SCO103: You are a Junior Member of an Elite Media Relations and Communications Agency: New Empires: The Reach and Frontiers of the Tech Sector Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question / Premise

You are a junior member of an elite media relations and communications agency. The agency has just been hired by a loose conglomerate of American and Chinese tech giants. While they may be competitors, they are also seeking to improve their public profile in the wake of several scandals / PR incidents that have led to societal and political pressures to regulate or to break the large companies up.

The group will conduct an opposition research-style investigation into Facebook and compile an internal research report. Based on that report, the group will develop and present an infographic as part of an overall public relations strategy to improve the tech giant’s public profile.

GBA01: Opposition Research Report

To prepare an opposition research report on its strengths and weaknesses. The objective of this report is to gather available information from multiple sources regarding the tech giant’s strengths and weaknesses. Information gathered should ideally provide a structured and reasoned process, from which one may choose a viable course of action to improve the tech giant’s public profile.

1. Executive Summary: This section should have two pages. It summarises your team’s major findings (i.e. the tech giant’s strengths and weaknesses) and recommends briefly adjustments and/or new initiatives to improve the tech giant’s public profile.
2. Explanatory Note on Research Process: This section should have three pages. It explains your group’s research process, i.e. the type of sources you have looked at, used, and discounted, and the reasons why.

Overall, the report will be assessed for its research depth and breadth, the group’s analysis of the tech giant’s strengths and weaknesses, and the feasibility of its recommendations to improve the public profile of the tech giant.