Apply macroeconomic concepts to current and personal economic events and decisions.

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Assignment: Challenges in the Business Environment

As you have explored in this course, ongoing challenges in the global business environment are mostly attributed to unethical business practices, failure to embrace technology advancements, and stiff competition among businesses. Imagine that you have been appointed as the Chief Compliance Officer of a Fortune 500 company and must prepare a presentation for your suppliers regarding your Supplier Code of Conduct to deliver via email, webinar, etc.

For this assignment, you are to create a presentation using PowerPoint (or other equivalent software) and your research on the Fortune 500 company from Assignment 1. In your presentation, you are to summarize the important changes and explanations regarding the code of conduct that you would communicate via email, webinar, etc. The specific requirements are listed below.

PowerPoint

Presentation Requirements:

Create a six to eight (6-8) slide PowerPoint presentation in which you:

1. Summarize your chosen company’s Supplier Responsibility information.

2. In your own words, explain how each aspect of your Supplier Code of Conduct is committed to ethical business practices and society social responsibility.

3. Discuss your company’s stance on each of the following areas:

    • Empowering Workers
    • Labor and Human Rights
    • Health and Safety
    • The Environment
    • Accountability

4. Identify the key ways that your company’s Code of Conduct has changed since last year.

5. Examine the manner in which your company’s Supplier Code of Conduct helps the organization operate as a socially responsible organization.

6. Provide detailed speaker notes of what you would say if you were delivering the presentation.

7. Submit a reference page with at least two (2) quality references, from within the last 2 years, that you used for this PowerPoint presentation. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your PowerPoint presentation must follow these formatting requirements:

  • Format the PowerPoint presentation with headings on each slide and three to four (3-4) relevant graphics (photographs, graphs, clip art, etc.), ensuring that the presentation is visually appealing and readable from 18 feet away. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a title slide containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The title and reference slides are not included in the required slide length.

Specific Library Resources to help you get started:

  • Access the Strayer UniversityOnline Library here.
  • 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 for 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
  • 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.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

  • Evaluate the influences of changing economic, political, social, cultural, and technological forces on business and society.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in business and society.
  • Write clearly and concisely about business and society using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills.

ECO 100—

This assignment is aligned to this course outcome:

  • Apply macroeconomic concepts to current and personal economic events and decisions.

In addition to writing about macroeconomic concepts, it’s equally important to be able to convey your understanding of these concepts by communicating them to others. In the workplace you might do this by writing briefs (like you did for Assignment 1), creating presentations, or writing reports for your manager or team. An example final report and optional template are provided below.

For this Final Report assignment, you can build off your previous economic brief and selected industry from Assignment 1, or you can select another industry such as Finance and Insurance, Health Care, or Manufacturing, and examine one of the macroeconomic indicators or policies below:

  • GDP growth
  • Unemployment rates
  • Inflation rates
  • Interest rates
  • Imports and exports
  • Government fiscal policy and issues related to taxation, government spending, and budget deficits
  • FED (central bank) monetary policy and issues related to the FED’s mission to stabilize the economy

Example Final Report, Assignment 2 Template, Strayer Writing Standards

  1. Review an example final report.
  2. Use the optional template to help you get started.
  3. Review the Strayer Writing Standards. (See Instructions below.)

Instructions

Use Microsoft Word to prepare a Final Report that is a minimum of two to three (2-3) pages long in which you:

1. Introduce your selected industry with a brief one-paragraph introduction. Refer to the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) to review the details about your industry.

2. Assess your selected industry’s relative size and growth rate in the economy.

These macroeconomic resources will help you find the size and growth rate of your industry in the U.S. economy and/or relative to GDP:

• Real GDP – Select Section 1, then table 1.1.6 (select MODIFY to change the year range and frequency). Data is from Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

• % Change in Real GDP – Select Section 1, then table 1.1.1 (select MODIFY to change the year range and frequency). Data is from Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

• GDP by Industry – Steps:

1. Select “Interactive Data.”
2. Select “Industry Data Tables.”
3. Select “Begin Using the Data.”
4. Select “Gross Output by Industry.”
5. Select “Real Gross Output by Industry (A) (Q).”
6. Select “Quarterly” or “Annual.”
7. Select “Next Step.” Data is from Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

• % Change in GDP by Industry – Steps:

1. Select “Interactive Data.”
2. Select “Industry Data Tables.”
3. Select “Begin Using the Data.”
4. Select “Gross Output by Industry.”
5. Select “Percent Changes in Chain-Type Quantity Indexes for Gross Output by Industry (A) (Q).”
6. Select “Quarterly” or “Annual.”
7. Select “Next Step.” Data is from Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

3. Identify one newsworthy macroeconomic indicator or policy (e.g., GDP, unemployment, inflation rates, interest rates, government taxation and spending decisions, and/or FED decisions) that the industry should monitor and explain why it’s important and how it might impact your selected industry.

These resources are available to help you measure and track macroeconomic indicators and outcomes of macroeconomic policies.You’ll use one or more depending on the macroeconomic indicator selected.

• Unemployment rates – Data is from Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov).

• Inflation rates as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Data is from Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov).

• % Change in Real Exports and Imports – Select Section 4, then table 4.2.1. (Select MODIFY to change the year range and frequency.) Data is from Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

• Government receipts, expenditures, and savings – Select Section 3, then table 3.1 for total government and table for 3.2 for federal government. (Select MODIFY to change the year range and frequency.) Data is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov).

• FED Funds Interest Rates. Data is from Trading Economics (tradingeconomics.com).

4. Describe a recent trend in the macroeconomic indicator or policy. Include a graph, chart, or table that illustrates the observed trend.

5. Summarize how you think this industry will perform in the future. Provide support for your rationale.

6. This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different compared to other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. (Note: You’ll be prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials to view these standards.)

    • Your brief should include a cover page.
    • Your brief should be a minimum of two to three (2-3) pages in length (not including the cover page), double-spaced, 12-point font.
    • Your report should include a minimum of two (2) references/citations in the text.