Solutions – Chapter 10 ⚫ 1
CHAPTER 10 SOLUTIONS AND DISCUSSION MATERIAL
Activities and Cases
10.1 Proposal: Expanding the Use of Social Media
Students will find innumerable articles devoted to small businesses that use tweeting, liking, and
sharing to connect with customers and boost their bottom lines. In an e-mail or memo to you,
10.2 Proposal: Workplace Problems Requiring Minor Expenditures
Most students have had some workplace or internship experience to draw on. However, they may
have difficulty identifying a problem that’s substantial enough to merit a proposal. Students tend
10.3 Proposal: Starting Your Own Business
Many students hope to own a business one day; some even run small businesses while in college.
This is why they enjoy activities that provide hypothetical scenarios in entrepreneurship. At the
same time, this activity introduces students to important resources, such as the Small Business
Administration’s website.
10.4 Proposal Writing Resources: Offering Assistance in
Writing a Proposal
This activity encourages students to use the resources of the Web to locate proposal writing
suggestions and free templates. Real proposals are too long to include as models in this textbook,
Solutions – Chapter 10 ⚫ 2
10.5 Proposal: Informal Letter Proposing a Business Writing Workshop
Proposal writing details are provided to encourage students to concentrate on structuring an
actual proposal rather than researching. Encourage them to look at the list of informal proposal
10.6 Researching and Analyzing Findings: Service Learning Projects
This activity could be merely a research project to raise awareness of the research process. A
more involved alternative would involve hands-on work in community projects such as working
10.7 Executive Summary: Reviewing Articles and Summarizing Findings
Students will write a summary of an article from a professional journal. Their summary should
include an introduction, review of the most important findings, headings, recommendations, and
a concluding statement. The message should be addressed to Marcus E. Solomon.
10.8 Unsolicited Proposal: Requesting Funding for Your Campus
Business Club
Students are asked to write an unsolicited letter or memo proposal for a business club on their
10.9 Primary Research: Designing an Online Customer Service Survey
Students will find typical survey templates from SurveyMonkey and Surveyonics. Student
examples will vary, but all examples should focus on the customers’ feelings about the sales
associates and product quality, and about their own loyalty to the products. Here are possibilities:
1. If you have visited our store, were you treated courteously by our sales associates?
___ Yes ___ No
Solutions – Chapter 10 ⚫ 3
6. What aspect(s) of our work do you think we do well?
___ Effective communication
___ Customer service
10.10 Formal Business Report: Gathering Primary and Secondary
Intercultural Data
We live in a global society, and businesspeople often find themselves communicating with
customers, clients, and colleagues from around the world. This activity will help students
10.11 Citations: Citing Secondary Resources Using MLA Format
Student responses will vary depending on the resources they choose. The three resources should
pertain to a current business topic and use MLA citation format. Refer students to the formal
10.12 Selecting Appropriate Graphics
a. Figures comparing the sales of three brands of smartphones over the past 12 months
A table, a multiple bar chart, or a multiple line chart would work.
b. Statistics on the rise of six popular social media platforms (Facebook, Google+, Twitter,
YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest) in five of the largest cities in the world
Infographic
c. National unemployment rate figures for the last 12 months
Line chart
Solutions – Chapter 10 ⚫ 4
10.13 Evaluating Graphics
Students are to select four graphics from newspapers or magazines in hard copy or online and
identify the title and the source of each graphic. In an e-mail or memo to the instructor, students
10.14 Creating a Bar Chart and Writing a Title
Sources for this activity may include sites such as Internet World Stats
10.15 Infographics: Telling a Story and Expressing Ideas
Students will find excellent examples of infographics on many topics. Before they prepare the
conclusion, encourage them to search for “Why infographics are so popular,” on the Visual.ly
opinions.
10.16 Formal Report: Analyzing “Congressional Watchdog” Reports
The U.S. Government Accountability Office is a good resource for well-written reports. Students
10.17 Formal Report: Comparing Before Buying
This activity gives students an opportunity to create a formal report with various components and
10.18 Report Topics for Proposals and Formal Reports
This activity gives students a number of ideas for topics for executive summaries, long reports,
and proposals that can be written individually or collaboratively.
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