Corporate Profile Project Assignment
Each student is to choose a Fortune 500 company to write about for their corporate profile project. No two students in this section will be permitted to write about the same company, so get your company approved before you begin researching and writing.
You will be assigned a total of four modules for this project. The collective goal of the modules and the project is to inform your reader about your chosen company within the context of the module elements.
You are required to use (and citeto) at least three (3) independent sources (not including the textbook or corporate web site) for each of the four modules of this project.
You will initially submit the papers for review in sequence as they are assigned. Your ultimate goal will be to link the segments together as a coherent four-part profile that you will then resubmit at the end of the semester.
I anticipate that the full length of your completed paper will be approximately ten pages. Your biggest challenge should be to be concise enough to satisfy the requirements of the paper without being overly verbose. Be clear, and be complete, but never forget that your readers will be human beings whose attention can easily be lost. WITHOUT YOUR READERS’ ATTENTION, YOUR WRITTEN WORDS ARE WORTHLESS.
Module I:
Introduction: What does the company do? How does it add value? Who are its customers? What kind of business is it – does it primarily produce goods or services? In what industry does it operate? What is it known for?
Module II:
History: Provide RELEVANT historical information about the company.
Module III:
- Mission Statement: Provide your chosen company’s mission statement. If your company has a stated mission statement then provide it verbatim; otherwise use your own words to explain their mission based on your research. If your company has vision or values statements you may include them as well, but you should do so as a means to provide context as to what your company’s aspirations are and relate that back to their mission statement.
- Mission Statement Analysis: Does your company’s mission statement align with the textbook’s definition of a good mission statement? Why or why not? Does it actually do a good job of explaining why the company exists?
Module IV:
- News & Current Events: Identify and briefly summarize two articles that cover current issues or news that are affecting your company. Do not write “The article by X said Y; use the articles as a source of research, incorporate the information you learned from the article, and cite to the article appropriately.
Module V:
- Stakeholder Identification: Identify and describe the company’s Primary and Secondary Stakeholders. Identify the CEO and include a few sentences about him or her.
- Stakeholder Analysis: Explain how your corporation fulfills its obligations to its primary stakeholders (be sure that your explanation is specific to each of the various groups of primary stakeholders).
Module VI:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Discuss your company’s approach to CSR. Identify what CSR approach you believe they would identify themselves as being. Minimalist. Don’t be conclusory, support your position with research and analysis.
Module VII:
Marketing: Analyze your company’s approach to marketing. Be sure to provide factually-supported analysis for each of the “four Ps.”
Module VIII:
- Strategy: What is your company’s overall business strategy? Analyze and explain.
- SWOT: Identify the most significant internal and external forces, both positive and negative, that are currently impacting your company.