| Course | GB580 Strategic Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Company selection memo |
| Length | About 930 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB580 Unit 1
Tollefson Body Works for the Term Project: A Unit 1 Company Selection Memo
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB580: Strategic Management
Unit 1 Company Selection Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Tollefson Body Works, its figures and the other candidates' scores are composite and illustrative; the industry facts and sources cited are real.
Memo
TO: Course instructor, GB580 Strategic Management FROM: MBA student DATE: Unit 1 SUBJECT: Company selection: Tollefson Body Works, a refrigerated truck body builder facing the electric chassis question
Recommendation
I propose Tollefson Body Works, a family-owned builder of insulated and refrigerated truck bodies in De Pere, Wisconsin, as the company for this term's project. It scored highest of three candidates on four criteria, and it faces a strategic question that the course's frameworks can actually help answer: whether to redesign its products for electric delivery trucks now, while most of its customers still buy diesel.
How the Candidates Were Scored
Each candidate was scored from one to three on four criteria. The first was reachable data: could I find enough evidence to support ten units of analysis? The second was a live strategic question, meaning a decision the company has not yet made and on which reasonable managers could disagree. The third was room for corporate-level and global analysis, since Units 6 and 7 require them. The fourth was a size that ten units can cover without reducing every analysis to a summary.
National coffee chain: 8 of 12. Data scored three, since its filings, investor presentations and press coverage are abundant. Its strategic question scored one, because almost every issue it faces has already been analyzed in published business school cases, leaving little to add. Corporate and global scope scored three. Size scored one: a company with tens of thousands of stores cannot be analyzed in depth in a term.
Regional hospital system: 7 of 12. Data scored two, since nonprofit filings and state reports are available but cost data is hard to interpret. The strategic question, whether to acquire a rural hospital, scored two. Global scope scored one, because the system has no realistic international dimension. Size scored two.
Tollefson Body Works: 10 of 12. Data scored two, since the firm is private but its industry is documented by trade associations, regulators and the public filings of its suppliers and rivals. The strategic question scored three. Corporate and global scope scored two: the firm could integrate backward into panel production or license technology from abroad. Size scored three, as about 260 employees and one plant fit a term well.
The best company for a strategy course is not the most famous one but the one with a decision still open.
The Company
Tollefson Body Works was founded in 1958 and is now run by the founder's grandson and granddaughter. It builds about 2,300 truck bodies a year, roughly 70 percent of them insulated or refrigerated and the rest dry freight bodies, with annual sales near $74 million. Its customers are regional grocery and dairy fleets, foodservice distributors and truck leasing companies. Tollefson does not make the trucks. Customers or dealers supply the chassis, Tollefson mounts the body, and a refrigeration unit, bought from one of the two companies that dominate that market, is installed on the front wall. The firm sells through a network of 34 truck dealers across six Midwestern states.
The Question the Term Will Answer
Electric medium-duty trucks, in the Class 4 to 6 range that most grocery delivery fleets use, are beginning to reach the market. Their batteries are heavy, which reduces the payload a truck can legally carry, and their range falls when a refrigeration unit draws power from the same battery. A body that weighs several hundred pounds less than Tollefson's current design would recover much of that payload. The question for the term is whether Tollefson should commit now to lightweight bodies designed for electric chassis, accepting higher costs before demand is proven, or continue building for diesel and follow the market later. Both answers have defenders inside the company, which makes it a real strategic decision. In the terms Collis and Rukstad (2008) use for writing a strategy down, objective, scope and advantage, the question touches every part: what Tollefson is trying to achieve, which customers it serves and what it will be better at than rivals.
Sources
Because Tollefson is private, evidence will come from several kinds of public sources: trade association data on truck body and equipment production, federal and California regulations affecting truck emissions and refrigeration units, the annual reports of publicly traded truck makers and refrigeration unit makers, and trade press coverage of fleets testing electric trucks. Porter (2008) argues that industry structure can often be analyzed from publicly observable facts, such as how many suppliers a buyer can choose among, and that will be the approach here. Figures for Tollefson itself will be presented as composite estimates and labeled as such.
What Studying a Private Firm Changes
Choosing a private firm means some analyses, such as financial ratios or market valuation, will rely on estimates rather than filings. It also means the strategic question has not been answered in public, so the analysis cannot borrow a conclusion. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) note that a strategy must specify where a firm will compete and how it will win, and a small firm facing one clear technological shift offers a manageable test of that idea. I consider that trade worthwhile, and I would welcome your view on whether a composite firm built on a real industry meets the course's requirements.
References
Collis, D. J., & Rukstad, M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review, 86(4), 82-90.
Hambrick, D. C., & Fredrickson, J. W. (2001). Are you sure you have a strategy? Academy of Management Executive, 15(4), 48-59. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2001.5897655
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.
The Purdue Global GB580 Unit 1 instructions
The first GB580 assignment asks you to choose the organization you will study all term and justify the choice to your instructor. Most sections want a short memo rather than an essay. Set out the criteria you used, such as whether enough evidence exists, whether the firm faces a real strategic decision and whether it offers room for corporate and international analysis later in the course. Compare more than one candidate against those criteria so the choice is visible. Profile the chosen company briefly: what it sells, to whom, at what size and through which channels. State the strategic question the term will answer, and explain where your evidence will come from, especially for a private firm. Expect about two pages, with APA 7 citations for any industry facts.
Inside the GB580 Unit 1 example
The memo opens with a subject line that names Tollefson and its question, then gives the recommendation in one paragraph. A scoring section rates each candidate on reachable data, a live question, corporate and global scope, and size, with a reason beside every score: the coffee chain loses on its well-worn cases, the hospital system on global scope. The highlighted line argues that an open decision matters more than fame. A company profile covers 2,300 bodies a year, $74 million in sales and 34 dealers. The term question sets out the battery-weight problem on electric Class 4 to 6 chassis. Sources and a section on studying a private firm close the memo, with Porter, Collis and Rukstad, and Hambrick and Fredrickson cited.
GB580 Unit 1 rubric: what earns full points
In this GB580 memo, points go mainly to a choice the instructor can trust for ten units. Stated criteria earn credit because they show the selection was reasoned rather than convenient. Scoring more than one candidate, with a reason for every score, demonstrates the comparison actually happened. A company profile with size, products, customers and channels shows the firm is real enough to analyze. The strategic question carries heavy weight: one framed as a decision with two credible answers gives every later unit something to argue toward. A plan for evidence, especially honest notes on what a private firm will not disclose, shows foresight. The last points in this first GB580 deliverable reward memo layout, brevity and APA 7 citations for the facts used.
GB580 Unit 1 help from the desk
Unit 1 memos in GB580 often pick a famous company and then struggle all term, because every question about it has already been answered in published cases. Others choose a firm so small that the corporate and global units have nothing to examine. Many memos describe the company at length but never state a strategic question, which leaves the external scan and the five forces paper without a purpose. Scoring candidates without reasons looks like a formality. Writers also forget to say where evidence will come from for a private firm. Score at least two candidates against stated criteria, pick a company with a decision still open, state that decision as a question and name your sources. For a free custom memo on your chosen company, use the request form.
Get a GB580 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Name the companies you are weighing, or say that none is chosen yet, then attach the instructions and rubric for Unit 1. A custom memo scores those candidates against the criteria your section uses and phrases a term question around the winner. Delivery takes 24-48h, and the first one is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB580 papers and MBA samples
- GB580 Unit 2: External Environment Scan
- GB580 Unit 3: Five Forces Industry Analysis
- GB580 Unit 4: Internal Capabilities Analysis
- GB580 Unit 5: Business-level Strategy Paper
- GB580 Unit 6: Corporate Strategy Analysis
- GB580 Unit 7: Global Strategy Paper
- GB580 Unit 8: Implementation Plan
- GB580 Unit 9: Strategic Control Measures
- GB580 Unit 10: Strategic Plan
- GB570 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- GB560 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- GB550 Unit 1: Ratio Groundwork Exercise
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GB580 Unit 1 questions, answered
Can the GB580 company be private or composite?
Many sections accept a privately held firm if the memo explains where evidence will come from, and a composite organization works when the instructor allows it and the industry facts stay real. Public companies make financial analysis easier, but they also come with published strategy cases that make an original argument harder. Check the project guidelines, since some sections require a publicly traded firm.
Why does the memo already need a strategic question?
Every later installment has to argue toward something. A company chosen without a question produces a term of frameworks filled in for their own sake, while a question named in Unit 1 gives the external scan, the five forces work and the internal appraisal a decision to inform. The question can be sharpened later; it rarely works to invent one in Unit 8.
What makes a company a poor choice for this course?
A firm too large to cover in ten units, one with a single product and no corporate-level choices, or one so thoroughly covered by business school cases that nothing new remains to say. Very small businesses cause the opposite problem: no corporate strategy, no global question and little public industry data. Mid-size firms in a clearly defined industry usually fit best.
Where can I find a free GB580 Unit 1 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB580 Unit 1 company selection memo that scores three candidates on four criteria, profiles a composite truck body builder and states the electric chassis question the term will answer.
How many candidates should the memo compare?
Two or three is typical. Comparing candidates shows the instructor your criteria at work, and a short reason beside each score makes the final choice easier to approve.