Managerial Writing

1
Managerial Writing

• Section 1 Becoming wise users of other writers
  products seeing beyond their audience to your
  own

2
Unlike journalists who tell a story for a
general audience, you are continuing a dialog
with a specific reader (and whoever they pass the
report onto).
3
An example from a student report

• Audi has felt secure enough about the
  possibility of success in China that since 1989
  they have had a domestic presence in the country.
  This was the year that a joint venture was made
  between the Chinese FAW group and Audi, where
  Audis first production began with the Audi 100.
  A short while later, Audi merged with what was
  then a merger between Volkswagen and FAW (First
  Automotive Works) to produce the Audi 200. Today,
  Audi has had a successful base in the country,
  allowing them to introduce the Audi A6 into the
  market. The A6 has been a great success, having
  been designed from the ground up to be modified
  and sold on the Chinese market

4
When writing for direct reports the audience is
critical

• You and your boss are jointly embedded
• With each other in the context of the firm
• In the competitive struggle with its competitors
• With its customers in their search for value
• All within the framework of a current technology
  with its attendant process and product

5
When writing for direct reports the audience is
critical

• How your superior is measured is important. What
  is the difference when ones boss is measured by
• gains in market share rather than...
• accounting profit?
• or
• economic value-added (EVA), or
• Return-on-Investment (ROI)?

6
When writing for direct reports the audience is
critical

• Make sure that you focus everything, every
  paragraph, either directly or indirectly, on
  improving revenues or reducing costs
• What are some examples of
• Direct revenue enhancements
• Direct cost improvements
• Indirect revenues that can be pointed to
• Indirect costs that you can improve on

7
Avoid a textbook style

• Remember that the reader is embedded in the
  business with you.
• Use a footnote, endnote, or appendix to explain
  highly technical or background understandings
  that you think others might need.

8
(practice)

• MARKET OVERVIEW
• With a population of 100 million people, Mexico
  is Canada's largest trading partner in Latin
  America. In 2002, Canadian exports to Mexico
  exceeded 10 billion. The Canadian-Mexican trade
  relationship is defined largely by their joint
  membership in the North American Free Trade
  Agreement (NAFTA). Canadian access to the Mexican
  market continues to improve under the terms of
  this trade agreement. As of 2003, all remaining
  tariffs on soft drinks and fruit juice have been
  eliminated.
• Source Market Research Centre and the Canadian
  Trade Commissioner Service, The Fruit Juice and
  Soft Drink Market in Mexico, July 2003, online
  at http//atn-riae.agr.ca/latin/e3474.htm.