writing one page business memo

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MGMT 303 WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Winter 2018

30 Points

Your assignment is to address the following issue and to bolster your argument with an attachment that

backs up your contentions.

The assignment:

In the past year, after over six years of a bad economy, the market and the US Economy have started to

roar back to life. You have just been promoted to Vice President of Sales for a company that sells

plumbing parts and auxiliary hardware within the industry (in other words B2B, not B2C). Your

company’s goods, for example, can be used in virtually all Delta equipment. Your firm also has a good

working relationship with virtually all the other major faucet manufacturers including but not limited to:

American Standard, Kohler, Price Pfister and Moen.

2017 sales were flat, so the CEO (Ms. Kara Cobb) has promoted you in the hope that you will be able to

set in motion the sales effort that will capitalize on the reviving U.S. economy, but she is still worried. She

won’t be happy until she sees the turnaround happen for her own company. Even worse there are signs

that the housing market, one of the key elements in the plumbing market remains on life support. Here’s

an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Times.

JUNE 3, 2016

WASHINGTON — An unexpectedly bleak May jobs report has suddenly

muddied the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Until this week, the Federal Reserve had seemed poised to raise

interest rates perhaps as soon as June 15 — a sign of confidence

that the economy was strengthening after struggling just to grow

early this year.

Any such certainty vanished at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

That was when the government reported that employers added a

scant 38,000 jobs in May — the fewest since 2010 and far less

than economists had expected. What's more, the government cut its

estimate of hiring for March and April by a combined 59,000.

Other recent data are also sending mixed messages to economic

policymakers, investors and corporate executives.

Consider:

JOBS

Friday's jobs report was unambiguously ugly.

"It's an across-the-board disappointment," said Patrick O'Keefe,

director of economic research at the accounting firm CohnReznick.

The unemployment rate sank to an eight-year low 4.7 percent — but

only because 458,000 Americans stopped looking for work and were

no longer counted among the unemployed. Many of them had likely

grown discouraged over failing to find a job.

And May's slowdown in hiring wasn't a one-month wonder. The

economy has now added just 347,000 jobs over the past three

months — the weakest three-month stretch since 2012.

CONSUMERS

Despite the slumping job growth, American consumers so far appear

unfazed. At least by the most recent barometer, that is: Consumer

spending surged in April by the most in more than six years. That

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is especially important because consumer spending accounts for

about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

Low gasoline and historically low borrowing rates have encouraged

people to spend.

Can consumer spending prove resilient even if the job market

continues to lose vigor?

Maybe not: The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its index

of consumer confidence fell last month to its lowest level since

November.

MANUFACTURERS

Recent reports suggest that American manufacturing is picking up

strength. Yet the details aren't so clear.

A survey released this week by the Institute for Supply

Management showed that American manufacturing has expanded for

three straight months: The institute's manufacturing index rose

to 51.3 in May, and anything above 50 signals growth.

The index had been stuck below 50 from October through February

as factories struggled with economic weakness abroad and a

stronger dollar, which made their goods pricier overseas. The

dollar has fallen against major currencies since late January,

thereby giving factories some relief.

But the ISM manufacturing report wasn't quite as rosy as it

looked. New orders and production grew more slowly in May.

SERVICES

Services companies have been a source of U.S. economic strength.

And ISM reported Friday that the service sector expanded in May

for a 76th straight month.

But growth was the slowest in more than two years. A measure of

employment fell for the second time this year. And that weakness

was reflected in Friday's jobs report: Service sector jobs

increased by just 61,000 in May, the fewest since June 2012.

Confusing to say the least.

Your first job as a new vice president is to boost the spirits of your CEO by showing her that all is not

lost. How are you going to prove there’s still hope out there? After all the job of a Sales VP is to see the

glass as half-full, but how and why? Since you are so new, the boss will want to see something concrete

that supports your positivity. There’s still reason for optimism and to prove it you must attach a recent

article that proves your point.

Your point? “We’re going to be more than OK in 2018 and beyond!”

Your assignment is to address the above issue, bolster your argument with an attachment

that backs up your contentions and then send it to me via BBL.

Note: Memo must be no longer than one standard printed page (does not include attachment, which can be

longer).

The attachment can come from any source on the Internet (except Wikipedia!) but it must be cited in the

following way:

 The author.

 The title, as you would in citing a print source.

 The source. (Sometimes a webpage does not have a clear title; present the clearest and most detailed title that you can for the particular page).

 The URL

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 in parenthesis note the date on which you read that webpage (this allows me to look at the webpage even if it has "disappeared" since you used it, by searching internet archives).

Example:

Mark Trumbull, “Janet Yellin optimistic that economy can avoid another recession” The Christian Science

Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/0826/Janet-Yellin-optimistic-that-economy-can-avoid-

another-recession (last accessed 17 August, 2016).

Please note, I want you to copy and paste the actual document into the memo. Do not make your CEO search on-

line with a mere URL.