General Information

A commodity is a mass-produced unspecialized product. Steel is a commodity to the automobile manufacturing industry, wheat is a commodity to many food producers, and memory chips are commodities to the makers of personal computers. Category Management teams are formed when expenditures on the commodity are high and the commodity is complex and it is critical to the success of the firm.

Assume you are a member of the sourcing team that is developing a strategy for buying a specific commodity...........a category strategy for your company. You are to conduct the appropriate research to make recommendations for an appropriate strategy.

You will choose the company and the commodity you are sourcing. The company must be real. You are conducting the research and preparing the information needed to produce a set of recommendations for the company's strategy to source this specific commodity. You will write a business report of your findings.

A very important part of your business strategy is your recommendation for what price the company should pay for the commodity. The buying of commodities is of major importance to many companies, and consequently the student of supply management should know as much as possible about how to acquire the essential information and recognize the influences which affect the determination of the price of any commodity. You MUST make a recommendation for the specific price the company should take to the negotiation table.

You are expected to present the information a buyer should have in order to purchase a specific product intelligently. This should not be solely a factual presentation of commodity data but should reflect your concept of the function of a buyer. Therefore, in selecting and presenting the facts, you should indicate--where it is not apparent--what use a buyer might make of these facts. The inclusion of extraneous and useless data will detract from the effectiveness of your paper and, therefore, your grade.

The information resulting from a commodity study should:

1. Provide a basis for making sound procurement decisions.
2. Present purchasing management and top management with information concerning future supply and price of purchased items.

Your paper must be posted to Blackboard^TM by the due date listed on the Schedule of Classes. I do not accept late assignments.

Format of the Paper:

You should write this as a research paper; any style of citation is acceptable as long as you are consistent. At the end of your paper, make sure you list all reference sources. Of course it may be appropriate to cite textbooks and lectures from your classes, but do so in a formal research-paper style. Lectures and discussions from any course can be cited and referenced as a personal interview, for example.

Your paper must be a Microsoft Word^TM document, no more than 6 pages in length, formatted in the following manner:

• Use the default font and margins for your version of Microsoft Word^TM
• Single-spaced lines
• 'Print Layout' view at 100%
• Number your pages, but do not include the cover sheet.
• If the paper includes spreadsheet analysis, please use Excel^TM and then "paste special" as an Excel^TM worksheet into your Word^TM document.
• Use a cover sheet that includes your name, the company, and the commodity.

The page limit includes all figures, charts, and tables but does not include the cover sheet or the list of references or any appendices you choose to include.

Place figures, charts, and tables in the appropriate location in the paper; do not place them at the end of the paper.Make sure all figures, charts, and tables are properly numbered and labeled and that the source is noted in the label; make sure you explain this support material properly. For example, the first figure you use should be labeled "Figure 1" with a title and the source (if you did not create it yourself). In the body of the paper, you should refer appropriately to "Figure 1" when you provide your analysis. Do not simply paste a figure, chart, or table in the paper and expect the reader to determine its relevance.

Please include these specific sections in the body of your paper and provide a section heading for each section in bold-face font: