Part 2: Company research
Goals: – Locate an existing public corporation that operates within the scope identified by your team and analyze their strategic approach and position.
Steps: 1. Select a publicly traded corporation that your team believes has potential within an industry as regards the scope identified in Part
1. Company selection is subject to instructor approval.
2. Explore the corporate website. How is it laid out? What are your first impressions of the company? Where is the company headquartered? Write down their HQ address info. Become familiar with the location of the important information you will be searching throughout your project (e.g., investor relations and other sections).
3. Identify the companys mission, vision, and goals, and write them down. How clear are their mission and vision? Are they well communicated?
4. Become acquainted with the companys products and services and draw up the companys corporate structure. How diversified are they?
5. Define the companys strategic business units
6. Identify the companys critical value-creating activities
7. Explore the international reach of the company. What is their global footprint? How many countries? How much revenue do they derive from domestic vs. foreign markets?
8. Search for and read about your target company, from other online business news sources: has the company been in the news recently? Summarize the general issues about this company from the news? 9. Consult major databases available on campus along with high quality business publications to learn about the company 10. Identify and define the industry the company obtains most of their revenues from. Analyze the dynamics of this industry and the companys competitive position relative to the five forces. What are the industrys driving forces and what is their impact? 11. Identify and define the companys major growth industry/ies. Analyze the companys competitive position in the industry/ies relative to the five forces. 12. Conduct a competitor analysis from the perspective of your target company. Determine direct competitors and potential competitors. How does the company compete?
What to deliver Interim report 2: A written report which addresses the topics outlined in the steps above. If you are unable to find useful information for any area, explain your methods and efforts. Any worksheets used may be appended to your report. You may use this time to prepare data visualizations to be used in the final report (i.e., tables, figures, etc.). Also provide a list of references for all information found (APA format), with proper referencing and citations in the text of your report. Any tables, figures, or other exhibits should contain information about the source of the data. There is no page limit.
