CORPORATE PAPER (100 pts)

Students will complete a paper upon the corporation of their choice. The paper must be 3-5 pages in length, single-spaced and typed. The paper must include reference to two related websites and one article or text (or lose 30 points--10 points each source). Paper is due November 20. The paper will address the following;

Select a corporation of your choice. Identify the product created by this corporation which you are analyzing. Describe and demonstrate the dominant locational factors affecting your corporation.  What business strategies has this company utilized to obtain greater success (horizontal integration, vertical integration, conglomeration, rationalization)?  Assess which stage of the product life cycle your firm is facing, and propose strategies to prolong the life of your corporation.

ADVICE:

Select a corporation of your choice.  Good examples are Hershey's Chocolate, Weyerhaeuser, Ford, Standard Oil, Budweiser.  Go online to examine what information is located on the corporate website. Usually the company is proud of its heritage and writes an elaborate paper regarding the founder, the company's primary location,  market area, and business policies.  Use your imagination, one of the students in the past did an outstanding job on Ski-boards, knowing the top corporations in this area of his interest, he found amazing resources. 

REQUIREMENTS:
Length: 3-4 pages single-spaced using email, roughly 4-6 pages if using Microsoft Word.
Must include: reference to all materials used in this process.   Include working online websites throughout the essay.

Below I have listed some questions to guide you in your pursuit of evaluating the locational factors for the company you select. You can pick any company, it can be local, national or international. The scale only changes some of the evaluation you may have. For example, if you did a Los Altos based company, then discuss how it might expand, where would they find a larger market, what is their market niche, and what is the determinant locational factor for this company. You can do this easily with a multi-national corporation, such as Coca-cola, since they have production around the world. But, in the same orientation, with a multi-national, explain why they have located where they are; what is their determinant locational factor?

Cecelia