Company Report

The first step of the 'Dream Job' assignment was to identify a company you would like to work for after you graduate from Penn State, and this is what you did when you turned in your job advertisement. The next step is to research that company and the industry thoroughly. The more information you can collect on the company and the industry in which it is active, the more precisely you will be able to tailor your application letter and resume to the requirements of the company. Researching the company is also essential to succeed at that crucial job-interview once you get past the first stage. Please answer as many of the questions below as you can.

• Is your company a public or a private company?
• Is the company part of a larger firm? What other companies are owned by the same conglomerate?
• What are your company’s main and subsidiary lines of business? What products or services does your company sell?
• Where does the company operate? What geographical markets does it cover?
• Who are its primary customers?
• Who are its primary competitors?
• What were the revenues and profits for this company for the last three years?
• What market share does the company control?
• How many employees does your company have? How many major divisions does the company have? Who are the top leaders of the company?
• Has your company participated in any major mergers/acquisitions in the recent past (within the last two years)?
• How do you rate the overall profitability of the industry in which your company is active? Are there technological challenges, for example, a new technology that may threaten your industry? Are there regulatory challenges?
• How do you rate the business prospects of the company in the next few years given all the above information?You need to go beyond a mere recitation of facts in this section, toward a more analytical or evaluative approach to the data you have collected.

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/crsweb/docs/comm/RTV.HTM

A very comprehensive source of company information is the web-site of the Securities and Exchanges Commission, the federal agency that maintains financial records for all public companies. (http://www.sec.gov). So if your company is public, you may want to look up the searchable EDGAR database on this web-site. EDGAR allows you to search by company name.

• Go to the web-site, and click on the button which says ‘Filings and Forms (EDGAR)’.
• You may then click on ‘Search for Company Filings’ in the list. This will take you to another page which says ‘Search the EDGAD Database.’
• Click on 'Search Companies and Filings' under 'General Purpose Searches'. This will take you to a page where you can enter the name of your company to search for its filings.
• Enter name of company. Note that records are not maintained for subsidiaries of larger companies. So, if you want to find information on CNN, which is owned by AOL Time Warner, you will need to do a search with ‘AOL Time Warner’ and not with ‘CNN.’ If you do not know the exact name of the company then you need to first find this information from the company web-site or other sources.
• What you need to locate is the Annual 10-K report for the company for the most recent financial period. This contains a lot of the information you will need including the financial documents we discussed in class (balance sheet etc.)

http://www.lias.psu.edu/alartpsu.html

You are required to locate at least five print sources for information on your company. Web-sites do not count for this requirement, though you may use them to collect information.

Once you have compiled all the information you need, the next step is to write the report. Please keep in mind the following guidelines:

• The report should be a minimum of 5 pages long, double-spaced in Times 12 pt. font.
• Remember to cite your sources using any commonly accepted citation system: APA, MLA, or Chicago Manual. As mentioned above, you must locate at least five print sources for your company.
• Please note the due date above for the company report. Late submissions will be subject to the late policy as announced in the syllabus.
• Points will be primarily awarded on the basis of the information content of your report. The assignment you turn in should show clear evidence of the research you have done into the company and the industry.
• Presentation too is very important. Poor grammar and composition indicate not just lack of effort, but also a casual attitude toward the assignment. Please make full use of the spell-checking utilities available with most word processing packages.

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