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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?

Fortune 100 Companies

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?

Strategic Planning

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?

You Will Not Find a Document Titled "Strategic Plan." Do this instead...

puzzle pieces icon

Companies rarely publish formal documents about their strategic planning processes, because they evolve and change as companies continually adapt to current market conditions. Instead,  research the company's history, SWOT Analysis, annual (and other) reports, as well use articles published over a period of time to piece  to together an outline of the strategies the company used throughout their history. This will paint a picture of  your company's overall approach to strategy planning. Use the research tips below to help you get started.

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

Business: Insights (Gale)

This library database provides detailed information on many companies and industries.  Below is an example of the listing for Apple, Inc.

screenshot Apple Inc. listing in Business: Insights

 

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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