You are a middle-level marketing manager in a large wholesale organization. This morning, your boss called you into her office and informed you that 126 cars in the company’s sales fleet were ready for replacement. She asked you to do the research and write a report that would recommend a purchase to replace the cars about to be retired. Pick four cars that are comparable—for example, the Ford Taurus, the Honda Accord, the Chevrolet Lumina, and the Toyota Camry. In selecting a particular type of car, you might want to make some assumptions about the products handled by your salespeople and whether they carry samples. For the purposes of this report, we will assume you considered other similar cars but the four you choose are the top contenders. Your next task is to identify the criteria to be used in selecting the car to be purchased. Remember that the quality of your research and report will hinge largely on how thoroughly you identify the relevant criteria to be weighed. Once you have identified the criteria to be used and all subfactors of those criteria, you are ready to begin your research. You will probably find Consumer Reports to be an invaluable source of information, but don’t overlook other less obvious sources, such as dealerships. After collecting and organizing your information, you will be ready to write your report. What format should that report take? Which strategic aspects ought to be considered in determining that format? If you choose to use a formal report format, which prefatory parts should you include? Which subsection should you include in the introduction? How should the body of the report be organized? What will the ending section of the report proper contain?