9th Street Texarkana, AR Situation Analysis:
An Analysis of Neighborhood SBUs
Project Objective:
The report is to be a situation analysis for the
9th Street area of Texarkana, AR.
Our client has identified this as the area bounded by
Hwy 67/Broad Street on the west and Oats Street on the east.
This report should maintain focus on the
marketing environment and should be suitable
(with minor modifications in its objective) as the
first part of a larger strategic plan.
You are specifically being asked to consider the different constituencies
that are or could be served by the area and how existing or proposed SBUs
(both within the city of Texarkana, USA and within this 9th Street area itself)
interact with these constituencies and with each other.
If you merely shoot from the hip with advice such as "plant trees,
mow the grass, and install lights," you will receive a failing grade.
Our objective is not to recommend specific tactics with regard
to specific spaces, but rather to assess why it is that this area
has declined in the past few decades and to suggest
what can be done to increase investment interest in and financial viability
for this area.
This 9th Street area is merely one SBU in a portfolio of SBUs in
the city of Texarkana, USA; we need to understand how it is
an economic asset or liability to Texarkana, USA, and how investment into the
the 9th Street area results in an overall gain or loss for the portfolio
that makes up all of the city of Texarkana, USA.
Importantly, our assessment must consider the perspectives
of a variety of constituencies, each with different priorities.
Some Important Rules:
Please take special precautions if you discuss this project
with anyone outside of the class.
Some information that has been or will be distributed or discussed in class
might be confidential.
Equally important, we do not want anyone outside of the class
to be misled by our activities, especially since several
organizations in Texarkana are working on some of the same
issues.
We must be especially
careful that anyone outside of our class understands that
this is a learning exercise for the class and that the university
otherwise has no special association with the project or the client.
Please exercise restraint when expressing personal opinions about
project issues outside of our class meetings.
Do not make direct contact with our client or with anyone who has spoken to our
class; all questions and all responses must be funneled through the professor.
Since this has caused problems in the past, you will immediately be dropped from
the course if you do so.
For a variety of reasons, you are prohibited from conducting primary research
excepting some kinds of observational research that would not reveal the nature
of our project.
You might, for example, stand on a street corner to count customer traffic of a
competitor, but you may not call competitors for an interview and you may not
conduct a formal survey.
This latter issue has caused serious enough problems in the past that I will
immediately drop you from the course if I have reason to suspect that you have
interviewed or surveyed competitors, business leaders, or prospective buyers.
(Engaging in these activities could, for example, jeopardize relationships with
business school clients, could jeopardize relationships with college donors, or
could jeopardize federal funding.)
General Report Structure:
All reports must have some sort of introduction that
explains the nature, focus, and objective of the client and of the
report to the reader.
The body of all reports must in some way
address opportunities and threats in the
environment and address the strengths and
weaknesses of our client.
All reports
must also end with some sort of recommendation.
That is, the report should lead to some speculation
regarding the outlook for our client's project,
the direction that should be set,
and possibly some suggestions regarding how strategy for this project
can be implemented (some issues of tactics).
Although some sort of recommendation is required,
most of the text of the report will be associated
with a scan and assessment of the current
environment that logically leads to a recommendation.
Note that a report that ends with a
negative outlook can be as valuable as a report that
ends with a positive outlook, although you are charged with finding a
solution if one exists.
The Assignment:
- This is a real world assignment.
The written report will be
scored in large part on the professor's perception of the
usefulness and acceptability of the report to the real
client within the framework that this is to be a situation
analysis.
A common problem is that students tend to include
irrelevant and inappropriate material in a report to show
evidence that some particular concept has been learned in
the course.
Note that a minimal requirement is that
reports be relatively free of problems of grammar, spelling,
typing, and such.
Do not fabricate material for the sake of
creating a report.
Again, remember that this is not a
creative writing assignment but is a technical writing
assignment.
- The exact format of the finished report is of your
own choosing.
Although a suggested format for a situation
analysis is attached for guidance, it is not necessary that
this be followed exactly.
HOWEVER, the attached outline does
cover the major issues that are generally important in such an
analysis; whatever format that you choose must be
appropriate for this assignment.
Other published formats
commonly called "situation analysis,"
"market analysis,"
"environmental analysis," "business plan,"
and such might or might not be appropriate and acceptable.
No two finished
reports would be the same, and it is unlikely that a report
could ever be constructed to exactly fit an imposed outline.
- ALL facts in the report must be substantiated except
those that are obviously common knowledge.
This necessarily
requires that the source of each and every piece information be
cited.
Watch for statements that lend themselves to red-ink comments
such as, "says who" or "I disagree."
For example, if a statement
is made that the local economy is likely to get better or
worse over the next five years, then the report MUST
indicate the source of this expectation.
Additionally,
related questions associated with substantiating this
statement might have to be answered, e.g., Who expects
this? How did this person or organization or publication
arrive at this expectation? How many others agree with
this expectation? How many others disagree? If the
speculation is your own, be sure that it is substantiated
with charts, graphs, tables, or figures that indicate the
source of the information contained therein.
- Information sources must be as close to the original source as possible.
For example, reporting population statistics that you found on a
Chamber of Commerce or real estate agency Web site is not appropriate
in a professional report and these third-party compilations are very
often in error.
Such statistics are easily obtained directly
from Census Bureau and you have absolutely no excuses for not
citing directly to an exact page at this original source.
- You are required to cite all sources of information.
A less obtrusive method of citing in a business report is to
list the references at the end of the report in a numbered
list: List all sources at the end of the report in
alphabetical order. Number them in this order, starting the
list with number 1.
Whenever a statement is made that must
reference that source, indicate the source by a number in
parentheses after the statement, like this (12).
Note that
the first time in a report that a source is referenced, the
number is not necessarily (1), the second is not necessarily
(2), etc.
Also note that the same source may appear multiple
times in the same report, like this (23).
If several sources
support the same statement, they should all be included like
this (4, 7, 12, 15); a greater number of sources often
strengthens an assertion.
If several statements are made
in the same paragraph that use the same source, list that
source only once after all such statements within a single
paragraph.
That is, do not source this (8) and this again
(8) for two separate issues that are included in the same
statement.
- If you cite information that was obtained from a Web site,
your reference list must provide a complete
URL to the exact page that you cite.
Since Web pages sometimes disappear, you must also
indicate the date on which you accessed the page.
(Assume that I WILL look up those references to verify
information and that I will seek out cached and archived
pages if I cannot find them. The more work you make for
me, the lower your grade.)
For more information on citing Web sources, see a recent
style manual such as APA - this information can be found
online if your notes and books from a writing course are
getting too old.
- You must submit a folder with your report which contains a copy of any
documents that you reference.
For example, if you reference demographic statistics which were obtained from
the US Census web site, then you must include a printed copy (clearly identified)
of the web page which contained that information.
- As a point of reference, an environmental report for a large established
industry could be 20-30 pages in length.
However, the practical usefulness of an environmental report is not necessarily
a function of its weight.
Different people have different writing styles; different perspectives on the
organization might require more or less detail in analysis.
Different time constraints and working environments also would necessarily yield
more or less detail.
There are times when no stone should be left unturned; this is not one of those
times.
Neatness (defined as good grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.), however, is
always important in business writing.
A minimal requirement of the report is that it be free of blemishes in
grammar, spelling, and such.
You are asked to submit a report that is no more than 20 pages in length, but
you are not asked to necessarily reach that limit.
- Please do not use any sort of report folders for the report that you
submit to me; use plain white paper with a single staple in the top left corner.
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