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MGT 300: Management Theory & Practice - Introduction
Company Analysis Report

This assignment guide was created to assist students in locating sources to complete their company analysis report.

The guide focuses on suggested strategies and best places to begin research efforts. For information & assistance in using any of the sources, please contact library staff:

• In person, at the MCOB Library Service Desk
• By phone @ 251-414-8067
• By email @ dlharrington@usouthal.edu

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Introduction/Current State of the Organization

Environmental Scanning

APA Citation

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What has occured in the environment [internal, task & general) since the previous reports were written? Current articles written within the last 6 months will provide updated issues and relevant information to consider.

I. To scan the environment of your company by functional (sales, product development, etc.) area, conduct a search for your organization in the Business & Company Resource Center database.

-->Guide to searching Business & Company Resource Center

Business & Company Resource Center

• Click on the 'Company' graphic from the database home page.
• Enter your organization's ticker symbol, choose 'ultimate parent', then click on 'Search'.
  
• From the results list, click on the specific organization.
• Click on the 'Company Profile' tab at the top of the screen and look to the left of the screen for company news broken down by topic/functional area (product & services, sales & marketing, statistics, strategy and planning). Scan the articles in functional categories that have been written in the last few months, that may indicate an issue that may be of significant impact to your organization.
• Use the print or email graphics at the top left of the screen to download or save articles. If you create a folder in your email account labeled mgt300 then you can email articles for safe keeping.

After reviewing your organization's SWOT Analysis obtained from the Business Source Premier database, your company's 10-K and industry survey from the S&P netAdvantage database, as well as functional articles from the BCRC database, you should have identified several issues you want to explore further. You will explore these issues by locating current articles regarding your company and the specific issues in the databases below:

II. Business Source Premier (EBSCO)

-->Guide to searching Business Source Premier

• Click on the 'Advanced Search' tab at the top of the search page.
• In the first search box, use the pull-down menu and select 'CO company entity' and enter a company name.
• In the remaining search boxes, use 'default terms' and enter additional words that describe your specific issue.
• Click the 'search' button at the top of the screen.
  

III. Proquest Newspapers (Includes Barron's and the Wall Street Journal)

-->Guide to searching Proquest Newspapers  

• Click on the 'Advanced Search' tab at the top of the search page.
  
• In the first search box, use the pull-down menu and select 'Company/Org' and enter a company name .
  
• In the remaining search boxes, use 'Citation and Document Text' and enter any additional keywords that will help you locate articles about a specific issue you have identified.
• Review the documents on the results list. The most recent will be listed first. Narrow the number of results by clicking on one of the suggested topics at the top of the screen or click on 'Refine Search'.
• Review an article and if it provides relevant information about an issue that you will want to incorporate into your report remember to click on 'Cite This' to get the APA citation to include in your References page.
• Print out the citation or cut & paste into your Word Document.
  
  
• To scan the environment to learn about possible issues facing your organization, enter your company's name in the first search box and choose 'Company/Org' from the pull-down menu. Next, enter 'industry' and leave the pull-down menu at 'Citation and Abstract'.
• Review the latest articles (within the last year) to determine if an issue has a significant impact on your organization and should be included as part of your SWOT analysis. Click on refine search at the top of the screen to conduct a search on a specific issue.
• Enter another term in the 3rd search box and click on 'Search'.
• Review results to determine impacts and causes.

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The results of your SWOT analysis should include a minimum of 4-5 areas for each component (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of the analysis.

You should have been able to find 2-3 articles that provide information/facts for each issue you wanted to investigate further. Can you pick out the top 3 issues using critical analysis/thinking?

Which 3 issues have the greatest impact on the organization, e.g. financially or competitively? Why?

For each issue, you will need to identify the related impact(s) and cause(s), and develop recommendation(s) to correct the cause(s), which will correct the issue. The results of your analysis should provide sufficient support for each issue and the related impact(s), cause(s), and recommendation(s).

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Last Updated: 9/7/09 DLH