Assignment:
Project: Paper on one of the following Transportation Companies
• Airline
American
United
Southwest
• Trucking
Schneider National
JB Hunt
Swift Transportation
• Railroad
CSX
Norfolk Southern
Union Pacific
• Water
Maersk
• 3PL's
Expeditors
CH Robinson
XPO Logistics
UPS Supply Chain Solutions
If there is another company you are interested please come see me. Note if you are in my class...the answer is no you cannot choose the same company.
Will need both of these papers done, preferably by the same person so the writing style matches.
Spring 2018 Project Professor: Steve Decker Project/Research Paper: Choose a Company from the Gartner top 25
1. Your paper should start with some research on the company. Choosing a public company (listed on the NY Stock Exchange) is your best bet for availability of research data.
2. Talk a little about their history. How they started and any major changes along the way (i.e. mergers, consolidations, bankruptcy, etc).
3. Look over their financials and talk to any trends that are good or bad. Look at their financial statements over a 5 to 10 year period at most. Compare year to year, not quarter to quarter.
4. Do a SWAT analysis. List what you see as their strengths, their weaknesses and potential opportunities or issues that they need to address going forward from a competitive perspective against their major competitors. From a Supply Chain perspective talk to their strategy. Consider how and where they manufacture, their logistics approach and how they handle customer delivery/service with their Supply Chain and Logistics network.
5. This need not be very lengthy, but your grade will be based on how much research you put into this and your thoughts opinions on the current company and their future. The average successfully paper is about 10 to 12 so pages, but again the content is the key, not the length. The last few paragraphs should be your opinion of the company and its ability, or lack there of, to be successful in the future.
6. U of of H Library Services is a great help in focusing your research. Orolando Duffas is SCLT rep there and can be reached at https://calendly.com/oaduffus. They have some tools and sites that can make your research faster, simpler and more efficient.
7. A word document (double spaced) is fine since I am not looking for a presentation. List all your sources on the last page. No need to footnote them throughout the paper.