Questions And Topics We Can Help You To Answer
During the course of the semester we have will be spending much time discussing and analyzing the Winners and Losers that appear at the beginning of each chapter.

For this project each team will be responsible for creating a Winner and Loser analysis.  

Teams are expected to

•    Select 2 companies and identify them as Winners or Losers. 
o    To identify which companies you think are winners and which ones are losers you may first want to decide on a particular industry or trend to help you narrow down your choices.  For example your team may want to pick the airline industry, do some research and identify which business topic is best to explore. Or your team may decide to explore challenges associated with globalization and then identify companies that are expanding.
•    Each team has to decide which approach suits its skills and preferences the best.
o    As a team do some research on your initial choices to help you figure out which companies would be the best to select for the assignment.
o    Ideas on companies can come from the WSJ and other business news. 
o    Teams cannot select a company that is already portrayed in the text as a Winner/Loser.
•    As part of the analysis each team must use at least 10 Key Terms throughout the analysis. Acceptable Key Terms appear at the end of each chapter. 
o    This does not necessarily mean 5 Key Terms for the Winner and 5 Key Terms for the Loser. 
o    Which Key Terms you use and how you use the Key Terms depends on your choice of Winner and Loser and your analysis. The only requirement is that your team picks 10 and applies them appropriately.
•    HINT: You may want to highlight the key terms in your paper so that I am sure to see them!

There is no assigned format or outline—teams must develop this as part of the analysis.  You may follow the style used by the authors of our text or develop your own.  

Part of your grade will depend on the format/outline that you develop to analyze the Winners and Losers. You must show that you know how to analyze business and chapter topics that we have talked about in class to earn a high mark.

•    Original thinking will be rewarded. 
•    Critical analysis will be rewarded. 
•    Summaries will be heavily penalized.
The highest marks will be earned by those teams who show insight and understanding of the issues. 
You must show some creative and original thought in addressing complex business issues - just as you will be expected to do in your professional job. This is the “value-add” that we have been working in class.
Submission
Please submit the final document to the Assignments section in Bb. Only 1 person in each group should submit the Winner and Loser assignment. Do not – under any circumstances -- email your assignment to me – submit it only to Bb.

Written assignments are limited to 5 double-spaced pages, 12 point font. Submissions over 5 pages will not be read. You should include a list of references but this does not count as part of the 5 pages.

Winner & Loser Rubric


Topic    Possible Points    Earned Points
Choice of Companies and Situations Portrayed
Did the team select appropriate companies and situations as the Winner & Loser? Does the comparison make sense? Is it original?     25    
Use of Key Words
Is there appropriate and insightful use of the Key Words (HINT: you might want to highlight the Key Terms that you use)    25    
Depth of Analysis
Does the analysis show understanding of what distinguishes a winner from a loser? Have the issues been explored in sufficient depth and breadth? Is the paper an analysis, as opposed to a summary?    40    
Degree of Professionalism
Is the analysis written in a professional manner? Is it error free (grammar, spelling, etc)?  Is the paper a compilation of individual efforts or does it reflect the effort of a team?    10    
TOTAL    100