Research & Analysis of Business Problems

Format/Requirements

• Hand this in at the beginning of class, not by email.

• Use Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins as indicated in the homework template.

• As opposed to the final research paper, homework assignments should be single-spaced.

• Use the homeworktemplate and show your name, course number, and section number on the page.

Assignment Overview - Write A Situation Analysis for Your Paper

Before you can investigate or identify problems in a company, you must have a solid understanding of that company. Do they have a long-term strategic plan? What is that plan? Do they have mission or vision statements, and if so, what are they? How strong are their financials?

Current and historically. What is the competitive environment? Are there any ongoing legal issues? Does it operate in a regulated environment?

Who are their critical stakeholders? Is a positive public perception important to the company? Does your company have a positive or negative public perception?

Use the library databases (e.g., IBISWorld and Business Insights: Essentials) and company filings (e.g., 10K) to provide an overview and synthesis of your company's current situation. Organize this analysis into three sections: 1) Internal Performance, 2) Industry Perspective, and 3) Environmental Factors

1.) Internal performance - This should start with the company's strategy, mission, vision, values and stakeholders. Performance indicators include company financials (i.e., revenue and profit), debt levels, historical stock performance (if public), innovation (patents), and legal issues. Multiple time points are better than one.

2.) Industry perspective - What is the outlook for the industry in which your company operates and how is your company performing when compared to its competitors? IbisWorld is a great source of data for this section. Identify and gather data for their top three competitors, at the least. This might be a good place for a SWOT analysis.

3.) Environmental Factors - Identify the important external factors that are influencing your company's performance. Are there new regulations, or do you see significant changes in the future? Identify technological trends that may impact the company? Are there social and civic groups critical of your firm's practices?

This analysis should only be three pages maximum in length, single-spaced.Three pages requires you to be concise and direct. This is not just a regurgitation of your research, it's a synthesis and summary of all that you've found. Every sentence should deliver some kind of information. In addition, include a page of sources cited (at least 5). If you do a great job on this, it will provide the basis for the first section of your final paper.

The final research paper should be double-spaced - to be consistent with other BA 301 classes.