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Final Research Paper:
This is an individual assignment research paper that is about your focal company. The broader strategy question that you need to explore is; why your firm is performing better (Competitive Advantage – CA) than others (Competitive Disadvantage- CD) given similar environmental opportunities and constraints. While your research is about your focal firm however you need to compare it to its benchmark and industry average performance. Firm performance can be measured using quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative aspects include analysis using financial ratios for multiple years while comparing it to its benchmark and industry averages. The qualitative data provide reasoning, explanation, and reflection of why your firm has a CA or CD. Qualitative data help you study different aspects of a firm’s functions including, leadership, human and social capital, R&D, marketing/sales, after-sales, operations, organizational culture, and values to name a few (subjects that you have covered in prior classes). In other words, the question that you need to explore is: Whether your focal firm has a CA or CD over its competitor/industry and why? You can write your research either from a business analyst viewpoint or from a senior manager of the focal company’s viewpoint of view who has been assigned a task to report and present to the company’s board. Your paper will have a title page, table of contents, executive summary, introduction, analysis and reflections, conclusions, and recommendation sections to form your unified report. You will read through the unified report to ensure each part is connected to the next part and tells a story. Spell check, grammar, and readability are your responsibility. The report can be between 12-14 pages excluding Appendices and references. For this analysis, you can use all readings you have done in this seminar and in prior classes. Also, using the latest financial and nonfinancial information about your company, competitor, and industry will make your report current and contemporary that the board feels confident about your analysis and
recommendations. Please see the below explanation for each section of your report.
TITLE PAGE (1 page) The title page should identify who wrote the paper and what the paper is about. Include in the title of the paper, your name, class, and year.
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Table of content is essential)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1-2 paragraphs) An Executive Summary is a synopsis (Abstract) of the 1 or 2 most important points of your paper. It is a brief, 1-2 paragraphs (statement of the issue being researched, what you did, what you found, and what actions should be taken). You must select only the most important issues for the executive summary under the assumption that the executive might read no other part of your report. It must have recommendations in it, not just a general description of what was done.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW (1-2 pages). The introduction tells the reader what you are doing in the paper and how you are going to do it. It overviews what the reader will find in the rest of the paper. Your introduction should also give a cursory analysis of the industry in which your firm operates, its products/services, its size relative to industry/economy, and the benchmark (competitor), and its revenues, etc.
BODY OF THE TEXT (7-8 pages). The body of the paper presents the purpose of your research, the details of the issue/s being researched, your hypotheses (if appropriate), what you did, and what you found in your research. (Be concise. A long paper is not more impressive than a brief one.)
A. Headings. Use lots of headings to give structure to your report. A good paper has a clear outline. Simply make the outline explicit in your report. That way the reader can easily find the sections he/she particularly wants to read.
B. Graphs, Charts, and Figures. Graphics (not just clip art) help the reader visualize what you are trying to say in words. A good picture is worth a thousand words. Put pictures, graphs, tables as Appendices at the back of the paper.
C. Conciseness. Get to the point. We tend to fall in love with every paragraph, sentence, and word of our own writing. But writing generally is improved with careful pruning. A short, tight paper is better than a verbose, sprawling one.
D. Good Description. Give specific examples of the general principles you are trying to describe in your report use personal or organizational experiences or examples wherever possible. Make the paper your own.
E. Definitions. Do not assume that your reader knows what you mean when you use terms like “standardization of work process” or “casual ambiguity” or “liquidity ratios”. Define key theoretical terms that you use in your report.
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS (1-2 Pages) Make specific recommendations for action. Give the reasons for your recommendation and/or state how your recommendation will solve the problems you have identified. INTEGRITY Your paper must reflect your own work. When thoughts of others are used, they must be cited and identified as such. Plagiarism involves taking the work of others as your own. Plagiarism is a serious breach of ethics and will result in a failure for the course.
REFERENCES Use whatever format you are familiar with but need to be consistent throughout. APA is the easiest to use.
GRADING CRITERIA. The criteria I use to assess your project and assign points is based on a well-written, well-structured report – so take the effort to use good business reporting techniques, creativity -so give it some personal flair, substantiating your claims, so present a rationale for your assertions using assigned reading
material, the textbook, and outside references, and the amount of work done, so go beyond the barebones assignments from your syllabus. Important Points for your paper:
1. The major strategy research question is, “why your firm has a Competitive Advantage (CA) or Competitive Disadvantage (CD)? In other words: What determines your firm performance (CA or CD)? You measure CA/CD through four categories of ratios explained in the class. Some firms/industries may have slightly different measures or ratios to measure those firms.
2. Have a balance between quantitative (financials and other statistics) and qualitative information (including leadership, functional areas, organizational culture, branding, reputation, CSR, etc.
3. Also have a balance of references between academic citations (for example, Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, MIT Sloan, etc.) and trade publications (including newspapers, Fortune, Business & Strategy, Business Week, etc.), and other sources from Google or Google Scholar, Yahoo Finance, etc.4. Having all this information (what, where, when) and putting it in your paper is good. What makes the paper great is your analysis and reflection on the collected information and providing methodical logical arguments of (why and how). Such papers make the reader excited to read further as it provides a differentiated viewpoint that is fresh, bold, and unique – 21st-century manager’s point of view. Good Luck
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