International business and trade Final paper project

International Business and Trade – Term Project:

You are a member of your company’s international business team and you have been tasked with performing a detailed Country Analysis and Market Entry strategy for expanding international business your line of products (your choice of product: service or good) to one of the following countries: China, Russia, India, Philippines, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Germany, France, and Italy (or any other country of your choice)

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You will be examining the country from every possible perspective. Areas you will consider include: Economic and business environment, political and social environment, legal and cultural analysis, market opportunity, and market entry strategy recommendations. Creativity is encouraged in your presentation. The report and presentation must be “professional” as if you are presenting to senior management, not as a casual essay or submission.

REQUIRED REPORT: You will be required to present a Report between 8 – 16 pages

In brief, you will analyze the PESTEL and market opportunities.

The report should follow the following outline/sequence

· Executive Summary

This should be a about a brief 2-‐page summary assessment of:

– The country’s economic, political, socio cultural situation and risks

– The country’s current economic situation, opportunities, challenges and risks
– Whether the country represents a good opportunity for your products.

– And, why do you recommend entering or not entering that market?

· Political Environment

a) Political system and structure
b) Stability of government
c) Future political risks, if any
d) Bribery and corruption risk/index

· Economic Environment,

a) Demographics: Population, growth rate, distribution of population (age groups), rural vs. urban, cities vs. villages
b) Per capita income levels, wealth distribution
c) Major exports and trading partners
d) Business environment: Government attitude to foreign investment and trends, ease of doing business, trade regulations
e) Inflation levels, currency exchange rate; risks of devaluation versus the dollar
f) Education and literacy levels, availability of skilled labor, labor costs
g) Membership in regional economic and trading blocks
h) Legal system: Protection of intellectual property rights, enforcement of contracts

· Legal and Cultural Environment: summary assessment of key guidelines for success when doing business in  that country – how some of the cultural habits and differences are likely to impact doing business and the marketing and distribution of your product in that country, as well as marketing challenges.

a) Major religions, ethnic makeup and languages
b) Major sports, recreation
c) Major differences in beliefs, values, customs and behaviors, role of family
d) Unique business customs, etiquette and practices one should be aware of when doing business in that country (time and decision-‐making, meetings, negotiations, business relationships, dress code, status, gift-‐giving, etc.)
e) Unique aspects of written, oral and non-‐verbal communications
f) Describe the country’s culture using Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions (Power distance – hierarchy,  Individualism/collectivism, Masculine/feminine, Uncertainty avoidance, Time)

· Market Opportunity Analysis For your product

Summary assessment: Identify a new product opportunity that your team believes will succeed in that country and recommends for market entry. (You cannot pick an existing brand). Why does the country represent a good market opportunity for your product? Rationale.

a) Market prospects
b) Current product usage habits
c) Competitive products on the market in that country
d) Retail distribution channels
e) Major advertising media used in the country
f) Total size of the market and market potential for your product
g) Target market and demographics for your product

· Market Entry mode:

a) Suggest the most suitable market entry mode, e.g. exporting, licensing, franchising, joint venture, wholly-‐owned subsidiary, etc. Explain rationale.

· Outline the challenges and opportunities of conducting business in that country and provide relevant guidelines and recommendations for entering the market.

· Summary:

· a) Most interesting or fun facts about the country
b) Key challenges, risks, threats of doing business in the country

· Conclusion

· Recommendations

· Bibliography/References:

NB. Notes on doing assignment

The report and presentation should be more than just a collection of key facts and figures; it should offer valuable management and cultural insights about that country. For example, “in Japan – the distribution system is very complex with many levels and built on long-‐standing personal relationships. One “takeaway” for a foreign company entering Japan is that there must be sufficient margins and incentive programs to motivate the many layers of channel members. Also, a joint venture with a local partner may be necessary to gain access to the complex distribution.”

Use charts and graphs pictures, wherever possible, but explain them. Think creatively to make your report fun, lively and interesting.

All your sources of information must be clearly referenced. The assignments must be based on research, using online and global databases and demonstrate your understanding of the readings and class discussions. Your bibliography must include at least 10 published/referenced sources.

Your project grade will be divided between

· 90% for content (critical analysis, quality and variety of research) and 10% for organization and presentation style.

· 10% for Organization refers to readability, flow, logic, professional organization and writing mechanics of the report. It should be clear, concise, with a logical flow of thoughts and ideas. It is important to use theory and concepts from your readings and class discussions to frame the information you present.

No late presentations will be accepted.

All papers should be in Microsoft Word and should be correctly APA formatted – use headings, paragraphs, bullets. This is a business presentation; be sure to use headings and subheads as outlined.

All papers will be submitted to Turnitin for plagiarism check.

Your report will be evaluated based on the timely completion and quality of the following components:

Quality of the report as measured by:

• Quality of the Executive Summary (informative, summarizes key points);
• Accuracy and thoroughness of the company analysis;
• Economic feasibility and originality of the international business proposal;
• Quality of the market opportunity analysis, including the feasibility of the success criteria;
• Accuracy and thoroughness of the market analysis;
• Feasibility of the suggested market entry mode and staffing policies;
• Feasibility of the marketing strategy;
• Quality of the arguments in support of the recommendations provided in the report (clarify, thoughtfulness, strength of the arguments – essentially how well you explain your decisions);
• Proper use of relevant, reliable and legitimate external sources and references;
• Clarity of presentation, formatting quality, readability, visual appeal, grammar;
• Absence of plagiarism – TurnItIn automatically checks all reports for plagiarism and highlights sections of the report that have been copied from other sources without proper referencing.

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Research Project Resources:

You will find various tools and resources in the library of tremendous help in your projects. The library has a number of databases with a wealth of company, industry, and financial data.

Many of the journals identified below as ‘Business Magazines’ are searchable in the databases, Business Source Premier or  ABI/Inform Complete; those might give you more of a “one stop” way of finding articles about your companies.

Company websites: Very often you can download a company’s annual reports from its web site, and many companies also keep lists of press releases and articles that have been written about them on the web site.

Fortune, BusinessWeek, and Forbes have many articles on companies featured in most cases. These publications can all be found in Business Source Premier.

Business Publications and Websites could include the following :

(a) Bloomberg Business Week
(b) Bureau Economic Analysis
(c) Conference Board Review 
(d) Harvard Business Review
(e) Forbes Magazine
(f) US News

(g) Inc. – full text accessible in Business Insights: Essentials
(h) Sales & Marketing 

(i) Wall Street Journal
(j) The Economist

(k) A useful site for information on organization culture – http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm
(l) Company analysis – http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm
(m) Business culture guides – http://www.executiveplanet.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
(n) Business etiquette – http://www.international-‐business-‐center.com
(o) Cultural insights – http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/country-‐profiles.html
(p) GlobalEdge – http://globaledge.msu.edu