Competitive Advantage Assignment
Conduct primary and secondary research about YOU and about your strategy for your
(a) personal, (b) family and (c) professional (PFP) life. For each question, consider and respond to these
three facets of your life (PFP).
Questions for you to answer: For each answer you should have an (a) personal, (b) family-related and (c)
professional information backed up by your primary and secondary research. Superficial answers without
substantiation will not gain you an A or B.
1. Who are you now? Describe yourself in terms of the PFP categories above.
2. Who do you want to be (PFP)?
3. Where do you live now? Why? Where would you love to live (PFP)? Why?
4. What type of total rewards would you love to have when you have “made it to where you want to be?”
5. How and when will you know that you have “made it to where you want to be (PFP)?”
6. How will you get to “where you want to be (PFP)?” (How will you get to be a success in terms of all
3 categories at the same time without a loss in an area)?
7. What is YOUR operational definition of success and failure in these three areas of your life (PFP)?
Does your definition vary across the 3 categories (PFP – meaning: how can you secure success professionally
and not lose your family or who you are personally)? This question will take research on your part.
8. For an A or a grade of B you will need to pursue secondary and then primary data by contacting
at least THREE employers for whom you want to work.
9. Why did you choose these three employers? Why not others? How will your choice affect your
life in terms of (PFP)?
10. What industry/industries do you want to work in? Why? How will your choice affect your life
in terms of (PFP)?
11. How will the industry and employer you work for be impressed by your chosen major in college?
12. Who owns the companies for whom you want to work? Are they private, public, NGO’s, not-
for-profit?
13. Are your desired employers the industry leaders or followers?
14. Who are the top competitors of your desired employer(s)?
15. Are your desired employer(s) transnational? Global? Domestic? Local? Regional?
16. Where are the HQs of your desired employer(s) located?
17. In which division or department do you want to work? How will your choice affect your life in terms
of (PFP)? This question will most likely require interviews. Articles may be relevant too.
18. Where is this division or department located? How will your choice affect your life geographically
in terms of (PFP)? (For example, before you can work at corporate HQ in many companies you will have to
work “in the field” or in a foreign assignment for at least two to three years.This type of requirement
could have a major influence on the decisions you make in terms of PFP.
19. Are you willing to travel and/or relocate? Why or why not? How would this affect you in terms
of PFP?
20. How will you get your desired employers to notice you as “the best person for the job”? (How will
your three employer(s) identity your strengths and weaknesses? How can you help recruit and select you as
the candidate who is the “best fit” for their organization?
21. Is the job you want a line or staff position? How upwardly mobile is your choice? (This question
requires interviews).
22. Have you requested/found the organizational profile or org. chart of your desired employers?
(This question most likely will require interviews).
23. What kind of succession planning does each of your chosen employers have?
(This question most likely will require interviews).
24. Are your desired employers interested in certifications relevant to your field? Which ones?
Why?Would these employers pay for these certifications? How could this affect you in terms of PFP? (This
question most likely will require interviews).
25. Did the person you interviewed have any certifications? (This question most likely will require
interviews).
26. Did your desired employer want you to belong to specific professional organizations? Which
ones and why? How could such memberships affect you in terms of PFP? (This question most
likely will require interviews).
27. Did any of your desired employers say they pay for membership in these professional
organizations? (This question most likely will require interviews).
28. What (a) practitioner and (b) academic publications did your desired employer expect their
“movers and shakers” to read? (This question most likely will require interviews).
29. Submit your typed Interview Questions that you used in your research for this paper.
This should be started with the bulk of your secondary (library and internet) research which should
culminate in your gathering of primary research (that which you gathered from your interviews. Secondary
research must be researched before the primary research.
30. Submit your typed Interview Questions (different from those you used for this assignment) that you
will use in your future (critically important) interviews.
Summary Questions
31. What did you learn from this exercise personally?
32. What did you learn from this exercise that could affect your family?
33. What did you learn from this exercise professionally?
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