Hi Everyone, As you begin your research for Project 1 (and for all of our later project papers and discussions that require outside research), you will want to access our UMGC Library and databases so I’ve prepared some guidance here that you might find helpful. This course does involve quite a bit of reading and research. You may become frustrated early on but you should find it easier once you are familiar with the many resources available. Please note that projects should be supported by a mix of our course readings, outside scholarly sources (which are journal articles such as Journal of Marketing or Journal of Consumer Research), and reliable outside non-scholarly sources (such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Money, Fortune, Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, morningstar.com, globalEDGE, The Economist, WSJ, and FT). To look for information about the jeans market in the U.S./Canada, in Germany, and in the UK, the benefits sought in jeans, the frequency and methods of purchasing jeans, the importance of a “designer” label to different cultures, etc., some of the best UMGC Library databases to use are: 1. ABI/INFORM Complete 2. Business Insights: Essentials 3. Business Source Complete 4. Hoovers 5. Nexis Uni 6. Google Scholar 7. Mergent Online 8. S&P NetAdvantage You will find very few (if any) scholarly sources about consumer behavior with jeans but you may find scholarly sources about differences in geographic areas and clothing purchases or attitudes toward designer labels. Scholarly sources can also be used to support the marketing concepts that you are discussing rather than jeans industry itself. Below are some quick steps to use in locating sources in the UMUC (UMGC) Library. Access the UMGC Library by clicking on “Library Services” under the Resources Tab on our Course home page. Then, click on “Databases by Title (A-Z)” to find a list of available databases: This will take you to a list of all databases in the UMGC Library as seen here (only some of which are useful for our course): ABI/INFORM Complete is a database that includes all major business sources so this is very useful for MBA 640. Click on ABI/INFORM Complete to get a search box. Type in your search term(s) and click SEARCH. You may be searching for “Denim Jeans” or “Designer Jeans” or “Designer Jeans in Germany” or “Designer Clothing in European Countries,” for example. Try MANY DIFFERENT SEARCH TERMS if you are not finding what you are looking for right away. You should click on “Full text” to get the entire article and not just an abstract or brief summary. You may include “Peer reviewed” when you are looking for your two scholarly articles and you may include a date range to narrow your results: Just as an example, I selected “Tooth Whitening Strips” as a topic, “Full text,” and published after 2008 (to get articles from the last 10 full years) and clicked SEARCH: The articles returned in the search will be in non-scholarly but reliable sources. You migh.

1. Hi Everyone,
As you begin your research for Project 1 (and for all of our later
project papers and discussions that require outside research),
you will want to access our UMGC Library and databases so
I’ve prepared some guidance here that you might find helpful.
This course does involve quite a bit of reading and research.
You may become frustrated early on but you should find it
easier once you are familiar with the many resources available.
Please note that projects should be supported by a mix of our
course readings, outside scholarly sources (which are journal
articles such as Journal of Marketing or Journal of Consumer
Research), and reliable outside non-scholarly sources (such as
Reuters, Bloomberg, Money, Fortune, Forbes, Yahoo! Finance,
morningstar.com, globalEDGE, The Economist, WSJ, and FT).
To look for information about the jeans market in the
U.S./Canada, in Germany, and in the UK, the benefits sought in
jeans, the frequency and methods of purchasing jeans, the
importance of a “designer” label to different cultures, etc., some
of the best UMGC Library databases to use are:
1. ABI/INFORM Complete
2. Business Insights: Essentials
3. Business Source Complete
4. Hoovers
5. Nexis Uni
6. Google Scholar
7. Mergent Online
8. S&P NetAdvantage
You will find very few (if any) scholarly sources about
consumer behavior with jeans but you may find scholarly
sources about differences in geographic areas and clothing
purchases or attitudes toward designer labels. Scholarly sources
can also be used to support the marketing concepts that you are
discussing rather than jeans industry itself.
Below are some quick steps to use in locating sources in the

2. UMUC (UMGC) Library.
Access the UMGC Library by clicking on “Library Services”
under the Resources Tab on our Course home page. Then, click
on “Databases by Title (A-Z)” to find a list of available
databases:
This will take you to a list of all databases in the UMGC
Library as seen here (only some of which are useful for our
course):
ABI/INFORM Complete is a database that includes all major
business sources so this is very useful for MBA 640.
Click on ABI/INFORM Complete to get a search box. Type in
your search term(s) and click SEARCH. You may be searching
for “Denim Jeans” or “Designer Jeans” or “Designer Jeans in
Germany” or “Designer Clothing in European Countries,” for
example. Try MANY DIFFERENT SEARCH TERMS if you are
not finding what you are looking for right away.
You should click on “Full text” to get the entire article and not
just an abstract or brief summary. You may include “Peer
reviewed” when you are looking for your two scholarly articles
and you may include a date range to narrow your results:

3. Just as an example, I selected “Tooth Whitening Strips” as a
topic, “Full text,” and published after 2008 (to get articles from
the last 10 full years) and clicked SEARCH:
The articles returned in the search will be in non-scholarly but
reliable sources.
You might search for “Designer Jeans Purchases in the United
States,” for example. If you cannot find information specific to
some of your questions (such as how often consumers purchase
jeans or where they purchase jeans in the U.S.), you may
broaden your thinking and search for “Clothing Shopping in the
United States” (to see who does the purchasing and how often
and where they shop for clothing) and then use that information
to make assumptions that jeans are purchased in a similar way.
To search for scholarly articles using ABI INFORM, I indicated
“Peer-reviewed” and broadened my search term to “Teeth
whitening around the world.”
This results in articles from academic journals, such as this one
from the Journal of Consumer Policy. This type of information
will be more about marketing concepts such as consumer buying

4. behavior or cultural differences in consumer behavior.
Scan through your results to find any non-scholarly and
scholarly articles of use in your research and to help support
your points.
The Business Insights: Essentials database gives information
that is more specific to companies and industries. You might
search here for “Clothing” under the “Industry” category or
“Jeans” under the “Keyword” category, for example:
Business Source Complete is another useful database for
business research. Here is what that homepage looks like (where
you might search for “Jeans Industry”):
The Hoovers database has recently changed its look and is
somewhat complicated to use but provides industry news and
insights as well as company information. (You may ask a
Librarian if you need additional help with this one or send me a
text/email and I will try to walk you through it!):

5. Nexis Uni (which used to be LexisNexis) provides “news”
articles as well as some industry and legal articles:
Another database to find scholarly articles is Google Scholar
and which includes a typical search bar and you may search for
terms such as: “Global perceptions of designer jeans,” for
example:
Mergent Online is a great database for company-specific
information (so it is not as useful for PROJECT 1, but you may
want to use it in upcoming projects—particularly PROJECT 2
and PROJECT 4). You may find some information using the
“Industry Analysis” tab and searching for “textiles” (as this
would include clothing) and narrow by the geographic regions
of interest:
Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage is another database for
company-specific information (so you may find useful in
upcoming projects):

6. Hopefully, you find this information useful. Remember, the
Word document attached to each weekly announcement provides
additional guidance as well.
Let me know if you have any questions/concerns,
Professor Ducoffe
1. The 4th Amendment of The Constitution of the United States
of America reads, “The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants
shall be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describe the place to be searched,
and the persons or items to be seized” (Seaquist, 2012,
Appendix A).
The 4th amendment protects a person and business from being
illegally searched without just cause. Illegal searches protect
businesses because it protects their privacy as well as the
privacy of employees because personal employee information is
linked to company. Businesses do not have to fear unreasonable
or illegal searches which could result in negative publicity.
The 4th amendment limits businesses because if there was a
company who was illegally conducting business, there would be
nothing that could be done about it without a search warrant
which could not be issued without probable cause. It could be
detrimental to the honest company if the company that was
doing business illegally was the competition.
An example that I have encountered at my work is that I had to

7. sign a form stating that if I chose to use my personal phone, for
business purposes that the corporation could search my phone
and even delete all of the data on it if they deemed it
necessary. Most places of employment have employees sign
notices that make the employee aware that their work emails,
phones, etc. can be searched if deemed necessary. While this
may feel like an invasion of privacy, it protects businesses from
unlawful conduct of employees. For example, I became aware
of an employee playing games on Facebook while at work. As a
result, Facebook was blocked from all employee computers.
2. The power of a nation lies in its people and the beliefs they
live out daily. The United States was founded on specific
principles that over time was defined and became the very basis
for its constitution. This document has withstood the test of
time and when it fell short was amended to reflect the conscious
of a collective nation. One particular part that rings true to me
is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. This small phrase hints at that every
person regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicity, or
even gender has intrinsic value and worth. Additionally, to
further drive this point home the United States constitution
developed several amendments that address specific rights. I
would like to focus on the 5th Amendment.
The fifth amendment states “No person shall be held to answer
for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without just
compensation” (Seaquist, 2012).

8. The fifth amendment summarized protects the individual from
self-incrimination, wrongful imprisonment, and removal of
personal property without just compensation. This amendment
ensures due process in all areas is given. The fifth amendment
helps businesses by providing protection against rogue, greedy,
and unscrupulous government practices. Without the fifth
amendment, business owners could be thrown into jail for
perceived crimes and all assets seized for government or other
entities personal gains. The fifth amendment also prevents
citizens from being tried again for crimes they were previously
exonerated from. The fifth amendment limits businesses from
placing indictments against others without just verifiable cause.
I currently serve in the military (the amendment refers to the
military as militia). The military has its own justice system
called the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ for short).
Due to the nature of military profession good discipline and
order is key to protecting civilians from would be adversaries
that seek to do America harm. Understanding this simple truth,
limits the military members rights. The military member has all
the same rights but because of possible combat scenarios that
could deteriorate into inhumane treatment of the enemy, extra
rules of engagement are levied on them.
About 4 years ago I had the privilege of being a part of a UCMJ
proceedings. I advised the accused member of their rights and
they waived them. As the interview went on, I advised the
member to stop talking and invoke the fifth amendment because
as he was speaking truthfully, he also was providing
incriminating information that had the potential to end his
career. He immediately stopped talking but the defense lawyer
was not happy. He accused me of derailing his case. Long story
short, the very issue the member was being accused of was later
found out that he was innocent. The deceptive questioning
techniques used could have caused the lost of outstanding
military member. In this case the Fifth Amendment protected
the military member.

9. 3.
An LLC is a business entity that is legally separate from its
owners, who are known as members. An LLC can have one
member or many members. Small business owners often choose
to form an LLC instead of a corporation because LLCs offer
more flexibility in the way they are managed and usually have
fewer recordkeeping and reporting obligations than
corporations. An S corporation is not a type of business entity.
The S corp. designation refers to the way a business has chosen
to be taxed under the Internal Revenue Code.
For tax purposes, the IRS classifies businesses as sole
proprietorships, partnerships, C corporations, or S corporations.
There is no LLC tax classification and, therefore, LLCs are
taxed as though they are another type of business. The IRS
automatically taxes single-member LLCs as sole proprietorships
and multi-member LLCs as partnerships. But an LLC can also
choose to be taxed as a C corporation or as an S corporation.
I would choose the LLC as the organizational form of my
business because LLCs afford a degree of flexibility in
management that corporations don’t and can be managed by
their owners (members) or a group of managers. An LLC is a
pass-through business entity. Profits and losses of the
organization go straight through to the owners. Business income
equals personal income, so the owner pays the tax on his or her
personal return, and it's taxed at the individual rate.
4. The main ideas behind a business venture are to either make a
profit or for humanitarian and philanthropic purposes. When
deciding to start a business, there are several things to consider;
including how to raise capital and the form of ownership. By
taking into consideration the advantages of the various types of
businesses, the individual can identify the best fit for their
ideas. For example, most people starting a business prefer
registering as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), due to the

10. various advantages it comes with it.
One of the reasons most people register businesses as LLC is
that there is less paperwork involved in filing for this status of
the company. With all the required documents, it is also easy to
register a firm as an LLC. An LLC offers personal protection
from an individual's asset during litigation or bankruptcy filing
involving the business entity. If the owner can prove that their
actions were not grossly negligent or fraudulent, the owner is
protected from any losses the business may incur. Also, if a
single-member entity owns an LLC, they can avoid paying
taxes. The business owner can claim liability for tax purposes.
Having an LLC allows the individual to take advantage of the
tax benefits associated with such a business entity (Taulli
2016).
In comparison to an LLC, a corporation can be public or
private. A Public Corporation can be organized by local
municipalities or government entities to carry out public
services, and are considered non-profit institutions. Private
Corporations, on the other hand, are established by individuals
to carry out private services and are meant to make a profit for
the people who created it. The corporation can be either chapter
S- which means they are a small business corporation and are
granted tax exemption by the Internal Revenue Service. In order
to qualify for such a status, the business must have no more
than 100 members. Also, an estate cannot represent the
business; it has to be represented by an individual, and have a
nonresident alien as a shareholder. Finally, a corporation S must
have more than one class of stock, but voting and nonvoting
classification within a category of a stock is allowed. The main
idea behind a chapter S corporation is to ensure that a small
business enjoys the structure and benefits of a large corporation
but is not double taxed. Big corporations that have an unlimited
membership, publicly traded, and have a large number of
shareholders, both domestically and internationally, are
considered corporation C (Seaquist & Coulter 2012).
If I were to establish a business, I would prefer the LLC. This is

11. because, as a new business owner, I would prefer to save time
by easily filing paperwork to get the business started. Apart
from that, as an owner, I am assuming most of the risk by
investing my personal funds; hence, I would like to protect all
of my personal funds in the event of any litigation, or if the
company incurs any losses. The ability to utilize tax deductions
in order to offset some of my personal losses when filing
personal taxes would allow me to recoup some of the funds I
invested in the business in the long run.
MBA 640
Check Your Evaluation Criteria
Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies
below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A
good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check
to confirm you have incorporated all of them in your work. To
view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select
Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the
project title
· 1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner
that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the
assignment.
· 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that
substantiates the writer's ideas.
· 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
· 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions,
checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
· 3.1: Identify numerical or mathematical information that is
relevant in a problem or situation.
· 6.1: Identify the general (external) environment in which an
organization operates and discuss the implications for enterprise
success.
· 6.2: Evaluate strategic implications for domestic and
international markets of an organization's industry.

12. · 6.4: Develop and recommend strategies for an organization's
sustainable competitive advantage.
· 12.2: Analyze marketing information.