Chapter 13: Completing Reports and Proposals: Lecture Notes

13: Completing Reports and Proposals 1
Chapter 13: Completing Reports and Proposals
LECTURE NOTES
Section 1: Revising Reports and Proposals
Learning Objective 1: Describe the challenge of revising reports and proposals.
The process of writing a report or proposal doesn’t end with a first draft. As with all messages, there are
four tasks involved in completing longer messages:
 Revising
 Producing
 Proofreading
 Distributing
Formal reports and proposals are documents that require an extra measure of polish and professionalism;
be sure to carefully select the elements you want to include in each of your documents. Carefully evaluate
 Organization
 Style
 Tone
Clearly say what you want and make sure that content is
 In a logical order
 Responsive to audience needs
 Clear, concise, and compelling
Section 2: Producing Formal Reports
Learning Objective 2: Identify the major components of formal reports.
When the text quality meets expected standards, produce the report by incorporating various design and
support elements, which may include
 Charts
 Illustrations
 Other visuals
 Any missing textual elements, such as previews and reviews
The parts included in a report depend on the type of report, its length, your audience’s expectations and
requirements, and your organization’s preferences. The components fall into three categories:
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Prefatory parts
 Text of the report
 Supplementary parts

Prefatory Parts of the Report
Prefatory parts are front-end materials that provide key preliminary information so that readers can
decide whether and how to read the report.
These prefatory parts are usually easier to prepare after the text is complete and consist of
 The table of contents

 The list of illustrations
 The executive summary
Cover
Many companies have standard covers for reports, made of heavy paper and imprinted with the
company’s name and logo.
Covers are typically labeled the following information:
 Report title
 Writer’s name (optional)
 Submission date (optional)
The title should be concise and compelling while still communicating the essence of the subject.
Title Fly and Title Page
The title fly is a single sheet of paper with only the title of the report on it. The title page includes
four blocks of information:
 The title of the report

 The name, title, and address of the person, group, or organization that authorized the
 The name, title, and address of the person, group, or organization that prepared the report
 The date on which the report was submitted
In some cases, the title page serves as the cover of the report, especially if the report is relatively short
and is intended solely for internal use.
Letter of Authorization and Letter of Acceptance
If there is written authorization to prepare a report, consider including that letter of authorization in
the report.
If you wrote a letter of acceptance in response to that communication, accepting the assignment and
clarifying any conditions or limitations, you might also include that letter in the report’s prefatory
parts.

In general, letters of authorization and acceptance are included in only the most formal reports.
Letter of Transmittal
The letter of transmittal is a specialized form of cover letter that is usually positioned right before
the table of contents, introducing your report to the audience. The style is sometimes less formal than
the rest of the report.
If your readers are likely to be skeptical of something in your report, the letter of transmittal is a good
place to acknowledge their concerns and explain how the report addresses those issues.
Also, if conveying sensitive information to selected audience members, you can opt to include the
letter in just those copies.
Depending on the nature of your report, your letter of transmittal can follow either the direct approach
for routine or positive messages or the indirect approach for negative messages.
Table of Contents
The table of contents is an outline form of the information in the report showing the following:
 Coverage of topics
 Sequence of information
 Relative importance
The headings used in the text of the report are the basis for the table of contents.
Depending on the length and complexity of the report, you may need to decide how many levels of
headings to show in the contents.
To ensure accuracy, construct the table of contents after your report is complete, thoroughly edited,
and proofed. This way, the headings and subheadings aren’t likely to change or move from page to
page.
List of Illustrations
If you have more than a handful of illustrations in your report, or if you want to call attention to them,
include a list of illustrations after the table of contents.
Regardless of the system you use, be sure to include titles and page numbers.
Synopsis or Executive Summary
A synopsis is a brief overview (one page or less) of a report’s most important points, designed to give
readers a quick preview of the contents.
It’s often included in long technical, professional, or academic reports.

The phrasing of a synopsis can be either informative or descriptive.
 An informative synopsis presents the main points of the report in the order in which they
appear in the text.
 A descriptive synopsis tells what the report is about, using only slightly more detail than
the table of contents.
Many report writers include an executive summary instead of a synopsis. An executive summary is a
fully developed “mini” version of the report itself.
Many reports require neither a synopsis nor an executive summary. Length of the report is usually the
determining factor.
Text of a Report
The heart of a report is composed of three main parts: the introduction, body, and close. Here are a
few considerations to bear in mind as you prepare a formal report:
 Introduction. A good introduction prepares your readers to follow and comprehend the
information that follows. It tells them what the report is about, why they should be
concerned, and how the report is organized.
 Body. This section contains information that supports your conclusions and
recommendations as well as your analysis, logic, and interpretation of the information.
 Close. The close of your report should summarize main ideas, highlight conclusions or
recommendations, and list any courses of action that you expect readers to take or that
you will be taking yourself.
Supplementary Parts of the Report
Supplementary parts follow the text of the report and provide information for readers who seek more
detailed discussion. For online reports, you can put supplements on separate webpages and allow
readers to link to them from the main report pages.
Appendixes
An appendix contains materials related to the report but not included in the text because they are too
long or perhaps not relevant to everyone in the audience. Appendixes can include
 Sample questionnaires and cover letters

 Sample forms
 Computer printouts,
 Statistical formulas,
 Financial statements and spreadsheets
 Copies of important documents,
 Multipage illustrations

All appendixes should be mentioned at appropriate places in the text and listed in the table of
contents.
Bibliography
Include a bibliography, a list of the secondary sources you consulted when preparing your report.
In addition to providing a bibliography, some authors prefer to cite references in the report text.
Acknowledging your sources in the body of your report demonstrates that you have thoroughly
researched your topic.
Index
An index is an alphabetical list of names and subjects mentioned in a report, along with the pages on
which they occur.
If readers will need to access specific points of information in a lengthy report, consider including an
index that lists all key topics including:
 Product and company names

 Markets
 Technical concepts
 Important persons
Section 3: Producing Formal Proposals
Learning Objective 3: Identify the major components of formal proposals.
Proposals addressed to external audiences, including potential customers and investors, are nearly always
formal. For smaller projects and situations in which you already have a working relationship with the
audience, a proposal can be brief and less formal. If you’re responding to an RFP, follow its specifications
to the letter, being sure to include everything it asks for and nothing it doesn’t ask for.
Prefatory Parts of the Proposal
Prefatory parts include the:
 Cover
 Title fly
 Title page
 Table of contents
 List of illustrations
Prefatory parts are handled the same way in a formal proposal as in other formal reports. However,
with a proposal handle other prefatory parts a bit differently by including:

 A copy of the RFP or its name and number

 The synopsis or executive summary
 The letter of transmittal
Copy of or Reference to the RFP
RFPs usually have specific instructions for referring to the RFP itself in the proposal because the
organizations that issue RFPs need a methodical way to track all their active RFPs and the incoming
responses.
Some organizations require that you include a copy of the entire RFP in your proposal; others simply
want you to refer to the RFP by name or number. Follow the instructions in every detail.
Synopsis or Executive Summary
Although you may include a synopsis or an executive summary for your reader’s convenience, these
components are often less useful in a formal proposal than they are in a formal report.
If the proposal is unsolicited, your transmittal letter will already have caught the reader’s interest.
It may also be less important if your proposal is solicited because the reader is already committed to
studying your proposal.
Letter of Transmittal
How to handle the letter of transmittal depends on whether the proposal is solicited or unsolicited.
 If the proposal is solicited, approach the letter of transmittal as a positive message,

highlighting those aspects of that may give you a competitive advantage.
 If the proposal is unsolicited, approach the letter as a persuasive message that must
convince the reader that you have something worthwhile to offer.
Text of the Proposal
Just as with reports, the text of a proposal is composed of three main parts: the introduction, body,
and close.
The content and depth of each part depend on whether the proposal is solicited or unsolicited, formal
or informal.
 Introduction. This section presents and summarizes the problem you intend to solve and
your solution to that problem, including any benefits the reader will receive from your
solution.
 Body. This section explains the complete details of the solution: how the job will be
done, how it will be broken into tasks, what method will be used to do it, when the work
will begin and end, how much the entire job will cost, and why you are qualified.

 Close. This section emphasizes the benefits that readers will realize from your solution,
and it urges readers to act.

Section 4: Proofreading Reports and Proposals
Learning Objective 4: Describe an effective plan for proofreading reports and proposals.
After assembling all the components of your report or proposal, revised the entire document’s content for
clarity and conciseness, and designed the document to ensure readability and a positive impression on
your readers, you have essentially produced your document in its final form.
Now review it thoroughly one last time, looking for:
 Inconsistencies
 Errors
 Missing components
Proofing can catch minor flaws that might diminish your credibility—and major flaws that might damage
your career. Check for:
 Typos
 Spelling errors
 Mistakes in punctuation
 Displaced visuals
Whenever possible, arrange for someone with “fresh eyes” to proofread the report, somebody who hasn’t
been involved with the text to this point.
Section 5: Distributing Reports and Proposals
Learning Objective 5: Describe the decision process for distributing reports and proposals.
Pay particular attention to the length and complexity of your documents. For physical distribution,
consider these options:
 Professional courier
 Package delivery service
 Personal delivery
For electronic distribution, use PDF files, unless word-processor files are specifically requested.
If your company or client expects you to distribute your reports via a web-based content management
system, intranet, or extranet, be sure to upload the correct file(s) to the correct online location and verify
placement of these elements:
 Onscreen display of the report

 Graphics
 Charts

 Links
After you’ve sent your report or proposal off to your audience, your next task is to wait for a response. If
you don’t hear from your readers within a week or two, you might want to ask politely whether the report
arrived. If the RFP specifies a response window, however, do not inquire before that time has elapsed.
COMMUNICATION DILEMMAS AT GARAGE TECHNOLOGY VENTURES (p. 437)
1. You’ve just received an intriguing executive summary from a start-up company whose technology
reduces the cost of providing Internet service by nearly 30 percent, an amount that would spark
interest from just about every Internet service provider in the world. The financial projections in the
executive summary are realistic—and quite positive. Even if this investment panned out only half as
well as the numbers suggest, it would bring in a sizable amount of cash when the company eventually
goes public. The patented technological solution is sound, too; you used to work as a network
engineer, and these people know what they’re doing. There is just one problem: the submission is
entirely anonymous. The document describes, in vague terms, four experienced technical and
business specialists but without giving their names or their specific work experiences. A note attached
to the plan apologizes for the secrecy but says the four principles in the new firm can’t reveal
themselves until they get financing and can therefore leave their current jobs. What should you do?
a. Yes. This submission should be rejected. In any start-up venture the human capital is as important
as the idea itself. Without knowing the backgrounds of the principals involved and their history of
implementing business plans and managing organizations, the request for funding cannot be
thoroughly vetted. Moreover, people this afraid of risk are not likely to make successful
entrepreneurs.
b. No. You’ll damage your reputation if you do this.
c. No. This would be unethical.
d. No. A key aspect of any business communication challenge is understanding the written—and
unwritten—rules of the situation. These people don’t “get it.”
2. Review these “grabs” presented in three executive summaries. Discuss their strengths and weaknesses
and decide which one of the three you would forward to Kawasaki and the other directors.
a. No. This summary is wildly overconfident and completely lacking in any sort of substance. The
board member “claim” is a far-fetched exaggeration and lends no weight to verifiable abilities
that would appeal to sensible investors.
b. Yes. This summary is factual, professional, and on point. It provides detailed, relevant
information in a concise and clear fashion. This would be the most appropriate summary to
forward on to Kawasaki.
c. No. This arrogant, hard-sell approach should be rejected. (And students can’t be expected to
know this, but the popularity statistic offered is fairly ridiculous and an instant credibility-killer—
leading travel websites such as Expedia have millions of visitors every month.)
3. You are finalizing this year’s portfolio update report for the company’s partners and investors, an
important document that summarizes the performance over the last year of all the companies in which
Garage has an investment stake. Accuracy and clarity are essential with this document, because the

information it contains can lead to significant changes in investment and oversight strategies for the
companies in the portfolio. Which of the following proofreading strategies should you use to make
sure your report is free of errors?
a. No. You certainly can and should use these tools, but they are only part of a solution, and you
can’t rely on them to do a thorough review.
b. No. This is highly unprofessional and will harm your credibility.
c. No. This would have the opposite effect—when the text is fresh, the mind tends to
subconsciously “insert” missing words and correct others errors. Consequently, you can read right
past mistakes without seeing them.
d. Yes. This strategy incorporates two important points: putting the text aside for a while so that you
can review it with fresh eyes and using two proofers who can look at different aspects.
4. Looking over past editions of the annual performance report, you see that it has always had the
generic main title of “Annual Performance Review,” followed by a subtitle that summarizes the
overall performance of the companies in the portfolio. Which of the following subtitles would be
most effective and most appropriate for this year’s report, a year in which half the companies in the
portfolio experienced major technical or legal setbacks, and only two met their revenue projections?
a. No. This is too casual.
b. No. While this statement might in fact be true, the “sky is falling” tone is too dramatic. The target
readers are no doubt familiar with significant business challenges, so simply and directly
characterizing the situation, as (c) does, is the appropriate way to go.
c. Yes. This suggests the seriousness of the situation without going over the top.
d. No. Like (b), this is overly dramatic.
APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE (p. 441)
1 For any report that is a persuasive message (such as business plans written to solicited outside
funding), the executive summary is by definition a persuasive message because it is a summary of the
larger document. In another sense, one might argue that every executive summary has a persuasive
aspect because it endeavors to have readers accept the message of the overall report without taking
the time required to read it in full.
2 For particularly long and complex reports, the table of contents can become some extensive that the
addition of a brief table of contents that lists only major section headings can help readers who want
to find those major section breaks quickly.
3 If in-text citations were used in the report to attribute specific pieces of information to other authors,
including a bibliography does not eliminate the need to include those citations.
4 For both audiences, the body of the report should contain the basic facts—the information obtained
from the survey. This information should be presented in direct, objective terms so that both managers
and employees can interpret it easily. The report for managers, however, will probably contain
conclusions or recommendations omitted from the employees’ report. Any prefatory and
supplementary parts would be determined according to the formality the writers believe to be

necessary. However, no individual employees’ names should be shown in either version of the report,
to preserve the anonymity of the respondents.
5 In general, providing a list of similar projects would be expected by the organization that issued the
RFP and an essential step in establishing or confirming your credibility as a builder. The RFP might
list specific instructions on what to include. However, before providing names and contact
information of specific individuals, you must be sure to get their permission to do so. If the RFP
doesn’t specify a format for providing the references, a statement of qualifications within the body of
the proposal would be a good place to list similar projects. An extensive list of contact details is
probably better suited for an appendix.
PRACTICE YOUR SKILLS (p. 441)
Message 13.A
Any suggested revisions would need to be based on assumptions or conclusions about the purpose of the
document and its intended audience. Students will probably notice that this document has a formal tone
and appears to be aimed at policymakers and other professional audiences, not consumers. In fact, the
sentence on the second page, “The intent of the Dietary Guidelines is to summarize and synthesize
knowledge about individual nutrients and food components into an interrelated set of recommendations
for healthy eating that can be adopted by the public,” offers a good example of the document’s tone,
clarifies the intent of the report, and suggests that the information is intended for parties who will convey
it to the public.
Exercises
1 One possible revision: “Success in this job depends on persuading other people to perform various
tasks and ensuring that those tasks are completed. However, the position does not come with direct
authority over those people, so tact and perseverance are essential.”
2 If the Electrovision report is for information only, it will contain no recommendations and so will
need a new title, such as “Electrovision’s Travel and Entertainment Costs.” Most headings will need
to be changed to reflect the informational nature of the report, and the section titled “Methods for
Reducing Travel and Entertainment Costs” will be removed. Students may identify additional details
that must be changed. The new transmittal memo should focus on key findings without making
judgments or recommendations.
3 Student versions of this letter will vary. In general, it should be upbeat, stressing the group’s gratitude
for the County Arts Council grant, and should mention that the grant allowed the Friends of the
Library to support literacy and boost library usage through a diverse set of activities and acquisitions.
The letter should touch on highlights of the report and build goodwill because the writer hopes the
recipient will continue providing grants in future years.
4 Students should recognize elements such as these:
Purpose: To give parents entertaining and engaging activities to promote the joy of reading

Title: The title clearly communicates the purpose of the report, and the subtitle provides clear clues to
the content of the report
Type of report: Informational
Structure: Students can pick up the structure from the Contents page
Visuals: The online version uses very few visuals, none of which add information value (PDF version
contains no visuals)
Online medium: Links make it easy to navigate to sections of interest
1. To guide class discussion on this issue, you’ll want to draw your students toward professional
behavior, even in the face of a potential ethical lapse on the part of the superior. Remind students that
this situation may not actually be an instance of idea-stealing at all. Perhaps they can brainstorm other
possibilities; for example, given the number of active minds and informal communication channels in
a typical organization, it may be possible that somebody else independently suggested the same idea
to the vice president. Or the boss might’ve give full credit, but in the crunch of daily work, that fact
was not transmitted back to you.
You might ask students how they could determine more about the boss’s behavior. Has she exhibited
similar behavior in the past? Is she ignoring other communications or only this one? What about
nonverbal signals (e.g., does the boss appear to be avoiding eye contact in the cafeteria, etc.)? Is this
the only communication that has gone unanswered (e.g., maybe the boss is going through a personal
or professional crisis and hasn’t had time to respond to any messages)?
The simplest and safest first step would be to ask the boss (in a neutral way) if the report met her
needs and whether she has any questions. If she simply forgot or hasn’t had time to get back to you,
then the situation could be resolved without further worry. For example, she could say that she shared
your ideas with the vice president (who decided to implement them immediately), but she was caught
up in a family crisis and forgot to share this news with you. Or, she might explain that the vice
president was already working on a similar plan when she presented your ideas.
If this conversation doesn’t give you a satisfactory answer, then you need to decide how to proceed,
based on whatever you learned from the exchange. Students can brainstorm the options one might
take in this situation, such as asking the boss directly if she passed your report on to the vice
president, going over the boss’s head to complain to a superior, asking a trusted party for advice, or
simply letting this episode pass without mention.
As the teams explain the rationale behind their solutions, you might get other teams to play devil’s
advocate and challenge their assumptions. For example, if a team decides the boss should be confronted
directly, ask members what they would do if the boss were to deny taking credit (even in the face of
irrefutable evidence to the contrary) or provides an innocent explanation you hadn’t thought of. If a
team suggests that the employee should simply forget the incident and let the boss take credit to
preserve the status quo, ask members what kind of future that employee could expect in the company.
Will the boss take advantage of every good idea? Will the employee become invisible at promotion
time? And if a team decides to complain to the boss’s superior, ask members how the employee’s

working life will be once the boss learns of this action and what the superior will think of an
employee who wasn’t able to resolve this matter on his or her own.
CASE SOLUTIONS AND GUIDELINES (p. 443)
Here are possible solutions or solution guidelines for this chapter’s cases.
13.1. Message Strategies: Informational Reports
Students choosing the direct approach to recommending that Paper Products adopt an e-learning program
should present the advantages before the disadvantages and include some facts to support their
recommendations. Those recommending that Paper Products not adopt an e-learning program should
present disadvantages before advantages, and also include some facts to support their recommendations.
Regardless of the student’s recommendation, the report should be concise and to the point. Not every item
listed should be presented. Students recommending the program might want to include some examples of
companies that are successfully using e-learning as a way to stimulate ideas for programs at Paper
Products, Inc.
13.2 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports
Tempers are no doubt flaring across the company and people are surely demanding answers, so both
timeliness (to proceed toward a resolution as quickly as possible) and accuracy (to avoid fueling the fire
with misinformation) are paramount in this report. Here are a number of suggestions for students, based
on the three-step writing process:
Analyzing the situation: Because the assignment from the CEO is merely to provide information about the
situation and not to solve the problem, starting with a clear statement of purpose is vital—both to guide
the writing effort and to remind the CEO when he or she reads it. Even though the audience is just a
single person and the report is requested, sketching a brief audience profile will be helpful since the
student (in the role of the new HR manager) doesn't have a long history with the CEO. In addition, a clear
work plan will help the report writer make the best use of limited time.
Gathering information: The CEO asked for a report on available information, so students won’t need to
allow for additional information gathering, such as an employee survey. However, in their role playing,
some students may provide additional hypothetical information, such as industry-wide averages or insights
from a previous job.
Selecting the right medium: Confidentiality is the overriding concern in this case and there’s already
evidence of vulnerabilities in the company’s electronic communication network, so a printed memo with
no copies and hand-delivered to the CEO is probably the best choice.
Organizing: A direct approach is called for since the report is primarily about delivering information, and
the CEO requested it. To organize the information, a comparison approach will be most effective, and
students should also keep the numeric and narrative information separate to avoid confusion. If students
choose to add information beyond that shown in the two tables, it should be presented after the salary data
and responses from the two managers.

Adapting to the audience: Since the report writer is a new employee, his or her response to this crisis is
likely to be a career-defining moment. The CEO’s assessment of that response, positive or negative, will
help establish perceptions that could last years. Consequently, the report needs to clearly and directly meet
the audience’s needs, while confronting the problem head-on. Complaining about the information leak or
criticizing the company’s computer systems will detract from the purpose of the report and therefore
generate a negative reaction from the audience.
Composing the report: The report should be written in a calm, neutral style. A voice of reason is doubly
appreciated during a time of crisis. Any insights the writer can find that might help define a solution
should be offered as well, such as noting that while the range of salaries for engineers is considerably
broader than the range for marketing staffers, the averages are not terribly far apart across the two
departments. This suggests that a few top performers in the engineering group are paid far above the
average, which might not be out of line at all.
Revising, producing, proofreading, and distributing: The primary concerns here are accuracy and
confidentiality.
From Case Tables 13.3 through 13.5, students should be able to identify a possible “sweet spot” in the
data: kitchens, bathrooms, and home offices are the most frequently tackled rooms; $10–$20k is the most
common budget range; and the tasks that are (1) of most interest to “heavy-hitter” DIYers and (2)
probably covered less extensively by publications that focus on more-superficial tasks would include
conceptual design, demolition, framing, plumbing, and possibly finish carpentry and tile work (although
these last two might be considered “lighter” tasks and therefore might be covered adequately by other
publications).
The follow-on research task, then, is to see whether a magazine market really exists for homeowners who
want to extensively remodel kitchens, bathrooms, and home offices (as well as other rooms, but these
would be the big three) with fairly sizable budgets in projects where they would tackle conceptual design,
demolition, framing, and plumbing. Moreover, since consumer publications rely heavily on advertising,
the research also needs to identify how many advertisers want to reach such a market. Lastly, the report
should indicate how well or poorly this market is currently being served by other publications (students
will need to make up this information).
The funding request portion of the report needs to make a strong case for pursuing the additional research,
based on preliminary indications of the size of the market, the number of advertisers involved, and the
competition.
This report will require students to compare multiple sources of information on a fairly complicated topic,
so organization and clarity of presentation will be critical. When they find differences of opinion, students
should identify why the sources have different advice before identifying which opinion they find most
convincing. For example, a source written before the recent credit crisis and one written after it could
have markedly different advice and still be valid in the context of the times in which they were written.

Students should get creative with this one and identify as many ways as possible to increase poetry sales.
However, the report should be more than just a list of ideas; it should summarize the research findings and
link possible sales ideas to reasons uncovered in the research. For example, if some people were turned
off by the classic poetry they were forced to read in school, one idea could be publish compilations that
show the wide range of contemporary poetry.
The content of these reports can vary widely, depending on the companies students choose. No matter
which five franchises students choose, however, thorough research is the key to success in this exercise.
They need to identify not only the franchising requirements but the nature of the work as well—to make
sure they’re suited to it and can convince investors of their suitability. A comparative report such as this
can make good use of both narrative descriptions (brief histories of each company, for instance) and
tabular data (such as financial requirements).
13.7 Message Strategies: Informational Reports
Students should be able to identify a variety of methods employers are using to contain rising health care
costs. They should look at both direct financial savings (e.g., switching to higher-deductible insurance
plans) and indirect methods (e.g., workplace safety and wellness programs that improve employee health
and thereby reduce the need for medical care).
Sales and service professionals have found a variety of ways to use the iPad and other tablet computers in
their work, so students can explore these areas for examples. One clever way to find ideas would be to
search the Apps store on iTunes to find business-oriented apps for the iPad (look in the Business,
Productivity, Reference, and even Travel sections).
This report is a straightforward writing project; here are several suggestions to assist students:
Statement of purpose: Make sure to focus on the information that buyers’ need—and only that
information. The history of online buying, the market dynamics of car retailing, lists of features to look
for in the car itself, and other factors might be interesting, but they’re not central to this task.
Audience profile: Online shoppers are a diverse lot; some are be quite comfortable with shopping online,
whereas others are compete novices. In addition, many consumers are intimated by the car-buying process
in general, no matter where it takes place, and this anxiety will add to the uncertainty. Because the stated
use of the report is introducing consumers to the basic concepts, students should be sure to cater to the
needs of the beginners in the audience (as opposed to more-advanced online shoppers).
Organization: The organization should be simple and logical. Here is one possibility using a three-part
structure:

I. What you can—and cannot do—online (set audience expectations for what they'll be able to
accomplish using an online car-buying service)
II. How the process works (walk the audience through the process so the understand what will
happen and when; a flowchart diagram is a good visual possibility)
III. How to get started (answer the “OK, now what do I do?” question, telling people where to go
online to get started; a table of websites such as that provided in the case would be helpful here)
Adapting to the audience and composing the report: Clarity and simplicity are at a premium in a report
such as this. Students should keep the target audience in mind and avoid the jargon that Internet-related
writing falls into too frequently.
Students have two creative challenges in a report involving this much data (of course, many business reports
have many times this much): presenting the data (in graphical or tabular format) and providing narrative
summaries of the data. Although tables do present all the necessary data, other types of visuals would make
the most compelling points more instantly recognizable. For instance, the data in Case Tables 13.7 (carpool
habits), 13.8 (use of public transportation), 13.9 (impact of improvements to public transportation), and
13.11 (telecommuting) could be effectively presented as pie charts or bar charts. Table 13.10 (distance
traveled) is a good candidate for a map that shows concentric distance rings around the company location
(e.g., a ring at 1 mile, a second ring at 3 miles, etc.), with data labels indicating the number of employees
who live in each ring.
For the second challenge, interpreting the data and providing concise narrative summaries, students
should focus on the aspects of each data set that are most relevant to the transportation challenge. These
highlights include such observations as the following:
 Case Table 13.7 (carpool habits): Only a third of the workforce carpools regularly, so this option
might yield some significant improvements.
 Case Table 13.8 (use of public transportation): More than a quarter of the workforce never use
public transportation for their commutes, but as Table 14.9 shows, the range of reasons is diverse
and not solvable with any one change.
 Case Table 13.9 (impact of improvements to public transportation): subsidized fares and
improved safety (both of which are potentially costly options) are the two most important ways to
improve employees use of public transportation, but more than 8,000 employee won't use mass
transit under any circumstances, so it's not a total solution to the problem.
 Case Table 13.10 (distance traveled): Only 17 percent of employees live within three miles of
work, so walking and bicycling are not viable options for most of the workforce.
 Case Table 13.11 (telecommuting): Only 28 percent of employees believe that their jobs are
compatible with telecommuting in any regular way. Perhaps some change in job design could
increase this percentage and make telecommuting a more viable choice.

Note: Here’s a completed example that compares Boeing and Airbus. The information in this report is
dated, but it provides a useful example of report writing and organization.
AIRBUS AND BOEING: A COMPARISON OF TWO AIRLINE AND AEROSPACE RIVALS
INTRODUCTION
Boeing has been defined by its sheer technical bravado—and at times by its almost willful disregard for
financial realities. The Seattle company designed the B-52 in a single weekend and launched the 747
jumbo jet in spite of the many observers who declared it financial suicide. Boeing is the world’s largest
aerospace company and the largest exporter in the United States. It has built some 85 percent of the
world’s jetliners and has dominated commercial aviation since the 1950s (Zuckerman, “Jet Wars” C1).
But in 1999, the once unthinkable happened: As Figure 1 shows, rival Airbus sold twice as many planes
as Boeing (Prado A14).
Figure 1. Number of airplane orders for Boeing and Airbus

800
700
600
500
400
Airplane Orders
Boeing Airbus
300
200
100
0
'91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99
Source: Adapted from Laurence Zuckerman, “A Wing-and-Wing Race,” New York Times, 1 December 1999, C1, C2; Gail
Edmondson, Janet Rae-Dupree, and Kerry Capell, “How Airbus Could Rule the Skies,” Business Week, 2 August 1999, 54; Paulo
Prada and David Gauthier-Villars, “Airbus Sales Hit a Record $17.2 Billion,” Wall Street Journal, 30 January 2001, A14; Laurence
Zuckerman, “The Jet Wars of the Future,” New York Times, 9 July 1999, C1, C5.
Airbus was founded in 1970 as a consortium of four European partners with homes in Great Britain,
Germany, France, and Spain. Airbus would never have gotten off the ground without subsidies from the
partners’ governments. In 2001, confident that Airbus could finally stand on its own, the partners turned it
into a single private company. Like Boeing, Airbus manufactures a full fleet of planes. Unlike Boeing, it
has no jumbo jet. As a result, when it approaches an airline with a package deal, it has no big plane to
clinch the sale (Taylor 103).
DIFFERING APPROACHES TO MANUFACTURING

Airbus and Boeing build their planes differently. At Airbus, large airplane components, such as wings,
cockpits, engines, and landing gear, are produced by suppliers all over the world and flown in giant cargo
jets to a final assembly building in Toulouse, France. There, a handful of employees operating giant

machines snap the large plane sections together. The finished aircraft are sold by Airbus Industrie, a sales
and marketing joint venture owned by the partners (Zuckerman, “Wing-and-Wing” C1). Many once-loyal
Boeing customers now find innovative Airbus designs to be technologically superior and more comfortable
for passengers. Besides offering wider planes that accommodate wider passenger seats, more overhead bin
space, and more aisle space, all Airbus jets share the same cockpit design. This uniformity allows pilots to
easily shift from flying one model to the next, which can slash pilot training from 30 days to less than 8 and
save airlines millions of dollars annually (Michaels, “Spread Wings as a Company” A15).
Until recently, Boeing customized a cockpit for every model and built airplanes like customized houses:
Airlines could select from 109 shades of white paint or 20,000 galley and lavatory configurations. Worse
yet, Boeing relied on a manual numbering system to track the 4 million parts and 170 miles of wiring
needed for any one airplane (Useem 153). Compared to Airbus, Boeing’s assembly lines were a beehive of
activity, and its systems were woefully inefficient. Boeing is now rebuilding its operations and systems,
but only after learning its lesson the hard way (Michaels and Cole B1).
COMPETITIVE TACTICS BACKFIRE FOR BOEING

With Airbus gaining ground in the mid 1990s, Boeing decided to deal this challenger a crippling blow.
Banking on its ability to overhaul operations, cut production costs by 25 percent, and double production
of its profitable 747 line, Boeing offered customers deep discounts on smaller jets to win multi-aircraft
orders. But its plan backfired. The company was besieged with more orders than it could deliver on time.
Production problems, management turmoil, and a market slowdown (spurred by the Asian economic
crisis) collided head-on with Boeing's planned system upgrades, sending the aerospace giant into a
tailspin. The company took years to recover, and the crisis triggered a massive reengineering attempt
(Reinhard 62; Useem 148–160). Boeing is now following in its rival’s footsteps by outsourcing the
manufacturing of more components. “The goal is to transform Boeing into a company focused on design,
marketing, and assembly while letting others build the parts,” says one Boeing spokesperson (Squeo A8).
OPPOSING VIEWS OF THE FUTURE

Boeing and Airbus have very different visions of the future of aviation. Airbus believes that the number of
people traveling between the world’s biggest airports will grow faster than airport capacity, boosting
demand for a new generation of gigantic planes. Airbus projects that the market potential for a superjumbo
is about 1,500 planes. So it is spending $12 billion to develop the world’s biggest passenger jet, which it
claims will revolutionize air travel just as the 747 did (Zuckerman, “Jet Wars” C5). The wide A380
superjumbo double-decker will seat 555 passengers (and can be configured to seat 800), surpassing
Boeing’s 416-seat 747-400. The A380 will showcase the latest technology and use light-weight composite
materials currently found in military aircraft, making the A380 cheaper to operate per seat-mile than
Boeing’s 747-400 (Tagliabue C1). But the superjumbo will fly no faster than today’s jets. Table 1 compares
the Boeing 747-400 with the Airbus A380.
Table 1. Airbus hopes bigger will be better

BOEING 747-400 AIRBUS A380
WWW.BOEING.COM/ WWW.AIRBUS.COM/
Aircraft length 225 ft. 239 ft.
Aircraft height 63 ft. 79 ft.

Seats 416 555-650
Flight range 8,380 miles 8,798 miles
Fuel capacity 57,285 gallons 85,900 gallons
Cost per seat-mile 3.46 cents 3.25 cents (based on 555 seats)
Max. takeoff weight 875,000 pounds 1,190,000 pounds
Source: Adapted from John Tagliabue, “Airbus Industrie Is Considering a Very Big Bet,” New York
Times, 14 July 2000, C1, C6; Daniel Michaels, “Giant Jet Gets Orders It Required,” Wall Street Journal,
30 November 2000, A17, A19; Alex Taylor III, “Blue Skies for Airbus,” Fortune, 2 August 1999, 102–
108.
“Not worth it,” says Boeing chairman Phil Condit. After taking a close look at the superjumbo, Boeing
concluded that it couldn’t make the plane pay (Michaels and Cole B4). Boeing sees demand for new jets
in the 400 plus category ranging between 400 and 1,000 units over the next 20 years. The company plans
on servicing this growth with its current 747 model and a new longer-range version that could fly an
additional 775 miles without sacrificing airspeed or cargo capacity (Zuckerman, “Supersonic” C1). In
fact, Boeing thinks the Europeans “have gotten themselves in a terrible jam. They just won’t be able to
meet their commitments,” says Joe Sutter, the engineer who led the design team that produced the original
747 (Zuckerman, “Wing-and-Wing” C1). Airports would need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to
upgrade terminals and taxiways to service the A380 and its two levels of jetways. Furthermore, the
superjumbo’s huge capacity limits its use to only the most densely traveled routes (Michaels, “Airbus
Clients Worry” A21).
In contrast, Boeing is betting that airlines will begin using moderately smaller planes to fly passengers
directly between smaller cities, bypassing congested hub airports. The company anticipates that new
airports will be developed to accommodate passenger needs—especially in trans-Pacific and intra-Asian
markets. So instead of building a superjumbo, Boeing will spend about $10 billion to develop a near-
supersonic plane that will be able to fly 20 percent faster than today’s conventional planes without
breaking the sound barrier and without increasing operating costs. The Sonic Cruiser 20XX will save one
hour of flying time for every 3,000 miles flown, which could change the way the world flies (perhaps as
dramatically as the introduction of the jet engine) (Squeo A8).
MARKET GAMBLES—BOTH FIRMS “BET THE COMPANY”

If the Airbus vision is right, the newcomer will likely steal some of the most lucrative sales from large
markets such as Japan, where Boeing holds a commanding market share. For instance, if the Japanese buy
the A380, Airbus could become the undisputed world leader in the market for big jets, ending Boeing’s
30-year jumbo-jet monopoly. Furthermore, if it turns out that customers like the A380 better than
Boeing’s current 747 or its planned long-range version, they may be tempted to buy their smaller jets
from Airbus as well as their larger jets (Edmondson 54).
On the other hand, if Airbus has misjudged the market demand for superjumbos, the company and its
backers would be facing a financial catastrophe. For one thing, developing the proposed A380 could zap

resources from existing lines, which would hurt the company's overall competitiveness at a time when
Boeing is devoting its engineering efforts to squeezing costs out of planes and manufacturing processes
while developing a smaller plane for faster travel (Michaels, “Airbus Clients Worry” A21).
If Boeing is on target with its vision for the future of air travel, it will head off the serious Airbus
challenge that has already upset the U.S. producer’s market dominance. But if Boeing has miscalculated,
it will sacrifice large profits, as well as the huge jumbo-jet market that, until now, it had controlled
entirely. In good years, roughly half of Boeing's profits came from sales of the company’s 747, the
uncontested queen of the skies and flagship of most of the world’s major airlines. Designing a new
superjumbo would take years; therefore, if it turns out that Boeing's vision is wrong, the U.S company
would be hard pressed to catch up (Useem 158–160).
Both Boeing and Airbus are making one of those bet-your-company decisions. Airlines buy planes well in
advance of market demand, and then they fly them for decades. “You make decisions and then you don’t
find out whether they make sense until ten years later,” says Boeing’s Sutter. But “that’s what life’s about
in the airplane business.”
Reference List
Cole, Jeff. “Flight of Fancy.” Wall Street Journal, 3 November 1999, A1, A10.
Cole, Jeff. “Wing Commander.” Wall Street Journal, 10 January 2001, A1, A12.
Edmondson, Gail, Janet Rae-Dupree, and Kerry Capell, “How Airbus Could Rule the Skies.” Business
Week, 2 August 1999, 54.
Holmes, Stanley. “Boeing Jettisons a Plant.” Business Week, 2 February 2001, 14.
Michaels, Daniel. “Europe’s Airbus Ready to Spread Wings as a Company.” Wall Street Journal, 23 June
2000, A15.
Michaels, Daniel. “Flying High.” Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2000, R18, R19.
Michaels, Daniel. “Giant Jet Gets Orders It Required.” Wall Street Journal, 30 November 2000, A17,
A19.
Michaels, Daniel. “Some Airbus Clients Worry About Jumbo Jet’s Impact.” Wall Street Journal, 24 July
2000, A21.
Michaels, Daniel, and Jeff Cole. “Taking Tons Off the World’s Biggest Passenger Jet.” Wall Street
Journal, 19 January 2001, B1, B4.
Prada, Paulo, and David Gauthier-Villars. “Airbus Sales Hit a Record $17.2 Billion.” Wall Street Journal,
30 January 2001, A14.
Reinhardt, Andy, John Rossant, and Frederik Balfour. “Boeing Gets Blown Sideways.” Business Week, 16
October 2000, 62.
Squeo, Anne Marie. “Boeing Plans to Build Smaller, Faster Jet.” Wall Street Journal, 30 March 2001, A3,
A8.
Tagliabue, John. “Airbus Industrie Is Considering a Very Big Bet.” New York Times, 14 July 2000, C1,
C6.
Taylor, Alex III. “Blue Skies for Airbus.” Fortune, 2 August 1999, 102–108.
Useem, Jerry. “Boeing vs. Boeing.” Fortune, 2 October 2000, 148–160.

Zuckerman, Laurence. “A Wing-and-Wing Race.” New York Times, 1 December 1999, C1, C2.
Zuckerman, Laurence. “Boeing’s Planned Jetliner to Be Almost Supersonic.” New York Times, 30 March
2001, C1–C2.
Zuckerman, Laurence. “The Jet Wars of the Future.” New York Times, 9 July 1999, C1, C5.
These research and reporting tasks vary in terms of both complexity and the degree of speculation
required to answer the questions, so you may want to consider assigning a specific question that matches
the needs and interests of your class. Whichever question they pursue, students should take care to keep
facts and opinions separate (although both may be required to answer the question) and to draw a clear
boundary between actual and speculative data (such as past sales data versus forecasted future sales).
Students might find it helpful to plot the history of Apple’s product launches over the past decade or two
to discern how the company has changed it course and how it either helped initiate or responded to shifts
in consumer behavior. Correlating these events with the company’s financial results year by year should
produce some instructive observations.
In addition, students can contrast Apple’s strategy with the strategies taken by other companies along the
way, including Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and Sony.
13.14 Message Strategies: Proposals
The proposal for a presentation workshop involves two key challenges: communicating the value of an
intangible product and tailoring the pitch to make it relevant to the specific target buyer. Thorough
research is the first step to meeting both challenges. Students should focus on how the presentation will
yield meaningful results for the target customer, and various businesses can have dramatically different
needs for presentation skills.
For instance, if the focus is on making sales presentations, a company that sells a large number of
relatively simple and low-cost products or services has different presentation needs than a company that
sells a small number of complex, expensive products or services every year. The former probably doesn't
have the time to customize every sales presentation, whereas the latter might invest days or weeks in
customizing a presentation for a single customer. By studying the company's website and other available
information, students should be able to surmise, in at least a general sense, the types of presentations that
the company is likely to give. (Of course, the focus might not be on sales presentations at all, but rather
on product training, new employee orientation or some other business presentation need.)
Since the case didn't indicate that a company had requested the proposal, students should proceed on the
assumption that the proposal is unsolicited. Consequently, the proposal should include a section that
highlights the importance and value of effective presentation skills (thereby clarifying the need for the
workshop).
Students can gain insight into the necessary content and structure for this proposal by following the chain
of questions that a typical target customer is likely to ask upon receiving a proposal such as this:

1. Do we really need help with our presentation skills? (If the prospect doesn't already sense the need or
can't be convinced of the need in the first few sections of the proposal, he or she isn't likely to
continue reading.)
2. Assuming we have a need, is a workshop the right solution? (The prospect might believe that self-
paced video training, Toastmasters, or some other alternative is the way to go
instead. Again, if he or she may not think that a workshop is the right solution, the proposal needs to
address this hurdle before continuing.)
3. If a workshop is the right solution, how do we know that this particular trainer is the right person to
teach us? (Assuming the prospect senses the need and agrees that a workshop is the way to go, now
it’s time for the presentation coach to explain why he or she is the right trainer for the job.)
By following this chain, students can quickly see that it’s futile to sell the trainer’s qualifications before
the potential client is aware of the need or in agreement that a workshop is the right solution. Using this
insight, students can formulate a step-by-step persuasive argument that starts from the basic customer
need and proceeds toward the specific solution being offered.
Unlike the scenario in Case 14, in which the target customer may not be aware of (or agree with) the need
for the proposed solution, most school boards should be keenly aware of the controversy over junk food
and unhealthy beverages in today's schools. The primary challenge in this case is maintaining focus, since
the brothers have identified many different benefits for a number of different constituencies.
One good way to organize the proposal is by constituency. Here’s a sample outline, starting with a
description of the program, followed by benefits to three major groups of people:
I Description of the proposed program

II Benefits to students (healthier snacks, job training, removal of many forms of brand advertising from
school campuses)
III Benefits to school administration (share of the business’s profits)
IV Benefits to the community (healthier children, fewer worries for parents, support for local farmers)
V Request for action (such as an opportunity to make a presentation at the next school board meeting)
This scenario is an effective reminder that finding good ideas usually isn’t the problem in today’s business
world—it’s turning these good ideas into reality amidst the many competing demands for time, energy,
and money. Mentoring is a wonderful idea, but it takes time and energy away from other important
activities.
Some points for students to keep in mind:
 This is a solicited proposal (although not being written in response to a formal RFP), so it doesn't
need the same justifications that an unsolicited proposal requires.

 Although the proposal is solicited, it should clarify exactly what is being proposed, since any two
people could have dramatically different ideas of what constitutes a mentoring program and why
one would benefit the company.
 Whatever program students design, it must benefit the company overall and it must have buy-in
at the highest levels of the organization to have any chance of getting off the ground. In times of
tight budgets, programs that can’t show a connection to the bottom line tend not to get funded.
 Measuring the benefits of a mentoring program can be difficult, since many of the benefits are not
directly quantifiable (e.g., it’s difficult to point to improved executive etiquette and say how much
it has increased sales). By studying the identified problems (e.g., employees who make social
gaffes in front of customers), the program leaders will need to devise ways to judge
improvements in this behavior. Making sure that the subjects covered in regular performance
evaluations are addressed in mentoring relationships is a good start; this will ensure that people
are motivated to work on the skills that their bosses judge them on.
 The imbalance of supply (executives available to mentor) and demand (employees who want
mentors) is likely to be a permanent situation given the pyramid shape of all organizations. One
possibility is to treat entry into the mentoring program as a reward for top performance.
 The program needs to carefully consider rewards for mentors and to make mentoring an official
part of their job responsibilities, rather than an extracurricular activity they're expected to do on
top of everything else. By implication, this means taking something else off every mentor’s plate
in order to free up enough time to mentor effectively. The proposal needs to address this as well,
perhaps by hiring another person at the executive level and distributing the executive team's
responsibilities over this larger group to give each person more free time.
 Some sort of “matchmaking service” is needed to pair employees with the right mentors—and to
judge when a match isn’t working.

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13: Completing Reports and Proposals 1

Chapter 13: Completing Reports and Proposals

Section 1: Revising Reports and Proposals

Learning Objective 1: Describe the challenge of revising reports and proposals.

Section 2: Producing Formal Reports

Learning Objective 2: Identify the major components of formal reports.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Prefatory Parts of the Report

 The table of contents

Covers are typically labeled the following information:

Title Fly and Title Page

 The title of the report

Letter of Authorization and Letter of Acceptance

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Synopsis or Executive Summary

It’s often included in long technical, professional, or academic reports.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

The phrasing of a synopsis can be either informative or descriptive.

Supplementary Parts of the Report

 Sample questionnaires and cover letters

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Product and company names

Section 3: Producing Formal Proposals

Learning Objective 3: Identify the major components of formal proposals.

Prefatory Parts of the Proposal

Prefatory parts include the:

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 A copy of the RFP or its name and number

Copy of or Reference to the RFP

Synopsis or Executive Summary

 If the proposal is solicited, approach the letter of transmittal as a positive message,

Text of the Proposal

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Section 4: Proofreading Reports and Proposals

Now review it thoroughly one last time, looking for:

Section 5: Distributing Reports and Proposals

 Onscreen display of the report

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COMMUNICATION DILEMMAS AT GARAGE TECHNOLOGY VENTURES (p. 437)

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APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE (p. 441)

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PRACTICE YOUR SKILLS (p. 441)

4 Students should recognize elements such as these:

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Type of report: Informational

Online medium: Links make it easy to navigate to sections of interest

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CASE SOLUTIONS AND GUIDELINES (p. 443)

13.1. Message Strategies: Informational Reports

13.2 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

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13.3 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

13.4 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

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13.5 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

13.6 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

13.7 Message Strategies: Informational Reports

13.8 Message Strategies: Analytical Reports

13.9 Message Strategies: Informational Reports

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