Assignment: Virtual Stock Market Project:

1. Select three company stocks from the financial pages of the Wall Street Journal, a personal finance periodical such as Money, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, or the Internet. (Yahoo Finance is a great place to find a lot of information about the stock market.)

2. You have $10,000 of "virtual money" to invest. Try to invest as much as possible.

3. Select your stocks.

4. Prepare a table that includes the following data:

a. The name of the stock.
b. The stock symbol.
c. The initial share price of each stock selected.
d. The number of shares purchased.
e. The total amount invested in each virtual stock.
f. The grand total of all of your investments (as close to $10,000 as possible).

Sample Table:

5. Turn in your initial investment table on April 18. Keep a copy for yourself.

6. For your own information, not to turn in, update your table each week, reflecting the changes in share prices and the total invested. (You can not change the stocks you picked or the amount of shares during this project.)

7. Be prepared to discuss business news about your companies each week in class.

Virtual Stock Market Project-

Submit a typewritten report describing the results. No late work will be accepted.

Number/letter each section and submit exactly as shown below. Each section is worth 25% of the project.

1A. Include two tables; your first table and your last table. 1B. Show the difference between your Grand Total (f) in week one and the Grand Total (f) in your second table. How much money did you make or lose? (One number.)

2. Include a brief summary of what you learned about each company (not the stock but the company) you "bought". A, B, and C. (Business news about each company shown separately.)

3. Include your initial rationale for picking each stock. A, B, and C separately.

4. Describe what, if anything, you would do differently if you could start again and it was your real money.

Business Plan Project:

A business plan is a written document that states the nature of a business and how that business intends to achieve its goals. The plan should concisely describe the business's mission, its target market, its competition, and its projected annual revenue and annual profit or loss (Income Statement). This plan is for a company you are starting.

Business Plan Sections - Follow the Business Plan Sections outline exactly as shown below. Include the name and number of each section in your written plan.

1. Executive Summary - this will include a brief recap of each section two through thirteen. (Develop this section after the rest of the plan is completed.)

2. Company Description and Industry

3. SWOT Analysis

4. Competitive Analysis

5. Benefits to the Community

6. Management

7. Human Resources (Employees)

8. Operations Plan

9. Marketing Plan

10. Financial Plan (Income Statement)

11. Exit Strategy

12. First Contingency Plan

13. Second Contingency Plan

14. References

Details on how to complete all of these sections will be covered in class and with hand-outs during the term of the course. A detailed project outline will be given to you later in the term.

Project Requirements

• In a group of up to four students, or individually, you or your group will develop a one-year business plan for a company that you would like to start.

• You will be asked to make a brief oral presentation of your plan.

• Your written plan must follow the project outline exactly.

• You are expected to use at three current sources (not including your text) to compile your plan. All three sources must be referenced.

• The written project must appear professional as it would in the business world. All written work must be original for this class, typed (double space, 12 point font), grammatically correct and free from spelling errors. Include a cover page (name, course number, date). Please do not use any special cover or binding. Print on one side only. Submit the plan with a staple in the upper left corner. No e-mailed plans will be accepted.

• If you choose to be in a group, choose carefully. Your grade will be your group's grade.

• Back up your work often. (Flash drive, email to yourself, Google docs, Dropbox.)

• All written materials will be due on June 8, 2017. No late plans will be accepted.