Research Paper on a Business

This is a five full page minimum research paper on your chosen industry – the group of companies that compete within the same set of product offerings – and company. You must include a minimum of 10 scholarly sources, use APA formatting, and write in third person.

 

Sample industry questions:

1. What are the major companies within the industry?

 

2. What are the industry trends?

 

3. How is the product or service manufactured?

 

4. Distribution….?

 

5. Trends…?

 

6. Outlook…?

 

 

 

 

Sample company questions:

The size of a company and the scope of its operations say a great deal about the company’s ambitions and opportunities for advancement. Try to answer the following questions:

 

Has the company expanded globally?

 

Is it expanding or downsizing?

 

What are its divisions and subsidiaries?

 

How many employees does it have?

 

How many clients does it serve?

 

How many locations does it have?

 

Direction and planning

Answers to questions about the company’s plans may be difficult to find outside of the company’s Web site, annual report, newspaper business pages, business magazines, or the industry’s trade publications. The following information is worth pursuing as it lets you know some of the hot issues to address or avoid:

 

What are the company’s current priorities?

 

What is its mission?

 

What long-term contracts has it established?

 

What are its prospects?

 

What are its problems?

 

Is it initiating any new products or projects?

 

Products or services

You shouldn’t go into a job interview without at least knowing what products or services are the bedrock of the company’s business. Find the answers to these questions:

 

What services or products does the company provide?

 

What are its areas of expertise?

 

How does it innovate in the industry — by maintaining cutting edge products, cutting costs, or what?

 

Competitive profile

How the company is positioned within its industry and how hard competitors are nipping at its heels are measures of the company’s long-term health and the relative stability of your prospective job there. Get to the bottom of these issues by asking:

 

Who are the company’s competitors?

 

What are the company’s current projects?

 

What setbacks has it experienced?

 

What are its greatest accomplishments?

 

Is the company in a growing industry?

 

Will technology dim its future?

 

Does it operate with updated technology?

 

Culture and reputation

The answers to these questions are likely to be subjective, but they say a great deal about how well you’ll be able to fit into the corporate culture:

 

Does the company run lean on staffing?

 

What’s the picture on mergers and acquisitions?

 

What is the company’s business philosophy?

 

What is its reputation?

 

What kind of management structure does it have?

 

What types of employees does it hire?

 

Is it family-friendly?

 

Is it woman-friendly?

 

What is the buzz on its managers?

 

How does it treat employees?

 

Has it pushed out older workers?

 

Company history

Assess how the company’s future may be influenced by its past. Was the company part of a hostile takeover? Has it been doing the same things the same way for years because its founder would have wanted it that way? Ask the following questions to find out:

 

When and where was it established?

 

Is it privately or publicly owned?

 

Is it a subsidiary or a division?

 

Has it changed much over time?

 

How quickly has it grown?

 

Company financials

Collecting current and accurate information about financials is a long chase, but it’s better to learn a company’s shaky financial picture before you’re hired than after you’re laid off. Dig for the following nuggets:

 

What are the company’s sales?

 

What are its earnings?

 

What are its assets?

 

How stable is its financial base?

 

Is its profit trend up or down?

 

How much of its earnings go to its employees?

 

How far in debt is the company?

Operations and Supply Chain

1. What is the lean concept and why is it important to study?
2. How can lean be applied to manufacturing and service processes?
3. What is work center scheduling and why is it important for firms to focus on?
4. How to apply scheduling techniques to service and manufacturing processes.
5. What is the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and why is it important to study?
6. How is the TOC different from conventional approaches?
7. How can the TOC be applied to reduce bottlenecks in a variety of applications?

Lean Techniques

Assignment Steps 

 

Select a business you are familiar with which incorporates lean manufacturing or lean supply chains. 

 

Evaluate how this firm uses lean strategies and how much lean techniques has improved the firm’s efficiency. 

 

Evaluate ways the firm can go even further to make improvements using lean techniques. 

 

Use the results you obtained from evaluating this firm to apply to your own business or a business you are interested in which currently does not use lean. 

 

Develop a 1,050-word report in which you describe your lean evaluation project.

 

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines. 

 

Assessing Spirituality – The Relationship between Spirituality and Mental Health

Read the “Assessing Spirituality – The Relationship between Spirituality and Mental Health” article. (link below)

In this quantitative study, the authors attempted to investigate the possible relationship between two spirituality variables (religious coping styles and spiritual well-being) and two psychological variables (anxiety and depression). Also studied were differences between those who self-disclosed a spiritual/religious identity and those who did not. Their data analysis concluded that individuals who reported a high use of religious coping styles also reported high levels of spiritual well-being.

• The authors felt a limitation of their study was in defining ‘spirituality.’ State how that can be an obstacle in doing religious counseling.
• The authors state, “Spiritual well-being can clearly incorporate God into ones’ life while also incorporating self-reliance.” Is this not a seeming contradiction? Give your thoughts on this.

Six Sigma DMAIC

Select a business ( Chick-fil-A ) where you are able to gather data, and for which you can identify processes to improve. 

 

Develop a 3- to 4 -slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation, including detailed speaker notes

 

Execute the define phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC project including the following: 

 

Identify a project suitable for Six Sigma efforts based on:

Business objectives.

Customer needs and feedback. For example, if the team chooses a fast food chain, they could observe and record defects with preparation and delivery of the food, cleaning of the restaurant inside and out, including the rest rooms

HR MANAGEMENT Assisgnment 1

Imagine you are the HR manager at a company, and a female employee came to you upset because she felt a male coworker was creating a hostile work environment by repeatedly asking her out on dates even after she said “no”. What would you do?

Write a one (1) page paper in which you:

1. Formulate the conversation you would have with the employee, based the concepts found in Chapter 2 in your textbook.
2. Summarize the conversation you would have with the employee’s male co-worker, based on the concepts found in Chapter 2 of your textbook.
3. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
   1. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
   2. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.

Team cohesiveness

Discuss team cohesiveness dealing with:

Diversity

Benefits, problems/challenges of managing Diversity

Performance Review    

 

Develop a position paper

Using the Word skills you have learned in this course, develop a position paper on how Word will make you a more efficient employee or student and how it relates to being a Christian. Use the following guidelines to complete your paper:

 

·         Find at least 3 sources in the Liberty University Online Library that support your position. You must demonstrate critical thinking and analysis in your paper.

 

·         Integrate a biblical perspective with your position concerning the topic. Cite directly from the Bible.

 

·         Format your paper in current APA, MLA, or Turabian style. The format you choose must be used consistently throughout your paper. For example, if you are using MLA, all formatting, in-text citations, and sources cited must be in MLA style. Use the resources available in the Additional Materials folder of Module/Week 7 to format your paper according to the proper style guidelines.

 

·         In the footer of your paper, state the formatting style used. For example, if using APA, your footer on every page must have “APA” in it.

 

·         Cite the sources in your paper, using in-text citations.

 

·         Include a citation page per your selected formatting style.

 

·         Your paper must be 500–750 words, not including the words in the headers/footers or on the title page/header and bibliography/works cited/reference page.

 

·         Apply techniques you have learned in Word to complete the final editing phase of your paper. For example, use functions such as margins, tabs, stops, spacing, indentation, and reference tools to format your paper.

 

·         Save your document as a .docx file.

Project Management 

• How do companies go about designing products and services?
• What are some of the issues with product and services design?
• What are some of the differences in designing products for manufacturing and services?
• What is operations consulting and how can it help firms to become more efficient?
• What are some of the tools used by operations consultants?
• How can one execute the tools of operations consulting to improve business processes?

Project Management

Choose a business in the media having difficulties with its operating model or one which is struggling in your community. 

Evaluate how all or some of the items from the Operations Consulting Tool Kit in Operations and Supply Chain Management could help this business get back on track. 

Determine the resources and data you will need to deploy an operations consulting engagement with this business. 

Develop a business case including financial benefits on how operations consulting can have a positive impact on the business.

Develop a 10- to 15-slide Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation of an operations consulting engagement proposal to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the target firm.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.