The objective of this assignment is to emphasize the importance of an organizati

The objective of this assignment is to emphasize the importance of an organization’s culture – its mission, vision, and
values – while learning how these are translated into organizational actions.
Choose a company that you are interested in. It may be your current employer, a company that you admire, a company
that you would like to work for – it doesn’t matter why you choose this company. However there ARE two requirements:
1. The company must be a publicly traded company. That means the company must be listed on the NYSE or
NASDAQ stock exchange.
2. You cannot choose Amazon, Bank of America, Caterpillar, Continental Group, General Electric, General Motors,
or Tesla.
For your chosen company:
• Identify a competitor. “Competitor” means another company in the same industry. The competitor must also be
a publicly traded company. That means the competitor must be listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ stock exchange.
• Briefly describe your chosen company, competitor, and the industry.
For each company:
• Summarize the company’s mission/vision/purpose. What is the company attempting to do? Identify one
example of how the company is executing its mission/vision/purpose.
• Summarize the company’s values. What principles guide the company in how its mission is accomplished?
Identify two examples of how the company is demonstrating its values.
• Discuss the company’s organizational structure in terms of its leadership team, customers, markets,
product/service offerings, and key functions. Explain how the structure supports the company’s
mission/vision/purpose.
Considering both companies:
• Compare the mission/vision/purpose for the companies, both similarities and differences.
• Compare the values of the companies, both similarities and differences.
• Discuss which of the values a small start-up company should adopt and why.
• Compare the organizational structures for the companies, both similarities and differences.
This is an individual assignment, not a team activity.
You cannot re-use work that was submitted for another course or previous section of this course.
You will submit your work via a Canvas assignment, which checks submissions for plagiarism potential. The use of
generative artificial intelligence (AI) is not allowed for this assignment; your work will also be checked for AI-generated
text. Both plagiarism and use of generative AI for this assignment violate ASU’s Student Academic Integrity policy and
will be managed in accordance with that policy.
Writing Support at ASU
You can find information on writing centers, for both undergraduate and graduate students, and other writing resources
on the Canvas course for this class.
Writing Guidelines
Your ability to communicate clearly through language is part of the grading criteria. Your work will be evaluated on your
ability to organize your writing, demonstrate original thought, develop ideas, and apply critical thinking. Do not simply
provide a bulleted list of answers to the requirements.
• Use appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation. No first-person narratives!
• Write in your own words; do not simply “copy & paste” from your references.
o If you quote material with in-text citations, be mindful of the proportion. You must provide context and
interpretation. The #1 area for deducted points is lack of original thought.
o If you use material without appropriate attribution, you are committing plagiarism. This is an Academic
Integrity violation, and it will be managed in accordance with that policy.
• Cite your sources of information and provide references using the Chicago style “Author-Date” system. This is
the #2 area for deducted points.
Grading Criteria
The assignment is worth 100 points. The following criteria will be used to evaluate your work:
Item Requirement Points Page Limit
Cover Page • Assignment title, student name and date 5 1
Brief
Descriiption
• Descriiption of chosen company, competitor, and industry 5 1
Chosen
company
and
Competitor
For the chosen company and a competitor:
• Summary of mission/vision/purpose, with example
• Summary of values, with examples
• Discussion of organizational structure
40 pts
No more
than 12
pages for
these items
Both
companies
For both companies:
• Comparison of mission/vision/purpose
• Comparison of values
• Discussion of values for small start-up company
• Comparison of organizational structures
40 pts
List of
References
• Complete and correct bibliographic information.
• The required citation style is the Chicago style “Author-Date” system.
More information here: ASU Libraries – Citation Styles: Chicago,
Purdue OWL and Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide
10
Unlimited
Appendix • Includes any supporting material that may be useful to the reader
but is not necessary to include in the main body of the report.
• Any material in this section should be referenced within the main
body of the report.
0
Unlimited
Format Requirements
Your work must conform to the following format requirements.
File Type Word. Other file types will not be graded.
Font Times New Roman, size 12 pt, must be used for the text portion of the document. Larger sizes may be
used for headings and titles, and smaller sizes may be used for footnotes and illustration callouts.
Layout Standard margins, line spacing, indentation, and paragraphs; One column; with a page number on
each page.
Figures and
Tables
• Every figure and table should have a label and caption (e.g., “Figure 1: …”,“Table 1: …”)
• Every figure and table should be referenced within the text, including those in an appendix
Potential Sources of Information
Be sure to cite information sources and to include those sources on a list of references. Do not cite Wikipedia, or any
other encyclopedia, as a reference. You will lose points. Go to the list of References and Further Reading and read the
original material.
Company Information
Find the company’s web site and look for: “About us,” “Shareholder or Investor Information,” “Leadership Team”, “Who
we are,” “Products,” “Businesses,” “Markets,” “Corporate responsibility,” “Corporate citizenship,” “Code of Conduct,”
“Sustainability,” “Ethics, Corporate culture,” or similar.
Competitors
Company stock reports (potential source: nasdaq.com) are one way to identify competitors. So are recent articles in the
Wall Street Journal or other business periodicals