Business Writing 3016

This guide will help students use both library and web resources to find company and industry information. Additionally, the resources listed in this guide will help students complete a final project on analyzing a specific company.

6 Steps for a Company Analysis

1.  Begin with a macro (big picture) environmental scan.  Drill down to a micro (specific industry/company) scan.  Look at the financial statements of a company from at least the past 5 years.  To find this information, use:


2.  Find competitors.  Compare and contrast.  Use the NAICS or SIC code to find competitors.  Use:  IBISWorld


3.  Use:

to identify the size of the market for your company and how it compares to the rest of the industry.  Market share information can also be found in business articles that appear in magazines or newspapers.  You may have to use:

to find this information.


4.  Look at:

for objective, third-party, updated analyses of current statuses, as well as 3-5 years projections of the company you're interested in.


 

5.  SWOT Analysis (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats).  You may find this information using:

You may be able to draw conclusions about the company/industry by following the steps above.


 

6.  The steps above are a recursive process that you will repeat many times.  You may find an article and/or an update about your company an hour before your assignment is due.

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