The Ford Company

1. The Ford Company Prepared for: client Faculty Prepaired by Team #: names

2. Plain text 12 pt font • Full justify • Refer to page 13 of the communications quick guide available on the class forum Executive Summary

3. 7 REC 3: Offer Monthly Plan for Nook 19-23 Introduction Industry Overview Main Competitors Porter’s Five Forces Industry Statistics Company Analysis SWOT Analysis Current Ratios Recommendations REC 1: Decrease Music Section, Add a Textbook Section PEST-D Analysis 1 2 3 4 5 REC 2: Restructure Marketing Strategy 6 24-27 8-12 13 14 15- 18 Table of Contents Conclusion 28 References 29-30 Appendices 31 APPX A: Comparing Current Ratios 32 APPX B: Explanations of Financial Impacts 33-35 APPX C: 5 Year Forecast 36-40

4. Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 Industry Analysis……………………………………………….………………..2-7 External Environment…………………………………………………3 Porter’s Five Forces…………………………………………………….4 Key Industry Issues……………………………………………………..5 Key Success Factors…………………………………………………….6 Opportunities and Threats………………………………………….7 Company Analysis…………………………………………………..…………8-18 Company Overview…………………………………………………….9 Company Structure…………………………………………………..10 Sales……………………….………………………………………………..11 Organizational Structure…………………………………………..12 Suppliers and Customers…………………………..……………..13 Marketing Strategies………………………………………………..14 Competitor Profile: Borders Group, Inc…………………….15 Competitor Profile: Books-A-Million…………………………16 Competitor Profile: Amazon.com, Inc……………………….17 Market Share……………………………………………………………18 Benchmarking……………………………………............…………..……19-25 Liquidity Ratios………………………………………………..….……20 Profitability Ratios………………………………………..……..21-22 Debt Ratios………………………………………………………….……23 Strengths and Weaknesses………………………………..….….24 SWOT Summary…………………………………………………….….25 Recommendations…………………………………………………………..26-44 Recommendations Overview……………………………….……27 Print on Demand…………………………………………......….28-31 Improve Customer Loyalty Program…….….……………32-35 Expand Marketing With Text Message Alerts…….….36-39 Expanding the Digital Bookstore…………………….….…40-43 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….…..44 Works Cited and Appendicies…………………………………………45-???

5. 12 pt font • Full justify • Introduction to the topic: • The purpose of the report • An overview of how you will go about presenting the material Introduction

6. Overview of the section about to cover 12pt font Intro to topic of the section. You may state your thesis for the section. Why you are covering it How you are covering it Example: The auto industry is plagued by high executive pay, operations inefficiencies, high healthcare costs etc etc. Industry profit margins have declined steadily in the last 2 decades. In this section we analyze the auto industry by conducting a PEST analysis to identify the factors contributing to the auto industry’s decline and utilizing Porter’s Five Forces Model to understand the competitive nature of the industry. We conclude this section by summarizing the findings from our analysis and indicating the key success factors critical to the success of industry’s players. Industry Analysis

7. Fiscal Year 2005 Annual Report • Market Risk • Fiscal Year 2004 Industry Analysis Narrative should be in 12 pt font Add narrative to summarize your interpretations of data and what you are concluding. The so what question.

8. Market Distribution • 1st Year Sales Figures • Our perennial 3rd Quarter boost was larger than expected contributing to an exceptionally strong year. Distribution of sales across the geographic markets looks fairly steady. • Our new product line, released this year, is early in its adoption phase. We expect to see substantial revenue contribution from these products over the next two years. • Financial Summary Industry Analysis Use 12 pt font and full justify

9. Market Share by Division • Organizational Structure • Business Process Model • Summary • On the last page of each section include a summary of the main lessons learned. The lessons learned would carry over to other sections and be linked to your recommendations. This helps the flow of the argument throughout the report. • Summaries of industry analysis may include opportunities and threats. • Example: • In summary, it is clear that environmental concerns and the fluctuating prices of oil have affected consumer demands for American cars and changed the focus of automakers on producing more fuel efficient cars. IT innovations present further opportunities to enhance consumer experiences and increase demand. Industry Analysis Section Summary

10. Overview of the section about to cover 12pt font Intro to topic of the section. You may state your thesis for the section. Why you are covering it How you are covering it Link the section to the previous section Example: The previous section identified key success factors necessary for success in the auto industry today. In this section we analyze the Ford company in light of these factors. Our analysis will include a review of Ford’s current performance and plans. We conclude this section by identifying For’s main strengths and weaknesses. (you may list the strengths and weaknesses here too). Company Analysis

11. Company background • Cost Company Analysis Make sure these headings are 14 pt font (heading level 2)

12. Summary • Summarize the company analysis by highlighting the main strength and weaknesses. Particularly, the main weakness they are facing and must address. You may reiterate the main issues by presenting the SWOT summary. Industry Analysis Summary of section

13. Summary of SWOT Company Analysis

14. Overview of the section about to cover 12pt font Link the analysis to the recommendation: Restate the main problems and opportunities identified through your analysis (and listed in the SWOT). State that you will provide a number of recommendations to address problems and opportunities. You may list your recommendations Example: As identified in our analysis, the Ford company suffers from a number of problems and opportunities. We identify inefficiencies in operations and high executive pay to be the most significant of their problems. In the following section we provide two recommendations to address these problems. Our following section will illustrate that our recommendations will decrease operation costs by 20% and company moral. Each recommendations section will conclude with a detailed financial forecast to illustrate the impact of each recommendation. Recommendations

15. Recommendation 1: Restructure Reward System • State the problem • State the solution • Why Recommendations

16. Recommendation 1: Restructure Reward System • Summary • Reiterate the problem and solution. Also restate the financial impact. Recommendations

17. Recommendation 2: Business Process Reengineering • State the problem • State the solution • Why Recommendations

18. Recommendation 2: Business Process (cont.) Reengineering • Summary • Reiterate the problem and solution. Also restate the financial impact. Recommendations

19. Restate the purpose of the report. • Restate the main findings of your analysis. • Identify your recommendations and how they might impact the company. Conclusion

20. Refer to communications quick guide References

21. Appendices