Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Project Description:
As discussed at the first lecture, there are many types of businesses and organizations you can pick from to
analyze. Your choices do not need to be profit-making ventures. However, the primary objective of each is to
provide a product or service. Each group will select an industry (e.g., retail, food service, transportation, health
care, charitable organizations) and a specific organization within that industry (e.g., Nordstrom, Marshall’s,
UCLA Medical Center, Cedar-Sinai Hospital, United Way, Red Cross, etc.)
Ultimately, you will focus on a product or service you believe would be a useful addition to the company’s
product/service offerings (e.g., clothing, sports equipment, surgery, financial assistance, etc.) and develop a
business plan for this “product extension.” You will need to utilize the course materials to investigate the
numerous issues confronting how the “extension” fits into and affects the already existing “mix” of the company,
how to identify and implement a strategy for delivering the “extension” to the organization’s customer, and how
to evaluate the impact on the overall success of the organization that the “extension” may have.
Deliverables: Each group will produce and turn in a written report and will deliver an oral presentation in their
discussion sections.
1. Written Report:
The length of this document is not as important as the quality of its content. The document will present
an analysis of your recommended business plans/strategy. For the purposes of the project, analysis means
“what the organization is doing and why.” Not only will you need to rely on information gained through
class lectures, discussion sections, and the course text, but also you will need to use library and other
resources to gather information necessary to understand your chosen organization and industry.
The “extension” need not be successful. That is, you can get a good grade for having suggested a “bad”
idea provided you explain, with supporting facts, why the idea is not a good “extension.” The project will
be graded on the adequacy and coverage of your examination, the accuracy of your research and analysis,
the quality of the document’s content, and the clarity and understanding of the course material as
demonstrated in the document’s analysis.
Format and Length: The written report should be 10-15 pages, double-spaced, 12-point size font, 1-inch
margins on all sides with cover page.
Organization: Your group project should be organized professionally with an executive summary in the
beginning and main contents organized into sections, with clearly identified and supported main ideas,
presented in separate paragraphs. You are expected to use the business language and terminology you are
learning in this class, as opposed to casual language. Correct use of grammar and spelling is a must.
Graphs, charts, tables, and visuals are usually helpful. They may or may not be put at the end as
appendices; however, they do not count toward the total page limit. They should be clearly named and
numbered (i.e., Exhibit 1, 2, etc.) and you should refer to them in the body of the report.
Contents:
Your written report should contain the following sections:
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – Required
A one- to two-page, brief summary of all the main parts and key points of your report. The
executive summary should not focus on a single aspect of the product extension or serve as an
introduction. Instead, it should be a concise, insightful overview of your product extension
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proposal, and should allow the reader to quickly grasp the essence of your proposal, even if
he/she does not read the whole report. The executive summary should be written last since it
summarizes your insights and recommendations.
A good online resource on how to write an executive summary, including some examples, is:
www.bplans.com/dp/executivesummary.cfm
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ii. Pricing - Discuss the pricing strategy that you will employ. Will it be sold as 1 unit or
in packages. Are there discounts for bulk/pallet purchases?
iii. Place/Distribution - Discuss what kind of distribution and logistics system will be
most appropriate for the product extension as well as what kind of utility will provides
(form, time, place, etc)
iv. Promotion - Explain which elements of the promotional mix will be most appropriate
to use for your product extension and why, as well as how you would use them to
promote the product extension
The marketing strategy section of your report should incorporate and demonstrate your
understanding of concepts..
You will also need to provide a draft marketing budget include in sales projections and
marketing expenses estimates. In order to accomplish that successfully, you need to find out
relevant research information first. It might be useful to review competitive product offerings
or similar products in different industries.
You may also look at some examples of marketing analyses on marketing-related websites,
such as:
http://www.marketingteacher.com
http://www.marketingpower.com
http://www.bplans.com/sp/marketingplans.cfm
Use varied sources and preferably more strictly business-related ones, rather than general
information ones. Ask the Research Librarians at Rivera Library for help if you have trouble
finding good sources. Try to use the business databases, such as Hoover’s Online, etc., that are
available for free through UCR Library webpage. This is a great opportunity for you to get
familiar with business databases, which you will use in your careers.
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Document your sources properly - use either MLA or APA format (preferably APA). A good
online resource with detailed information on how to use both MLA and APA format properly
is: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl - go to Research and Citation
Do not forget to cite your sources properly IN THE BODY of your paper, as you use them.
DO NOT simply create a bibliography page, without referring to your sources in the body your
paper.
IX. COMPREHENSIVENESS & QUALITY OF ANALYSIS: 5 pts
Does the project consider and address the relevant range of course materials?
Does it provide an appropriate depth of analysis? Is it accurate? Are its
conclusions reasonable and supported by the information provided?
Hard copy submission: Please submit your Group Project Paper in hard copy form, typed and
stapled or bound, including all your team members’ names and section.
Electronic submission: You will also have to submit your Group Project Paper electronically through
your main class via a discussion thread. Electronic submissions are due at the same time as hard copy
submission. Please note that ilearn reviews your submissions for plagiarism!
Grading - The above-listed guidelines regarding length, organization, content, and submission, will be
used as grading criteria. The Group Project constitutes 80 points which includes 20 points for
presentation.
2. Presentation 20 pts
Your group will deliver a 10-minute oral presentation of your extension idea to the students in your
discussion section. You need to use visual prompts, a powerpoint presentation, summarizing the key
points of your business strategy (the gist of your written report). All group members are expected to
present. Please, submit a hard copy of your presentation slides to your TA before your presentation
begins.