I need this Wednesday please thanks

Instructions:

Choose a company and product line big enough to have a professional website and plentiful information through multiple sources, but small enough to analyze properly. For example, Universal Studios as a division of parent Company Comcast is too big, but Universal Studios Theme Parks (subsidiary) and Orlando’s Islands of Adventure (product example) is perfect. Network television as a division of parent company Disney is also too big, but ESPN (subsidiary) and Sports Center (product example) works better. The only time you will need to talk about the parent companies, such as Comcast and Disney, is when you provide a brief history and look up financial information. The rest of your research will be on the subsidiary brand you chose, its product lines, specific product examples, and specific competing products.

Using the attached “Assignment 1 Template,” answer the following:

COMPANY/FINANCIAL

A publicly traded company is one that sells shares of the company to investors on stock exchanges. The value of the shares and the company’s income must also be reported publicly, making it easier for you to find the information. View the video, “Determining if a Company is Public or Private” below. Give a brief history of your brand’s publicly traded parent corporation and talk about its current position. Also, a fact or detail from the past could be important to current operations. Include the five metrics listed on the template: Year-over-year increase or decrease in stock price, comparison of stock price to the larger market, and the most recent year’s net income, net profit margin, and debt to assets ratio. For step-by-step help, see “Financial Information Source” attached below. Elaborate on the corporate structure and ownership. Focus mostly on what is happening today. Again, you will research the parent company only for financial and background information. All other research will be on the subsidiary brand and product you have chosen.

BUSINESS

What are the main product or service lines the company offers? What is a specific example of a product or service within each line? Include a description of the product line or the product as needed. Remember, your audience may not know if a product name refers to a video game, television show, album, etc. Your eventual recommendations to the company in Week 4 will focus on a single product or service line. The product/service line on which you focus may change based on your continued research and that’s okay. Your recommendations should always fit the research, not the other way around.

TARGET MARKET

Describe the type of customers, or market segments to whom the company’s products/service examples appeal. Be specific. For instance, “Worldwide music lovers of all ages” is too broad. “Electronic Dance Music fans age 17-24 in North America” is much better. Substantiate your assertions with some kind of market research data that you find. Be resourceful. There probably will not be an article that tells you exactly what you want and the way you want it. Make sure these are the product/service examples you’ve chosen to focus on in your research. See the attachment, “Market Segmentation Recap” for help.

COMPETITION

Who are your competitors? Name at least three competitors that offer similar products, appeal to similar customers, and are the same type of company. Compare Business Product/Service 1 to Competitor Product/Service A. Rank them by finding and using any one metric to assess their comparative success. For instance: revenues, profits, ticket sales, number of users or attendees, awards, or rankings by credible reviewers, etc. Avoid using stock price as a metric. See template for more. As you continue to research your brand, what else besides direct competitors do you think might compete for your customers cash and attention?

SUMMARY FINDINGS

Research leads to findings. Summarize your findings so far in 2-3 well developed paragraphs. Describe your findings (data), and note whether it was significant or not. Reference the company or division’s structure, market position, size, financial standing, products and competition. This is also a good place to note anything else about your brand that seems important but does not specifically fit into one of the above sections. Avoid editorializing: (XYZ is sure to dominate the competition for years to come!). Try to be objective in your description. Use both quantitative and qualitative data from your research.

ASSIGNMENT1 – INITIAL COMPANY RESEARCH

Student Name:

Date:

COMPANY: (Include in-text citations)

Parent Company (or Holding Company) Name:

Brand/Division/Subsidiary Name:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/confused-terms-subsidiary-affiliate-division-others-gary-kirshenbaum

Parent company structure: (begin with a brief history, mention its relationship to the brand you selected, and note its current financial position below):

Brand/Division/Subsidiary Detail (begin with a brief history, identify the CEO, and what part in plays in the success of the parent company, i.e. percent of business):

Parent company financial position (Refer to assignment attachment: “Financial Information Source” for these five financial measures. Remember to include currency and year.)

· Year over Year
(Stock price going up or down? Give stock price at beginning and end of the most recent 5-year period):

· Compare stock performance to a market index (note the percentage of change in the market index, and compare it to the percentage of change in the stock price for the same period):

· Net Income:

· Net Profit Margin:

· Debt to Assets Ratio:

BUSINESS LINES OF BRAND OR DIVISION (Include in-text citations)

Include a description of the Product or Service Line and the Product or Service example. Do not assume your decision-making client knows what “Mass Effect” is. She may be an Accounting VP, not a gamer. Emphasize benefits to potential and current customers.

Product/Service line A

Example of Product/Service line A:

Product/Service line B

Example of Product/Service line B:

Product/Service line C

Example of Product/Service C:

TARGET MARKET FOR BRAND OR DIVISION (Include in-text citations)

Complete these segmentations for each Example of the Product/Service you identified above. Segment the Market according to what you learned in Introduction to Marketing. Be specific. Avoid broad generalizations like “worldwide”, “everyone” and “all ages.”

Example of Product/Service line A:

· Geographic:

· Demographic:

· Psychographic:

· Benefits Sought by consumer:

· Usage Rate of consumer:

Example of Product/Service line B:

· Geographic:
· Demographic:
· Psychographic:
· Benefits Sought by consumer:
· Usage Rate of consumer:

Example of Product/Service line C:

· Geographic:
· Demographic:
· Psychographic:
· Benefits Sought by consumer:
· Usage Rate of consumer:

DIRECT COMPETITION FOR YOUR BRAND OR DIVISION (Include in-text citations)

Each Competitor’s Product/Service below should align with the Examples of your company’s Product/Service identified above. For example, Competitor Company 1 Product/Service below should be compared to Example of Product/Service line A above.

Name of Competitor Company 1:

Competitor Company 1 Product/Service:

Competes with your Product/Service A:

Name of Competitor Company 2:

Competitor Company 2 Product/Service:

Competes with your Product/Service B:

Name of Competitor Company 3:

Competitor Company 3 Product/Service:

Competes with your Product/Service C:

Rank the 4 companies (each Competitor Company listed above and the Company you selected for this Assignment). List the companies in order of success. Rank the most successful as #1. Include the metric/numerical evidence used as the basis of the ranking. The metric/numerical evidence can be annual revenue, annual profit, ticket sales, concert tour revenue, fan base size, twitter followers, consumer reviews, age of company, size of company, etc. DO NOT USE current stock price as a measure of success, since it does not offer the necessary context.

Ranking:

Company #1:

Company #2:

Company #3:

Company #4:

FINDINGS: (Include in-text citations)

Research leads to findings. Summarize your findings here in two or three well-developed paragraphs (a well-developed paragraph will contain 4-6 sentences). Describe your findings (data), and note whether it was significant or not. Explain what the data you found implies, or says, about your subject. Avoid overstating the importance (“XYZ is sure to dominate the competition for years to come!”). Try to be objective in your description. Use both quantitative and qualitative data from your research:

REFERENCES: (APA Format)

List at least 3 references below using the APA long form guidelines for formatting. Each reference must also have a corresponding in-text citation above to show where it was used. It must be formatted using the APA short form guidelines. Each of the five sections above (Company, Business Lines, Target Market, Competition, Findings) must include at least one in-text citation.

ASSIGNMENT

1
-‐
INITIAL
COMPANY
RESEARCH

Student
Name:
Great
FS
Student

Date:
04/21/17

COMPANY
(Include
Citations)

Company
Name:
Arthur
A.
Levine
Books
Parent
Company:
Scholastic
Corporation

Scholastic
was
founded
by
Maurice
(Robbie)
Robinson
in
1920
as
The
Western
Pennsylvania

Scholastic.
It
is
one
of
the
world’s
largest
publisher
and
distributor
of
children’s
books.
It
is
also

a
leading
provider
of
both
digital
and
printed
education
programs
around
the
world.
The

company
is
now
run
by
Dick
Robinson,
the
son
of
the
late
Maurice
Robinson,
who
strives
to

bring
the
love
of
reading
to
people
of
all
ages
(Our
History,
2016).

• Net
Income:
294,600
(in
thousands)
since
May
31,
2015
(SCHL
Income
Statement,
2015)

• Net
Profit
Margin:
37.7
%
(SCHL
Income
Statement
Nasdaq,
2015)

• Year
over
Year,
5
yr.
span:
33.6%
(SCHL
Income
Statement,
2015)

• Debt
to
Equity
Ratio:
0.5
(SCHL
Balance
Sheet,
2015)

• Stock
performance
to
market
comparison:
Scholastic
has
maintained
an
even
pace
in

the
stock
market
with
no
drastic
changes
in
the
Nasdaq,
while
its
competitors
McGraw

Hill
and
Pearson
that
are
in
the
NYSE
have
shown
how
volatile
the
2015
market
has

been
for
their
business.

Arthur
A.
Levine
Books
was
first
opened
in
1997,
the
first
book
we
published
was
Norma
Fox

Mazer’s
outstanding
novel
When
She
Was
Good.
However,
what
really
brought
them
success

were
the
Harry
Potter
book
series
by
J.K.
Rowling.

BUSINESS
LINES
(Include
Citations)

Product/Service
line
A:
Harry
Potter
(Book
Series)

Product/Service
example
A:
Harry
Potter
and
the
Sorcerer’s
Stone
is
the
first
of
J.K.
Rowling’s

first
book
with
her
iconic
main
character
Harry
Potter.
Harry
Potter
is
an
orphan
who
lives
with

his
horrible
aunt,
uncle,
and,
his
bully
of
a
cousin,
Dudley.
He
is
even
forced
to
live
in
the
closet

under
the
stairs.
However,
everything
seems
to
change
for
Harry
when
he
gets
a
letter
of

invitation
to
Hogwarts,
a
school
for
witches
and
wizards.
There
he
will
make
friends
and
fight

enemies
that
had
a
role
in
Harry’s
parents’
death
(Harry
Potter
and
the
Sorcerer’s
Stone,
1997).

Product/Service
line
B:
The
Arthur
Trilogy
(Book
Series)

Product/Service
example
B:
The
Seeing
Stone
is
the
first
book
of
Kevin
Crossley-‐Holland’s

trilogy
whose
main
character
is
Arthur
de
Caldicot.
Arthur
lives
in
the
year
1199,
and
is

impatiently
trying
to
grow
up
to
become
a
knight.
His
life
parallels
that
of
King
Arthur
and
he

finds
out
that
facing
challenges
is
part
of
growing
up
(The
Seeing
Stone,
2000).

Product/Service
line
C:
Moribito
(Book
Series)

Product/Service
example
C:
Moribito:
Guardian
of
the
Spirit
is
the
first
part
of
twelve
novels

written
by
Nahoko
Uehashi,
a
Japanese
writer.
The
main
characters
are
Balsa,
a
skilled
warrior

and
bodyguard
for
hire
from
the
Kingdom
of
Kanbal,
and
Chagum,
the
second
prince
of
the

New
Yogo
Imperial
Family,
who
has
a
spirit
living
inside
him.
The
adventure
begins
for
these

two
when
Chagum
is
chosen
to
bring
the
egg
of
the
water
spirit
to
its
home
in
a
distant
sea

(Moribito:
Guardian
of
the
Spirit,
2008).

TARGET
MARKET
(Include
Citations)

Product/Service
example
A:
Harry
Potter
Book
Series

Geographic:
worldwide
(Harry
Potter
Around
the
World,
2016)

Demographic:
Men:
18-‐34
(44%);
Women:
18-‐34
(61%)
&
35-‐54
(41%),
(Potter
fans

more
likely
to
read
Rowling’s
latest
release,
2016)

Psychographic:
likes
Fantasy

Benefits
Sought
by
consumer:
Entertainment

Usage
Rate
of
consumer:
Very
high

Product/Service
examples
B:
The
Arthur
Trilogy
(Book
Series)

Geographic:
Europe
and
North
America

Demographic:
Ages
12-‐17

Psychographic:
likes
Fantasy,
Myth

Benefits
Sought
by
consumer:
Entertainment,
Education

Usage
Rate
of
consumer:
Very
High

Product/Service
example
C:
Moribito
(Book
Series)

Geographic:
Japan

Demographic:
All
in
Japan

Psychographic:
likes
Fantasy,
Sci-‐Fi

Benefits
Sought
by
consumer:
Entertainment

Usage
Rate
of
consumer:
Very
High

COMPETITION
(Include
Citations)

Competitor
1:
Penguin
Random
House,
LLC
(Int’l
Ltd)

Competitor’s
product/service:

Magic
Treehouse
Series

Competes
with
your
product/service
A:

Harry
Potter
Book
Series

Competitor
2:
McGraw
Hill
Financial,
Inc.
(S&P
Global)

Competitor’s
product/service:
Textbook:
World
Mythology
(Plp,
2016)

Competes
with
your
product/service
B:
The
Arthur
Trilogy

Competitor
3:
Pearson,
PLC

Competitor’s
product/service:
Pearson
Literature
2015
(Pearson
Literature,
2015)

Competes
with
your
product/service
C:
Moribito
series

Company
#1:
McGraw
Hill
Financial,
Inc.
(S&P
Global)

5
yr.
Stock
Price:
+
134.6%

Company
#2:
Scholastic
Corporation

5
yr.
Stock
Price:
+
33.6%

Company
#3:
Penguin
Random
House,
LLC.

(Int’l
Ltd)

5
yr.
Stock
Price:
+
10.4%

Company
#4:
Pearson,
PLC

5
yr.
Stock
Price:

-‐
34.7%

SUMMARY:
(Include
Citations)

The
Scholastic
Corporation
is
a
very
diverse
company
with
both
educational
and
children’s

books.
It
has
always
been
a
corporation
that
appeals
to
children
due
to
the
famous
Scholastic

Book
Fairs
that
are
often
planned
at
schools.
Arthur
A.
Levine
Books
are
one
of
the
main

divisions
of
Scholastic,
and
they
include
the
famous
“Harry
Potter”
book
series.
The
standard
of

this
division
is
very
high,
so
there
is
no
surprise
in
finding
that
many
of
the
books
are
award

winning
or
recommended
for
reading
in
schools.

One
of
the
reasons
that
Scholastic
stands
separately
from
its
competitors
is
because
it
has
more

variety
in
the
different
types
of
books,
such
as
textbooks
and
children’s
books.
It
also
has
a

much
more
stable
market
than
either
Pearson
or
McGraw
Hill,
which
makes
Scholastic
a

company
that
will
probably
be
around
for
a
long
time.

REFERENCES:
(APA
Format)

About
Arthur
A.
Levine
-‐
Arthur
A.
Levine
Books.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/arthur.asp

Harry
Potter
Around
the
World.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/rowling/editions.htm

Moribito:
Guardian
of
the
Spirit.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/book.asp?book

Our
History.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/history.htm

Pearson
Literature
©2015.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS2b7y

Plp.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from
http://www.mheducation.com/prek-‐

12/program/MKTSP-‐QUN02M0.html

Potter
fans
more
likely
to
read
Rowling’s
latest
release.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

https://today.yougov.com/news/2013/08/02/20130731-‐potter/

SCHL
Competitors
|
Scholastic
Corporation
Stock
-‐
Yahoo!
Finance.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,

2016,
from
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=SCHLCompetitors

SCHL
Income
Statement.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/schl/financials?query=income-‐statement

SCHL
Balance
Sheet
|
Scholastic
Corporation
Stock
-‐
Yahoo!
Finance.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,

2016,
from
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=SCHLBalanceSheet

SCHL
Income
Statement
|
Scholastic
Corporation
Stock
-‐
Yahoo!
Finance.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April

10,
2016,
from
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=SCHLIncomeStatement

Scholastic
Book
Fairs.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/

Seeing
Stone,
The.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/book.asp?bookid=64

The
Magic
Tree
House
Library:
Books
1-‐28
by
Mary
Pope
Osborne
|

PenguinRandomHouse.com.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
April
10,
2016,
from

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215254/the-‐magic-‐tree-‐house-‐library-‐
books-‐1-‐28-‐by-‐mary-‐pope-‐osborne-‐illustrated-‐by-‐sal-‐murdocc/

Market
Segmentation

MARKET SEGMENTATION is an integral part of a company’s marketing strategy. It is the
process of breaking down a larger target market into smaller, more like-minded groups of
customers that you can more efficiently market to. Both consumer-oriented and business-
oriented companies should segment customers using one of several common approaches.

DEMOGRAPHIC
Includes age, race, gender, marital status, occupation, education and income.

GEOGRAPHIC
Specifies a certain community, state, region, country or group of countries. Global
businesses must decide whether to maintain a universal message or tailor messages to
each country’s marketplace.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC
identifies consumers based on interests and activities. Often coincides with how
consumers see themselves, or how they identify with a lifestyle.

BEHAVIORAL
Based on user behaviors. Usage rate refers to frequency. Some may use the product daily
while others use it weekly, monthly or infrequently. Benefits sought refers to what
satisfaction the user gets out of the product. It is usually emotional at its foundation, such
as pride, joy, belonging, etc.

Finding
Information

For company history, position, strategy and mission; for their
community or ecological considerations –

• Company websites
• Annual reports
• Corporate Social Responsibility reports

For economic and financial information –
• Yahoo Finance
• Stock Exchanges: NYSE, Nasdaq, London Stock Exchange
• US Department of Labor
• Ward’s (for private companies)

For sociological and demographic information –
• US Census Bureau
• Nielson and Claritas (review My Best Segments)

For technology, politics and current events –
• Full Sail Library for industry and academic journals
• Wall Street Journal
• All major network news sites (CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox)
• TechCrunch (blog- must click through)

For global markets –
• CIA World Factbook (economic, financial, political, legal,

sociological, demographic, etc.)
• World Bank (economic, financial)
• International Monetary Fund (economic, financial)
• Reuters news agency

This is a starting list. Feel free to seek other sources that work for you.

http://finance.yahoo.com

https://www.nyse.com/index

http://www.nasdaq.com/

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/home/homepage.htm

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/statistics/

http://find.galegroup.com/gdl/help/GDLeDirWardsHelp.html

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/top10s.html

http://www.claritas.com/homepage.html

https://orgsync.com/50450/custom_pages/72

http://www.wsj.com/

http://techcrunch.com/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/

http://www.worldbank.org/

http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm

http://www.reuters.com/

Locating Financial
Information

These are the five things you’ll need to know to complete your Week 1 research:

• Look at Year-over-Year (YoY) to see if stock price is improving. By how much?
• How has the stock price done compared to market indices? Better or worse?
• Net Income = a company’s revenue after paying expenses
• Net Profit Margin = the percent of income left after expenses.
• Debt to Assets Ratio = the percent of a company’s assets owed to others in

the form of outstanding debts.

This document will walk you
through exactly what to do to
get these numbers.

As you find these numbers,
keep in mind that financial
statements report them in
thousands.

That means if the Net Income
looks like $31,000 on the
financial statement, then the
company really made
$31,000,000.

You would show this in your
research as $31 million.

Here’s what the top part of the finance home page looks like:

You’re not sure if your parent company is publicly traded? A quick Internet search will help
you discover if, and on what stock exchange. Once you know it’s public, you’ll know you can
locate all the required financials.

Yahoo.com. has some of the best, most complete and most accessible financial information
available in one place. Click on the Finance icon to get to “Finance Home” shown below.