Prepare a 4 to 6 page paper on Watson Pharmaceutical of the following U.S.-based companies
Assume that your team has been approached by a pension fund that has been gifted with a large block of stock in the company. The fund has asked that your team prepare a report advising them whether to hold on to the stock, or to liquidate it and use the money somewhere else. Each of these companies is publicly traded and has a website where you can obtain preliminary information. Additional sources may include brokerage houses, trade associations (once you know what your company produces), appropriate government sources, e.g. the U.S. Economic Census, and any regulatory agencies as well as general business news sources. Your report should include:
1. The structure of the market in which the company operates (i.e. how competitive is it--monopolistic, oligopolistic, competitive, monopolistically competitive)? If your company turns out to have several huge, unrelated divisions--say forestry and cosmetics--you may choose to focus on just one division and discuss just that market.
2. What is your company's position in this market? Who are its closest competitors? To what extent do your company's decisions about pricing and output affect other firms in the industry?
3. What is the outlook for this industry in general and for your company in particular? Are future prospects for its product(s) good, or likely threatened by newer products and emerging technologies?
4. Is there anything else you have discovered that might have an impact on the company's future--long-term government contracts, scandals, possible mergers, improved technologies, potentially ruinous lawsuits? How might they affect the company?
5. Based on your research, and what you have learned in this class and in other classes, do you think this company is being well-run? Do you think management has made the right choices, or would you like to see something done differently (dropping one product line, more aggressive marketing of another, trying for a larger overseas presence, etc.)? In short, what will you tell the pension fund to do with its stock?