Your group is to select a firm that is experiencing or emerging from significant economic, social, personal distress as a result of the fallout from COVID and the measures taken to combat it. You are writing as a member of a managerial economics consultancy (made up of you and the other class members assigned to you group) with no way of predicting the course of the virus, how long it and restrictions on business activities will last, or what the economic climate will be like in the future. Begin by providing a background and history of the firm and their place in the industry/economy they operate in. Historical information is to be brief – no more than a page. More important is their current status – but not the most important. The firm you are consulting for knows its history and is primarily interested in learning about what they can do in the present and near future – this is where the majority of your work should be.Detail the challenges they face at present and may encounter in the days ahead. Frame these challenges in the context of the real risks and uncertainties being dealt with. With the goal of helping the firm to eventually reach a fully functioning and healthy, profitable state, you are to provide inovative recommendations for what actions they should take to deal with these successfully under conditions of risk and uncertainty.This is the core of the project and where the majority of your efforts are to be directed. These actions should be practical, achievable and clearly stated – no fuzzy, feel good notions allowed. The material should be based on what you gain from sound industry/firm/economic/societal research and the application of a broad range of concepts and theories covered in this course, with more from economics and other relevant areas added at your discretion.

Do not select business that are currently successful, like Google, Facebook, Home Depot etc. Find one that is of interest to your group that is experiencing real distress and may not survive. Do not use the same firm as another group from your class (you will need to check with each other) or firms the instructor says are off limits. Do not use any work from previous classes or individuals (your own or others). Material in this Research Project is to be current – as in up to today if possible – with a clear focus on what can be done in the days ahead. Do not make recommendations that are already out of date.

Part 2

Based on the information gathered and recommendations from research project #2, you will prepare a Powerpoint presentation of 20 – 25+ slides that is presented by your group. Prepare it for a broad audience that could include management, shareholders, private owners, the board of directors, employees, members of the public etc. Where Research Project #2 is based on mostly on objective research, in Research Project #3 you are using the presentation with the goal of convinving the firm to hire your Managerial Economics Consultancy.Your group is selling itself just like the firm you will work for is. To that end, you need to be persuasive and distinguish yourrselves from competing consultancies as the providers of highest value. You can be creative with the slides but be sure they are clear, informative, and come with lots of high quality content that is clear and consistent.The presentation should also be consicise and convincing, with the group only having 15-20 minutes to make its case. Beause your audience is already familiar with the firm, do not provide a history. All members of the group are to participate in the presentation, such as by each taking a specific group of slides or topics. Be prepared to answer questions. On group member may submit the powerpoint so long as all group member names are included.