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 c

BA 301 – Research & Analysis of Business Problems

Homework Assignment #1

Format/Requirements

• Submit this assignment in the appropriate Canvas submission folder by the due date

• Format: use Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, length: 2.25 to 3 pages

of text

• Follow the instructions below to write 2 sections titled “Internal Performance” and

“Industry Performance”. This homework assignment should be in prose format (not in

bullet format) with paragraphs.

• As opposed to the final paper, this assignment should be single-spaced.

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 want to answer as you are doing your research on your company: Do they have

mission or vision statements, and if so, what are they? Who are their critical stakeholders and how are

these stakeholders prioritized by the company? Are they currently financially strong? What is the

competitive environment? Do they operate in a regulated environment? Does your company have a

positive or negative public perception? etc

Use the library databases (e.g., IBISWorld, Business Insights, Mergent Online ,etc), company filings

(e.g., 10K/annual and quarterly reports) and general internet reserch 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 sections:

1.) Internal Performance - This section should start with a critical analysis of the company’s

strategy, as well as the company’s mission/vision/values statements and stakeholders. You should

also thoroughly analyze the company’s performance indicators such as financials (i.e. revenue,

profit, revenue & profit growth, margins, etc), debt levels, historical stock performance,

innovation (patents), and legal issues. For such financial analysis, multiple time points are better

than one (at least 3 years of financial data). Use charts and tables, where possible, to summarize

the data.

2.) Industry Perspective – In what primary industry does your company operate? What is the

outlook for that industry (% growth rate, size in $ terms, industry drivers and any external

influences on the industry, etc)? How is your company performing when compared to its

competitors? Identify and gather market share and financial performance data for the top three

competitors, at least. This should include information such as market share, profitability, gross

margins, etc. Use charts and tables where possible to summarize data. IbisWorld is a great source

of data for this section.

This analysis should be no more than three pages in length (should be anywhere between 2.25 to 3

pages). You need to be concise and direct. You will likely initially write 4 to 5 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 synthesis and critical

analysis of all that you’ve found. Every sentence should deliver some kind of meaningful

information. If you have charts and tables (and you probably should), these are not included in the page

count. There is no room for fluff. In addition, include a page of sources (at least 5 different sources).

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 two to three-page

overview. This will provide an excellent foundation for the rest of your final research paper