• Include a cover page with your name, your company, the term, and course name.
• Begin your paper on a new page with an Executive Summary that is no more than 1 page long. Brief
instructions for writing an Executive Summary.
• Begin the body of the paper on a new page. You must use the following main sections for your final paper,
with a heading (in Ariel Bold 14 point font) for each of these sections:
o Situation Analysis
This section explores the context and background of the problem-solving situation for your chosen company,
and it should start on a new page after the Executive Summary. This is the only section that starts on a new
page! This is where you attempt to understand the organization’s goals, mission/vision, and key stakeholders,
and it will guide the rest of your problem-solving activity. This is where you should include financial background
information, a competitive overview, and SWOT analysis. Create relevant charts and graphs that will give the
reader a concise, yet complete, picture of what happening with the company at this point in time.
o Problem Analysis & Description
Use this section to explore the critical issues facing the organization and ultimately define and describe a
problem that will be your focus for the remainder of the paper. In other words, you will solve the problem
identified and described in this section in the following sections of the paper. Gather additional data to support
issues identified in the Situation Analysis, analyze that data, identify key symptoms, prioritize these symptoms,
and find connections and relationships between them, if any. Symptoms are the indicators of the ultimate
problem. They are the “gaps” talked about in the course video. Provide a clear, focused problem description by
the end of the section. Be specific. Include numbers, if you can. Back it up with data gathered during your
research. Use some root cause analysis to ensure that you aren’t mistaking symptoms for causes. Refer back
to the Situation Analysis section and note any new stakeholders and any conflicts with the corporation’s
mission and vision. As I finish reading this section, I should have a clear idea of the problem you are solving
throughout the rest of the paper. If there is no single cause for your problem, list the range of possible causes.e
o Solutions, Evaluation & Recommendation
Based on the problem described in the previous section, develop at least two possible solutions and
describe them in as much detail as possible given the constraints of the paper. This is the decision-making part
of the paper. Use a weighted-criteria decision matrix to evaluate the solutions and make an informed
recommendation. Use a Cost/Benefit Analysis as part of your decision-making, either comparing the net
benefits of the various options or to show the Net Benefit of your final recommendation. By the end of this
section, you should make a clear choice, and present a strong case for why you made that choice. Convince
the reader.
o Implementation & Success Metrics
To the extent possible, prepare a brief discussion of how your solution can be implemented.
Develop a set of measures that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of your solution in delivering
proposed benefits. Discuss when, how often, and how the solution should be evaluated.
• Your analysis must make use of a 10-K, an industry profile, as well as a variety of other relevant sources that
help you take a strong position, including data from your SWOT analysis. Don’t just rehash your SWOT
Analysis in the Situation Analysis. Write a narrative that summarizes all of the relevant information needed for
the reader to understand how you got to your conclusions about the problem identification. Imagine the reader
knows nothing about this company. Tell them enough so that the remainder of the paper makes sense. This is
a research paper, where you must support your claims and conclusions with the sources uncovered during
your research.
• The narrative body of your paper (excluding cover page, executive summary, graphics like charts, tables, and
graphs, and reference list) must be between 10 and 15 pages of text using 12-point Times Roman, with 1 inch
margins (left, right, top and bottom), left-justified and double-spaced.
• Follow APA style for citation
Sample Solution
