FORMAL REPORT

FORMAL REPORT

Paper details Context You work as a business-student intern for the Major Vehicle Component Company (MVC), based in Graball, Alabama. Chief negotiator Mr. Jones, still frustrated by his inability to set up a joint venture in China, has asked his assistant, Artimus Pyle, to compose a detailed post-mortem report about the trip.

FORMAL REPORT

Pyle is pressed for time, so he has asked you to review the available documentation (the comments of Jones and Wang), to report on the issues and problems surrounding MVC’s trip to China, and to recommend a course of action that focuses on an improved understanding of cross-cultural communication.

Pyle will rely on your analyses and recommendations, possibly by incorporating them into his final report to Jones. Consequently, you must review the course of the preliminary negotiations, as evidenced by the comments of Jones and Wang; you will also have to determine what went wrong, causing the several misunderstandings that seem to have occurred. Shape your findings into a formal report to Pyle, and make any recommendations that you see fit. He has invited you to think this matter through and to express your views freely on what happened and what should be done. He has also indicated to you that he will take full responsibility for the decision whether or not to adopt your views and to incorporate them into his report to Jones.

Purpose Your purpose is informative, analytic, and persuasive: you are not only reporting on and analyzing information but also suggesting and recommending courses of action to be pursued by your organization. Consequently, your analysis demonstrably has to yield good reasons for your recommendations.

As with any persuasive document—positive or negative—you need to think carefully about appropriate tone, effective organization, and overall coherence. Audience Your primary audience is, of course, imagined: Artimus Pyle of MVC. However, remember that in this case you also have a strong secondary audience in place (Mr. Jones). In both cases, your instructor forms another audience level to consider. see all the details in Assignment 3 Formal Report.