Assignment:
Comprehensive Analysis of a Fortune 500 Company
Analyze publicly available information about a Fortune 500 Company and develop an assessment of the corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.
It requires to obtain and analyze information at the company, industry and market levels using various databases and reports, in addition, at least eight (8) professional or academic peer-reviewed articles.
Your analysis should include an in-depth review of the Company's most recent SEC Form-10k Annual Report and Form DEF-14A Proxy Statement. These SEC filings can be found at the SEC Edgar Database located at the URL https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html . Pay particular attention to the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of the SEC Form 10-K and the DEF-14A Proxy statement. Direct competitors are identified in the "Comparator Group" section of the DEF-14A Proxy Statement. ) These SEC filings also contain information relative to external and industry analysis that will be helpful in your assessment of the Company's strategy and competitive position.
A thorough analysis requires evaluation of various external stakeholders:
Competitors
Industry
Vendors
Customers
Governmental entities
Communities
Internal stakeholders that should be considered in the analysis include:
Shareholders
Board of Directors
Management
Employees
A comprehensive SWOT analysis should be performed relative to the Company's ability to improve its competitive advantage.
The comprehensive analysis should include both qualitative and quantitative elements, leveraging information available in SEC Filings, business databases, and peer-reviewed articles.
Your work should demonstrate your ability to:
Apply critical thinking skills to analyze business situations.
Apply principles of quantitative and qualitative research to business cases.
Describe the opportunities provided by technology for businesses.
Appropriately use effective communication techniques.
Apply the standard of APA style to all research and writing tasks.
Prepare a report presenting the findings of your comprehensive analysis examining the Company's corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.
The written report will have a body length of 10-12 pages excluding title, abstract, references and appendices.