Creating an Outline

Creating an Outline

The purpose of the outline is to provide you with the basic structure of your argument, and hence, your paper. As such, your work is to identify the main components of your argument and organize them so your reader is sufficiently persuaded by your recommendation. For the BA 301 paper, you will be following the organizational structure laid out in the template. Your outline should also follow this format, but provide a brief sentence or two that details the specific points you will be making in your argument and recommendation.

It is critical that your outline identify the following:

1.  An introduction that provides some background on the company.
2. A description of the company’s core mission/vision
3. Key stakeholders and their stakes
4. Problems faced by the company (with evidence) and their mission/criticalness
5. Key problem statement
6. Causes of the problem (with evidence)
7. Potential solutions
8. An evaluation of the solutions (with evidence)
9. Recommended solution (with evidence)
10. Implementation plan
11. Conclusion

A well-written outline will make the final writing of your paper a breeze. You will have organized your argument and identified the critical pieces of evidence that prove your points. Your points are then organized in a way that “walks” the reader through your argument, so that the inevitable conclusion the reader draws is that your recommendation makes sense because your argument is sound.

In essence, you will be arguing a position much like an attorney argues a case. A basic argument might go something like “if a is true and b is true, then it must follow that c is true.” This is known as a syllogism and is the basic building block of argumentation.

On the following pages is a sample outline to give you some idea of my expectations. While there is no page requirement, I generally expect a research paper of this size to generate an outline 3-4 pages long.

Research Paper Outline Sample

Topic: Nike

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction/Position

1. Nike background

1. Athletic footwear/apparel, and sports equipment
2. Location, history, & facts

1. Based in Portland( Beaverton) , Oregon
2. Started Blue Ribbon Sports 1964, Nike in 1971
3. Bill Bowerman, Phil Knight, Jeff Johnson
4. “Just Do It”, the Swoosh
5. Wieden and Kennedy

1. Success

1. Top of mind brand in athletic wear.
2. 90% of the market share in basketball shoes ( Ibis World)

1. Nike Mission & Vision (source)

1. The Nike Mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world
2. *If you have a body, you are an athlete
3. The Nike vision: for SB&I, is to enable the company and its consumers to thrive in a sustainable economy, one where people, planet, and profit are in balance.

1. Stakeholders & Stakes

1. Employees = quality working positions
2. Shareholders = their share within Nike, stock price
3. Consumers = quality products at a reasonable price
4. Government & Taxpayers = valuable use of taxpayer dollars
5. Communities = an improvement in the community and respect for community
6. Investors = making profit off investment
7. Creditors = getting money back

1. Sense

1. Problems faced by Nike

1. Intense Competition (Business Insights: global data)

1. Increase in competitors such as Adidas, Puma, Fila, Columbia, Callaway, etc.
2. Increase in competition may force Nike to lower its prices which will decrease its net revenues dramatically.
3. So many competitors that specialize in certain areas such as Callaway, Wilson, Titleist, etc.

1. Higher Inventory Costs (Business Insights)

1. The company’s inventories as a percentage of total assets increased to 21.6% in 2012 from 18% in 2011. Inventories were up 23.4% in 2012 versus that in the previous year. ( Business Insights)
2. Longer time in inventory means products aren’t selling and inventory costs are increasing.
3.  Decline in inventory turnover reflects that the company would require 89.5 days to sell its inventory on hand in 2011, as compared to 87.2 and 73 days in 2010 and 2009, respectively.
4. Lower inventory turnover means higher inventory costs and lower sales.

1. Rising Input costs (Business Insights: global data)

1. Increase in the price of raw materials especially rubber which is a big player in Nike’s success. ( Business Insights)
2. Increase in Labor costs due to inflation.
3. Higher standard of quality work

1. Mission critical grid
2. Problem Statement

1. Nike is looking to fend off its competition from taking its consumers. With the athletic industry on the rise there are more opportunities for Nike to attain more consumers, but that also means new companies will start up and large brands such as Adidas and Puma will continue to gain customers as well.

1. Uncover

1. What are our competitors doing to grow?

1. Adidas was one of the sponsors of the 2014 world cup which was  the largest viewing in world cup history (17,324,000) (ByTheNumbers)
2. Specializing in certain areas such as Callaway, golf.

1. Are we losing consumers to other brands or are other brands getting all the new consumers?

1. Market is growing with new customers
2. People leaving Nike for other brands because they don’t agree with the endorsements such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Kobe Bryant. (NYT)
3. Nike is no longer new to people so people are leaving Nike to look for the next cool thing (brand).

1. Are we trying to get new customers or keep the ones we already have?

1. Make today better plan (NIKE inc.)
2. Design the future plan (NIKE inc.)
3. Sustainability plan (NIKE inc.)

1. Fishbone diagram
2. Potential solutions

1. Advertise to the younger generation more to get them on board with Nike
2. Purchase another brand with all the cash we have saved up
3. Create a NIKE ID for more than just shoes
4. Sign new athletes who are not viewed in a negative way by many

1. Solve

1. Option 1

1. Advertise to the pre-teens

1. more social media advertising
2. young customers are lifetime customers
3. less television ads more internet ads

1. Option 2

1. Purchase another brand

1. Buy Callaway Golf to make a stronger push in the golfing industry since golf is a sport on the rise in popularity.

1. Option 3

1. Create NIKE ID for more than just shoes

1. Customized items are seen as more luxurious
2. Create customized apparel to create a connection with the customers.
3. No other competitor does customization as well as Nike has

1. Sign new athletes to represent Nike

                            1. Messed up in the past with Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and                                 Lance Armstrong. All were at the top of their game but not                                     much of an idle.

                                        2. Offer Messi more than Adidas. This will bring a big boost to                                  Nike’s global popularity, especially after the World Cup. Also it                                  will hurt Adidas sales.