LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION

This comprehensive list should be used as a guide for conducting due diligence research and producing report documentation, and as many items as possible should be investigated as part of the Course Project. Items shown below in black are typically available through public sources, including published financials, articles, and other public records. Items indicated in green may or may not be readily accessible. If accessible, please include and document them as time permits.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

1. What is the size of the industry?

2. How is the industry segmented?

3. What is the industry’s projected growth and profitability?

4. What are the factors affecting growth and profitability?

5. What are the trends in the number of competitors and their size, product innovation, distribution, finances, regulation, and product liability?

CORPORATE OVERVIEW

1. When and where was the company founded and by whom?

2. What is its history of product development?

3. What is the history of the management team?

4. Has the corporate location changed?

5. Have there been ownership changes?

6. Has there been an acquisition or divestiture?

7. What is its financial history?

ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL CORPORATE ISSUES

1. Obtain the articles of incorporation and bylaws. Review for the existence of preemptive rights, rights of first refusal, registration rights, or any other rights related to the issuance or registration of securities.

2. Review the bylaws for any unusual provisions affecting shareholder rights or restrictions on ownership, transfer, or voting of shares.

3. Review the terms associated with any preferred stock or unexercised warrants.

4. Describe any antitakeover provisions.

5. If the company is publicly held, update all periodic filings for the past, including the 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and Schedule 13D.

6. Review annual reports to shareholders.

7. Obtain a list of all states in which the company is qualified to do business and the list of those states in which it maintains significant operations. Determine if there is any state in which a company is not qualified but should be qualified to do business.

8. Review all pending and threatened legal proceedings to which the company or any of its subsidiaries is a party. Describe principal parties, allegations, and relief sought. This includes any governmental or environmental proceedings. Obtain copies of existing consent decrees or significant settlement agreements relating to the company or its subsidiaries.

9. If there has been a change in accountants during the past 5 years, find out why.

10. Research any press releases or articles about the company within the past year (see Bloomberg.com, Nexis, Equifax, etc.).

11. Review all related-party transactions for the past 3 years.

TREASURY

1. Document banking relationships, available credit lines, and collateral.

2. Document all hedging activities, and identify all areas of risk.

CAPITALIZATION AND SIGNIFICANT SUBSIDIARIES

1. Review the footnotes to financial statements for debt agreements to which the company or any subsidiary is a party, as well as all debt guarantees. Note any restrictions on dividends, on incurring extra debt, and on issuing additional capital stock. Note any unusual consent or default provisions. If subordinated debt securities are being issued, compare new subordination provisions with the provisions for other agreements for compatibility. Review the latest borrowing base certificates. Inquire about whether there are any defaults or potential defaults.

2. Review the footnotes to financial statements and review all documents affecting ownership, voting, or rights to acquire the company’s stock for required disclosure and significance to the purchase transactions, such as warrants, options, security holder agreements, registration rights agreements, shareholder rights, or poison pill plans.

ASSETS

1. Review footnotes to financial statements and schedules for information regarding asset leases, and if possible, review for term, early payment, and bargain purchase clauses.

2. Review footnotes to financial statements regarding detail of accounts receivable.

3. Review footnotes to financial statements for a listing of inventory items, and if applicable, discuss the obsolescence reserve.

LIABILITIES

1. Review the footnotes to the financial statements, and find the terms of any lines of credit.

2. Review the amount and terms of any other debt agreements.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. If possible, obtain audited financial statements for the last 3 years. Otherwise, review them for the last 2 years.

2. Determine the revenues and, if possible, profits per employee. 

3. If applicable, what is direct labor expense as a percentage of revenue?

4. Also, if possible, determine profitability by product, by customer, and by segment.

EMPLOYEES

Review the footnotes to financial statements for any director compensation agreements or any option plans, and summarize any loan amounts and terms to officers, directors, or employees.

1. Do the footnotes to financial statements contain any union labor agreements?

2. Summarize the names, ages, titles, education, experience, and professional biographies of the senior management team.

3. Obtain a copy of the organization chart.

PAYROLL

1. Verify if any special bonuses are to be paid to acquire employees in the event of a merger or acquisition, and quantify the amount.

2. Discuss the employee benefits.

HUMAN RESOURCES

1. Review the footnotes to financial statements to determine the matching contribution levels for any pension plans.

2. Review the footnotes to financial statements to determine the pension plan eligibility criteria and vesting period.

CORPORATE CULTURE

1. What are the decision-making processes of the company?

2. What are the performance monitoring and bonus payment systems of the company?

3. How does the company resolve conflicts?

4. What types of formal and informal communication systems are used by the company?

5. What is the command structure of the company?

REVENUE

1. Summarize sales by customer for the current and past year.

2. Summarize sales by product for the current and past year.

3. Determine the seasonality of revenue for the company, if applicable.

INTERNET

1. Does the company use the Internet for internal use as an interactive part of operations? What functions are used in this manner?

2. In what way could operational costs decrease if the company’s customers interacted with it through the Internet?

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

1. Who are the key development personnel involved with the creation, coding, and evaluation of software products? What are their tenure and educational backgrounds?

2. How much money is invested annually in software development? As a proportion of sales?

3. What is the company’s strategy in designing new products (e.g., quality, support, special features)?

COMPLEXITY

1. Evaluate the number and variability of revenue sources, if possible and practical.

2. Review the volatility of the effective tax rate. 

3. If there is a tax deferral, investigate the differences between tax and book income. 

4. The key output of an analysis of complexity will assess the potential level of difficulty involved in integrating a newly purchased entity into the acquiring organization, and this may also consider organizational cultural differences and contribute to the risk analysis of the proposed acquisition.

MARKETING

1. What types of advertising and promotion are used?

2. Does the company have a website? Who owns the site, and how is it hosted?

3. Does the company use e-mail for marketing notifications to customers?

4. What are the proportions of sales by distribution channel?

5. How many customers can the company potentially market its products to? What would be the volume by customer?

6. What is the company’s market share? What is the trend?

7. Are there new markets in which the products can be sold?

SALES

1. What is the sales strategy (e.g., add customers, increase support, increase penetration into existing customer base, pricing, etc.)?

2. What is the structure of the sales organization? Are there independent sales representatives?

3. Who are the company’s customers (i.e., end users, retailers, OEMs, wholesalers, and/or distributors)?

4. If possible, identify the Top 10 customers, based on sales volume. What is the historical sales volume to all customers for the past 3 years?

5. Does the company have an Internet store? Does the site accept online payments and orders? What percentage of total sales comes through this medium?

6. What is the structure of the technical support group? How many people are in it, and what is their compensation?

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D)

1. Obtain a summary of all R & D projects currently underway, including their current status, estimated time and cost to complete, and estimated unit costs as compared to target costs.

2. Estimate the types of patents that may be filed as a result of current R & D projects, and determine how these patents could be used to enhance the company’s competitive position or block the positions of competitors.

3. Estimate the worst-case, average-case, and best-case scenarios for revenue streams resulting from current R & D projects.

OTHER

1. If possible, discuss revenue recognition policies.

2. Determine risk management strategies and insurance coverage.

3. Evaluate the company’s benefit plan to determine its cost, as well as the amount of employee participation.

4. Look through the footnotes to financial statements, and obtain a list of significant accounting policies.

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The additional list below covers operational and financial performance measures to be calculated and reported for the Course Project assignment. You can find the formulas for each of these measures in our textbook or through various Internet websites. 

Asset Utilization Measures

· Break-even point

· Goodwill-to-asset ratio

· Interest-expense-to-debt ratio

· Investment turnover

· Days of working capital 

· Sales per person 

· Sales-to-equity ratio

· Sales-to-fixed-assets ratio 

Profitability Measures

· Gross profit percentage 

· Net income percentage 

· Profit per person 

· Cash flow return on assets 

Liquidity Measures

· Accounts receivable turnover

· Accounts payable turnover

· Current ratio 

· Quick ratio

· Cash ratio

· Inventory-to-sales ratio 

· Inventory turnover ratio 

· Expense coverage days

Capital Structure and Solvency Measures

· Debt-to-equity ratio

· Times-interest-earned ratio 

Performance Measures

· Earnings per share 

· Price-to-earnings ratio 

Reference

The checklist above is derived and modified from Steven M. Bragg’s The New CFO Financial Leadership Manual, 3rd edition, Wiley. 

 

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Assignment Summary:

For this assignment, you will be tasked with writing a persuasive essay in which you debunk three common myths or misconceptions about Latino immigration.

For the purposes of this assignment, a myth is “a widely held (or commonly-cited) belief or idea that is false.” A myth could be 100% false – with no factual basis. Alternatively, a myth can be generated when facts are misinterpreted or misrepresented. Myths can also be based in opinions or experiences that do not reflect factual reality. A myth may also have multiple parts; some parts may be true, while others are false.

To complete this assignment, you will choose three myths about Latina/o immigration. Which myths you choose to write about are up to you – but each myth you choose must address a different UNIT of course material (there are 4 units in the course). Your myth may overlap multiple units.

The myths you choose should be somewhat commonly-known. Whatever myths you choose, be sure to pick things that have enough substance to them so that you can write three to four pages about each. Please note: This assignment does not include any outside research. You must choose myths that can be debunked using only the materials we have used in class.

Then, using only our course materials (which may include readings and/or in-class materials), you will “debunk,” or “expose the falseness of,” each myth. You may do this by providing statistical, historical, ethnographic, or other empirical evidence drawn from your course materials that refutes the notion expressed by the myth. Is it 100% false? Partly true? Another helpful way to debunk immigration myths is to illuminate the origin of the myth. Where did it come from? How did it get created, and for what purpose? How does the myth get perpetuated, and why? Does the myth have a grain of truth to it, or is it utterly baseless? Was it generated by a willful or accidental misrepresentation of the facts? You must use at least six academic sources (articles, books, book chapters, etc.) from the course materials (two per myth).

Submissions:

The paper will be submitted in phased “submissions,” including three outlines (graded), three drafts (ungraded), and a final paper (graded). You will get some feedback at each stage of the process – some will be individualized, and some will be generalized. If at any time you would like more feedback on your submissions, please come see me during office hours. Submissions mustbe saved as Microsoft Word documents an uploaded through the Turnitin system on Canvas. Do not use Google Docs or any other file sharing service for writing assignment submissions.

Guidelines for outlines are below. Each draft submission should include progressive/cumulative revisions to previously submitted text, as well as a cover letter (template below).

Submission schedule:

• Fri, 9/13, 11:59 pm: Outline 1 (graded)

• This includes the outline for your first myth. If you would like, you may also submit outlines for myths 2 and/or 3, but this is not required and will not be evaluated.

• Fri, 9/27, 11:59 pm: Submission 1 (ungraded)
  • This includes the draft text of your first myth and a cover letter. 3-4 pages.

• Fri, 10/11, 11:59 pm: Outline 2 (graded)

• This includes the outline for your second myth. If you would like, you may also submit a revised myth 1 outline and a new outline for myth 3, but this is not required and will not be evaluated.

• Fri, 10/25, 11:59 pm: Submission 2 (ungraded)

• This includes the REVISED text of your first myth, the draft of your second myth, and a cover letter. 6-8 pages.

• Fri, 11/8, 11:59 pm: Outline 3 (graded)

• This includes the outline for your third myth. If you would like, you may also submit revised versions of outlines for myths 1 and 2, but this is not required and will not be evaluated.

• Fri, 11/22, 11:59 pm: Submission 3 – FULL DRAFT (ungraded)

• This includes the REVISED text of your first and second myths, the draft of your third (and final) myth, **an introduction and conclusion** and a cover letter. 9-12 pages.

• Mon, 12/9, 11:59 pm: Final Submission (graded)
  • All submissions must include tracked changes in Microsoft Word and cover letters

(see assignment handout for more information).

• 12 page minimum, 15 page max. This submission must also include a cover letter describing your final revision process.

All submissions must include tracked changes in Microsoft Word. Cover Letters do not counttoward the page count, but they should be included in the same document (as the first page of your submission).

I recommend that you mark these deadlines down in your calendar as soon as possible.

Details:

• Final paper will constitute 50% of your final grade in this course. Writing Assignment Grade Break-down:

Outlines 1-3: 20%

Final Paper: 80%

• Final submission should be 12-15 pages long, in 12 pt Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with standard 1-inch margins. I will check this – please do not mess around with the font size, margins, etc. to manipulate the length of your document.

• Drafts must beCOMPLETE DRAFTS. Each drafted myth should include at least 3 pages offully-written, proof-read text (no bullet points).
• With each submission, students must include a cover letter following the attached template. The Cover Letter should be submitted as the first page of your submission document – please do not submit two separate files.

• All submissions should be free of grammatical errors.

• Please ensure that Track Changes are visible in all of your submission documents.

Learning Objectives:

• Think critically about current public debates about Latina/o immigration

• Learn to deploy empirical evidence to refute commonly-held beliefs and assumptions

• Learn how to construct and articulate a robust (well-evidenced) but concise (direct and “to-the-point”) persuasive essay

Suggestions for how to get started:

1. After reading through this handout, review the syllabus and assigned readings. Think about the topics we will be addressing in each unit of the course. Jot down some ideas about which myths you are most interested in investigating for each unit.

• Brainstorm a list of potential sources (from course materials) that might contain information relevant to the task of debunking each myth.

• As you read, write down notes and page numbers where you find evidence you can use to refute each myth.

• Depending on how much evidence you find, consider if the myths you chose will provide sufficient material for a 12-15-page paper, or whether or not you have enough evidence to debunk them.

• Start by making a draft outline of your first myth.

• Jot down a few sentences concerning the ideas about which you feel most confident. (Start anywhere in the main body of your essay, explicitly avoiding the introduction and conclusion.)

• Think, write, repeat! Use the class materials from writing workshops to guide you along the way. We will be doing several activities in class that will help facilitate your thought process for this paper.

Evaluation:

In the best papers, the authors will:

• Clearly and concisely describe each myth.

• Provide ample relevant evidence to refute each myth.

• Draw extensively from course materials to construct the argument. (Do not draw from outside sources unless you think it is absolutely necessary and have gotten permission from me to do so.)

o Use a minimum of six academic sources from the course materials (two per myth).

• Finish with a strong conclusion that does more than reiterate the main points addressed in the rest of the essay (ie. provides a strong take-home message that reinforces the overall message).

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• Develop their own voice – demonstrate originality and higher-level thinking through their writing

• Use varied sentence structure and construct interesting prose that engages the reader

• Present ideas in an organized way. The argument should progress logically and smoothly.

• Demonstrate mastery of the rules of Standard English – papers should be free from grammatical, spelling, and other copy-edit errors.

Good writing in this assignment will be direct, active, clear, and concise. A good way to check for these characteristics is by reading your paper out loud to yourself or to others to check for flow.

See sample rubrics for more details about how this assignment will be evaluated.

Cover Letter Template

Please answer the following questions in a cover letter for each submission. Feel free to copy and paste the phrases below as a model for your cover letter. Please submit this as the FIRST PAGE (in the same document, in other words) of your submissions.

Dear Jenny,

In this submission I am trying to…

(For draft submissions 2, 3, and final submission: In my last draft I….. Given the feedback I

received on that draft, I decided to… because….)

For this submission I concentrated most of my efforts on… because…

What I struggled with most was…. (AND/OR) If I was given more time, I would work on….

I think the strongest parts of this submission are…

A question I have for you is…

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

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• Myth Outlining Worksheet

What is your myth? What is your argument about your myth? (Should be two to three concise sentences.)

What pieces of evidence are you using to prove your argument?

Evidence	Explanation – how does this evidence support  Sources
	your thesis?
1. 2. 3.

 

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Week 1 – Assignment       

This assignment provides another opportunity for you to evaluate a  variety of digital and assistive technologies for supporting diverse  learners. For this assignment, you will create a presentation using  Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software of your choice. To  prepare for this assignment, it is recommended that in addition to  reading  Edyburn (2013) Chapter 1 that you also review the Week One  Instructor Guidance. Additionally, be sure to view the TEDx Talks (2012)  video Can Technology Change Education? Yes!: Raj Dhingra at TEDxBend (Links to an external site.).  While you watch the video, pay particular attention to the story  Dhingra tells about the Firefly Mobile Learning Bus utilized in Turkey  and how students are connecting to technology for teaching and learning  in rural parts of the world.

Next, watch the Conscious Educating (2011) video Microsoft Vision of the Classroom of the Future (Links to an external site.),  which shows how technology might affect a classroom in the future while  considering how much technology has changed in such a short period of  time. Finally, watch the TED (2010) video The Child-Driven Education (Links to an external site.)   in which Sugata Mitra discusses how the best teachers and the schools  that need them the most can connect through effective use of technology.

The purpose of this assignment is to showcase how technology has  evolved with regard to teaching and learning and to show the influence  it has on supporting all learners and encouraging student independence.  The videos listed above provide numerous examples to inform the  presentation requirements. It is recommended that you take some time to  consider what will occur in the Week Six Final Project and how the work  completed in this assignment could inform the Final Project. Create your  presentation using the content and written communication instructions  below. Use the Grading Rubric to review your presentation before  submission to ensure you have met the distinguished performance for each  of the components described below. For additional assistance, review  the Week One Instructor Guidance and, if needed, contact the instructor  for further clarifications.

Refer to:

Week 1 Presentation Template

Content Instructions

• Slide Length and Design (0.5 point): The presentation  should be five to eight slides in length including title and references  slides. Use relevant and appropriate graphics, sound, and/or animation  that assist in presenting the overall main point but do not distract  from the information presented. Slides should have a consistent theme,  format, and font that augment the readability of the presentation.
• Evolution of Technology (1 point): Discuss three ways the evolution of technology has impacted teaching and learning.
• Technology Examples (2 points): Describes three examples of how digital and assistive technologies can be used to support diverse learners.
• Technology Influence (2 points): Discusses three ways technology influences student independence.

Written Communication Instructions

• Syntax and Mechanics (0.5 point): Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.
• Source Requirement (0.5 point): Reference each of the  featured videos as well as the Edyburn (2013) course text on the  references slide and correctly cite all sources within the body of the  presentation.
• APA Formatting (0.5 point): Use APA formatting  consistently throughout the assignment. Refer to the Ashford University  Writing Center for assistance with APA style and formatting or your copy  of the APA Style Manual.

 

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Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words: 

As a change leader, you can be a positive influence on change and making change happen, strengthening your own career and professional capabilities.

Discuss the differences between managing change and leading change. What are the advantages of being a change leader? What skills and tools have you learned in this course that will help you be an effective change leader?

Please include 1 reference.

 

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