This memo to Daniel Nunez will launch the project, by submitting a company name and research question for approval.

1. Select a US-headquartered company whose stock is traded on either the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ. It is a good idea to choose a firm that you already have some interest in, whether as a customer, an employee, a neighbor in the same geographic region, or simply an engaged observer. Please do not choose Fedex Corporation, which will be the topic company for our research exercise assignments.

2. Conduct a brief round of preliminary research (Google search is fine at this stage) to discover what internal or external challenges the company is currently facing. This will serve as a foundation for developing your own research question in step 3.

3. Write a research question that ventures beyond the content required for the CA project (see assignment descriptions for Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). It should be very specific, so that your research can be focused and deep. The best questions have some element of competition within them, such as:

- Should the company open a new store/plant/operation in [pick a region]?

- What new product line should the company offer based on emerging trends and competitive offerings?

- How can a current product/service be altered/upgraded to stay competitive based on the trends observed?

- What is a new target market the company should consider that has been previously ignored/untapped in the industry?

- How should the brand strategy of the company be changed based on competitive strengths/weaknesses? For example, "high quality/high cost; lower cost/lower quality," etc.

This should be written as a Word document, in traditional company memorandum format.