MHR

Group Report Handouts for MHR 3010

Each group has two persons. You can find your partner on your own and let TA know by email by the third weekend in the semester. OR you will be assigned a partner by the fourth week if you don’t have your own partner. The handouts explain the requirements and expectations for group report. You must use the Group Report Template to complete group report and include all headings and subheadings in bold. The following explains each part of the group report.

Grading (20 points):

The group report is divided into two parts and each person does one part. Two points for group coordination and 18 points are for individual writing. Group coordination grade includes working as a team, using the template with all headings, no overlap in content writing, and consistent format for the entire report. Two group members should work together to choose a company. Before your group report is submitted, each person in the group is expected to read the whole report and give feedback for improvement. Individual writing should be sharply focused, be concise in writing and stay within the writing length limit, follow the writing format, use two sources at least within 5 years, and cite sources in footnotes.

The first person’s work includes #1 to #4 (your name, company name, company overview, and company strengths) and also put the group report together. The second person’s work includes #5 to #8 (your name, issue, analysis, and advice). Each person uses your own sources in footnotes.

1 First Person’s Name:

2 Company Name: Put the company’s formal name here

Each group picks a real company except for the Coca Cola Company. You cannot choose Coca Cola Company because this is the writing sample for group report. Don't choose a foreign company such as Honda in Japan, but you may choose American Honda Motor Co. since it does business in the US. Don’t choose a company in bankruptcy, liquidation, or no longer in business. You need to put the company’s full name in the heading such as Uber Technologies, Inc. In the report writing, you can use the company’s short name like Uber.

If you choose a subsidiary, you can mention its parent company’s name as you like but don’t talk about the parent company. For example, if you choose Google LLC, you may mention that its parent company is Alphabet Inc., but you don’t need to talk about Alphabet Inc. Another example, if you choose American Honda Motor Co., you can indicate that its parent company is Honda in Japan, but you don’t need to talk about the parent company.

When choosing a company, you should do literature search on Internet and see if there is an issue the company is facing and if you can find all information needed for the group report. You don’t need my approval for your company. If you are not sure about a company your group chose, you can discuss with me by email or on Zoom.

3 Company Overview

This section includes 8 subheadings from 3.1 to 3.8 (see the Template). For each subheading, you need to answer the question in one or two sentences (not in phrases). If a subheading doesn’t apply to the company, put n/a, which means “not apply”. For example, if a company doesn’t have stores or founder, put n/a for this subheading. If a company is not traded on the stock market, you should indicate that the company is not listed on stock market. Don’t talk about the company’s history.

4 Company’s Strengths

This section includes 3 subheadings: 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, each subheading is for one strength of the company. Writing length is 20-25 lines in total for all three subheadings. Your writing should be balanced among three strengths. For example, it is not good if you write 4 lines for first strength and 10 lines for another strength, which means that you don’t have enough explanation for first strength.

You need to identify and write three strengths (or success factors) of the company, which contribute to the company’s success and competitive advantage. The examples of a company’s strengths may include strong leadership, innovation and product development, brand name recognition, strong financial performance, superior customer service, a variety of product lines, high quality of products, diversity program, charity activities for communities, strong advocate for corporate social responsibility, and proactive actions toward environmental protection, etc. When addressing a strength, you need facts to support it. For example, if the strength is brand name recognition, you should find the brand ranking and facts to show the brand name.

5 Second Person’s Name:

6 Issue

You need to write just one sentence in 1-3 lines, which is an issue statement to indicate what an issue this report is exactly about. Each report should focus on one issue only. The issue should be current within three years. The issue may be a problem or any aspect of the company’s business or management. It could be a successful aspect of the company’s business. Your issue should not overlap with the strengths you picked above.

Depending on what information you can find about the company, the examples of an issue may include but not limited to the following business aspects or you can find a different issue that is not on the list below:

· Business Strategy: Cost Leadership (or Differentiation Strategy),

· Product Development and Innovation,

· Global Supply Chain Management,

· The Company’s Diversity Program,

· The Company’s Contribution to Environmental Protection,

· The Company’s Charity Program,

· A legal issue the company faces,

· An ethical issue the company faces,

· The Company’s Organizational Structure and its Strengths and Weaknesses,

· The Company’s Control System and Methods,

· The Company’s Financial Performance, etc.

7 Analysis

This section includes two subheadings: 7.1 and 7.2 and your writing length should be 20-25 lines in total for the two sections. 7.1. Discuss the issue’s what, when, and why with relevant facts and/or statistics: you need to use facts and/or statistics explain what the issue is, when or how long it has been going on, and reasons for the issue.

7.2. Discuss the issue’s how (such as the consequences or impact, implications, and the company’s response and actions): you need to discuss the consequences of the issue or its implications, and how the company responds to the issue and what actions the company took about the issue.

8 Advice

This section includes two subheadings: 7.1 and 7.2. The writing length is 10-15 lines in total for both advices. You need to suggest two strategies or actions for the company to do in the future or two ways to make improvement in the future about the issue. Your recommendations should be around the issue you picked, not general advice about the company.

Sources

Each person is required to cite two different credible sources within recent five years from academic journals, magazines, newspapers, or company website in footnotes, including the link for the source. It means that each group of two persons needs four sources. If your group cites two articles from the same website, it counts as two different sources. It is recommended to use different sources, not all four sources from the same website. Your group can use more than four sources as you wish.

Each source needs to be cited 1-2 times. You sources need to be complete, including authors, article title, journal/magazine and newspapers name and year, (not just a link alone). In case there is no author for your source, indicate “author unknown”. Don't cite same source many times. The following sources don’t count as sources: brief news, textbooks, and references such as encyclopedia or dictionary. Don’t use APA or MLA citations and Don’t need to list “work cited” or “References” at the end of your report.

How to use footnotes?

If you use WORD file, find “Reference” on the horizontal tool menu, then put cursor to the place in your writing where you want to insert footnote (usually at the end of a sentence, not at the beginning of a sentence), click “ab Insert Footnote” under “Reference”, the footnote number will appear in your text as well as in the footer. In case you need to delete a footnote, just highlight the number in the text and hit “backspace” button. The footnote will disappear from the text and the footer. When you move your sentences around in your writing, the footnotes will automatically go with the sentences. When you delete the sentence, the footnotes will disappear too.

Group Report Writing Format

You must follow the group report template, which can be found on Bb Course Information under Group Report folder.

· Use the Template and keep all headings and subheadings in bold.

· Use Times New Roman font, size 12.

· Double space and 1 inch margin all around.

· Don’t need cover page and table of contents.

Group Report Draft for Feedback (Optional)

You have one opportunity to turn in your group report draft for brief feedback online. It is totally optional to do so and it is not graded. It is just for preliminary feedback to see if your report is on right track. It is not detailed feedback as if we grade it. For example, we may review if the company’s three strengths are appropriate, but we may not comment on how well you addressed each strength. We can review if the issue is appropriate and briefly go over your analysis and advices, but we may not comment on whether your analysis is sufficient and whether your advices are good enough for your issue, which will be thoroughly reviewed when we grade final drafts. We can tell if you used right writing format and footnote but we may not comment on if each source is fine or not.

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