Semester Team Project

Your semester team project is apply the principles of management covered in this course to an actual company: Costco. This will involve answering two sets of questions:

Set 1) The questions listed throughout the continuing case on Costco in Appendix A of your textbook. These questions can be answered by applying the information in the chapters of your textbook. If you quote directly from the book, be sure to put the text in quotation marks and use a footnote (APA format) to indicate the page in the text where it appears (e.g., “Corporate social responsibility is management's obligation to make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society”¹). In only very rare instances will you need to quote verbatim from the continuing case itself.

Set 2) The 20 additional questions below.

Your team should email me one copy of your answers before class on Wednesday, December 2nd AND turn in one hardcopy of your answers in class on Wednesday, December 2nd.

Type your answers single spaced (double space between paragraphs) in Times New Roman 12 point font, use 1" margins on all sides, and put page numbers at the bottom center of each page starting on page 2. Footnotes should be in Times New Roman 10 point font. The first page of your work should be a cover sheet that lists only the title "Costco Continuing Case," your names, your team number, and the date. Your names and team number should not appear anywhere else in the document. Start your answers on page 2. Write each question in bold text first, and follow it with your answer in regular non-bolded text. Be sure to spell check and grammar check your work. Save all parts of your work in a single document (i.e., do not send me one file with your cover sheet and a second file with your answers). You do not need to place your answers in a binder or folder, but you may do so if you choose. I prefer you staple your pages together with one staple in the upper left-hand corner. Do not turn in loose pages or pages held together with a paper clip or binder clip.

There is no required length (minimum or maximum) for your answers. Your goals should be to answer the questions clearly and completely, and to demonstrate your understanding of the principles of management covered in this course. Giving a longer answer isn’t necessarily better, but giving an answer that is too short will make it difficult to accomplish these goals. Do not simply repeat, summarize or re-write the continuing case in Appendix A. The quality of your answers will be evaluated, in part, by comparing them to the answers provided by other teams in class. Improper formatting, incoherent writing, confused logic, incorrect spelling and improper grammar will automatically lower your score 5% per instance. Incomplete footnotes, quoted text not placed in quotation marks, and other forms of plagiarism will substantially lower your score (depending on the severity, up to a failing grade in the course). If you are unsure of how to avoid plagiarizing, please visit this website: http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/uls/Writing-plagiarism.htm 

This assignment is worth a maximum of 75 points (25% of your overall course grade). All members of your team will receive the same starting score on this assignment. However, scores may be adjusted based on peer evaluations of team members' contributions.

Additional Questions About Costco

To answer the following questions about Costco your team will need information that is not included in your textbook. You will need to research Costco on the internet and in the library. For each of your answers, cite the source(s) of your information in a footnote. If you quote directly from a source, be sure to put the text in quotation marks (e.g., “Costco is one of the fastest growing companies in the United States”²).

1.   Chart two quantitative measures of Costco's performance over the last 20 years, and chart the same two quantitative measures of performance for one of Costco's competitors over the same period. Comment on a comparison of the two companies.

2.   Give one measure of Costco's efficiency and compare it to the same measure efficiency for one of Costco's competitors. Comment on a comparison of the two companies.

3.   Describe two ways Costco adapts to environmental uncertainty.

4.   Provide pictures or illustrations of two things that symbolize Costco's culture. Describe what shared behaviors these symbols reflect. Describe the values underlying these shared behaviors. What assumptions keep these values in place at Costco (i.e., What fundamental beliefs regarding the way Costco does things are taken for granted and go unchallenged?).

5.   Is Costco primarily a domestic company, an international company, a multi-national company or a global company? Support your answer with evidence.

6.   Explain two reasons the general trend of globalization helps Costco and two reasons it hurts Costco.

7.   Who are Costco's stakeholders? Which stakeholders are most important to Costco?

8.   Explain which criteria for ethical decision making you think Costco employees.

9.   Describe two ways Costco meets its corporate social responsibility.

10. What is Costco's mission? Explain how this mission fits with three key elements of Costco's task environment.

11. Describe Costco's business-level strategy.

12. Explain two ways Costco uses technology to its advantage.

13. Illustrate Costco's overall structure with an organizational chart. Describe how Costco is departmentalized as a company.

14. Describe how an individual Costco store is departmentalized.

15. Describe two major changes Costco has implemented in the last 10 years.

16. Describe the leadership style of Costco's founders.

17. What does "team" mean at Costco? How are teams used to run Costco?

18. Describe two ways Costco improves its productivity through management control.

19. Is Costco a well-managed company? Describe your overall assessment and reasoning.

20. Would you want to work for Costco? Describe why or why not.