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BUSINESS
COURSE GUIDES
SOM 210 Lab 4: Evaluate Company
Website
Lab 4 is designed
to help you learn corporate website evaluation skills. You will not use
Library databases to locate information today. Instead, use the Lab 4
instructions to locate and evaluate your company's web presence.
- Locate your company's website and review
its organization and content.
- Evaluate the "investor relations" or
"career opportunities" subpage of the website, and write a one-page
review of that subpage.
- Copy and paste the company URL into Team
Work Space.
| LAB 4 KEY RESEARCH
CONCEPTS |
CORPORATE
WEBSITE EVALUATION CRITERIA
- The World Wide Web is a "self
publishing medium". Anyone can create website content. Company websites
may or may not adhere to the strict quality controls used by journal
and book publishers.
- As a business researcher
using the Internet, you take on the role of "quality filter" when evaluating
the content of a company's website.
- The CARS Checklist
is widely used for website evaluation (CARS is an acronym for
Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, and Support):
- Credibility: author's credentials; evidence of
quality control; known or respected authority; organizational sponsorship.
Red Flags: anonymity; bad grammar;
spelling errors.
- Accuracy: timeliness (up-to-date); factual; sufficient
detail and comprehensiveness.
Red Flags:
undated documents; old dated documents; vague or sweeping generalizations.
- Reasonableness: fair; balanced; objective. Red Flags: emotional tone; exaggeration;
overstatement.
- Support: listed sources; contact links; supporting
documentation. Red Flags:
uncited statistics; facts cannot be corroborated.
Current
design standards for public company websites vary in style and content,
but commonly contain the following subpage elements: About our company, Investor Relations, Career Opportunities, Press Releases, Products and Services, Customer Support, and Site Map. Today,
your team will evaluate webpages at your company's website, and then
copy and paste webpage URLs into team work space.
- Go to team work space and
link to your company's profile page in the BCRC
database. Locate the company's URL within the profile. Link to the
company's website. If you already know your company's URL, you may also
type the URL directly into the "Address Box" and <ENTER>.
- Review your company's website
by clicking the various site navigation buttons (usually arranged along
the top and left side of the webpage). Choose either the
Career Opportunities section (sometimes
labeled "Jobs" or "Employment"), or the Investor
Relations section (sometimes labeled "Shareholder Information").
- Carefully examine the website
section you have chosen. Review all subsidiary links on the page. Use
the CARS Checklist to evaluate the webpage quality. For
example, these are common questions if you are examining the Investor
Relations section:
- How comprehensive is the
information
- Are annual reports and
SEC filings provided?
- Can you link to current
stock price charts?
- Is contact information
clearly provided?
- Can company financials
be downloaded to a spreadsheet?
- Are forthcoming stockholder
meetings listed?
- After reviewing
the Career Opportunities or Investor Relations subpage
of your company's Website, open a new document in Microsoft Word, and
write a brief evaluation about the content of that subpage. In your
evaluation, use the CARS Checklist as an outline. This evaluation
should be double-spaced, using left and right margins of 1.25 inches,
and top and bottom margins of 1 inch. The font for your evaluation should
be Times New Roman (12 point). At the very top of your file, list your
title on the first line, and team members on the second line. These
2 lines should be placed against the right margin. The rest of your
file should be placed against the left margin.
- Finally,
move the pointer to the Address
box of the selected webpage, highlight (click left mouse button) and
copy the URL (CTL-C). Return to your team work space and add a citation
for the webpage.
- Under "Add/Update Team
Research URLs", select the NEW button.
- Press <CTRL> V
to paste the Company URL into the Address Box.
- Go to the Display Name
box and carefully
compose a citation using this format as a model:
Allegheny Energy Inc. (2001). Financial information. Retrieved
August 30, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=AYE&script=2100
- Select the SAVE Button
to save the URL and citation in your team work space. Make sure
to check the citation for errors and to test the URL address
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