问答题 {{B}}Report{{/B}}
Reports play an important role in business practice as most major or decisive actions are based on business reports. If reports are well written, solutions can be expected to draw in a wise way.
A report is an objective and structured account of the results of an investigation, or of any matter on which definite information is required. Its purpose is to inform someone of the findings of a research and to provide a basis for decision-making. A report is usually made up of facts and arguments on a specific subject. In a report, situations are analyzed, conclusions drawn, alternatives considered and recommendations made.
Writing reports generally involves other important workplace skills, such as research, analysis and collaboration. Therefore, being able to write an effective report is one of the most important professional skills in the business world and it may improve writer's chances of receiving additional responsibilities or even earning promotions.
There are several ways to classify reports. According to their lengths, business reports may be classified into short reports and long reports. Short reports are like full reports, but are much shorter. They are therefore used for less complicated matters. They look at first glance more like long memoranda, but are structured more systematically. A long report, also called formal report or full report, is usually used to report a matter comprehensively on the basis of a thorough investigation. In writing a long report, the author is expected to collect all the information available on a particular matter, analyze that information, come to conclusions about it and possibly make recommendations for future actions. A long report often runs to many pages and so resembles a book in many ways.
A long report
Market Study in
Synthetics-based Sports Shoes
Ernest Hong
Sales Representative
Krypton Plastics
18 May, 2000
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 1
Abstract 2
Terms of Reference 2
I .Findings
Methodology 2
The sports shoe market 3
Sports shoes in synthetic materials 3
Trends in the use of synthetic materials 4
Potential of APC material in the sports shoe market 4
Competition between APC products 5
II. Conclusions 5
III. Recommendations 6
Appendix:
List of manufacturers visited
Abstract
This report investigates the potential of APC materials in the production and sale of sports Shoes in the Hong Kong SAR.
The report shows that currently the majority of sports shoes manufactured in Hong Kong are made of PVC. However, we illustrate that APC has a number of advantages over PVC in terms of quality, durability and appearance.
Although price is higher, in the period of economic stagnation which has hit Hong Kong, it may be advantageous to manufacturers to consider reducing production of PVC shoes and switching to use of APC.
Terms of reference
The purpose of this report is to investigate the nature of the market for sports manufactured in a range of natural and synthetic materials.
It is also our aim to stimulate plastic raw material sales in the sports shoe market, and to seek potential customers within the sports shoes market who might be interested in using Krypon's newly developed APC raw material in the manufacture of their products.
I. Findings
1. Methodology
Before this market study could be undertaken, information about manufacturers of sports shoes had to be collected. We derived a list of manufacturers by referring to the Yellow Pages and the list produced by the Hong Kong Council for the Development of Trade(HKCDT).These two sources, however, did not distinguish between manufacturers using leather and those using synthetic materials. This was achieved with a number of telephone calls to manufacturers. These calls were then followed up with personal interviews' total of fifteen manufacturers were visited between January and March of this year.
In order to meet our objectives precisely, we focused our visits mostly on manufacturers of sports shoes using predominantly synthetic material. Other manufacturers were followed up with telephone calls.
The Sports Shoe Market
Sports shoes are a major export item in Hong Kong, reaping a good reward for Hong Kong's traders and manufacturers, and in turn, spurring the prosperity of Hong Kong.
The market size for sports shoes comprises some 165 manufacturers and traders, basically, there are three categories of sports shoe in the market. These are real leather, artificial leather and plastic. The largest share of production in 1999 was held by sports shoes manufacturers from plastic (50% of production).This was followed by artificial leather(40% of production)and real leather (10%).However, these production statistics are very changeable because the market is extremely sensitive to fashion trends. For the past few years, though, the market has been dominated by synthetic materials, mainly because they enable sports shoes to follow fashion trends, they are able to be printed on, and they can be made colorful, bright and fluorescent(see Table 1)

{{B}}Table 1{{/B}}

Material	0%Market Share
Real Leather	10
Artificial Leather PVC PA	23 17
Plastic PVC PA APC	27 15 8
Note: The total number of pairs of sports shoes produced in HK in 1999 was 15.6 million.

2. Sports Shoes in Synthetic Materials In the sports shoes market, PVC, PA, and APC are the major raw materials. The majority of sports shoes are made of PVC, which is cheaper, easier to screen print and easier to color. All these factors create an attractively finished product with a competitive low price. APC and PA are classified as higher quality materials used in high quality products with a high price. In comparison with APC, PA is a higher quality but more expensive material. For the time being, the sports shoe market is demanding colorful, bright and fluorescent patterns. Only PVC can satisfy these requirements with low production costs(see Table 2). Consequently, most manufacturers are continuing to use PVC as the major material for sports shoes, in order to survive in the severely competitive sports shoe market.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　{{B}}Table 2{{/B}}

Material	Price	Ease of Prd's	Durability	Color Range	Cost of Pigment
PVC	low	easy	low	good	Low
APC	medium	average	average	average	high
PA	high	average	high	average	high

3. Trends in the Use of Synthetic Materials Sports shoes are no longer considered simply shoes which are used for playing sports in. Sports shoes are now, and will probably continue to be, a major item of fashion wear. Consumers seem to be prepared to pay an ever-increasing price for high fashion sports shoes, and increasingly, sports shoes are entering the medium end product segment of the market. As people appear to be willing to pay more for products, higher quality APC and PA plastic raw material will probably have a growing potential in the sports shoe market. 4. Potential of APC Materials in the Sports Shoe Market APC is more durable than PVC. In other words, there are less aging problems associated with APC. Secondly, the quality of finish of APC products is higher than that of PVC products. As sports shoes become more fashionable, this consideration will become more important. Lastly, APC is better looking, and stays looking better for longer. It should be remarked here that if there were no price difference, many manufacturers would be willing to try APC material in producing sports shoes because they realize that if they market a better quality product, they can avoid the severe competition at the low end of the market, which yield lower profit margins. 5. Competition between APC products There are few APC materials supplied in Hong Kong. Krypton, Hammond Industries, and Nichimachi are the major suppliers in Hong Kong. In the market, Nichimachi's IC51 from Japan is the major competitor with Krypton's KR6600(see Table 3).
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　{{B}}Table 3{{/B}}

	Krypton KR6600	Nichimachi IC51
Origin	USA	Japan
Unit Price(HK $)	6.38/lb	5.78/lb
Product Quality	Softer	Harder
Screen printing problem?	Yes	Yes
Supply	Good	Poor

However, as mentioned before, the majority of the synthetic material used for sports shoe production is PVC. Therefore, the degree of competition among APC materials in the sports shoe market is still low, as APC is at an early stage of its market life-cycle.
II. Conclusions
It is concluded that the majority of sports shoes are made of PVC. The highest quality material is PV, followed by APC and PVC. APC material is still at a very early stage of its product life-cycle.
We are passing through a slack period in Hong Kong's economy. Loss of a number of overseas orders has discouraged new developments in high quality products.
Prices, due to the dumping of plastic raw materials, have maintained the use of PVC in the market.
In the coming year, it is forecast that the Hong Kong economy will pass through a period of stagnation. In the long run, this would be a good time for Hong Kong manufacturers to move.
The future of APC as a material suitable for sports shoes is very dependent on trends in the sports/fashion market. At present, there are several reasons why APC is not very popular in this market.
We are passing through a slack period in Hong Kong's economy. Loss of a number of overseas orders has discouraged new developments in high quality products.
Prices, due to the dumping of plastic raw materials, have maintained the use of PVC in the market.
In the coming year, it is forecast that the Hong Kong economy will pass through a period of stagnation. In the long run, this would be a good time for Hong Kong manufacturers to move away from the low end, low quality market, towards higher quality products made from APC material.
III. Recommendations
In view of the comments above, we should recommend selecting a certain number of higher potential customers for further development. It is also imperative that we gather further market information.
We should also suggest that Company test the market with selected APC products in order to recognize whether the market will fully accept APC as an enhancement over PVC.
(Signature)
Ernest Hong
Sales Representative
Appendix: List of manufacturers visited
1. Lung Hang Sports Co. Ltd.
2. Stella Sports Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
3. Wah Sing Plastic Fty.
4. Chan Wai Ming Mfg. Ltd.
5. Fung Wai Products Ltd.
6. Lam Pak Ind. Co.
7. Milano Sports-Wear Ltd.
8. Fiarrino Ltd.
9. Richmond Development Co. Ltd.
10. Outstanding Shoes Ltd.
11. Chung Ying Plastic Fty.
12. Leun Fat Mfg. Ltd
13. Leung Tai Choi Industrial Co. Ltd.
14. Sumwell Ind. Co.
15. First-Foot-First Ltd.
Analysis and discussion
A short report usually includes the following parts: terms of references, procedures followed definitions of particular terms if necessary, findings, conclusions and recommendations.
The terms of reference tell the author what he should write his report on, that is, what should be included and what left out. By this, the person calling for the report should also say whether he wants it to include recommendations in addition to conclusions based on the obtained information so that the writer is clear about his task. The procedure provides the exact steps taken and methods used for the report. The findings point out discoveries made during the course of the report investigation.
A conclusion is different from a recommendation. It is drawn based on the analysis of the facts or discussion for the readers of the report. It tells the reader what can be learned from what has happened before. A recommendation comprises a recommended course of action that is based on the conclusion previously before.
A long report can consist of several divisions or chapters, each containing all the information or data the author has collected on different aspects of the matter being reported on. It can be set out in eight parts, but it's not always necessary to include them all. The eight parts are the title or title page, the contents list, the abstract/executive summary, the introduction, the discussion, the conclusions, the recommendations and implementation, the references and the appendix(see the sample long report above).
The title page contains a descriptive heading or name. It may also contain the author's name, position, company name and so on.
The executive summary/abstract provides the reader with an overview of the report's essential information. It includes a statement of purpose, a brief description of what has been done in this report, a summary of findings and a recommendation.
The introduction presents the background to be issued(i.e, why was the report commissioned), the objective or purpose of the report, a definition of the research problem or topic, a definition of the report's terms of references(the what, where, and when of the research problem or topic), an outline of the report's structure, an overview of the report's selections and their relationship to the research problem, an outline and justification of the scope of the report, description of the range of sources used, acknowledgment of any valuable assistance received in the preparation of the report. The sections required in the introduction vary, depending on the type of report and the department to which you belong.
The discussion section comments on the significance of the findings in relation to the research question. The implementation states how and when these actions are to be carried out.
When a long report is very lengthy, then a letter of transmittal is necessary. The letter of transmittal is a letter to the person submitted to. It usually carries brief information on how the report has been worked out and some personal viewpoints about certain subjects. In another word a letter of transmittal is not a part of the report but it is about the report. Below is a sample transmittal letter.
Dear Sir,
The report you asked for is attached hereafter. This report is entitled "A Sales report of May". The purpose of this report is to inform you of our achievements in our sales promotion last month. The content of the report concentrates on an analysis of the measures taken and their relationship with the sales volume.
If you want to know more about our achievements, you can phone me at: 88997673.
Sincerely yours,
Mike Raynham
Points to Remember
A report is a formal document, so writing a report takes much effect. Below are some points which should be considered in the writing of a successful report.
(1) The writer should be clear whether or not the reader knows the background for the report, and whether it is necessary to provide the background information in the report.
(2) Before settling down to writing, the writer must collect sufficient information for the report. A report without enough evidence and facts is valueless.
(3) Reports should be written in a formal and objective style. Generally, reports are more formal than letters. If the author needs to refer to himself at all, it should be in the third person.
(4) Keep the language simple .When slang, jargons and clichés must be used, necessary explanations should be included. Use short sentences and paragraphs rather than long-winded constructions.
(5) The emphasis of a report should be on facts and the presentation of the facts should be logical and unemotional. The author should be clear that it is not proper to give too many ideas in the presentation of the data. If the writer wants to indicate his own feelings and opinions, he should present them at the end of each division or at the report.
(6) At the end of the "introduction" part, it is advisable that the writer give a brief introduction of the overall arrangement of the report so that the reader will find it easier to follow.
In writing a report, no matter whether it is a long one or a short one, the writer should comply with the following steps:
Firstt the writer should ask himself the following questions: What are his terms of reference? Who is the reader? What is the relationship between himself and the reader? What does the reader already know? Why does the reader want this document? What is the objective or topic and what he has to report on? Is it necessary to explain some technical terms? By answering these questions, the writer may get a clear idea about what he should do next.
The second step is to determine what type of report is required .This is another very important initial matter to clarify. There are a number of different types of business reports. Although there is usually overlap between the different types, there are also important differences.
The third step is to collect the necessary information .When the writer is clear about the answer to the above questions, he can begin to collect the relevant data for his report. This stage may be as simple as collecting and reading a few background documents supplied by the client, or it cot/Id involve developing questionnaires and conducting detailed interviews with each situation .The Internet, of course, can really simplify and shorten the research process.
When adequate information has been gathered, the next step is to sort out the obtained information. The writer should review all the data collected and calculations made. The useful information should be retained and the irrelevant data rejected. Then the retained information should be properly classified. Besides that, the writer should check the data for accuracy, for a report based on inaccurate information or unreliable calculations is utterly worthless.
The following task is to organize the data. At this stage, it is advisable to write down the purpose of the report on one brief sentence and keep it as a reminder of what has to be done. Then the writer begins to plan the division of the report. After that, he starts to decide what information will be used in each division or sub-division. When a piece of information is used in two different divisions of the report, a cross reference should be made. Besides the planning of the main body, the writer should also consider the possible use of illustrations, photos, graphs, tables, footnotes, bibliographies and appendices.
Only when all this preparatory work is finished can the writer settle down to writing. The writer can finalize the sections into their logical order, draft the report and write key ideas from the plan into sentences. If ample preparations are made, writing a report won't be a very hard job.
When writing is finished, the last step is checking. The writer should always read critically what he has written. If possible, he ought to leave it alone for a few days and then re-read it, or ask someone else to read it for him.
　 Some useful patterns
·Here is the report about the work done by the Personnel Department in May 2006.
·Following is the annual report you requested the year 2005.
·Enclosed is a report about the work done by the Export Division for October, 2006.
·As you requested, I've investigated some ways to reduce our energy use.
·The objective of this report is to summarize the achievements we've made as well as the setbacks we've experienced in the past year.
·In this report, I'll explain how the sales program for the previous month worked, and what impact it will exert on the sale of this month.
·Having made a close survey of the incident, I'd like to submit this report to you for your reference.
·The report examined demographic and cultural profiles of the target market and recommended some market developing approaches.
·The report is based on an investigation made during my summer vocation.
·Currently I am engaged in routine office work, and I've made the following achievements.
·Work in progress is as follows.
·The key findings are outlined below.
·The findings of the investigation indicate that Michael Hill is to blame for the product defect.
·The following points summarize our key findings.
·There are several factors which contribute to the development of our business.
·No conclusions were reached regarding...
·We strongly recommend that the library not be closed on Saturday afternoon.
·To reduce company long-term expense, the company could investigate the viability of staff leasing the computers.
·Olympia Company should negotiate price, warranty and on-going service agreements with Micro-pro direct.