COMPANY ANALYSIS – American Eagle Outfitters
Written Component
The written component should be approximately 10 pages in length (not including appendices or
bibliography) double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt font. The written component should
include all of the following:
Note: The point values for each section are noted below and should be used to determine the
relative length across sections.
Company Research (35) – Information about the company including, but not limited to, the
following should be provided:
A. Value-added activities and value chain analysis
B. Customer profile
C. Competitive situation (include competitors, market info, etc.)
D. External Analysis (environmental and economic factors, Five Forces (threat of new
entrants, rivalry among existing firms, threat of substitution, bargaining power of
customers, and bargaining power of suppliers), Market Life-Cycle, pportunities/threats)
E. Internal Analysis (competitive advantage, strengths/weaknesses)
F. Analysis of current financial situation (financial ratios, graphs/charts displaying the
current situation, opinion on the organization’s financial health)
Situation Analysis (10)– Give an in-depth analysis of the strategic issue you believe the
company is facing. What is the issue? How did this situation develop? What response has the
company had so far?
Alternatives (15)– Provide at least three strategic alternatives the company could use to
successfully navigate the situation in question based on the previous sections of the paper and
pros/cons of each. These must impact the entire organization and be mutually exclusive.
Recommendations (10)– Recommend which alternative should be pursued. This should include
reasons based on previous portions of the paper or information from previous courses. Make sure
this section stays consistent with prior sections.
Implementation (15)– Provide a plan for effective implementation of the recommended
alternative. This should include potential obstacles and how to overcome them. What changes
will be required in the organization? What resources will be needed and how will these be
allocated? How will success or failure be measured?
Contingency (5)– How should the company respond to potential issues that could arise or if
conditions change before the recommendations can be implemented? Utilize the process
discussed in class.
At least five outside sources (not including the company websites, or Wikipedia) must be used.
All sources must be appropriately cited in the paper. You should include both in-text
citations and a bibliography at the end of your paper. Please use APA format for your
citations. The paper should be well-organized. All information should flow and not have
obvious distinctions between sections. However, each section should have a heading. These
can follow the outline above and sub-headings should be included. Do not take an entire section
of your paper from a single source. For example, do not just copy a Five Forces analysis from
one source. The paper can be longer than 10 pages if all of the information contributes to the
analysis. However, don’t use space on filler such as definitions; if the terms are applied correctly
to the company being analyzed, definitions are not necessary. Proper grammar, punctuation, etc.
should be used. The paper should have good content, depth of research, viability of alternatives,
use of logical reasons for decision-making, and appropriate use of written language.