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This is an introduction paragraph that explains the objective and scope of the paper.
Students always want to know how much is expected for a written assignment like this. For this reason, single spaced page estimates are indicated for the sections of the paper. This first section would be 6 to 8 single spaced pages plus charts)
Incorrectly defining the industry will have a very negative effect on the quality of this section. A valid test of the industry definition is the answer to the question "with whom does your company compete?" Be careful that the definition is not too narrow. For instance, Charles Schwab is a discount broker and they obviously compete with other discount brokers like Quick and Reilly and Fidelity. But, they also compete against full service brokers and deep discounters.
There is also a risk of defining the industry too broadly. For instance, total retailing in the U.S. is over $2 trillion a year. This includes everything that is sold to a consumer--groceries, automobiles, fast food, clothing, etc. There are sub-sections to the retail industry and these provide a better definition since they are consistent with the criteria cited above regarding who companies compete against. Automobile dealers do not compete with McDonalds or Safeway.
Explain the structure of the industry and identify the dominant companies. A chart showing the relative size of dominant companies compared to your analysis company is often a good idea.
Financial performance in this section deals with the industry and not your specific analysis company. How has the industry done in recent years and what are the projections for the future. The Value Line publication analysis is a good source for this type of information as are trade publications that are devoted to the specific industry. i.e., Automotive News, Chain Store Executive, etc. This is another opportunity to use a chart to show financial performance of the industry over multiple years. Do not deal with quarters but focus on annual performance.
Clearly state how companies compete within the industry. Use the Porter Competitive Model terminology in explaining the typical competitive strategy. Prepare and include a business strategy model within this part of the paper.
Use your analysis company as the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in this evaluation but remember that this is an analysis of the industry forces to better introduce the industry. Tailor the Porter Model to the industry and integrate the copy of the model within the narrative of the paper. Do not put it or any other graphic at the end of the paper.
In discussing the five forces start with the intra-industry rivalry which is probably a summary of what you have already discussed in the previous discussion of the industry. Buyers (customers) should be addressed next followed by suppliers. Be sure to focus on the power implications for both buyers and suppliers and what this power means in the relationship between these two forces and the SBU. The importance within the industry would dictate whether potential new entrants or substitute products or services would be next.
Everyone seems to be saying that we live in a global economy. Is this particular industry going global? If so, in what way is this being addressed? What is motivating this particular industry to go global? Are all companies following a global strategy?
This is a general perspective of the importance of I/T to the industry in general. Do not simply list some applications. Take a systematic approach in discussing the major functions of the industry (core competencies) and conclude how many of them are finding I/T playing an important role.
Introduce the company. What business are they in? Have they always been in this business? Does a brief history of the company help to better understand what they are today? Are there particular things about the company that people would recognize as significant factors regarding this company?
Companies are people. Identify those managers who play a major role in the current company and anyone else that played a major role in creating and establishing the company. Do more than just introduce them. Establish the significance of the roles that they play within the company.
Note: This information can be logically integrated into the company profile section.
Use Porter Competitive Model terminology to summarize the company competitive strategy. If you feel that it adds to the quality of the paper you can include a tailored version of the business strategy model that was introduced in Section I.
This is similar to the analysis done in Section I on the industry only it provides data on the analysis company. Revenue per employee and profit per employee should be included in all analysis papers unless it is not a valid factor as an indication of its financial performance.
Summarize the significance of information systems for your analysis company as you did for the industry in Section I.
This is a very important part of this section and the entire paper. It is a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the company. It should address major factors that summarize why the company is successful. It should also deal with weaknesses. There is no company in the world that does not have weaknesses. Your job is to analyze the company and identify both strengths and weaknesses.
Structured Analysis: Since this is a lengthy paper, it makes sense to include a brief introduction as to what will be accomplished in Section III to help refocus the reader on this most important section of the paper. This is the primary focus of the paper. What did they do with information technology? How was this accomplished? Who was the executive sponsor? Where appropriate identify key people by name. What is the role of information systems within the company? How significant are the systems relative to their competitive position?
Introduce the use of this model. Then use it to introduce the major points of this section. Do this in summary form without going into detail for any of the four level of the model. A structured format with sub-titles makes sense to introduce this section.
Use the core concept systematically and in its entirety. Introduce the role of information systems, the role of senior management and the relationships between those business managers that run the business and the information systems organization.
Use the entire concept as part of the narrative and then determine which part of the concept applies to your analysis company. This is where you should do into detail on a major information system used by your analysis company. If you conclude that it used information systems to redefine a major business process explain how this was done at least to the functional level of the system.
Summarize the significance of telecommunications at the functional level. The emphasis should be on the role and importance of telecommunications to the business and a general description of the network.
This should be at least four but no more then six strengths from the Success Factor Profile. Use a standard format with sub-titles for each of the success factors.
THE SUCCESS OF (Company Name)
A. Success of Business Strategy and Information Technology Use to Date
First and foremost is your final analysis of the overall success with and importance of information systems as it relates to the company's competitive success to the present time.
In deciding this you might want to consider the following factors:
B. Is the Company Effectively Postured for the Future?
Has all of this effectively positioned the organization looking to the future?
Do not modify the scope or the intent of these evaluation factors. Do so at the risk of major grade penalties! You can change the sequence of topics within each section if you feel that it makes sense to do so.
Integrate all charts and graphs within the contents of the narrative. Do not include references within the narrative but use footnotes. Footnotes should be at the bottom of the page and not at the end of the paper.
Footnotes are not the same as a bibliography. The bibliography is not required until the final paper is submitted. Three "best of breed" articles that you have found during your research should be included with the final paper with a summary page with the documents that indicates why you feel that they are significant to the contents of the paper.
Completion of the analysis term paper assignment can be done through research of public domain information. If there was not adequate material it would not be included as a company to be analyzed. A starter set of information sources would include the following: