Project Objective:

The report is to be a situation analysis for Texas A&M University-Texarkana.  Your analysis must be associated in some way with the identification of a target market that will ensure meeting the university's goals, given its resources and external environment.  With the university's downward expansion and its move to a new campus that will have residential dormitories, it will be devising a long term strategic plan that must, in the shorter run, ensure a comprehensive collegiate experience without trying to be all things to all people.

Texas A&M University-Texarkana established by the Texas state legislature in 1971 as an extension campus of East Texas State University, the latter being located in Commerce, Texas.  The Texarkana campus consisted of a building on the campus of the local community college, Texarkana College.  As such, it was legislated to offer only upper division courses.  In 1996, East Texas State University and the Texarkana extension became members of the Texas A&M University system.  Texarkana, TX is located in a corner of the state, with a state border splitting a city that includes Texarkana, AR.  Only about one quarter of the geographic circle around Texarkana includes Texas.  Currently, Texas A&M University-Texarkana consists of two buildings on the Texarkana College campus, but they are physically connected and function as a single building; further expansion is not possible.

Throughout its history, a number of constraints have hindered the university's ability to respond to a changing environment.  For example, as an upper division university, Texas A&M University-Texarkana was not able to offer full four year scholarships to high school students, causing many traditional-age students to start and complete their university experience elsewhere. . The student body is average age 33, seventy percent female; without dorms, it is a "commuter" campus with a "non-traditional" student body rather than a "residential, traditional" campus  Even with state legislation that would permit the university to downward expand to become a full four-year institution, Texas A&M University-Texarkana cannot offer lower division courses on a campus that is shared with Texarkana College. 

As a result of a variety of constraints, university enrollments have remained relatively flat in contrast to a statewide and nationwide trend of college enrollment growth.  Although larger and smaller sizes of universities each have advantages and disadvantages, larger sizes create efficiencies from economies of scale, and larger sizes can create a broader product line and deeper sets of product features that are necessary for attracting students.  For example, a large proportion of its students are from the local area or drive as much as 90 minutes from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana to attend classes.  As a generalization, these students can only attend evening classes that meet for a few hours one night per week.  The result is that classroom space is largely unused during the day, sometimes being used only for a single evening class.  There is a severe shortage of classroom space at the times when these students can attend class, yet comparisons with schools that have a daytime population of traditional students raise criticism that the university is making poor use of classroom space.

The recently retired president, Dr. Stephen Hensley, was able to alleviate several critical constraints during his tenure.  Importantly, President Hensley obtained legislation that allows the university to downward expand, obtained about 350 acres of undeveloped land in an ideal location, and obtained the first road and new building on that land.  The very first classes in that new building were being taught in the summer 2008 term just as President Hensley was handing his office keys to a new president.  President Hensley retired knowing that the critical steps toward enabling the university to downward expand and to attract traditional residential students have now been completed.

The new president, Dr. C.B. Rathburn, is taking on a new campus and permission to downward expand - along with a number of associated obligations and difficult challenges.  President Rathburn must lobby state legislators and potential donors to obtain the funding necessary to build new buildings, hire the staff to run a new campus, hire new professors to teach lower division classes, and install programs that resident students require.  The path to obtaining buildings, hiring professors, and such is not easy, but it is a path that can be clearly visualized.  The path to building the infrastructure that is required for attracting and keeping new students, however, is not so clear, but it is the most critical to successful implementation of downward expansion.  Importantly, President Rathburn must be able to convince state legislators, potential donors, prospective new faculty and executive level staff, and even prospective new students that he has a strategic plan that ensures success in attracting and retaining new resident students.

Before President Rathburn can devise can strategic plans for programs that will be attractive to prospective resident students and that will remain a satisfying experience to those who apply and are accepted, he needs to consider a number of issues.  What do eighteen-year olds want as a "traditional comprehensive experience"? What resources are or are not available to provide for these needs and wants; which needs and wants could this university most effectively satisfy?  What competition exists; what competitive advantages and what sustainable competitive advantages does the university have?  Given the resources and constraints that the university has, what kinds of programs and experiences can potentially be offered to new residential students?  Given these resources and given the external environment, how should the university position itself in the marketplace to maximize enrollments while minimizing the need for obtaining resources that it lacks?

Your report should focus on an analysis that leads to a strategic recommendation, but you should also include some brief suggestions regarding the implementation of your strategy.  For example, if you conclude that the university will not be competitive without a football program, then you are obliged to show that obtaining the funding for a stadium and other related facilities is within reach and that the cost of these facilities and the staff to run them will return even more in terms of student enrollments.

Some Important Rules:

Please take special precautions if you discuss this project with anyone outside of the class.  Some information that is 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.  We must be especially careful that anyone outside of our class understands that this is a learning exercise for the class and that this is not otherwise an official undertaking of the university.  Please exercise restraint when expressing personal opinions about project issues outside of our class meetings.

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.  This 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 other organizations, business leaders, prospective students, etc.  Engaging in these activities could, for example, jeopardize our relationships with university clients, could jeopardize relationships with university donors, and if running surveys, WOULD jeopardize federal funding that our institution receives.

You are, however, expected to do outside secondary research for this project.  This could include, for example, finding demographic information that is related to estimating the size and location of potential target markets, finding information regarding industry trends, and such.  Keep copies of all information that you find because you will be required to cite all sources of information and to submit copies of all cited information with your final report. 

If you were not present in class on the day that a class client initially visited or on the day that the class formed teams, you will work in your own team of one. 

Generic Report Structure:

The attached generic outline might provide some guidance with regard to writing an environmental analysis in general, but strict adherence to this outline is not expected where not appropriate for our client's project.  This is not a creative writing assignment; it is a technical writing assignment.  Length is expected to be no more than about 25 pages of text (exclusive of appendices).

All reports must have some sort of introduction that explains the nature, focus, and objective 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 or client product.  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 organization or product, the direction which should be set for the organization or product, and some suggestions regarding how it is that the organization could go about heading in this direction.

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. 

The Assignment:

1. Students will work in teams of about five members.  An individual team member evaluation form will be distributed in another class.  If you were not present in class on the day that a class client initially visited or on the day that the class formed teams, you will work in your own team of one. 

2. This is a real world assignment.  The 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.  Remember that this is not a creative writing assignment but is a technical writing assignment.

3. The exact format of the finished report is of the team's own choosing.  Although a general format for a situation analysis is attached for guidance, it is unlikely that you could follow this exactly.  HOWEVER, the attached outline does cover the major issues that are often important in a situation analysis; whatever format that you choose must be appropriate for this assignment.  Other published report formats commonly called "situation analysis," "market analysis," "environmental analysis," "business plan," and such might or might not be appropriate and acceptable.  (Note that your orientation must be associated with discussions from our classes; many software applications and online examples are dangerously bad and would receive a failing grade in this course.)  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.

4. ALL facts in the report must be substantiated except those that are obviously common knowledge.  This necessarily requires that the source of information be cited (footnoted).  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.

5. 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 demographics, for example, 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Please do not use any sort of report folders; use plain white paper with a single staple in the top left corner.

1. Introduction and Overview

   • focus of the report
   • objective of the client
   • objective of the report
   • brief summary of the report

2. Assessment of Organizational Resources, Strengths, and Weaknesses

   • mission and objectives
   • portfolio analysis
   • resources and competencies
   • organizational weaknesses

3. Assessment of External Environmental Opportunities and Threats

   • demographic
   • sociocultural
   • economic
   • technological
   • competitive
   • political
   • legal and regulatory
   • etc.

4. Product-level Assessment

   • Consumer/customer Assessment

     • who buys?
     • why do buyers buy?
     • how do buyers make choices?
     • what are bases for market segmentation?
     • what are potential target markets?

   • Competitor Assessment

     • who are direct competitors?
     • who are indirect competitors?
     • what is the likelihood of new competition?
     • what is the intensity of competition?
     • what are competitors' advantages and disadvantages?

   • Market measurement

     • estimate market potential
     • determine potential of each geographic area
     • assess trends
     • make forecasts

5. Summary and Recommendations

   • define opportunities and threats
   • define strengths and weaknesses
   • suggest objectives or future direction
   • suggest strategy for reaching objectives
   • suggest tactics to implement strategy

Adapted from Guiltinan and Paul (1990), Marketing Management: Strategies and Programs, New York: McGraw-Hill.