Order Description
Companies
Time Warner (Links to an external site.)
News Corporation (Links to an external site.)
Viacom (Links to an external site.)
Walt Disney Company (Links to an external site.)
Content
Prepare a critical profile of the company that consists of the following parts.
1. Introduction (2-3 paragraphs)
Highlight the single most noteworthy insight you gained from your research and provide an overview of your paper.
2. Conclusion (1 page)
Emphasize two or three key points about the company from a critical perspective. What do you want the reader to take away from your paper.
3. Company Operations (5 to 6 pages)
Provide an integrated piece that addresses the following questions.
What does this company do to earn revenues? Describe the industries in which the company operates. How are revenues earned in each one? Which industries provide the largest shares of revenues? Which is/are growing fastest? Pay attention to the way revenues are earned (advertising, consumer sales, business-to-business sales, rentals, licensing fees, etc.). Track trends over the past three years.
Provide an overview of major company initiatives over past three to four years (acquisitions and divestitures). Show how these fit into the company’s strategies for growth and expansion. How do these help the company earn revenues, move into new markets, increase their size in existing markets or industries, and produce synergies? Is the company trying to become bigger in one industry or moving into others? Why would it be doing that?
4. Board of Directors (5 to 6 pages)
Write an integrated profile of the company’s board of directors.
Describe major shareholders, if any, and the percentage(s) of shares they own
Critically examine the entire board, paying attention to the following questions:
Number of insiders and outsiders on the board and what this might mean for corporate governance
Ages of directors and the number of women and ethnic minority directors and what this composition might mean in terms of diversity of viewpoints present on the board.
Interlocks between the company and other major companies and what they could mean for the company.
Interlocks with governments and with NGOs (national and international) and what they could mean for the company.
Select three outside directors for additional investigation. Evaluate the reasons why these three directors might be on the board. How might they help the company? Be as specific as possible.
