BUSU 640 Handout & Rubric Assignment 1 Sections 2 & 3
General Company Description & Products, Services and Industry(s) Analysis and Trends Length: 10 – 25 pages, double-spaced (Times New Roman, 12 point font with standard 1” margins). Due: Due Week 2 Post: Online, Week 2 Assignment 1 Addresses Learning Outcomes: 1 & 3. Assignment 1: Section 2 and 3 of the Business Plan Mission and Vision, Trends, Industry Before you begin this paper you must have written approval from your instructor for your business plan. This first week, you will apply what you have learned in your MBA program, specifically classes BUSU 630, BUSU 650, OLCU 613, OLCU 615, and OLCU 632. It is essential you cite your textbooks from these and other core classes in the MBA. However, remember it is self-plagiarism to cut and paste from earlier work. You will begin this paper after you have completed a Literature Review using research in the Brandman Library and additional research. Additional sources include: The Wall Street Journal; New York Times; and academic journals and .gov websites for demographics. You will work on the vision for your organization and structure of your Business Plan. Refer to the Handout on the 12 Sections of the Business Plan before you begin to write, while you are writing and before you submit. Word to the Wise: Some students try to choose a business plan that is unworkable in an eight week time frame. Be sure that the innovation that is chosen is small enough that it can be accomplished in this short time frame. For example, innovating a new car line or even a new cup holder placement for an existing car is too big for eight weeks. However, some students try to choose a plan that is too small like a consultancy, where there will not be enough data to show competency in financial planning. Work with your instructor to find the innovation that is “just right.” Your innovation might offer a slight improvement on a current product or service, or it might be a completely new product or service. Your business plan in general: This class is the Capstone class for your MBA program. This means that you will be referring to and APPLYING what you have learned in your core MBA classes and citing your textbooks from these classes. You cannot copy and paste papers that you submitted in your program. You cannot copy and paste your earlier work, but you can use citations from the textbooks for these papers.
Each assignment creates a component of the final business plan, which must conform to APA guidelines; students follow APA and graduate level writing standards for every assignment in this class. APA will be evidenced, specifically the headings, reference section, title page and in-text citations. *Note: A Personal Financial Statement is typically part of the financial statements provided in a request for venture funding. (You will not create this section for this course – however, if you wish to put your business plan to ‘work’, you will need to fill this in later.)
Your business plan is written in the following order (based upon numbers above): 2 (outline), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 1, and 2 (final), with 11 (Appendices) being created as you build the earlier sections. Your assignments will be written in that order. As you complete an assignment, you may find that you will also enhance previous assignments, based on your most recent research and instructor feedback.
Before you begin writing about your innovation prepare a Literature Review. The guidelines are found in Week 1 Course Documents. This assignment is not turned in for points, but must be completed as it will inform the Business Plan. Students may share their Literature Review with their instructor for comments. You must use the Brandman Library for your Literature Review. These are helpful guides to complete a Literature Review:
UNC Writing Center Purdue OWL
Remember you will write your business plan one week at a time, and you will begin with Assignment 1. This will be the first paper you will write toward that goal with opportunity for you to apply management theories from the text, course readings and discussions and apply them to a future organization of your design. Assignment 1, Develop a Mission & Vision Statement & Innovation Description and Industry & Trends Analysis.
1. Gain instructor approval of the “right size” innovation.
2. For this first assignment you will review what you have learned in your MBA program, specifically classes BUSU 650, OLCU 613, OLCU 615, and OLCU 632. If you do not have the textbooks you can review your work product from those classes. If you have any Significant Sentence exercises you will find them very helpful.
3. Perform a Literature Review from sources in the Brandman Library and include
sources from The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company and academic journals and especially .gov websites for demographics (never use a Wiki “anything) for graduate work. This literature review will provide journals on the industry, category (or categories) of innovation and all related fields.This Literature Review is not handed in but is an excellent habit for MBA graduates to acquire as they research important issues. Keep all of the sources in one place on your computer (this will save you hours of time later).
After 1 & 2 above you will develop the vision for your organization and structure of your Business Plan. In five to twelve pages, you will: 1) prepare an outline of the key points you want your readers to grasp (the skeleton of your Executive Summary); 2) describe the conditions that bode well for your proposed company (your Situation Analysis); and 3) detail the company you want to create and the products and/or services you will bring to market. Remember that everything you write about for the Mission and Vision will weave through to the future sections for the paper. For example if your mission includes the concept of teamwork, then in your management (how you attract, develop and retain your workers), marketing how you will show teamwork in your marketing materials and further in your operations plan how teamwork will be fostered. So, the mission and vision needs to be apparent throughout the rest of the plan. In this first assignment you will write about the company you plan to create and will give specifics of the products and services and the industries in which the innovation resides. Plan to offer as well as research on the industry and the trends within that industry. Some will have more than one industry to cover as the innovation comes from two industries. For example, like Pixar is a technology company as well as within the entertainment industry.You will describe your company in terms of what value or need it will bring to the marketplace. Describe the Mission and Values of your organization. Explain the ways that your business will be thought of as an ethical enterprise. Before you begin to write, think deeply about a value that your organization will bring to the industry(s) in which your business will operate. This is very important. Your business will provide either a product or a service (or both like a water purification system where equipment is sold (product) and a service warranty is offered. Begin to think about your new company. Remember that 80% of new businesses fail. What steps are you going to take from the beginning to be sure that your new business is one of the 20% that is successful? As much as you can, research other organizations that currently offer something close to your business – learn from their successes and their failures. Keep track of this research as it will be a valuable part of this paper. Make notes on how your organization will offer the product or service. Once again, develop the mission and values of your organization and tie those values to your company description and especially to the products and or service you will offer. Now (after instructor approval) you can begin to write your paper for this assignment. The following describes key points that need to be covered in Assignment 1.
Mission & Vision Statement & Innovation Description The mission and vision should be carefully crafted. There should be sufficient evidence of how operational, financial, management, and marketing plans are executed in light of the innovation’s mission and vision. This should be about two pages long and remember the mission statement should be short enough to fit on a t-shirt. The vision statement is sometimes a paragraph with bullets. The innovation description should take up another page to a page and a half and should be focusing on the unique opportunity that the innovation brings to the marketplace. This language should be
clean, clear, and easy to understand for people outside of the industry (as funding sources are often not “insiders”).
Company Description (proposed new organization):
● Type of Business and Legal Structure (e.g., LLC, sole proprietorship) ● Clear, concise and interesting description of what the innovation is uniquely
bringing to the marketplace ● Distinctive Core Competencies, overview of the location, financial viability,
etc. ● Consumer demographic that is interested in buying/using this new product or
service ● If there is any technology include simple, clean, and clear language to
describe it
Industry & Trends Analysis (state of the industry, market research, barriers to entry, identifying competitors, identifying market niche, expert advice, competitive analysis, strategic positioning) This is the section where writers need to perform a “preliminary SWOT analysis” that will need further data and research. It is also the first long section that is usually ten to twenty pages long with more than ten sources. Often this section includes three to four graphs describing the industry, competition, and industry evolution, all with cited data from academic and business sources:
● The history of the industry ● Size of the industry ● Industry evolution ● The trend–where the industry is expected to be in five to ten years ● The key players in the industry (those who do something like this well and
those who do not, something different) ● Perform a competitive advantage analysis (what is currently available so in
the next section it can be shown how the competition) ● Barriers and challenges to entering the market ● Environmental scan ● Significant factors in the macro environment
The section presents a clear statement of the opportunities and threats through preliminary SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis connects to the research and results in data-driven decision making. Other issues include but are not limited to:
● Copyrights, patents, & intellectual property rights ● Research & development activities ● Failures in the industry ● Opportunities ● Changes in the market ● Description if the innovation is a product or a service or a products & a
service, what this product means for the industry ● Research & development activities
BUSU 640 Capstone Assignment 1 Rubric Assignment Title: General Company Description, Product and Services Total Points for Assignment: 100 for 10% of final grade Criteria Exemplary Proficient Developing Emerging General Company Description; products and services and industry analysis
40 There is strong evidence of an in-depth Literature Review. The General Company Description products and services and industry analysis are very clear, easy to understand and present a viable and interesting innovation.
32 There is evidence of an in-depth Literature Review. The General Company Description products and services and industry analysis are clear, easy to understand and present a viable and interesting innovation.
28 There is some evidence of an in-depth Literature Review. The General Company Description products and services and industry analysis are somewhat clear, easy to understand and present a viable and interesting innovation.
24 There is little evidence that a Literature Review was performed. There is a lack of clarity about the viability of the new venture. The paper is full of opinion and could have been written before taking the core classes in the MBA.
Application (Theory to Practice) (20% of total)
30 There are citations from the following text books in the paper: BUSU 650, OLCU 613, OLCU 615, and OLCU 632. The concepts in the textbook and other graduate sources are clearly applied to the innovation using creative and interesting
24 There are citations from the following text books in the paper: BUSU 650, OLCU 613, OLCU 615, and OLCU 632. The concepts in the textbook and other graduate sources are clearly applied to the innovation.
21 There are citations from the following text books in the paper: BUSU 650, OLCU 613, OLCU 615, and OLCU 632, but they are used as glossary terms rather than application. This means that concepts (like innovation) are described
18 There is little evidence that research was performed. There is a lack of clarity about how key concepts from core classes are applied. The paper is full of opinion and could have been written before taking the core classes in the MBA.
writing. If you do not have the textbooks you can access your earlier work through Blackboard.
using the textbook, but not applied.
Critical Analysis (20% of total)
10 Consistently employs critical analysis in discussing the issue(s). Effectively synthesizes and integrates data to draw valid conclusions, identify options, and make specific recommendatio ns.
8 Fairly consistently employs critical analysis in discussing the issue(s). Fairly effectively integrates data to draw valid conclusions, identify options, and make recommendatio ns..
7 Somewhat employs critical analysis in discussing the issue(s). . Somewhat uses data to draw somewhat valid conclusions and make general recommendatio ns. May not identify options
6 Limited if any critical analysis in discussing the issue(s). Limited if any use data findings to draw conclusions, identify options and/or make recommendatio ns.
APA and Sources (10% of total)
10 Uses at least ten sources scholarly sources including the text books. Accurately adhere to APA standards; reference page and citations are correct. All sources listed in References are cited in paper
8 Uses at least eight scholarly sources. Adheres to APA standards; reference page and citations are correct with minor (1-3) errors. All sources listed in References are cited in paper
7 Uses at least six scholarly sources. APA standards are somewhat followed; the work of others is cited but with numerous (4 – 7) errors. Sources listed in References and citations may not match
6 Uses less than five scholarly sources. Limited adherence to APA standards in the paper and Reference page; work of others may be cited but with multiple (8+) errors. Sources listed in References and citations do not match
Writing Mechanics (15% of total)
10 The paper is logical and well-written; spelling, grammar and
8 The paper is logical and well-written but with minor (1 – 3) errors in
7 The paper is somewhat logical and well-written but with several (4
6 The paper lacks clarity and may be confusing with numerous (8+)
punctuation are accurate. Paper is the required length of content, and includes correctly prepared title page.
spelling, grammar and/or punctuation. The content may be 5% too long or short; includes a correctly prepared title page.
– 7) errors in spelling, grammar and/or punctuation. The content may be 10% too long or short, and may not include a correctly prepared title page
errors in spelling, grammar and/or punctuation. The content may be 15% too long or short, and may not include a title page
