Graded Homework

Assignment:

You
have been hired by the Board of Directors of a firm in the U.S. Specialty
Apparel Retail Industry to provide macro-environmental and industry analyses.
The time frame is late September 2016. Your assignment has two parts:

1)
What is one (1) of the three (3) most significant environmental shift or
patterns in the macro environment over the last three years and what data
supports that this pattern represents a significant environmental shift?

·
Please properly cite data sources and use only reliable data
sources.

·
Please present the data that represents the shift, data for
another time frame or geographic region to provide context for the data
presented, and use compound average growth rates for all data cited.

·
Please cite only data from the past three to five years (2012-2015
if you use three years and 2010-2015 if you use five years).

·
Please do not speculate or add interpretation of what the data may
mean beyond the data presented.

2)
Which one (1) of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model is most critical to
understanding competition within the U.S. Specialty Apparel Retail Industry and
what data supports this force represents a critical element in competition with
the industry?

·
Please properly cite data sources and use only reliable data
sources.

·
Please present theindustry data that represents the level of power of this force,
please present data for at least three elements of each force, and use compound
average growth rates for all multiple-year data cited. The firms in the
industry are: AEO, ANF, BKE, EXPR, and URBN.

·
Please use data only from the industry firms’ 10-K documents,
unless you focus on substitutes. Use data from the substitute industry firms’
10-Ks and the industry firms’ 10-Ks if you focus on substitutes.

·
Please do not speculate or add interpretation of what the data may
mean beyond the data presented within the context of Porter’s Five Forces
Model.

The
complete paper addressing both questions should be no longer than three (3)
pages. No cover page is needed and do put your name on the top of each
page. Papers are to be submitted on Blackboard by 8 a.m. on October 7,
2016 (Friday). All work is to be done on an individual basis and all
work is to be typewritten in 12 point type, double-spaced, and with margins of
1” on all sides.

Notes:

1.		Wikipedia or Investopedia are NEVERacceptable sources for graduate-level research because they are not sufficiently reliable or trustworthy.
2.		Citation is required for all sources. The format should be (author, year). The author of a 10-K is the company that issued it and the year is the year the 10-K was published/released. The publication/release year MAY not be the same as the year the 10-K covers. For example, a 10-K for a firm with a fiscal year-end of December 31, 2015 will not publish/release its 10-K until 2016.
3.		Writing well is a critical part of this course. Please be sure the answers are well-written in an active voice, please follow the recommendations in Dr. Bubba’s Writing Guide, and please ensure words are correctly spelled and used.
4.		Clarity and brevity are keys and excessive length is usually a sign of insufficient understanding of the topic. More than three (3) total pages suggests a lack of understanding of the topic or of the questions.
5.		All answers are to be submitted by October 7, 2016 (Friday) at 8:00 a.m. Answers should be submitted via blackboard. Late work will not be accepted.
6.		All work is to be done on an individual basis and all work is to be typewritten in 12 point type, double-spaced, and with margins of 1” on all sides.

Rubrics:

A
successful assignment will address all of the following issues.

Macro:

1. Is the significant
environmental shift or pattern clearly identified?

2. Is the context data clearly
presented and appropriate?

3. Are the data and context data
presented for the past three to five years accurate and in compound average
growth rate (CAGR) format?

4. Are citations present, accurate
and formatted correctly?

5. Is the data presented
well-written with brevity, clarity, and proper spelling and grammar and in the
correct format?

Industry:

1. Is one of the five forces
clearly selected and the level of power clearly specified?

2. Are at least three (3) data
points for the force selected presented?

3. Are the evaluations of each of
the three data presented clearly and correctly?

4. Are citations present, accurate
and formatted correctly?

5. Is the data presented
well-written with brevity, clarity, and proper spelling and grammar and in the
correct format?

1.