BUSN369 | International Business in Business - Chamberlain university

BUSN369 International Business Course Project

Overview

The purpose of this Course Project is to engage students in understanding the challenges and opportunities of operating an international business. Upon the completion of this Course Project, students will also have a greater appreciation of how culture, political systems, society, and other factors impact business practices not only domestically but also internationally. Students will also have the key skills and abilities to plan international business ventures in their professional careers. The Course Project is a country brief that could be submitted to a CEO or CMO in consideration of entering a foreign market. Your research and writing will focus on the current business environment in the target nation of your choice, and the data you collect, analyze, and synthesize will provide insights that would be useful in assessing the viability of entering that foreign market. The following eight topics will be included in your country brief. Topic prompts are located below in the project Outline. Nationalistic Orientation Culture, Ethics, and Corporate Responsibility Government Trade Policy Regional Economic Integration and Foreign Direct Investment Monetary System and Capital Markets Market Entry Strategy Supply Chain, Marketing, and Business Analytics Human Resources and Finance Guidelines The Course Project is divided into four drafts that will be due at the end of Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8. For your Week 8 Final Draft, you will incorporate the first three drafts to submit a comprehensive paper containing all sections. The Week 8 Discussion is a peer review, for which you will submit your favorite section of your course project and review two classmates' submissions. Here are the specific requirements for your submissions. All submissions must be formatted according to APA 7th edition guidelines. All drafts must include a cover page and references page. You must gather information from at least five authoritative, outside references for your course project. Anonymous authors and websites with user-generated content are not acceptable sources. One of your sources may be your textbook, and all sources must be referenced with in-text citations and on your References page. If images, charts, graphs, or other media are used, they should be sized appropriately and embedded within the body text and also have an in-text reference citation. The country brief is a short format, so your writing will need to be concise. Each section should be about 250 words, so each draft should be about 500 words. The DeVry librarians (Links to an external site.) are a helpful resource for research, writing, and APA formatting, so be sure to reach out early in the course for guidance that will save you a lot of time and effort! One more helpful hint; the proper APA 7th Edition reference for your textbook appears at the bottom of each weekly Lesson. Outline Draft Section Topic Prompts Draft 1 Nationalistic Orientation Is your target nation currently a member of the G20, UN, WHO, or WTO? If so, give examples of its recent participation with these global institutions and if not, why not? What is the current level of economic development of your target nation and what is its growth rate of GDP? Do you forecast a significant change in GDP during the next three years? Why or why not? What are your target nation's political, economic and legal systems, and what is its level of corruption relative to the nations with which it most frequently trades? Culture, Ethics, and Corporate Responsibility What are your target nation's cultural characteristics, including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, and short-term versus long-term orientation? Does your target nation actively promote ethical standards such as employment rights, human rights, and social justice? If not, why not, and if so, cite examples. Does your target nation actively promote environmental sustainability standards? If not, why not, and if so, cite examples. Draft 2 Government Policy What are the most influential determinants of your target nation's national competitive advantage according to Porter's Diamond? What is your target nation's current balance of trade, and does it offer subsidies or impose tariffs, quotas, or local content requirements? What are your target nation's current levels of FDI inflows and outflows, and do you forecast a change in FDI during the next three years? Regional Economic Integration and Foreign Direct Investment What is your target nation's current level of economic integration, and is it a member of any trading blocs or regional trade agreements? What are your target nation's monetary and fiscal policies, is it currently experiencing inflation, and do you forecast a change in its inflation rate during the next three years? If so, why, and if not, why not? Is your target nation's currency easily convertible, and what is your exchange rate forecast for the next three years relative to major global currencies? Draft 3 Monetary System and Capital Markets What is your target nation's exchange rate regime, and has its major currencies index strengthened or weakened over the last three years relative to the currencies of nations with which it most frequently trades? Is there easy access to capital for innovation and entrepreneurship for companies operating your target nation, and does capital investment in companies operating your target nation carry significant foreign exchange risk? Why or why not? For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, what is your recommendation for using a global standardization, localization, transnational, or international approach to launch new products and why? Market Entry Strategy How high is your target nation's level of foreign product diversity and sales of foreign products within its market? For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, what is your recommendation for entry mode and why? For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, what are your recommendations for timing and scale of entry and why? Final Draft Supply Chain, Marketing, and Business Analytics For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, what are your recommendations regarding importing, exporting, and location selection based on factor endowments and why? Does your target nation pose supply chain or logistics constraints? If not, why not, and if so, cite examples. Does your target nation's market offer product mixes from global producers, and what do you think are your target nation's market's most viable segments and why? Human Resources and Finance For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, do you recommend an ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric staffing policy, and what cultural, language, or practical training do you recommend for expatriate managers moving from the U.S. to your target nation? What is your target nation's current state of labor relations with trade or industry unions? If labor unions currently exist, cite examples, and if labor unions are not common, why not? For U.S. companies considering expansion into your target nation's market, what are the financial implications of political, economic and currency risk these companies will likely face, and what are the primary drivers of this risk? *The Final Draft requires resubmitting Drafts 1-3 and incorporating those prior sections into a one, comprehensive document. Contact your instructor if you have any questions about what to submit.