshop sessions are recorded and available through the course Blackboard site after the scheduled lecture hours. These sessions focus on foundational and advanced knowledge and understanding of the course contents. They are delivered using multiple teaching-learning methods, including PowerPoint presentations, interactive quizzes, case studies, case/problem-based learning, flip learning, group discussion, and industry insight into the class (guest presentation). Please refer to the full timetable in the course Blackboard site. Sub-activity: Course Overview and introduction to export principles, practices and methods; Incoterms Export procedure and documentation; Getting ready to export: Agribusiness context Export market insights for Australian agribusiness Exploring and prioritising export markets Export planning: Product and pricing strategies Export planning: market entry and promotion strategies; Packaging and labelling Export Finance and banking Intellectual property, communication and cultural issues in exporting; International Freight forwarding Free Trade Agreements; Export assistance in Australia, including Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) Export Risks and Mitigation Export Regulations and contracting Recap, review and reflection |
Multiple weeks From Week 2 To Week 7 |
Tutorial |
Tutorial series The tutorial sessions are designed to allow follow up discussion of lecture content and assignments. Students attend these sessions in person. They involve workshops, group discussions, guest insights, formative assessments and preparation for assignments and final exam. |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments for Students Policy and Procedure
- AI for Assessment Guide
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.