Presenttion

Moscow 2012 ECON 6215

Guidelines for the group presentations and company reports

General instructions

The scope of the reports and presentations is for you to get familiar with business strategies and conduct of major companies in the context of a global economy, to connect what you learn in class with the dynamics of the market and to improve on searching for relevant information and presenting it in a compelling way. This exercise aims to potentate your analytic and presentation skills and team capabilities, which are valued high on the job market.

Your group needs to pick a U.S. company that competes and operates on a global scale. Below there are some suggestions:

Auto: Ford

Oil: Chevron

Brick and mortar retail: Walmart

Online retail: Amazon

Chemical: Dow Chemical

Pharmaceutical: Pfizer

Beverages: Coca Cola

Food production: Archer Daniels Midland

Banking: Citigroup

Food consumer products: Kraft Foods

Electronic devices: Hewlett Packard

Internet & Advertising: Google

You do not need to pick exactly the companies/industries I mentioned but you need my pre-approval before you start researching. The industries/companies will be available on a first come first serve basis.

The presentation should touch on several fronts such as:

- general info (sales, profits, number of employees, brief history, etc) – this part should be VERY brief

- main products;

- relevant markets (in terms of both industry and countries; any new markets?; how exposed the company is to Europe?)

- main competitors (any recent changes in market shares or merger and acquisitions?)

- how would you characterize the degree of substitution between the products of the firm and those of the competitors and the degree of brand loyalty?

- easiness to enter the market

- costs advantages (economies of scale and/or scope)

- pricing techniques

- new products (how are they doing?)

- how...