In the past year, there have been a number of major news stories involving compa

In the past year, there have been a number of major news stories involving companies, their strategic challenges, and choices that they have made. For this paper, you will review and analyze a news story to suggest factors that may have influenced the decisions that were made.
Topic
Select one topic/news story from the following:
UBS acquires Credit Suisse
Federal Trade Commission and 17 states charge Amazon with antitrust
Hollywood writers and actors strike
Bud Light replaced by Modelo as best selling beer in USA
Disney cancels plans to invest $1billion and relocate 2000 jobs to Florida
Merger of Kroger and Albertsons
Yellow Corporation files for bankruptcy
Mondelez faces boycotts in Europe
Meta launches Threads
Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
Chevron purchases Hess Corporation
(This list will be updated from time to time during the semester with additional options.)
Organization and Content
The first section of this paper (around 300-500 words), should summarize the facts of the story and history behind the decisions that led to the story. Use at least four published news reports, written by at least three different authors. Sometimes the first “breaking news” story has limited information, and stories written a few days/weeks/months later include more thoughtful and detailed analysis. The sources used and cited should be reputable, e.g., The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Barron’s, etc. – sources that employ journalists and editors that are concerned about factual reporting. With many of the stories, there may also be highly relevant and useful disclosures in government documents and company filings, such as 10-K and 10-Q reports. It is fine to also use and cite additional sources such as blog and social media posts or other online content, as these authors can sometimes provide interesting perspectives and analysis. (Please see further discussion on sources later in this document.) The point of the research underlying this section of the paper is to get a balanced, factual, thorough, and insightful understanding of the story.
The second section of this paper (around 1000 words) should analyze the story using concepts from this strategic management course. For example, if the story is about a merger, some discussion about what each firm is bringing to the merger would be appropriate, including their competitive positions (concepts from Chapter 2), their distinct capabilities (Chapter 3), their strategies (Chapter 4), and how this acquisition fits with the theories/concepts/frameworks/models regarding mergers as described in Chapter 7. This is just an example, and whether these particular chapters or others (e.g., Chapter 8 on international business) are most relevant will depend upon the particular news story. In this section of the paper, you might also decide to use some concepts from other courses (e.g., the 4 Ps in Marketing, monopolistic competition from economics, financial structure in Finance). Be sure to cite specific sections (and preferably pages, although not all ebooks have page numbers) of textbooks when describing these theories/concepts/frameworks/models. Beyond the textbook, organizations such as McKinsey and Harvard Business School may have publications that provide insight. (Using Business Source Ultimate (available through the Chester Fritz Library) may be helpful in finding sources for both sections of this paper.) Since there are many different ways this analysis might develop, depending on the story, instructions any more specific than this could perhaps be more confusing than helpful. Each situation is different, e.g., the reasons behind UBS’ decision to acquire Credit Suisse are very different from the reasons underlying Disney’s decision to cancel a planned expansion in Florida. The main goal of this section of the paper is to be able to “explain” the logic of the decisions underlying the activity described in the news story, applying theoretical concepts you have learned in your undergraduate business coursework. Once again, a company’s filings (e.g., a 10-K) in a prior year might identify risks that pertain to the story, and contributed to certain decisions.
Information Sources
When finding and utilizing sources of information, please be careful to use reputable and balanced sources. (While it is acceptable to utilize and cite sources like UK Essays, Fern Fort University, and Course Hero, it is important to do your own thinking and analysis.) Online you can find many websites that have SWOT, PESTEL, Five Forces, and other analyses of a company (which may be outdated or irrelevant to this news story). You can also find student presentations done for a class assignment that relate to this story. Copies of “example” papers from companies that provide “contract cheating” services (they will write a paper for students for a price) are also available online. There is nothing stopping you from looking at these sources for ideas, and if you use the sites to inform your thinking, the sources should be listed in the references at the end of the paper. However, just because some student at WooHooU wrote something for a marketing paper, doesn’t mean it is accurate or relevant. They may not have done a good job and gotten a D on the paper. Feel free to use any source of information you find helpful and provide a reference for sources that inform your analysis. However, the quality of your paper will be affected by how carefully you evaluate the timeliness and quality of the sources you choose to rely on for factual information and/or thoughtful insights. Just because “Brandon B” says supplier power is low in the airline industry and that is why a supplier is launching a revolutionary new product, doesn’t make it a “fact” you should rely on. If you cite something that is just plain wrong or outdated, you will lose points. Focus your research on finding reputable sources of information, not just the first 10 that are pop up when doing a search with Google.
This paper should be developed uniquely for this assignment, and not recycle information or analysis anyone put together for another assignment. Do not “recycle” work done in another class. It can be appropriate to discuss the topic with a librarian for help in gathering information, and with a consultant at the writing center for assistance with writing or referencing of sources. Friends, former students, and family, unless they work for the company and can provide good background information, should not be consulted. Please refer to the section of this syllabus on Academic Integrity for further information on avoiding plagiarism.
Format and Style
The entire paper should be submitted as one document in Blackboard, in the .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. The formatting and style of the paper should follow APA guidelines (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association). The library or the writing center can provide assistance. There are also a number of sources of information regarding this standard, including https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars and https://libguides.csun.edu/research-strategies/apa. If the paper is not submitted in one of the stated file formats, and/or misses some important features of the APA style guide (especially related to citing and referencing sources), points will be deducted.