Dr.

Johnson-Gerendas BUA 3301 Positive Business Spring

Memos & Letters 2010

PROJECT #2a
BUSINESS WRITING

Positive Memos & Letters

You will write a total of two [Positive] business

letters/memos (to audiences Inside or Outside
the Organization) for this project. Each letter is
addressed to a different audience, and each
addresses a different issue that very possibly
might come up during your professional career
experience. You should carefully consider the rhetorical situation for each. Please
refer to the schedule for due dates.

You should carefully consider the rhetorical situation for each. Remember to
identify audience, context, and message---also remember the appropriate
protocol and form for the medium (memo or letter) that you are using.
Please refer to the schedule for due dates.

Although particular instructions are given below for each DOCUMENT, please note
that all DOCUMENTS should follow the following guidelines:

• Write each memo or letter as a

separate document—turn in with
a cover memo
•Submit a cover memo with
completed work (letter/memo
documents):
Cover memo should address what
you learned from the assignment,
what you would do to improve the
assignment, and whether I should
keep the assignment in the course
the next time I teach it.
•Use block left margins; 1”
margins
• Use 12-point Times New Roman

These assignments are taken or adapted from your textbook, Excellence in Business
Communications, eighth edition, by Thill and Bovee (2008), 268-278. Pearson. Page 1
Dr. Johnson-Gerendas BUA 3301 Positive Business Spring
Memos & Letters 2010

Select TWO of the following writing tasks.

1. Memo [use MS template]. Shopping for Talent: Memo at Clovine’s

recommending a promotion. You enjoy your duties as manager of the
women’s sportswear department at Clovine’s—a growing chain of moderate
to upscale department stores in south Florida. You especially enjoy being
able to recommend someone for a promotion. Today, you received an e-mail
message from Rachel Cohen, head buyer for women’s apparel. She is looking
for a smart, aggressive employee to become assistant buyer for the women’s
sportswear division. Clovine’s likes to promote from within, and Rachel is
asking all managers and supervisors for likely candidates. She asks they
send their recommendations via memo to the main office. You have just the
person she is looking for.
Jennifer Ramirez is a salesclerk in the designer sportswear boutique of
your main store in Miami, and she has caught your attention. She’s quick,
friendly, and good at sizing up a customer’s preferences. Moreover, at recent
department meetings, she has shared some insightful observations about
fashion trends in south Florida.

Your task: Write a memo to Rachel Cohen, head buyer, women’s

sportswear, recommending Jennifer Ramirez and evaluating her qualifications
for the promotion. Rachel can check with the human resources department
about Jennifer’s educational and employment history; you’re mainly
interested in conveying your positive impression of Jennifer’s potential for
advancement.

2. Satellite farming: Letter granting credit from Deere & Company

This is the best part of your job with Deere & Co. in Moline, Illinois: saying yes
to a farmer. In this case, it’s Arlen Ruestman in Toluca, Illinois. Ruestman
wants to take advantage of new farming technology. Your company’s
GreenStar system uses GPS satellite technology to let farmers know exactly
where they are as they drive equipment across their fields. For farmers like
Ruestman, that means a new ability to micromanage even as many as
10,000 acres of corn or soybeans.
For instance, using the GreenStar system, farmers can map and
analyze characteristics such as acidity, soil type, or crop yields from a given
area. Using this information, they know exactly how much herbicide or
fertilizer to spread over precisely which spot—eliminating waste and
achieving better results. With cross-referencing and accumulated data,
farmers can analyze why crops are performing well in some areas and not so
well in others. Then they can program farm equipment to treat only the
problem area—for example, spraying a new insect infestation 2 yards wide,
300 yards down the row.
Some farms have already saved as much as $10 an acre on fertilizers
alone. For 10,000 acres, that’s $100,000 a year. Once Ruestman retrofits
your GreenStar precision package on his old combine and learns all its

These assignments are taken or adapted from your textbook, Excellence in Business
Communications, eighth edition, by Thill and Bovee (2008), 268-278. Pearson. Page 2
Dr. Johnson-Gerendas BUA 3301 Positive Business Spring
Memos & Letters 2010

applications, he should have no problem saving enough to pay off the $7,350
credit account you’re about to grant him.

Your task: Write a letter to Ruestman (P.O. Box 4067, Toluca, IL 61369),
informing him of the good news.

3. Congrats on that: Letter Complimenting a former business

acquaintance for national recognition. You pull the new issue of Fortune
magazine out of the stack of mail and are quite pleased to see Indra Nooyi on
the cover. Not only was Nooyi recently appointed CEO of PepsiCo, but
Fortune has just named her the most powerful woman in American business.
You got to know her briefly when PepsiCo acquired your previous employer,
Quaker Oats, in 2001. You haven’t spoken to her since then, but you have
followed her accomplishments in the business media.

Your task: Write a brief letter (no more than one page) congratulating
Nooyi on her promotion to CEO and on being recognized by Fortune. Make
up any details you need to create a credible message. You can learn more
about Nooyi’s career and accomplishments in the news release “PepsiCo’s
Board of Directors Appoints Indra K. Nooyi as Chief Executive Officer Effective
October 1, 2006,” on the PeopsiCo website, www.pepsico.com (look under
News, PeopsiCo Releases, 2006). Address the letter to Indra Nooyi, CEO,
PepsiCo, Inc., 700 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10577.

4. Step on it: Letter to Floorgraphics requesting information about

underfoot advertising You work for Alberta Greenwood, owner of Better
Bike and Ski Shop. Yesterday, Alberta met with the Schwinn sales
representative, Tom Beeker, who urged her to sign a contract with
Floorgraphics. That company leases floor space from retail stores and
creates and sells floor ads to manufacturers such as Schwinn. Floor graphics
will pay Alberta a fee for leasing the floor space, as well as a percentage for
every ad it sells. Alberta was definitely interested and turned to you after
Beeker left.
“Tom says that advertising decals on the floor in front of the product
reach consumers right where they’re standing when making a decision,”
explained Alberta. “He says the ads increase sales from 25 to 75 percent.”
You both look down at the dusty floor, and Alberta laughs. “It seems
funny that manufacturers will pay hard cash to put their names where
customers are going to track dirt all over them! But if Tom’s telling the truth,
we could profit three ways: from the leasing fee, the increased sales of
products being advertised, and the share in ad revenues. That’s not so
funny.”

Your task: Alberta Green wood asks you to write a letter for her signature
to CEO Richard Rebh at Floor graphics, Inc. (5 Vaughn Drive, Princeton, NJ
08540) asking for financial details and practical information about the ads.

These assignments are taken or adapted from your textbook, Excellence in Business
Communications, eighth edition, by Thill and Bovee (2008), 268-278. Pearson. Page 3
Dr. Johnson-Gerendas BUA 3301 Positive Business Spring
Memos & Letters 2010

For example, how will you clean your floors? Who installs and removes the
ads? Can you terminate the lease if you don’t like the ads?

These assignments are taken or adapted from your textbook, Excellence in Business
Communications, eighth edition, by Thill and Bovee (2008), 268-278. Pearson. Page 4