Question:

Submit a draft of the Costs of Production (Section IV), Overall Market (Section V), and Recommendation (Section VI) of your research paper, including all critical elements listed below. You will review your firm's financial reports and other relevant data sources to collect and analyze cost information for your firm over the past five or so years. Using real data and the economic tools developed in Module Four, you will analyze your firm's profitability and how costs impact its growth. Additionally, you will find data on your firm's competitors in order to detail your firm's place within the market currently and over the past five or so years. Lastly, you will develop a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production.

Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:

Examine the costs of production for your firm.

a) Analyze the various costs a firm faces, their trends over time, and how they have impacted your firm's profitability.

b) Apply the concepts of variable and fixed costs to your firm for informing its output decisions. For instance, analyze how different kinds of costs (labor, research and development, raw materials) affect the firm's level of output.

V. Explore the overall market for your firm.

a) Discuss the market share of the firm and its top competitors by providing details on current percentages for each firm and describing the trend over time. You might consider presenting the data graphically.

b) Analyze the barriers to entry in this market to illustrate the potential for new competition and its impact on your firm's future in the market.

c) Describe the market structure for this firm and analyze how this affects the firm's ability to influence the market.

VI. Recommendation

a) Develop a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production by synthesizing the data presented.

b) Suggest how the firm's position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take your recommended action.

c) Describe how the firm can sustain its success going forward by evaluating the findings from demand trends and price elasticity.

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a three- to six-page Microsoft Word document (each section should be one to two pages) with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and sources cited in APA format.

Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions.

Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value Costs of Production: Profitability

Analyzes the various costs a firm faces, their trends over time, and how they have impacted the firm's profitability Analyzes the various costs a firm faces, and their trends over time, but does not discuss how they have impacted the firm's profitability Does not analyze the various costs a firm faces, their trends over time, or how they have impacted the firm's profitability 12 Costs of Production: Output Decisions

Accurately applies the concepts of variable and fixed costs to the firm for informing its output decisions Applies the concepts of variable and fixed costs to the firm for informing its output decisions, but applies concepts inaccurately Does not apply the concepts of variable and fixed costs to the firm for informing its output decisions 12 Overall Market: Market Share

Discusses the market share of the firm and its top competitors by providing details on current percentages for each firm and describing the trend over time Discusses the market share of the firm and its top competitors, but does not provide details on current percentages for each firm or does not describe the trend over time Does not discuss the market share of the firm and its top competitors 12 Overall Market: Barriers to Entry

Analyzes the barriers to entry in this market to illustrate the potential for new competition and its impact on the firm's future in the market Analyzes the barriers to entry in this market, but does not illustrate the potential for new competition or its impact on the firm's future in the market Does not analyze the barriers to entry in this market 12 Overall Market: Market Structure

Describes the market structure for this firm and accurately analyzes how this affects the firm's ability to influence the market Describes the market structure for this firm, but does not analyze how this affects the firm's ability to influence the market or analysis is inaccurate Does not describe the market structure for this firm 12 Recommendation: Future Production Effectively develops a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production by synthesizing the data presented Develops a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production, but recommendation is not effective or is not based on a synthesis of the data presented Does not develop a recommendation 12

Recommendation: Recommended Action

Suggests how the firm's position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take the recommended action

Suggests how the firm's position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take the recommended action, but suggestions are not appropriate

Does not suggest how the firm's position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take the recommended action

Recommendation: Sustain its Success

Describes how the firm can sustain its success going forward by evaluating the findings from demand trends and price elasticity

Describes how the firm can sustain its success going forward, but does not evaluate the findings from demand trends and price elasticity in the discussion

Does not describe how the firm can sustain its success going forward

Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas