For this capstone course, the core assessment is a team project that involves a

For this capstone course, the core assessment is a team project that involves a strategic analysis of a publicly held company to be administered in all sections of MG495. This team project is worth 20 percent of the student’s final grade and will test students’ mastery of the Core Learning Outcomes through a detailed analysis of managerial decisions and actions that help determine the long-term performance of an organization. It includes the environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long-range planning), strategic implementation, and evaluation and control.
The teams for the core assessment project will consist of 3 – 5 members. Each team must submit the name of their company for the instructor’s approval by midnight on Sunday of unit 1. Each team will have a designated Live Case Analysis Work Area to communicate among members and work on their project.
Case Analysis:
The final team project is worth 160 points. Keep in mind that points from Unit 3 (40) and Unit 6 (25) are part of the the final project. It is expected students will engage with their case team in the first unit and proceed with the research and their role in completing the case analysis
Required:
Executive summary
Historical overview of a company your team selects and products and/or services provided by that company.
I’m only responsible for the
E. FORECAST OF ECONOMY, INDUSTRY, AND COMPANY (20%)
Provide a forecast of the economy and industry. Do not develop your own forecast
but use one already provided by the government/think tank/industry organizations.
Using regression analysis or some other appropriate method, forecast sales for the
company.
This section is typically less than 1 page.
F. PRO-FORMA INCOME STATEMENT AND BALANCE SHEET (10)
Based on your sales forecast, develop a simplified pro-forma income statement and balance sheet and briefly discuss areas of importance.
This section is typically 1-2 pages in length.
Guides and Tips: (Overall length: 15 – 20 pages, not including references, charts, etc.)
A team must select a publicly held company where financial data is readily available. Most publicly held companies have this information readily available. You will need at least 3 years of historical data (5 – 10 years is preferred). A private company can be used if they provide you access to financial data.
Discuss the relationship between the economy and industry, and the industry and company. Keep in mind some of the material you access may be affected by world wide events such as the recent bank failures, global unrest, COVID, supply chain issues and others. This must be addressed in the paper
Provide an overview of the company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Please note that Strengths and Weakness are internal, Threats are external, and Opportunities tend to be a combination of internal Strengths combined with favorable industry/economy factors. There is a difference between Opportunities and Options. Simply copying and pasting a report from a Board report of other published documents is not sufficient. What does it mean to an organization if they have a significant threat? Or have a significant strength? Use critical thinking and justification for your responses.
Use one of the readily available forecasts of the economy versus trying to develop your own economic forecasting model. Most major industries are forecasted by the government, think tanks, and/or industry trade groups.
Use their recent information for your forecast of the industry. For the company, use historical sales data and perform regression analysis. Regression analysis for most publicly held companies will provide strong R squared and R values to be used in forecasting future sales. In those cases where R squared and R values are too low for forecasting purposes, you will have to develop your own methodology to forecast sales. Be sure and explain how you arrive at a forecasted sales value. Also, discuss what it means to an organization and the value of regression analysis. Be industry specific.
An abbreviated Pro-forma Income Statement and Balance Sheet is needed. You do no need to encompass all the variables but rather show sales, cost of goods sold or cost of services provides, and fixed costs. Other noteworthy items can be included if they are significant. Copying and pasting a financial report without an evaluation and an ability to demonstrate an understanding of the financial indicators and its impact are discouraged. Define what the numbers mean–and why they are important.
The Pro-forma should reflect at least three years of financials. Keep in mind the Pro-forma is a for m of calculating financial results based on well-founded projections. As an example, if we consider Wal-Mart and its three year projection, would we see the data help in business decisions? Growth? Stability or instability? Investor decisions? Outside threats that may affect them over the life of the Pro-forma? This helps Wal-Mart and its investors make decisions about their financial status.
Draw conclusions based on your forecast and analysis of the company including the challenges faced by the company and industry. In addition, discuss why the conclusion is valid– in other words, what literature, events, and other important information that has been previously discussed in your project allows you to draw the conclusion? Does the conclusion align with the data in the study? Does the conclusion reference the research and work done by other group members?
WRITING TIP– It is recommended that at least one person from you group will edit read for clarity and that the study flows as a document that would be presented to a Board of Directors or shareholders. You will be graded on flow, writing style (as an example, citations are consistent style such as APA) and other writing conventions expected from a senior student at Park University.
Click on the links below for the CASE ANALYSIS FORMAT/GUIDELINES FOR LIVE CASE and the REGRESSION ANALYSIS TIPS documents. Students MUST follow this format for completing the core assessment case analysis.