Assignment Details
Assignment Description
Comprehensive Analysis of a Fortune 500 Company
For this Individual Project you will analyze publicly available information about a Fortune 500 Company and develop an assessment of the corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.
This assignment requires you to obtain and analyze information at the company, industry and market levels using various databases and reports found in the AIR library, such as Hoovers and Dun & Bradstreet, in addition to at least eight (8) professional or academic peer –reviewed articles.
Your analysis should include an in-depth review of the Company’s most recent SEC Form-10k Annual Report and Form DEF-14A Proxy Statement. These SEC filings can be found at the SEC Edgar Database located at the URL http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html . Pay particular attention to the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of the SEC Form 10-K and the DEF-14A Proxy statement. Direct competitors are identified in the “Comparative Group” section of the DEF-14A Proxy Statement. ) These SEC filings also contain information relative to external and industry analysis that will be helpful in your assessment of the Company’s strategy and competitive position.
A thorough analysis requires evaluation of various external stakeholders:
•Competitors Competitors
•Industry
•Vendors
•Customers
•Governmental entities
•Communities
Internal stakeholders that should be considered in the analysis include:
•Shareholders
•Board of Directors
•Management
•Employees
A comprehensive SWOT analysis should be performed relative to the Company’s ability to improve its competitive advantage.
The comprehensive analysis should include both qualitative and quantitative elements, leveraging information available in SEC Filings, business databases, and peer-reviewed articles.
Your work should demonstrate your ability to:
•Apply critical thinking skills to analyze business situations.
•Apply principles of quantitative and qualitative research to business cases.
•Describe the opportunities provided by technology for businesses.
•Appropriately use effective communication techniques.
•Apply the standard of APE style to all research and writing tasks.
You will prepare a report presenting the findings of your comprehensive analysis examining the Company’s corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage. The written report will have a body length of 10-12 pages excluding title, abstract, references and appendices. Quotation limits should be Not more than 10% of the body of the paper can be quotations, all of which must be properly attributed in APE format.
NOTE: Article collections (scholarly databases) may be accessed in the Library. Suggestions are: •AB Inform Global
•Academic Search Premier
•Business Source Premier
Please submit your assignment.
This assignment will be assessed using additional criteria provided here.
Please add your file.
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.
Grading Criteria
Percentage
Deliverable requirements addressed; understanding of material and writer’s message and intent are clear
35%
Scholarly research which supports writer’s position properly acknowledged and cited direct quotations may not exceed 10% of the word count of the body of the assignment deliverable (excluded title page, abstract or table of contents if used, tables, exhibits, appendices, and reference page(s). Inclusion of plagiarized content will not be tolerated and may result in adverse academic consequences.
20%
Critical thinking: position is well justified; logical flow; examples
20%
Structure: includes introduction and conclusion; proper paragraph format and reads as a polished, academic paper or professional presentation, as appropriate for the required assignment deliverable
10%
Mechanical – no spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors
10%
APE – deliverable is cited properly according to the APE Publication Manual (6th Ed.)
5%
Graduate Program Rubric—MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Expectations: Student work at the graduate level is expected to focus on mastery of advanced discipline-specific frameworks, professional practices, and tools.
Criteria Exemplary (A)) Accomplished (B) Proficient (C) Partially Proficient (D) Unacceptable (F)
BUSINESS PROGRAM CONTENT
PROFESSIONAL MASTERY AND KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION/MANAGEMENT
Functional areas include, where applicable:
Leadership, management, innovation, and team building
Operations and Marketing
Finance
Economics
Qualitative and quantitative tools
Technology and Internet
Ethical and legal issues
International issues
Demonstrates outstanding or exemplary mastery of content, appropriate to the assignment and the relevant terminal course objectives and program learning outcomes.
All requirements of the assignment are included in the response.
Demonstrates sound or accomplished mastery of content, appropriate to the assignment and the relevant terminal course objectives and program learning outcomes.
Most requirements of the assignment are included in the response.
Demonstrates adequate or proficient mastery of content, appropriate to the assignment and the relevant terminal course objectives and program learning outcomes.
Many requirements of the assignment are included in the response.
Demonstrates inadequate or partially proficient mastery of content, appropriate to the assignment and the relevant terminal course objectives and program learning outcomes.
Some requirements of the assignment are included in the response.
Demonstrates unacceptable mastery of content, appropriate to the assignment and the relevant terminal course objectives and program learning outcomes.
Few or no requirements of the assignment are included in the response.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Approach and Purpose, Organization, Style, Grammar, Mechanics, Format, Presentation and Delivery (where applicable)
Demonstrates outstanding or exemplary application of written, visual, or oral skills.
Demonstrates outstanding expression of topic, main idea, and purpose.
Audience is addressed appropriately.
Language clearly and effectively communicates ideas and content relevant to the assignment.
Errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are minimal.
Organization is clear.
Demonstrates sound or accomplished application of written, visual, or oral skills.
Demonstrates sound or accomplished expression of topic, main idea, and purpose.
Audience is usually addressed appropriately.
Language does not interfere with the communication of ideas and content relevant to the assignment.
Errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are present, but do not distract.
Organization is apparent
Demonstrates adequate or proficient application of written, visual, or oral skills.
Demonstrates adequate expression of topic, main idea, and purpose.
Audience is generally addressed appropriately.
Language is adequate, generally communicating ideas and content relevant to the assignment.
Errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are present and sometimes distract from meaning or presentation.
Organization is adequate,
Demonstrates inadequate or partially proficient application of written, visual, or oral skills.
Demonstrates inadequate or partial expression of topic, main idea, and purpose.
Audience is often not addressed appropriately.
Language often impedes the communication of ideas and content relevant to the assignment.
Errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are frequent and often distract from
Demonstrates unacceptable application of written, visual, or oral skills.
Demonstrates unacceptable, unclear expression of topic, main idea, and purpose.
Audience is not addressed appropriately.
Language does not clearly and effectively communicate ideas and content relevant to the assignment.
Errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are pervasive and consistently distracting.
