Blueprint for NO240 Business Case Study Format Option for Term Assignment
This format is needed for question 3 and optional for questions 1 and 2. Formal essay format is also an option for questions 1 and 2.
Business Case Study – 25% (8 – 10 pages; due in Week 10)
Students will research an 8-10 paper. If the business case study format is chosen, it will present the biography of the individual and/or history the company profiled within the context of their impact on business and society. Attention should be given to the personal history and leadership skills and technological ingenuity of a company’s/corporation’s/conglomerate’s founder, ongoing leadership strategies and successes or failures, whether the company has endured or been absorbed by other entities and why or why not. Overall, use the case study to analyse and discuss the importance of subject of the biography or company chosen to the nation’s regional and national economies and the respective subject’s role in shaping business culture. Subtitles may be used to indicate the shifting areas of analysis within the paper. Remember to use the required Chicago style format for footnoting/end noting and the bibliography. Companies used for the group projects cannot be used for questions 2 or 3.
Introduction (follows the cover page)
• Move from the general to the specific.
• Provide context and clarity – identify the company analysed in the case, the businessman who started the company, and your thesis.
• Indicate the general organization of your paper.
• Start numbering all pages of the assignment starting on the first page of the introduction.

Body of the paper
• Have a clear organization structure for the argument/body of the paper and follow it.
Topics to consider:
• the chosen company’s origins including personal history of the founder
• the role of the family background of the businessman, financier or inventor who started the company
• the personal business talents or innovative strategies that aided the early success of the business and/or its long-term financial success
• the importance to subject of the biography (question 1) or company (questions 2 or 3) to the regional economy and /or national economy
• ongoing leadership strategies and the successes or failures
• has the company in question endured or been absorbed by other entities?
• note the impact of the person and/or company on national, North American or global business culture
• Students may use subtitles to organize the case study.
• A minimum of 8 research sources, including one primary source, needs to be used and students are to weight their choices toward the journal articles available online via WLU or online books. Any websites must be company websites, government websites, or reputable websites like museums, libraries or universities/colleges. Do NOT use Wikipedia – it is not an accredited academic source.
• Do NOT use any format for referencing/documenting author’s findings/opinions, facts in evidence or quotations other than Chicago style footnotes (bottom of page in numerical sequence) or end notes (separate, titled, numbered page after conclusion and before the bibliography).
• Write in full sentences and complete paragraphs in the body as well as the introduction and conclusions.
• Keep a third person distance – do not use I or we.
• The first sentence of a paragraph should introduce the topic /intent of the paragraph.
• The last sentence of a paragraph should create a bridge/transition to the next paragraph.
• Use all of your sources in the paper and do not rely heavily on one or two.
• Have a minimum of 1 footnote/end note per 100-150 words in the length of the paper.
Conclusion
• Move from the specific to the general.
• Restate your thesis and summarize your point of view re the company
• Finish with a general statements or observations related to the topic or subject area.