Profile of Major Firm. Identify an organization involved in the construction industry. They need not be actually doing construction – design, environmental impact studies, or government agencies involved in construction are also acceptable. Obtain the following information about the firm:
1. Name, main office location, branch offices.
2. Company history.
3. Organization type (private, public, corporate, publicly or privately held, etc.), number of employees, number of engineers.
4. Type of construction-related projects.
5. Gross income and profit (if for-profit) or gross expenditures (if non-profit) for last few years.
6. Top three to five projects in last two years. If you anticipate focusing on a particular project, go into some detail on that project.
7. Unique characteristics of this company.
8. Determine how you will obtain information on the organization. The web is NOT adequate. A contact person is preferable.
This information may be found in the Engineering News Record (ENR), ASCE Civil Engineering Magazine, company web sites, the Wall Street Journal, etc. DO NOT RELY ON THE COMPANY’S WEB SITE AS YOUR SOLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION. Your profile is intended to be objective and impartial, which company web sites are not. If you have no idea what organization to look at, contact the instructor ahead of time for suggestions.
Prepare a report of NOT MORE THAN THREE PAGES on the company with the above information and any other significant information about the company that you think is appropriate. This will be the subject of a more detailed report at the end of the semester. Upload a PDF of your report to Canvas on or before the due date and time.
Term Project, due Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 8:00 AM. Prepare a report expanding on your company profile. You should provide a detailed description of the company, its history, and a description of at least one major project that it has completed or is executing. Use a consistent style, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Be sure that you cite your sources accurately and of course do not plagiarize material.
Make every effort to relate the subject matter of the course to the information you present. The report should not be longer than 20 pages, not counting appendices, but you have some flexibility here. Format will be discussed in class, and feel free to discuss it with the instructor. This is NOT an advertisement for the company, it is a critical analysis. If your research is entirely based on the company’s web site, it will invariably be shallow, trivial, and not score too well. Grading will be based as follows:
1. Description of company – 25 percent
2. Description of project – 25 percent
3. Relevance, relation to class subject matter – 25 percent
4. Professionalism, presentation, analysis – 25 percent
Produce an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) version of your final report, which is to be submitted by Canvas by class time on the due date.
NOTE: Many companies will not fit the traditional form of a construction firm. That is fine, but do try to relate the company to the construction industry and the subject matter of the class. If you have questions about the suitability of a company for the assignment, discuss it with the instructor well in advance of the due date.
