Written Assignment #3 - Who is your competition

Written Assignment #3:  This should be at least three full double-spaced pages.  Reference your eText and at least one additional scholarly source to demonstrate critical thinking. See note below about non-academic websites.

1. Who is your competition?

2. Have you conducted a SWOT analysis?

3. What is the customer profile for your product and/or service?

4. How will you identify prospective customers?

5. What geographic area will you serve?

6. What are the distinguishing characteristics of your product and/or service?

7. What steps have already been taken to develop your product and/or service?

8. What do you plan to name your product and/or service?

9. Will there be a warranty?

10. How will you set the price for your product and/or service?

11. What type of distribution plan will you use?

12. Will you export to other countries?

13. What type of selling effort will you use?

14. What special selling skills will be required?

15. What types of advertising and sales promotion will you use?

16. Can you use the Internet to promote your company and product/service?

Non-academic websites are not typically recommended for academic writing. While most of the information generally is correct, it is not always reliable because anyone can change the content and it is not peer-reviewed. ??For example, it's best not to use news websites, Wikipedia, investopedia.com, about.com, smallbusiness.chron.com, ehow.com, forbes.com, cnn.com, online encyclopedias, or similar non-academic websites for assignments and discussions.
?Instead, it adds much more credibility to use the class text, other related textbooks, and scholarly journals and articles.  These are credible sources that are usually peer-reviewed, i.e. scholars have analyzed and evaluated the content for accuracy and reliability.  Be sure to use the university library to help you find these types of academic references. I don't mind if you use a company website for research, say for example if you are researching Starbucks, it's ok to use www.starbucks.com to describe their mission, vision, etc.  But don't consider this in counting your references in terms of meeting scholarly reference requirements.