Company research project

Fall 2019

Team Research Project

I. Project overview

Students are required to participate in a team project for the comparative performance analysis of companies. After completion of the project, each group shall make a 15-20 min. presentation using power point slides and turn in Excel and PPT files (hard and soft copies). Power point material doesn’t necessarily have to be narrative or very detailed, however, should include sufficient information for the audience to understand your preparation and readiness. Each member is expected to make valuable and equitable contributions to the team efforts including team presentation. For the project, select a firm (manufacturing/service) of your interest and its two comparable competitors in the same industry. The presentation team should lead the class discussion and be prepared for the questions from the class. Peer evaluation is required at the end of the project.

II. Content

1. Profile of companies (Three-Four companies in the same industry):

A. Company names: xxx, xxx, xxx

B. Industry analysis (Competition, rivalry, attractiveness, innovation, and etc.)

C. Business summary for each company: Mission/ Vision/ Business description

D. Etc.

E. References

· PPT: 4-7 pages

2. Sustainability

A. Goals/ Initiatives (Sustainability programs)

* Introduce brief overview of the programs launched by the company

B. Primary emphasis (activities): Economic (Profit) –Social (People) – Environmental (Planet)

C. References

* At least four different references.

· PPT: 3-5 pages

* Generate a summary table comparing companies

3. Comparative performance analysis (Benchmarking)

A. For each company, collect the most recent data (2018)

1). Revenue, Cost of Goods Sold (Cost of Sales), Inventories, R&D expenses, Employees.

Note: $M for financial variables, and 000 for employees.

2). Rank companies for each category for each year

* Generate a summary table

* Generate graphs for each category (e.g. bar chart with numbers displayed).

B. For the most recent year, calculate productivity (efficiency):

1). Employee productivity (Revenue/Employees)

2). Production efficiency (Revenue/COGS)

3). R&D productivity (Revenue/ R&D)

4). Rank companies for each category

5). Compare the rank of each category with the rank from raw data in ‘A’.

* Generate a summary table (Excel and PPT)

Note: Excel spread sheet must show the calculation formula (Do not type simple answers).

* Generate graphs for each category (e.g. bar chart with numbers displayed).

C. Conduct ‘best practice’ benchmarking to improve employee productivity of the lowest performer.

* Generate a summary table (Excel and PPT)

* Generate graphs for each category (e.g. bar chart with numbers displayed).

4. Discussion/ Findings/ Implications

PPT: 2-4 pages

III. Timeline

1. Week3: Team formation

2. Week4: Industry/ Company selection

3. Week6: Presentation

IV. Grading

1. Analysis (Calculation/ accuracy): 60%

2. Discussion/implications: 10%

2. Presentation (including Q&A): 20%

3. Report (PPT): 10%

* Total score will be adjusted by peer evaluation: team score x average peer evaluation (%)

V. Helpful Resources

1. Top Green Companies (News Week)