According to the textbook, the current world economy is increasingly becoming integrated and interdependent; as a result, the relationship between business and society is becoming more complex. Use the Internet to research a Fortune 500 company of your choice. Use a tablet, smartphone, laptop, desktop, or traditional video recorder to record a maximum five to seven (5–7) minute dynamic video on the topics detailed below. Alternatively, you may submit a four to six (4–6) page paper instead of the video submission.
Note: If you are using a tablet or smartphone you will need to email the video file to yourself, then save it to a computer in order to upload to Blackboard. You may want to upload your video to a file sharing service, such as Dropbox, if your email will not let you send a large video file. Dropbox is accessible from all smartphones and tablets from the Dropbox app.
Once you are ready to upload your video to Blackboard, view the Kaltura video tutorial found in your online course shell
(Week 4). Please use the following naming convention in the popup window for your video once it is finished uploading:
Title: Your First Name, Your Last Name – Social Performance of Organizations
Tags: BUS475, Social Performance
Description: First Name, Last Name – BUS475 Assignment 1 (Date Uploaded ex. 1-14-2018)
Prepare and present a video that is a maximum of five to seven (5–7) minutes OR write a four to six (4–6) page paper in which you:
- Specify the nature, structure, and types of products or services of your company, and identify two (2) key factors in the organization’s external environment that can affect its success. Provide explanation to support the rationale.
- Suggest five (5) ways in which the primary stakeholders can influence the organization’s financial performance. Provide support for the response.
- Specify one (1) controversial corporate social responsibility concern associated with your company.
- Submit a reference page with at least four (4) quality references that you have used for this presentation / paper.
Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.
If you choose the written paper, your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Analyze the relationship between business and society, and the ways in which they are part of an interactive system.
- Recommend ways stakeholders can influence the destiny of both business and society.
- Analyze the various primary and secondary stakeholder groups, their roles, and relationships.
- Compare and contrast the concepts of corporate social responsibility and citizenship.
- Analyze ways ethical challenges affect the multiple functions of business.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in business and society.
- Write clearly and concisely about business and society using proper writing mechanics.
Specific Library Resources to help you get started:
- The Strayer University Library is accessible at research.strayer.edu.
- A general introduction to the Strayer Library is available in your course shell on the left-hand menu under Research-Library.
- Introductory Search – Use the home page’s search box to keyword search many, but not all, databases.
- Targeted Search – Scroll to the bottom of the page for an A to Z listing of all databases. Float over each link to see a description of the database and click to load that particular database’s custom search page. Custom search pages include both basic and advanced search options.
- These databases are only partially searchable through the general search bar. You will have to search them individually to find resources for your paper.
- Nexis Uni – This contains legal information and would be useful to search for court cases in which your company has been involved.
- Video Explaining Nexis Uni
- Mergent Online – This has company info on both public and private companies. Fortune 500 can be public or private. Mergent is known for financial and accounting info, but also has qualitative information too. They offer news feeds, country reports on business environments, industry-wide reporting, company reports, and Annual Reports—the middle 3 are unique to this database. Starting with looking at a company’s annual report would be very useful for this assignment. Industry reports would also be useful to see if your company is involved in any industry-wide initiatives or is notable in its industry in any way (could be good or bad.)
- American City Business Journals – This is probably the most fun way to read business news by metro area. They have over 35 journals based around US cities. Look up the metro area your company is associated with, go to ACBJ, then choose the applicable city, and search for news articles.
- Research Starters are like the academic version of Wikipedia. Search on a topic to get an overview with links to other information within that topic. It will help you get ideas for keywords for your own searches and what you need to know in order to successfully write your paper.
- Note – This is an exception example. Research Starter articles do appear in a feature box above the results list when using the general search box on research.strayer.edu.
- Don’t stress over writing papers! Watch this video on writing papers and essays. Topics include how to start your research, how to organize your research, how to draft your paper, and how to revise it.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the rubric.
I will not be using a video.
