ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY AT SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY

PROJECT #2:
INDUSTRY, COMPANY, COMMODITY CHAIN ANALYSIS

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN!

 

RATIONALE
The purpose of the second project is for you to analyze the geographic, business, and economic characteristics of a manufacturing industry of your choice, a company that participates in that industry, and a product that the company produces. Unlike the first project where your scale of analysis was very well-defined (e.g., a country), the scale of analysis in this project is much more complex. Most industries are, at some level, international in scope and scale, while, at the same time, companies acquire their inputs, add labor, and market products at scales that range from the local to the global.

To accomplish your goal, your mission is to pick an industry that interests you, and to first analyze that industry on a national, and if possible, international scale. Second, you will pick a major company that competes in that industry and analyze the company's operations from a both a geographic and business perspective. Finally, you will pick a product that the company produces and perform a "commodity-chain" analysis, following the finished product from "mine to market" so to speak. By the time you complete this assignment, you will have developed the skills needed to conduct simple industry, company, and product research, and further, developed a practical understanding of how business and geography "mix" within the global economy.

ASSIGNMENT
Write a brief (5 page, single-spaced) memo describing the key geographic and market characteristics of an industry of your choice. Choose a company, and analyze their geographic and marketing strategy (i.e., how and where in the world do they compete). Finally, choose a product that the company produces and perform a commodity chain analysis that describes where the raw materials come from, what type of manufacturing/other processes are involved in producing that product (and of course, where those activities take place), and how and where the final product is marketed.

Support your five page memo with a series of attachments as you see fit.  Unlike the first memo for which I told you specifically what data to collect and how to present it, this time the choices are yours. The only restrictions are that you must include at least one map, one table, and one graph (though I strongly suggest more than just three attachments). Again, try to be as creative as you can as to the information that you collect and the ways in which you present it. As always, refer to the Introduction to Memo-Writing for details regarding form and style. All of the same formatting (and citation) rules that you followed for project #1 apply here as well.

THE MEMO (5 [maximum] page single-spaced pages following the guidelines in the Introduction to Memo-writing ) :

You have three critical tasks to perform in only 5 pages. You will have to choose the precise amount of space to devote to each, but make sure that you do a complete, but succinct job at each.

The Analyses

Your three tasks are to:

The first thing that you will need to do is choose an industry, and I prefer that it be a manufacturing industry. It is critical that you pick something you are interested in. Once you and your partners have decided this, do some initial research, but be prepared to change your focus. You may find that it is more difficult than you thought to gather information on one industry, but easier on another you are interested in. Trial and error is o.k., but you need to start thinking about this project right away so that you don't find yourself stuck with little time to work on it.

As you analyze your industry, you may want to think about some of the following to guide your research:

  • How do you define your industry? This is critical for your analysis. For example, if you chose airlines (which you can't because they are a service industry) is the industry "airlines" or is it "transportation"? There is a big difference !!
  • What is the history of the industry and how did it develop?
  • What major firms compete in the industry -- where are they strong? What are their histories ? While you are going to be choosing one company to focus on, it is often useful to talk about other major players too in order to give your reader a better idea of how the industry operates.
  • What are the major product lines in the industry ?
  • What can you say about the geographic scale and location of the industry in the USA and elsewhere?
  • What are the current trends, debates, and issues in the industry?
  • What kinds of facts and figures can you provide to give the reader a sense of how the industry operates ?

For this assignment, however, perhaps the most useful set of information sources will be more specialized data bases. These can be accessed by clicking on "Databases" at the library home page. For this, access Shippensburg University's business-related databases (go to the main database page and click on "Databases Listed by Subject"). There you will find a number of information sources that will help you find articles on your industry and company. PLEASE NOTE: SOME OF THESE RESOURCES MAY ONLY BE ACCESSED BY COMPUTERS CONNECTED TO THE UNIVERSITY NETWORK. Be prepared to spend some time exploring this set of resources.

Another way to conduct your research is by developing your own Web searches using Google, or other well-known search engines. Experiment with various keywords to see what you come up with.

If you are interested in getting a "bird's-eye" view of where in the United States establishments and companies in your industry (defined in a very general sense) are located, you might want to look at County Business Patterns produced by the U.S. Census. Similar data and much more can be found on the 2007 Economic Census Page also produced by the US Census. This page will also give you information on how each manufacturing sector is defined and the kinds of activities that fit into various categories of activities. Note that these pages will only give you general information on the nature of various industries and where they are located in the USA -- but they will help to provide you with perspective and a context within which to work.

As you "drill-down" and focus more specifically on the company and the particular product of your choice, you will almost certainly want to contact your company directly. Perhaps the best place to start here is to find their Web Site. Frequently, various documents (such as annual reports) will be available to help you. Also look for contact information. Most companies have public relations offices that are responsible for dealing with inquiries from consumers and researchers. But make sure you have done your homework before you call -- that is, make sure that you have conducted preliminary research so that you know enough to ask the right questions. It is probably a good idea to contact some of your company's competitors as well, as you may be able to find additional "inside information" out about your industry. Often, company representatives will have literature that they can make available to you, so be sure to ask. By utilizing some of the Library "business" resources (mentioned above), you will also be able to type in your company or product/brand name to find additional information.

At the most focused level of detail you will be focusing on a specific product (or very narrow product line) and conducting a commodity chain analysis of it. Knox and Marsten (2000: 86) have defined a commodity chain as "networks of labor and production processes whose origin is in the extraction or production of raw materials and whose end result is the delivery and consumption of a finished commodity". I would like you two fill in the details of the commodity chain for your product. What are the inputs and where do they come from? What processes are necessary to transform the raw materials into a finished good, and where do these activities take place? And how / where is (are) the product(s) marketed.

The Attachments

Again, you will probably be basing a lot of what you write in the memo on the attachments that you create. You will need to walk a fine line here, however. If you include too many attachments, the reader will never look at them all. If you put too few, you will not be able to tell your story as effectively as you would like. It will be quite likely that you have so much information that you will have to make difficult choices about what to include and what not to include, and, what the best way is to represent your data. As stated above, the only restriction on your attachments is that they must include at least one map, one table, and one graph, though again, I would suggest you strongly consider more than that. Again, all of your attachments must have citations and you need to be sure to discuss each of them in the text of your memo.

SUMMARY

 Remember that the objective of the memo is to provide me with the information I need about your industry, company, and product by conveying the information that you, as an industry/product expert, think is most important. Remember to offer a solid summary at the end of your memo. This memo will be challenging because you will have many more decisions to make than in the first memo about what to analyze and how to analyze it. I suggest that you start this project right away.

Read over the introduction to memo-writing and follow the guidelines in Citing Your Sources before you begin so that you don't miss any administrative details.  Don't forget to spell-check and proofread, and do not hesitate to come to me with questions.

Good luck! I will look forward to reading and hearing about what you have found.

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