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CHAPTER 13
Zooming In Critical Thinking Answers
Why are proposals vitally important to a company such as SpaceX?
As is typical in the aerospace industry, SpaceX’s business is largely program
based. NASA’s awards to SpaceX are based on the space agency’s
Ultimately, the quality of SpaceX’s proposals determines its ability to win competitions, and its ability to
win competitions determines how much money the company makes.
Proposals must often be submitted for follow-up on contracts and related projects. In SpaceX’s case,
How are proposals at SpaceX similar to and different from proposals or long reports written
by students?
Both student proposals and corporate proposals share the following characteristics:
Purpose-driven
Student proposals are generally shorter and simpler than most corporate proposals. They also are
more likely to be written as an exercise by a single person. Corporate proposals, on the other hand,
Long reports and proposals at SpaceX are often written by teams of writers; are frequently
How can team members maintain consistency and meet deadlines when writing important,
time-constrained, multivolume documents such as formal proposals?
In developing large, multivolume, team-written documents on tight schedules, much can go wrong
either in the planning and management of the development process or in developing content. The first
challenge is to create a document development plan that does the following:
Includes everything that must be accomplished to complete the document
Enables authors who are not professional writers to develop sections that are accurate, effective,
and doable within the available time and with the projected resources
Ethics Check Answers
Honesty Is Key
To create buy-in from potential investors and to ensure the smooth management of the startup, solid
research and an honest look at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are necessary. After all,
Cheater on the Team
Answers will probably vary. Most instructors would consider the team as a whole guilty of academic
dishonesty, whereas many students view their research tasks as work that they divide among themselves
and don’t perceive as a coherent whole. Each group member assumes responsibility for an activity—such
as researching, writing, or editing—or team members write small sections of the report, say, a third or a
quarter each in a three- or four-member team. Such an approach makes cheating for the cowriters nearly
undetectable, and the group members have little control over the work individuals do. Instructors tend to
hold the entire group responsible because they are evaluating a team effort, after all. Anticheating
websites such as Turnitin are useful not only to instructors, but also to students, helping them protect
themselves against lazy, unskilled, or unethical peers. If instructors allow their students to upload a draft
or even multiple versions before the deadline, Turnitin results enable team members to monitor each
other’s integrity and documentation skills. However, even if Turnitin is not available, each researcher must
take full responsibility for the report. Few instructors are willing or able to play detective to find the guilty
party, if indeed only one person cheated or plagiarized.
Critical Thinking Answers
1. In what ways is a proposal similar to a persuasive sales message?
Like a persuasive sales message, an effective proposal (a) gets the reader’s attention, (b)
2. Some people say that business reports shouldn’t contain footnotes. If you were writing your
first business report and did considerable research, what would you do about documenting
your sources?
Although some people do assert that business reports should never contain documentation, not
revealing one’s sources can be dangerous. The best plan is to seek advice from a supervisor and
3. Which category of proposal, solicited or unsolicited, is more likely to succeed, and why?
Sending unsolicited proposals carries a certain degree of risk because the author has to work extra
hard to convince the recipient that a problem exists. Solicited proposals respond to invitations to
4. If you were about to launch a new business, would you write your business plan from scratch
or use a software program? What are the pros and cons of each method?
Business plan software could certainly be helpful in learning the parts of a business plan and
determining what goes in each section. However, many people say that no cookie-cutter business
5. Ethical Issue: How can a team of writers ensure that each member shoulders an equal or fair
amount of the work on an extensive writing project, such as a formal proposal or business
report?
This is a nagging question in college writing teams and, no doubt, in the workplace as well. Answers
will vary, but for a productive collaboration and peace of mind in the group, it is essential that all
Zooming In
Your Turn: Applying Your Skills at SpaceX
Task 1 requires a short (three- to five-page) business report recommending a structured writing process
to be used for team-written company documents. The following is a suggested outline for this report:
1. Executive summary of the key points (optional)
2. Introduction identifying why report was written and outlining the need for an improved writing
process for team-written company documents
Task 2 requires a memo evaluating several (two to four) proposal consulting companies that might
be able to help SpaceX teams write high-quality business proposals when the company’s proposal
specialists are unavailable. This memo should use a standard memo (or e-mail) format and
recommend proposal consultant firms. It should also provide their contact information.
Activities Solutions
13.1 Proposal: Social Media Bound
Students will find innumerable articles devoted to small businesses that use tweets, likes, and
sharing to boost their bottom lines. In an e-mail or memo to you, they should describe four such
13.2 Proposal: Pinpoint That Workplace Problem
The advantage of this assignment is that 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 to bring up problems that are insignificant or whose
13.3 Proposal: Calling All Budding Entrepreneurs
Many students dream of owning a business one day; some students even run small businesses
Finding a service or product to promote may not pose a great problem for students. However,
you need to be aware of the potential of copying from the Internet. This is why you may want to
The assignment calls for an informal letter proposal. To help your students prepare, you may ask
13.4 Proposal: Lending a Hand with Proposal Writing
This activity encourages students to use the Web to locate actual proposals. Real proposals are too
13.5 Proposal: Healing With Linda Vista Sports Medicine
This activity was developed as a teaching module by Professor Peggy Brunyansky. You may
13.6 Grant Writing: Learning From Nonprofits
This activity encourages students to use the Web to learn more about writing proposals and grants.
13.7 Service Learning: Write Away!
This activity could be merely a research project to raise student awareness. A more substantive
alternative would involve hands-on work in community projects such as working with the elderly,
collecting oral histories, researching town histories, holding food and clothing drives, caring for the
13.8 Business Plans: Homing in on Mission Statements
Figure 13.3 establishes four goals for mission statements. They should be (a) easily understood; (b)
free of complex words and buzzwords; (c) concise, memorable, and simple; and (d) unique in
Only one of the selected mission statements is exemplary. Harley-Davidson comes closest to the
goal of a concise, memorable statement that is unique in distinguishing its business. The other five
Students should attempt to improve the five weak statements. For example, an improved AGCO
13.9 Business Plan: Would You Survive the Shark Tank?
A complete instructional module for developing a business plan as a report-writing assignment is
13.10 Executive Summary: Reviewing Articles
13.11 Unsolicited Proposal: Your Campus Business Organization Needs Cash
13.12 Unsolicited Proposal: Keeping Gizmos Safe in Residence Halls
13.13 Formal Business Report: Gathering Data for International Expansion
13.14 Report Topics for Proposals, Business Plans, and Formal Reports
The list of report topics gives students a number of ideas for executive summaries, long reports,
business plans, and proposals that can be written individually or collaboratively.
