Part 1

This week students will write the introduction of the paper.

Step 1: Select ONE firm from these options: Amazon, Boeing, Costco, Facebook, Gillette, Hachette, J.C. Penney, McDonalds, Priceline, Schick, Virgin Atlantic, and Wal-Mart.

These firms are mentioned in the textbook as business cases. It is also recommended that students read current news and use academic articles related to your topic.

Step 2: Select ONE research question from these two options:

What are the main characteristics of the business model of the company of your choice?

What are the main characteristics of the market structure of the industry of the company of your choice?

Part 2

Now that you have a research question from last week’s introduction, you should identify one article form the media or academic journals that will support your argument, as well as some empirical evidence in this sprint.Use the other sources to find your supporting articles and evidence.

This sprint supports the analysis section of your paper. If you have time, try to advance the argument you would like to do with your identified articles and empirical evidence. This can be done with a bullet page that shows the logic of your argument and the microeconomics concepts you plan to use in your paper.I will review this bullet page, and if necessary, will make recommendations to you on how to improve your argument in the following week.

To remind you, the description of the analysis section in the paper instructions is as follows:

Argument and Analysis of Empirical Evidence. The microeconomic analysis section should be the longest in the assignment.Do not include tables and figures here, those should be placed in the F section. In this section you should present the theoretical elements applied to your firm or industry and the evidence (quantitative and qualitative) that supports your arguments.

For the Business Model paper, apply key terms and concepts related to competitive advantage, profit maximization, demand and supply, production process, and cost structure.

For a Market Structure paperapply key terms and concepts related to price taker and price maker markets (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly), profit maximization objective in the short run and long run, marginal analysis, price competition, non-price competition, determination of output level to maximize profit, firm interdependence, price control, consumer surplus, producer surplus, market equilibrium.

I don’t expect that you will apply all concepts learned in this class to your research paper.

Part 3

This week you must write the entire draft of your paper.

The instructions for the structure of your paper are the following:

Paper Structure

The structure follows the sections of a short paper. The assignment should be no more than 2 pages (single spaced, Times New Roman, font 12) without including the pages for the title, references and appendices. It should contain the following distinguishable sections:

Abstract.In a paragraph explain the argument of the paper, its logic and the concepts that are illustrated in it.

Introduction. The introduction should be just one paragraph long. It should set the relevance of the topic and finish with the main question you want to answer. The introduction must end with the research question written in explicit question format.

Argument and Analysis of Empirical Evidence. The microeconomic analysis section should be the longest in the assignment.Do not include tables and figures here, those should be placed in the appendix. In this section you should present the theoretical elements applied to your firm or industry and the evidence (quantitative and qualitative) that supports your arguments.

For the Business Model paper, apply key terms and concepts related to competitive advantage, profit maximization, demand and supply, production process, and cost structure.

For a Market Structure paperapply concepts related to price taker, and price maker, markets (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly), profit maximization objective in the short run and long run, marginal analysis, price competition, non-price competition, determination of output level to maximize profit, firm interdependence, price control, consumer surplus, producer surplus, market equilibrium.

I don’t expect that you will apply all concepts learned in this class to your research paper.

Conclusion. This is the section that shows your deep understanding of your case and must be directly related to the research questions in the introduction. The conclusion should be just one paragraph long and must answer the research question explicitly. You can also expand on the implications of your answer and predict something about the future.

References. Include all references used in the assignment using APA style.

Tables and Figures. All visuals and tables are placed in this section. Follow the APA style for titles of tables and figures.

When writing your paper please consider the rubric I will use to grade the final version in week 4:

The paper will be graded based on

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (20%)Clarity of objective, introduction, conclusion and strong .