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MBE 316: Marketing Principles: II. Executive Summary

Guide to resources for company profiling and industry analysis

What is an Executive Summary?

Executive Summary

Summary of report to be read by a busy executive.  An abstract or overview of your report.

Writing an Executive Summary

The executive summary should be the last part of the report that you write as it summarizes all of the sections included.  The summary should be no more than 10% of the report for example if your report is 5 pages, the summary should be one paragraph (4-8 sentences).

Here are some tips:

  • Make concise statements.
  • Summarize the major sections in your report.  Executives typically do not read an entire report so decisions are made based on the summary.  Be specific and clear.
  • Ask the following questions:  What is the report about?  Why is it important?  What is included in the report?