True story, Friday afternoon, 4:30:

Someone came to my office asking if professors in the business school have students who can help with a business plan.  She has some knowledge of the medical field and of various associated professions and is considering starting a medical recruiting business.  The primary focus at the start would be in recruiting nurses for hospitals, doctors offices, and such. 

This is a possible project as a situation analysis for an undergraduate marketing principles class.  However, a lot more information would be needed before students could start writing the report.  She had to leave for an appointment before we had a chance to talk more about her idea; she will call back next week so that we can talk more. 

Write a report that outlines the information that I need to find in this particular case in order to compile a complete situation analysis.  Justify, from the perspective of a situation analysis, any recommendations that you make in your report regarding information that is needed. 

Limit the body of your report to five double-spaced pages if you do the exam outside of class time (I won't read anything after page five).  You may, however, attach appendices (charts, worksheets, figures, etc.) if you reference these in your report.  (If not referenced, I won't look at them.)  Appendices are not counted in the page limit.  If you do the exam in class, you are limited to the time period of one class. 

Comment about presentations:

If you want to do a Power Point presentation, bring multiple copies on multiple media (some combination of floppy disk, zip disk, CD, or USB drive).  You can also email the presentation to me, and I can drag it to the hard drive.  If you email it, however, I need to have it by Tuesday morning and you need to make sure that I have emailed back to confirm that I successfully opened it.  Note that you aren't required or encouraged to either use or not use Power Point. 

Remember that in most cases, the presentation is expected to be on a specific topic that could be found in a marketing principles book.  You are expected to be using the standard terms of art and discussing issues that can be found in a marketing principles textbook, not terms and issues that might be found in the popular press.