Directions
The major work for this class is a term paper where you will explore MIS topics and use application
software (Word, Excel, Access) to do an analysis on a company. For this paper, you are to pick a
company based on your first letter of your first name and the stock ticker symbol. So, if your first name
starts with an A, you must pick a company that stock ticker starts with an A. The company you can pick
from has to be from the stock list below. Most but not all companies have stock tickers that start with
the first letter of the company name. Salesforce.com for example, stock ticker is CRM. There are only a
few companies not based in the United States. These companies require extra work and are only
suggested for students that have international business as their option.
Stock List
A — Apple, AMD, Amazon, American Express, Blue Apron (APRN), Adobe, Activision-Blizzard
B — Bank of America, Best Buy, Berkshire Hathaway, Boeing
C — Citibank, Caterpillar, Cars.com, Costco, Comcast, Chipotle Mexican Grill, CVS, Salesforce.com (CRM),
Cisco, Cardlytics (CDLX) – Started Trading Feb 9, 2018
D — John Deere & Company, Delta, Discover Financial Services, Walt Disney Company (DIS), Dolby
Laboratories, Domino’s Pizza, DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP), Dropbox (DBX) – new IPO 2018
E — Energizer Holdings Inc., Emerson Electric Company, Express Scripts (Buy out Pending), Edwards
Lifesciences Corp, eBay, Etsy, Equifax, Electronic Arts
F — Facebook, Ford, FedEx, Fitbit, Fastenal, First Solar, Inc., Fair Isaac Corporation, Foot Locker, Inc.
G — Alphabet aka Google (GOOGL), General Motors, General Electric, Game Stop, Gap Inc., Goldman
Sachs Group, Grubhub, General Mills
H — Home Depot, Hyatt Hotels, Hilton, Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Hershey Foods, H&R Block, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Honeywell
I — Intel, IMAX – Canada, International Business Machines, iRobot, Intuit Inc.
J — JP Morgan Chase, Juniper Networks, Nordstrom (JWN), Johnson & Johnson
K — Kellogg Company, CarMax Inc. (KMX), Coca-Cola (KO), Eastman Kodak Co (KODK), KeyCorp, Kroger
L — Lowes, Lockheed Martin, La Quinta Holdings, Las Vegas Sands, Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), L Brands
(LB)
M — Macy’s Inc., McKesson, MasterCard Inc., McDonalds, 3M Company (MMM), Monsanto Company,
Morgan Stanley, Micron, Microsoft
N — Netflix, NVidia, Service Now (NOW), Northrop Grumman, Nokia Corp – Finland, Nike Inc.
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O — Olin Corp. Oracle Corp, Ooma, Inc., O’Reilly Automotive
P — Pandora Media, Palo Alto Networks, VeriFone Systems (PAY), Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble, Philip
Morris International, PNC Bank, PPG Industries, PayPal, PetMed Express
Q — Quad Graphics Inc., Restaurant Brands International (QSR) – Canada, Qualcomm
R — Ferrari (RACE) – Italy, Raytheon Company, Rosetta Stone, Donnelley [R.R.] & Sons Co. (RRD), Ralph
Lauren, Red Hat Inc., Restoration Hardware Holdings, Red Robin, Redfin, Rite Aid, Roku
S — Sprint, Shake Shack, Schlumberger, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Snap Inc., Square, Constellation Brands
(STZ), Stanley Black & Decker, Starbucks, Skyworks, Seagate
T — Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, AT&T (T), Target, TJX Companies, Tesla, Tyson Foods, Twilio, Twitter,
Take-Two Interactive Systems
U — Under Amour, United Continental, Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT), ULTA Salon Cosmetic, United Health
Group Incorporated, United Parcel Service, United Technologies
V — Visa, VMware, Verizon, Volvo – Sweden (VOLV-A.ST, not in US Dollars), VeriSign
W — Wayfair, Walmart, Walgreens Boot Alliance, Wageworks, Wells Fargo, Waste Management,
Whirlpool Corp, Williams Sonoma, Western Digital Corporation, Weight Watchers, Western Union,
Workday, WIX Inc.
X — Exxon Mobil (XOM), Xerox Corp, Xilinx Inc.
Y — Yelp, Yum! Brands
Z —Zillow Group, Zynga, Zoe’s Kitchen, Zoetis Inc.
Work on the paper over the semester. Don’t wait until the last minute. Read each chapter, reflect on
what was said in class and in the reading and then answer the questions. Most of the students that get a
good grade on the paper start immediately and work each section as it is covered in class. Most of the
students that do not get a good grade on the paper report they wish they started sooner and worked on
each section as it was covered in class.
Some questions require additional research that is not in the book or covered in class. The library is a
place to start. You can always pick up your cell phone and call the company directly. Try to contact
investor relations. Tell them you are a college student doing a term paper on the company.
Be sure to use proper references in all material that is not universally known. Not doing references
correctly will result in a failing grade for the course and a plagiarism charge. Spend some time to learn to
properly reference. You cannot write one paragraph and then put a citation at the end. There are 10
common forms of plagiarism. Watch the Avoiding Plagiarism Video at
https://www.millersville.edu/english/for-faculty/academic-integrity/plagiarism.php.
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Your paper should be in APA (6th Edition) Format. While there is no maximum or minimum length,
expect your paper to be around 35-45 pages long plus the appendices. Many students go over 60 pages
though. If you add your Excel and Access raw printouts (which is not required) the project will be well
over 250 pages. It takes between 1-2 hours to write 1 page for many students.
Use Section Breaks where necessary, especially when placing the required graphs.
Paper Layout
Cover Page/Sheet (Use the APA Template to get started to have a head start on the formatting)
No Abstract or Keywords are necessary for this paper.
Table of Contents — (Learn to have Word auto-create and auto-update this for you). Create at least 2
level headings. The Section can be cone heading, but you need to break each section down into at least
1 more subheading.
Section 1 — Introduction (Reading Chapter 1 is recommended. It is also recommended that you answer
the last question after completing a considerable portion of the paper)
• What company are you analyzing?
• What is the company history?
• Who were the entrepreneur(s) that founded the company?
• What Sector is the company in?
• What Industry is the company in?
• Why is this company important to study based on what you learned in this class?
The following is a list of 11 Sectors (in Bold) along with the industries in each sector of the economy. Up
until last year we had 10 sectors, but real estate was broken out of financial so if you see an old list, this
is the difference. If you can memorize the sectors, you will be ahead of most business students.
Consumer Discretionary
Auto Components
Automobiles
Distributors
Diversified Consumer Services
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
Household Durables
Internet & Catalog Retail
Leisure Products
Media
Multiline Retail
Specialty Retail
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods
Consumer Staples
Beverages
Food & Staples Retailing
Food Products
Household Products
Personal Products
Tobacco
Energy
Energy Equipment & Services
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels
Financials
Banks
Capital Markets
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Consumer Finance
Diversified Financial Services
Insurance
Mortgage REITs
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance
Health Care
Biotechnology
Health Care Equipment & Supplies
Health Care Providers & Services
Health Care Technology
Life Sciences Tools & Services
Pharmaceuticals
Industrials
Aerospace & Defense
Air Freight & Logistics
Airlines
Building Products
Commercial Services & Supplies
Construction & Engineering
Electrical Equipment
Industrial Conglomerates
Machinery
Marine
Professional Services
Road & Rail
Trading Companies & Distributors
Transportation Infrastructure
Information Technology
Communications Equipment
Electronic Equipment, Instruments &
Components
IT Services
Internet Software & Services
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment
Software
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals
Materials
Chemicals
Construction Materials
Containers & Packaging
Metals & Mining
Paper & Forest Products
Real Estate
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts
Real Estate Management & Development
Telecommunication Services
Diversified Telecommunication Services
Wireless Telecommunication Services
Utilities
Electric Utilities
Gas Utilities
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity
Producers
Multi-Utilities
Water Utilities
Section 2 — Company competitive strategy (Reading Chapter 2 is recommended)
• Conduct a Michael Porter 5-Force Analysis on the industry the company is located in.
• Draw a picture of the analysis. The five forces are Customer Buying Power, Supplier Power,
Threat of Substitute Products, Threats of New Entrants, and Competitive Rivalry.
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• Write a paragraph on each force and if they are positive or negative.
o If Customers have low buying power, then this is a positive.
o If the industry/company has high bargaining power with suppliers, then this is a positive.
o If there is a low threat of substitute products, then this is a positive.
o If there are high barriers to entry, then this is a positive.
o If the competitive rivalry is low, then this is a positive.
• Give an overall rating (from 0 stars to 5 stars) based on your analysis of the industry (each
positive gets a star).
Section 3 — Data Requirements (Reading Chapter 3 is recommended)
• What kind of data requirements does the need to be successful? How is the data generated? Is
it purchases? Collected online? Do customers enter most the information or provide the
information?
• How is this information managed?
• What information does the company collect that you feel is not important or needed for the
business?
• Does the company use an omnichannel approach?
• Does the business have a showrooming problem? It is the benefit of showrooming?
Section 4 — Long Tail (Reading Chapter 4 is recommended)
• Does the company sell the most popular products?
• Does the company sell the long tail?
• Describe the company’s churn rate. How does it keep its customers?
• Does the company use any collaborative filtering?
• How would you describe the company’s brand? Is it strong? Has it been weakened due to some
event?
• Would you consider the company to be selling atoms or bits?
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Section 5 — Moore’s Law (Reading Chapter 5 is recommended)
• How does Moore’s Law affect the company?
• How is the company leveraging Moore’s Law?
• What is its policy on E-Waste?
• In 50 years from now, with Moore’s Law in effect, would the company still be in business?
• Super Small Computing — Can a small device like a Raspberry Pi be used in the business to
replace some computers?
• Super Large Computing — Can IBM’s Watson help your company or industry?
Section 6 — Disruptive Innovation (Reading Chapter 6 is recommended)
• Is the company doing something disruptive?
• Would you consider the company a disruptive innovator or giant killer?
• Or is this company a giant waiting to be killed?
• What tactics are being used to avoid being irrelevant or extinct?
• Does digital currency such as Bitcoin have a way to affect the business?
Section 7 — Amazon (Reading Chapter 7 is recommended)
If your company is not Amazon:
• Is Amazon a threat to this business?
• How might Amazon cause major problems?
• Does the company collaborate with Amazon?
• Does the company have any channel conflicts?
For papers on Amazon:
• What is the next area you think Amazon will enter? Why?
• Will they be successful?
• How will this change the industry that Amazon enters? Who will be the winners and who will be
the losers?
For All Papers:
• Design an A/B test that the company can use to improve it business.
• How can machine learning be used to improve the business?
Section 8 — Network Effects (Reading Chapter 8 is recommended)
• How do network effects impact the company?
• Are there one-sided network effects present?
• Are there two-sided network effects present?
• How did the company create network effects? Or How should the company create network
effects?
Section 9 — Social Networks (Reading Chapter 9 is recommended)
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• Describe the company’s social media presence.
• Does the company use Twitter?
• How is the company’s webpage?
• What does it do to impact people socially?
• Does the company use crowdsourcing for any of its needs?
• How does the company deal with sock puppets?
• How would you suggest your company deal with a CiscoFatty issue?
• How would you suggest this company deal with using social media for hiring? Is it acceptable to
look up applicants up on social media before making an offer? What about asking for the
potential employee’s username and password to see what they have posted before extending
any offer of employment?
Section 10 — Sharing Economy (Reading Chapter 10 is recommended)
• Describe how the company does customer engagement. (This is a different from the social
media question) How does the company get people to the phone app, social networks, or
physical stores?
Section 11 — Facebook (Reading Chapter 11 is recommended)
• How does the company use Facebook in its business?
• What is its Facebook strategy?
• Does your company have a free rider problem? Or would you consider the business to be a free
rider?
Section 12 — Rent the Runway (Reading Chapter 12 is recommended)
• Plot out the customer lifetime value (See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifetime_value for more information). You should end
up with a dollar amount that each customer will provide the company over the lifetime of the
customer.
• Take a typical customer and show how they will spend money over their lifetime as a customer.
For example, suppose I never had a dog and want to buy one. Let say there is a business that
sells everything you will ever need to for the dog over the lifetime of the dog. The lifetime value
would include, the dog, vaccines, food, medicine (like Heart Guard or Flea and Tick), Puppy
Training, Toys, Beds, Treats, Grooming, Checkups, Emergency Visits, Collars, etc.). Attach a price
to each item and add it up in Excel then copy/paste into the report.
Section 13 — Software (Reading Chapter 13 is recommended. The company’s annual report or 10K can
provide answers to this section)
• How does the company use software? What major software packages have been introduced
lately? What major software packages still need to be integrated into the company?
• Has the company had any failed technology projects that you can uncover?
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Section 14 — Software Part 2 (Reading Chapter 14 is recommended)
• Does the company use Open Source software?
• Does the company directly compete against Open Source Software?
• Does the company use Cloud Computing?
• Is or can any of the business be put up as a SaaS?
• Does the company leverage the App store?
Section 15 — Data (Reading Chapter 15 is recommended)
• How does the company use data for a competitive advantage?
• Does/Can the company use data mining to improve its business?
• Should the company’s data be private or should it be sold or shared?
• Would this company want more or less regulation for data brokers?
Section 16 — Internet (Reading Chapter 16 is recommended)
• How would a change in net neutrality affect the business?
• Would this company be for or against net neutrality? Why?
Section 17 — Security (Reading Chapter 17 is recommended)
• What security threats does the company face?
• Has it been hacked before?
• What would happen if a major hack occurred at the company?
• Does this company have any interaction with “patent trolls” or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) —
See Chapter 2?
Section 18 — Google (Reading Chapter 18 is recommended)
• How does the company use Google in its business?
• What is its Google strategy?
• Describe how the company should use Augmented Reality (AR) to create a competitive
advantage.
Section 19 — Data Analysis
The next section is going to show off your graphing skills in Excel. You will need to get 10 years
of daily stock price data for the company. If the company has not been listed on the stock exchange for
the full 10 years, get as much data as you can.
Various places on the web have data available. See Dr. Douglas during office hours if you are
unable to get data.
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The data should look like this:
The data is for Micron (MU). The Date tells you what day we are referring to. The Open is the price at
the beginning of the day when the market opens. The High is the highest the stock ever gets during the
day and the Low is the lowest the stock gets during the day. The Close is the price at the end of the data.
The volume tells you how many shares have been traded during the day.
Plot the 10-year of data as a line chart in Excel. Use the daily closing price
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