Business 100W
Assignment Two
One Hundred Points
Due to SafeAssign by 11:59pm on Friday, May 8th
Word Count: 1,750 to 2,000 words (required)
Grammar Requirement: Underline one subordinated sentence
Goal: Create a short report evaluating a company for potential investment.
Skills used: Writing skills; staking a clear position; crafting coherent organization (including
appropriate techniques, such as transitions, headings, and subheadings); using relevant and
appropriate visuals; and sourcing, evaluating, and applying appropriate research support
In brief: In this essay, you will evaluate a company for possible corporate investment, based on
3-5 categories that you believe best speak to company health. Anticipate that your company will
have both strengths and weaknesses; use these points of examination to generate an overall
evaluation—a position on investment. The essay will include a title page, table of contents,
executive summary, and Works Cited page.
Scenario: The email you drafted was successful and, after some skillful negotiation, you have
secured a job at CM Burns Industries. The company has recently outperformed the market
considerably. As a result, it is interested in investing significant capital into another business.
You have been asked to create a report evaluating a company for investment. Select any
company you wish from the list below. Choose wisely: this will likely be the company you work
with for assignments three and four as well.
Evaluate your company as you see fit, using standards and criteria that business professionals
would consider reasonable. For a paper of this length, three to five categories would be
appropriate. Financial data is always a good place to start (and may incorporate many subtopics), and while you are not restricted to selecting your other criteria from these categories,
here are some suggestions:
• business strategies
• market share
• research and development
• management structure
• quality concerns with product/services
• advertising strategies
• labor practices
• business ethics
• corporate social responsibility
• growth
• presence in the marketplace
You are also welcome to develop your own categories.
Strong essays will provide nuanced considerations of different categories and explain how those
varied individual evaluations connect to one another and support your overall position on investment.
Do remember that no company is perfect, and counter-arguments that consider company weaknesses
will help make your paper more well-rounded.
Note that you may select a company, only to find through your research that it would be a problematic
choice for investment. Avoid being tied to an initial position and trying to force the data to fit—it doesn’t
work. Instead, start with preliminary research on the company, draft an initial hypothesis on investment,
then stay flexible as you go into more in-depth research. If the research points to a qualified yes or no,
or to a solid no position, then that’s the position to take.
Please note: These categories are very broadly interpreted, and many of these companies would likely
fit in multiple categories.
Apparel—General
• Gap, Inc.
• Neiman Marcus
• Ross Stores
Apparel—Athletic
• Lululemon
• Nike
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
• Boston Beer Co.
• Philip Morris International
• Smith & Wesson
Automotive & Related
• Avis Budget Group
• Group 1 Automotive
• Honda Motor Company
• Subaru Corp.
Chemical, Manufacturing, &
Related
• Caterpillar
• International Paper
• Steel Dynamics
• Thermo Fisher Scientific
Communications & Related
• Charter Communications
• Frontier Communications
• Motorola Solutions
• Viacom
Electronics, Computing,
Tech, & Related
• Apple
• Adobe Systems
• Dell Technologies
• General Electric
• Intel
• Texas Instruments
Energy Sector
• Chesapeake Energy
• Chevron
• ConocoPhillips
• Emerson Electric
• Marathon Petroleum
• Vistra Energy
• Xcel Energy
Entertainment
• AMC Theatres
• Facebook
• iHeartMedia
• MGM Resorts International
Finance, Banking, &
Insurance
• Aetna
• Aflac
• Ally Financial
• American Financial Group
• Freddie Mac
• Genworth Financial
• Guardian Life Ins. Co. of
America
• JPMorgan Chase
• Massachusetts Mutual
Insurance Group
• PayPal Holdings
• Samsung Life Insurance
• Tokio Marine Holdings Inc.
Food, Beverage, & Related
• Coca-Cola
• Darden Restaurants
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group
• Hormel Foods
• Kroger
• Northgate Market
• Publix Supermarkets
• Starbucks
• Yum Brands
o Domestic or International
General Goods & Services
• Burlington Stores
• Dollar Tree
• Home Depot
• Lowe’s
• Office Depot
• Target
• Tractor Supply
Health, Medical, &
Pharmaceuticals
• Abbot Laboratories
• AbbVie
• Baxter International
• Becton Dickinson
• CVS Health
• Express Scripts Holding
• Gilead Sciences
• Laboratory Corp. of America
• Merck
• Pfizer
• RadNet
Personal and Home Care
• Clorox
• Colgate-Palmolive
• Johnson & Johnson
• Kimberly-Clark
• Procter & Gamble
Transportation & Travel
• Alaska Air Group
• American Airlines Group
• Delta Airlines
• Expedia Group
• FedEx
• Hilton Worldwide Holdings
• Lyft
• Marriott International
• Southwest Airlines
• Uber
• UPS
• Wynn Resorts