ECON3340: Corporate Research Paper Assignment
Business and Its Environment
Corporate Research Paper
(15% of the course final grade)
Assignment Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to apply your familiarity with nonmarket forces affecting businesses to a currently active corporation. This assignment is focused on researching and analyzing broad strategies which lead to positioning options for a firm in its market and nonmarket environments. You will have the basic knowledge to begin your paper after completing Module A. However, subject matter from Modules A, B and C is expected to be used in completing the research and analysis for this assignment.
Please choose one of the following businesses as your assignment focus:
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National Bank of Canada
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Metro inc.
Assignment Specifications
Your report should be double-spaced and should contain at least seven pages of essay text. In addition, add a title page which contains the course name, course section, your name, the title of the paper, the name of the instructor, the date, a table of contents, and finally, a reference list page using APA format. (If citing a report of a legal case, legal citation may be utilized for the case in the reference list.)
The table of contents should include all headings and sub-headings used in your paper and their respective page numbers. Corresponding headings should be included in the body of your paper. Page numbers must appear on each page in the page footer of text starting on page 2.
Your sources must be identified in the body of your text using in-text citations in APA format. These are minimum specifications for your report and your instructor may supplement them. However no more than 5% of the 15% course final grade from this assignment shall be attributed to spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting.
The following links are useful APA resources: http://www.docstyles.com/apaguide.html http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php
In addition to making references to your textbook, your research should include at least five sources from business texts, journals, news media, and blogs from corporate websites. No more than two of your sources may be from the news media. Non-corporate blogs, Wikipedia and YouTube are not considered original sources for this assignment.
“Google Scholar” may lead you to some original articles. The following sources may be worth considering: Canadian Newsstand, CBCA Complete, CPIQ, newspapers, magazines such as The
Economist, Canadian Business, Report on Business, Maclean’s and various other trade publications. Students will also find articles and company profiles in the Business Source Complete and ABI/Inform Global databases, FPinfomart, Mergent, SEDAR, CSID (Canadian Social Investment database), EDGAR and Hoovers Company Records.
Assignment Content
The components discussed under the bolded headings below should be used as major divisions in your paper. In addition, the headings you utilize beneath the major divisions should reflect the nonmarket issue you select and the characteristics of your chosen business. Subject matter from Modules A, B and C is expected to be used in completing this assignment.
Introduction
Please provide a short history of your chosen business and briefly describe its current business operations.
Nonmarket Environment
Please examine your chosen business’s nonmarket environment with respect to any of the following types of issues:
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Public perception (e.g. revenue change which is correlated to the issue)
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Legal (e.g. as plaintiff or defendant in a law suit)
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Regulatory (e.g. a securities commission investigation)
Apply the Four Is analysis model (Issues, Interests, Institutions, Information) to any current or past issues you identify and choose. This is the foundation of your analysis; but also use additional material from the textbook as necessary in order to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.
Integrated Strategy
Discuss your chosen business’s integration of a market and nonmarket strategy by analyzing its level of success and the extent of its current challenges. Cite examples about the positioning and need for repositioning of your chosen business in its market and nonmarket environments.
Conclusion and Recommendation(s)
Conclude by summarizing your analysis and providing recommendations that address any challenges cited in your analysis. In particular, address any perceived benefits for your business in creating and updating an integrated market and nonmarket strategy.
ECON 3340 Corporate Research Paper Assignment – “Pro tips”
This is some additional information for students to help with consistency and accuracy in the assignment.
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There is no need to quote or cite the textbooks (neither Business and Its Environment by Baron nor The Canadian Factor by Barker and Mau). Instead simply use the terminology and apply the relevant analytical tools by name.
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Your firm and, usually, your competitors, are not considered as Interests.
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Use caution when identifying Institutions: in particular, clearly indicate which “parts” of government, the media, etc. are being referred to (Remember there are only 3 institutional arenas.)
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Use of the word preferences (indicates what people want) versus interests (indicates the people who have preferences about issue outcomes.)