ASSIGNMENT OUTLINE

Assignment 1: Business Profile

* The student is to select and research a specific business and write up the results of the research in a paper. The selected business must have at least 50 employees. You may select a business owned by a friend, a relative, or a neighbor, etc., or where you previously worked, did an internship, etc. Or you may select a company you know nothing about. * Selected companies must be approved by your TA, either by discussing the company before or after class, via email, or by setting up an appointment to meet with them. * Research will require an interview of a current chief executive, or c-suite executive, as well as scholarly research on the company and/or the industry to supplement the interview answers and support the paper with data. * In addition to other questions you might choose to ask, the following questions must be asked in the interview and must have a clear section in the paper dedicated to addressing each answer: 1) What business are you in? (Describe the business, the products, the services, the history, etc.) 2) Who are your customers? (Describe the customer demographic. Is it consumers? Business-to-business customers? Describe today’s core customer versus tomorrow’s new customer or potential customer.) 3) Who owns this business? (What form of business is it and why was that form of business chosen? Is the owner one individual? Shareholders? Partners? A family?) 4) How does the economy affect your business? (Describe generally how the economy impacts the business. Specifically, describe how the recession economy of 2007 to 2009 impacted the business. How do heath care and political issues stand to impact the business?) 5) What are the biggest challenges your business faces every day? (Describe daily and on-going operational challenges that the company struggles with. Describe how the company works to address these challenges. Describe how the company is getting better at handling these challenges.) 6) What would you say is your primary goal for 2015? (Describe any financial, growth, service, or operational goals. Distinguish between measurable goals versus subjective goals.) * Using your research, as well as the articles, text, and discussions from the classes discussions, write a 2-3 page paper following these guidelines: 1) Due at the start of Lecture on 9/21. Printed copy must be turned in and an electronic version must be uploaded to OAK/BB. 2) Grading based on these criteria: * Well written paper with clear introduction, well-organized body, and clear conclusion. * Your paper must have the 6 distinct sections described above and specific answers to the 6 questions above must be evident in your paper. * There must be evidence of outside research and data on the business and industry. * A bibliography should be attached for reference used in preparing the paper. All sources must be numbered. The first source cited must be your interview with the chief executive/c-suite exec. A minimum of 3 additional references is required. Wikipedia may be used as a reference tool, but it is not considered a scholarly source and my not be one of the 3 required additional sources. Web references must be from a scholarly site. Blogs, private sites, unauthorized sites, newsletter sites, etc., would not be considered scholarly sites. * Double spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, 1” margins * Page numbers and staple pages are required. * As part of your first bibliography entry, you must submit the name of the chief executive/c-suite exec, his/her e-mail address, and his/her phone number. It is your responsibility to ensure that the e-mail address and phone are valid. (NOTE: We reserve the right to reach out to each executive asking them to verify your interview.) * You must interview your executive face-to-face or by phone. Electronic interviews (e-mails, written surveys, etc.) will not be accepted. Failure to interview the executive will negatively impact the grade. A transcript of the interview (single spaced, double sided, maximum of 4 double-sided pages) must be attached as an appendix. I recommend asking permission to record the conversation and transcribing from the recording. * Points: 100 Points Maximum * Please ensure that your paper and its content are original work. Students may be asked to submit papers through OAK/SafeAssign to check for originality.