Assignment : Risk Analysis Paper

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of your final project is to present to upper management recommendations (strategies) and actions (tactics) that your company (your own company or the virtual company World-Wide Concepts) can take to avoid-or at least minimize-some of the legal pitfalls it is encountering.

Application of knowledge is not the same as being able to summarize a topic's concepts or paraphrase its rules. Application is the act of using knowledge to solve a problem. Your paper should not to be a summary of the applicable laws.What you are trying to accomplish in the paper is to apply your knowledge of the legal risks you have studied to create plans of action that a company can implement in order to minimize a particular legal risk. To do this, you must identify those problems that can be manipulated or affected by company action (and those that cannot) and what steps you suggest taking to accomplish the goal of minimizing the identified risk.

Example: A company needs to be proactive, taking steps to stop litigation. In Week Three, you will study secured transactions. How does a company use these rules to minimize its litigation risks? As you know, using secured transactions enables a lender to protect itself from the borrower's inability to pay and from the borrower's bankruptcy. Is there any reason why secured transactions cannot be used to protect or guaranty performance obligations of ordinary business transactions? Thus, a valuable risk-avoidance strategy would be, whenever possible, to take a security interest in some business asset(s) of a party to a contract as a guaranty for performance obligations under that contract. In the event of a default in performance, your company will have some protection or at least a fairly immediate remedy. This is an example that illustrates risk-minimization tactics (in contrast to simply knowing the rules of law).

Assignment Instructions

You may use the company you work for as the focus for preparing this assignment. If you do not wish to use your company, the following virtual company may be used:

Your company, World-Wide Concepts, Inc. (World-Wide), is a technology-based company that conducts international business. Its products include biotech instruments and drugs. It also provides contract consulting in these areas to other companies. World-Wide has manufacturing facilities in China, assembly facilities in Mexico, biotech partners in Israel, and software design partners in Russia and India.

You have just returned from an intensive seminar on business law. The session you attended covered the topics studied in Week One.
The CEO of your company asks you: "Now that you have attended this session, what have you learned? What measures can the company take to avoid-or at least minimize-some of the legal pitfalls we are encountering? What should we do?"

- Write a paper of approximately 750 words responding to the CEO's question. Include a risk avoidance plan that covers at least two of the following topics discussed in Week One:
o Law and Ethics
o Court Systems and Trials
o Resolving Disputes
- Format your paper using APA Writing Style Handbook guidelines.
- Include a minimum of one source, which may consist of readings from the University Library, your text, and other selections.

Here are the expected course learning outcomes:
- Discuss the American legal system and basic constitutional provisions that affect business.
- Demonstrate rational evaluation and resolution of business disputes.
- Demonstrate an understanding of business torts.
- Analyze the major issues that affect product liability.
- Explain the basic principles of real business property.
- Explain the basic principles of intellectual property.
- Identify the effect of electronic commerce on business transactions.
- Discuss legal and ethical considerations for success in labor relations and employee management.
- Compare the advantages and disadvantages of various types of entities under which a business can be formed.
- Explain the major issues involved in business competition and antitrust law.
- Identify the issues that affect business sales.
- Discuss the international legal environment of business.