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Business Principles of Management Assignment Guide

Learn to use Western Library's Business databases to find information on companies and industries.

What is a Fortune 100 Company?

list iconThe Fortune 100 is a list of the top 100 companies in the United States, and is a subset of the Fortune 500, a list of the 500 largest U.S. public and privately held companies published by Fortune magazine. Fortune creates the list by ranking public and private companies based on total revenues for the company's fiscal year. Companies that appear on the Fortune 100 also must report yearly revenue figures to a government agency. The Fortune 100 list excludes foreign companies, but many of the listed companies do business globally.

What is a Strategic Plan?

chart iconStrategic planning is a key activity in the fields of business management and entrepreneurship. Comprehensive planning is key to a company's ability to not only survive, but thrive.

A strategic plan is the document used to communicate the specific goals across a company. It identifies concrete steps and day-to-day activities that helps employees understand the company's goals and their role in achieving them. A strategic plan is detailed and thorough and is able to pull the various functions of the company together so that they each align with the overall goals of the company.

 

Key Elements of a Strategic Plan

  • Vision and mission statements (What do you want your company to be doing? What is its purpose?)
  • Core values  (The company's guiding philosophy...what principles its vision and  mission?)
  • SWOT analysis (What are the current strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the company?)
  • Detailed goals and objectives (What does a company need to do transform its vision into a reality?)
  • Action plans and scorecards (How will employees track their progress toward their goals?)

How Do I Find a Fortune 100 Company's Strategic Plan?

puzzle pieces iconCompanies rarely publish formal documents about their strategic planning processes. Use the list of Key Elements of a Strategic Plan in the section above to find information that will help you shed some light on your company's planning strategies. Research the company's history, SWOT Analysis, annual (and other) reports, and use articles to flesh out more details. Piece these bits of information together to outline your company's overall approach to strategy planning.

Research Tips

Link directly to the Western Library databases listed below to research your Fortune 100 Company.  See what information is listed about your company. Some companies provide more information than others. It's a good idea to research explore what's available about several different companies and choose based on what information is available.

Research can be a little like panning for gold. You may find only a sentence or two in an article that is useful. That's perfectly normal, you're not doing anything wrong. Just keep looking. Don't feel like you have to read every article word for word, instead skim for the words you are interested in - strategy  - strategy planning - strategic plan - marketing strategy - earnings strategy - SWOT - annual report  - revenue - etc.  It all adds up.

When you find an article, even if you can only use a sentence or two in your final project, email it to yourself using the database's email or share tool, or copy/paste the permalink into a Google or Word document.  This will save you a lot of time and energy later , you won't have to repeat the search to find your article, you just have to link to it. to the document

The database, Business Insights: Global (Gale), provides detailed information on many companies and industries.  Search for your company and click on the company name in the search list to bring up the details for your company. Remember, some companies provide more information, others less.

Business Insights Global

 

 

  • Company Histories
  • Market Share Reports
  • Rankings
  • SWOT Report

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Business Source Premier Advance search

 

Use the Advanced Search feature in the database, Business Source Premiere and combine a specific subject with your company name.


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