Research Paper Guidelines and Instructions

Purpose

This term paper helps you gain skill in applying critical elements of the problem solving process. In addition, it enhances your understanding of real business problems and opportunities, and how you can benefit from using a systematic approach in solving them.

While completing this project you'll have the opportunity to choose a company that interests you, research that company in order to uncover and prioritize some of the strategic and tactical problems facing the management team, and use the problem-solving framework from class to develop some creative solutions to the chosen problem.

You'll also enhance your long-term perspective and understanding of corporate sustainability by recognizing how economic issues interact with social and/or environmental issues in real business settings.

Final Report Structure

The final term paper requires a specific structure and format. You might think that this is restrictive. In a real business environment, you will often be faced with situations where you need to produce a work product that adheres to specific requirements. Get used to it! Express your creative energy in the content and quality of your thought process, critical thinking, research strategy and solutions. Plus, a fixed format helps me to grade consistently.

The final papershould describe the problem you have addressed, the solution you propose, and the outcomes the organization can expect in implementing your solution. The template provided on D2L clearly shows the format required for the paper. Look that over early in the term.

Write the paper as if I am the audience. I will read and grade the paper with these questions in mind:

1.) Is the problem you describe actually a problem, is it supported by data that you have collected, and is it important to the organization?

2.) Have you exhaustively generated a creative set of possible solutions?

3.) Will the solution you propose effectively address the problem, and have you chosen that solution using effective and proven decision-making techniques?

4.) Have you made a convincing, evidence-based argument for you choice?

5.) Will an allocation of corporate resources achieve the benefits you describe?

Your report should convince the decision-maker that the solution you recommend can improve the firm's multiple bottom line (we'll discuss this in class if you're not familiar with the phrase) and is worth pursuing.

Assignment

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 paper, this assignment should be single-spaced and 2-sided.

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

Assignment Overview - Write A Situation Analysis For Your Paper

Before you can identify, describe or research problems in any company, you must first develop a solid understanding of that company as context for further analysis.

The following are just a few of the questions you might ask as you are doing your research. What are their short term and long termplans? Do they have mission or vision statements, and if so, what are they?

Are they currently financially strong? How would you know? What measures would you use?What is the competitive environment? Are there any ongoing legal issues? Do they 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 summary of your company's current situation. Finding and reviewing a SWOT analysis from a reputable source would be an important part of this analysis. Organize the assignment into the following three sections:

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 - In what primary industry does your company operate? What is the outlook for that industry? How is your company performing when compared to its competitors? Identify and gather market share and performance data for the top three competitors, at least.

This should include information like market share, profitability, gross margins, etc. IbisWorld is a great source of data for this section.

3.) Environmental Factors - Identify the important external factors that are influencingor might influence your company's performance. Are there new regulations that might affect performance, or do you see significant changes in the future? Is there a strong positive or negative influence from political changes?

Identify technological trends that may impact the company. Are there social and civic groups critical of your firm's practices? Focus on outside issues.

This analysis should be no more than three (sides) pages in length, not including any tables or charts. Three pages requires you to be concise and direct. You will likely write 5-6 pages for your first draft and spend time editing so that only the most crucial information remains in an organized, clearly articulated format.

This is not just a regurgitation of your research, it's a summary of all that you've found. Every sentence should deliver some kind of information. And this should be three pages of text. If you have charts and tables (and you probably should), these are not included in the text count.

There is no room for fluff. In addition, include a page of sources (at least 5). If you do a great job on this, it will provide the basis for the first section of your final paper. Again, please single space this assignment. The final paper should be double-spaced.

Remember, this assignment should provide the reader (me) a clear indication that you understand the fundamentals of your chosen company. Probably the best word for describing this assignment is "synthesis."

Synthesis is defined as "combining ideas", so this assignment is all about combining all of the information you uncover from a range of reputable sources into a three-page overview. This will provide an excellent foundation for the rest of your paper.