In this assignment, you will submit your final SATCOM Business Concept Proposal paper. Be sure to review the SATCOM Business Concept (SBC) Project information. There is a firm page limitation of 20 pages not including the References page(s).
While the business concept will not follow the exact formatting of a research paper, your proposal should use APA for the basis of your submission; title page, heading styles, grammar, and all in-text citations and references page need to be in current APA format.
Your paper will automatically be evaluated through Turnitin when you submit your assignment in this activity. Turnitin is a service that checks your work for improper citation or potential plagiarism by comparing it against a database of web pages, student papers, and articles from academic books and publications. Ensure that your work is entirely your own and that you have not plagiarized any material!
There is no required outline for the SBC paper. The purpose of the paper is not to write down everything you have researched. The purpose of the paper is to communicate your business concept.
As you go through the project selection process, keep in mind that the objective is to learn about the satellite communications industry. You may want to focus on applications that focus on just using satellite data as a means to deliver their services, they must be SATCOM dependent, and you must structure your SBC so that it analyzes the SATCOM component. For example, it may be OK for you to develop a remote operations system, but you must discuss why SATCOM is essential for your business and you will have to evaluate various SATCOM options.
Think strategically. Focus on what is most important.
Hint: What is most important is that your SBC meets a need that a sufficient number of customers will pay a sufficient price to justify the investment. A brilliant technical idea without a market is still a bad business idea. By learning what it takes to be successful in this industry, you will be learning the industry in a more comprehensive way than you could ever get from a book (or even a brilliant instructor).
Having said that, there are certain required elements (in no particular order):
Problem statement: Why is this a big problem, and why are customers willing to pay for it? Are there different customers? What are the most important factors for the customers? Are there differences between customers?
How do you make money? What technical and operational solution are you proposing, and why will it solve the customers’ problem? What is your product or service development plan?
How many customers are there? Really? What is the market for this concept? What is the size of the market? What are the growth rates? How attractive (profitable) is the market?
What are the cost and revenue risks?
How competitive is the market? Who are your most important competitors? How does your concept compare with theirs in terms of the customers’ most important factors?
View the SBC Business Proposal drafts of at least two (2) of your classmates and share collegial comments and feedback no later than the end of the third day of the Module 9 week. This will encourage timely comments and discussions.
To ensure that as many SBC Business Proposal drafts as possible benefit from comments and feedback, you should not comment on a draft with more than two (2) replies time-stamped before you submit your comments.
Additional comments will, of course, be considered in grading this assignment.
Your comments should be brief, no more than one (1) paragraph, and address both the sources of strength in your colleagues’ SBC Business Proposal drafts and specific suggestions for opportunities for improvement.
Respond to comments posted to your SBC Business Proposal draft by your classmates and instructor.
