FE&D-ExecMemo

MBA 640 Module Three Executive Memo Guidelines and Rubric Overview: The executive m emorandum assignment requires your careful consideration of an appropriate, sensible investment project for your chosen compa ny. Furthermore, this assignment will develop and demonstrate your ability to find useful, authoritative information sources about your selected company, its industry, its economic environment, and the particular investment opportunity. Prompt: Write a memo about the expansion opportunity for which you will request funding in your final project proposal . This paper should be 1–2 pages long and should include only a simple narrative description. You do not need fancy formatting, numbers , tables, or graphs in this document . List your key information sources about the organization you ha ve chosen for your final project, explaining in one to two sentences each how sourc e is relevant to your project. Your memo should identify the source (not just a website address) plus, in general, describe what informa tion that source can reliably provide. Your sources must be authoritative . The company’s own website is an authoritative source for its own public financial and other information, for example. Serious business or economic sites, such as Bloomberg , or industry trade journals can be authoritative sources for fairly unbiased news about the organization or its industry. Other reliable sources could educate you about the business environment in your project’s target cou ntry (e. g. , the CIA World Factb ook ). Someone you know who has worked for that organization or in that industry could also be an excellent source of certain information. Specific ally , the following critical elements must be addressed:  Include a narrative overview of your expansion opportunity. Describe the expansion project, the country in which the expansion will take place, and the reasoning behind this expansion into this coun try at this particular time. In other words, why does this particular project and country make sense for your chosen company?  Include key information sources related to the company you ha ve chosen . Sources should provide an introductory, authoritative , future -oriented understanding of the company itself, the industry , technology, customers, suppliers and competitors , and the economic environment of the company and of your proposed expansion . Sources could be published or online; they could even include a person you know with experience in that industry. The sources wi ll almost certainly include the company’s website; you might also follow its Facebook and Twitter feeds.  Note how each source is relevant and describe what information the source will provid e. You wi ll probably develop more sources later in the course, but these are meant to give you a solid start. Guidelines for Submission: Your executive memo must be 1 –2 pages long (excluding the reference page) , doubled spaced, written in 12 -point Times New Roman font. Your reference page should be in APA style. Instructor Feedback : This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more in formation, review these instructions . Rubric Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90 %) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Narrative Overview Meets “Proficient” criteria and the overview exhibits insight and detailed reasoning supported by evidence Provides a complete narrative overview of an expansion project and country and includes reasoning Provides a narrative overview of an expansion proje ct and country but submission lacks details and/or solid reasoning Does not provide a narrative overview of an expansion project and country 25 Key Information Sources Meets “Proficient” criteria and the sources reflect depth of research and critical thinking Provides key authoritative and relevant information sources related to the company, country, and/or industry Provides key information sources related to the company, country, and/or industry, but sources are not authoritative and/or relevant Does not provides key information sources related to the company, country, and/or industry 25 Source Notes Meets “Proficient” criteria and the notation are well -detailed and exhibit depth of critical thinking Provides notations for each source , noting the source ’s relevance and describing what information the source will provide Provides notations for each source , but the notations lack detail, relevance, and/or logic regarding information sources will provide Does not provides notations for eac h source 25 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a profe ssional and easy -to-read format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 25 Total 100%