Target Audience: Secondary, tertiary.

Language Proficiency: Intermediate to advanced.

Learning Focus: Reading, writing, speaking, oral presentation skills, web research skills.

Technology Needed: Web browser.

Instructions:

Overview: Corporate web sites are an important source of information. Though their primary objectives are to advertise, market, and sell the company's products or services, sites also may contain other types of information, including company history, employment opportunities, news of current developments, and financial information through annual reports and letters to shareholders. Often there is also an email link so visitors to the site can write to the company with their questions or concerns. Researching companies is a valuable step in the job search process. It will help you decide whether a company is of interest to you and will also help you prepare for the job interview.

Task: Select a company and search for its site on the web. If you do not have the company's URL address, you can find it using a search engine. A “smart” search engine, such as Google Yahoo, will let you simply type the company's name in the URL (location or address) box and press the return key.

Or, you can guess. Many big companies just use their own name plus .com; for example:
Nike's web site is simply http://www.nike.com.

Other examples include:

• Amazon: http://www.amazon.com
• Fujitsu: http://www.fujitsu.com
• Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com

After you find the company's web site, search for the following categories of information and complete the chart below. Put an X in the column next to the materials you find. If the web site you have chosen has an email link, use it to ask a question about the company or its products. Remember that missing or difficult-to-find information can in itself be revealing. This information can be presented visually in a written report or serve as the basis for a 10 minute presentation using visual aids.

Corporate Web Site Information Chart

	Company Name:
	Company Logo
	Ticker Symbol (if a publicly traded company)
	Mission Statement (Company mission statement, philosophy and objectives for the forthcoming years are often stated in the corporate annual report. Look for words like "our vision", "looking forward", "our objective," etc.)
	Company History
	List of Top Officers
	Product Information
	Financial Data, Annual Report
	Employment Opportunities
	News Announcements
	Email link
	Other?

Expanded Options:

• Visual aids for the presentation may vary from a poster to standard overhead transparencies to PowerPoint generated transparencies or slides.
• Students turn in a written company profile following the document format for a business report before or instead of their oral presentation.
• Analyze the web site from a marketing perspective. What was your impression of the company after examining its web site? What is the image the company wants to present and how do they do it?
• The task could be adapted to a lower language proficiency level by limiting the information the student needs to find.
• Create your own company! Using the information gained from this project as a guideline, teams create and present a "new" company. For ideas on new businesses, see the Business Idea Center from Entrepreneur.com, and for "cottage industry" ideas see Business Ideas on a Budget 10 Legitimate Businesses You Can Start for Under $20 or The Top 25 Home-Based Business Ideas (skip the ad if it comes up first).
• Also see: Effective Searches for Business English on this web site .

More on the Topic of Business Research:

ReferenceUSA
http://www.referenceusa.com/
ReferenceUSA lists 14 million U.S. businesses. Information includes: business name, executive title, business type, sales volume, employee size, year established and more.

Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/library/Company%20Histories
Locate information on the history of top companies from around the world including timelines, lists of principal subsidiaries and competitors, and bibliographies for further reading.

globalEDGE.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/
Index of international access to information and information technology. Organizes categories by region or country, and also allows you to choose from telecom, computer, social, and internet access.

Hoovers.
http://www.hoovers.com/free/
Access to the profile database for free information on companies, industries and people.

More on the Topic of Business Presentations:

8 Secrets to a Knockout Business Presentation, by Darrell Zahorsky.
http://sbinformation.about.com/od/sales/a/presentationtip.htm

Business Presentations, from Toastmaster International.
http://www.toastmasters.org/mainmenucategories/freeresources/needhelpgivingaspeech/businesspresentations.aspx

Business Presentations and Public Speaking in English, from English Club.
http://www.englishclub.com/speaking/presentations.htm

Presentation Magazine.
http://www.presentationmagazine.com/

Kay Westerfield, Global Communication Consulting,kwesterf@uoregon.edu