Global Entrepreneurship

You will select a Kuwaiti company and product/service, and select a country also from a list below into which you will “introduce” your company and product/service. You will complete a country analysis (telling investors about the country itself) and a market analysis (telling investors about the target market within that country), explaining and analyzing how you would introduce the company and product/service to this new market, using the language, skills and analysis learned in class

The First Things to Do:

By week 3 you will:

1. i) Establish membership of your group – assign a team leader to communicate with the professor
2. ii) Select the company & product/service

iii) Select the target market

1. iv) Determine team member assignments for each section (this is part of your workplan)
2. v) Complete a team contract and have each member sign it
3. vi) Develop a project timeline chart (this is part of your workplan)

vii) Submit your project workplan and contract to professor by Week 3

1. b) The ability to work effectively and efficiently in a self-directed group is a skill required for the successful completion of this course. Self-directed means you are responsible for:
2. i) Establishing your group’s organization
3. ii) Establishing your group’s work policies

iii) Setting your project objectives

1. iv) Deciding on project scheduling and management
2. v) Controlling and monitoring progress toward objectives
3. vi) Group discipline and sanctions
4. WRITTEN REPORT SPECIFICS

1) Rationale and Purpose:

1. a) The Group Project is designed to help you develop the ability to initiate an International Entrepreneurship project, and apply international trade principles by researching and developing a target country and market profile with an emphasis on understanding the international trading capability and performance of that target country
2. b) You will select a company, product/service and target country, perform economic and trade analysis, perform a market audit, research their import and export activity, determine market barriers and risks for the chosen country and do a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assessment
3. c) You will work on this project throughout the semester. You are expected to use the concepts we learn in class in your analysis. Ask yourself at the end of each chapter we cover: “what can I use from this chapter in my written report? What concepts apply?” Only use concepts or ideas you think are relevant – you do not need to include everything we learn!

3) Pick a target country from the table here:

Select a Target Country from the following

Brazil Argentina Chile Columbia Denmark

Belgium Germany Hungary Spain France

Japan New Zealand Poland The Philippines Taiwan

Turkey Singapore Vietnam Republic of Korea

(South Korea)

Egypt

United Arab

Emirates

Nigeria South Africa Russian Federation India

China Ghana Ethiopia Uzbekistan Kenya

*Companies, products/services and countries are picked on a “first come, first serve” basis. Once one is picked,

it cannot be used by another group

 

4) Overall Format:

1. a) Include a cover page with the description of the project, the names of the authors and a table of contents
2. b) The body of the report should be about 20 pages, double spaced (not counting title page, table of contents, bibliography, and appendices)
3. c) Use APA citation for your sources
4. d) The report should use language appropriate for a sophisticated reader. Write this as if you were writing to your boss, who is looking to invest significant company money. If you make a poor recommendation (that is, tell them to invest when they shouldn’t, or miss an opportunity they should invest in), you could lose your job. You are expected to be fair and neutral in your analysis (not just “cheerleading”)
5. e) Use full sentences, correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling and grammar. All sentences should contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought. Do not use “empty sentences” that do not convey any thought or ideas or that only exist to increase your word count
6. f) When using statistics or information from outside sources, footnote the information on the page where the information is used. The document should look clean and attractive

5) Executive Summary:

1. a) The Executive Summary is a two-page summary of the most important parts of the entire project. It serves the purpose of introducing the project to a Board of Directors or CEO of a company that may be interested in the trade potential of that country. It should outline what the project is about and include a short paragraph on each of the major subjects and an overall analysis of that country. It’s the “greatest hits” of the research you’ve done
2. b) The Executive Summary is written last, after everything else is completed

6) Phase One Headings: (do not write “Phase One” in your report)

1. a) Introduction:
2. i) This is where you describe your proposed Business Venture (the company you’ve selected and why you think it would work) and the product/service being offered into the target market in sufficient detail that the reader would understand the nature and use of the product/service. Include the major features and benefits as you see them
3. ii) Identify and describe the Target Country in enough detail for the reader to know where you are proposing to bring the product/service to the target country and why this is a good idea (at a “high level”)
4. b) Country Analysis:
5. i) Highlight the key points about the Target Country a person about to do business there should know about. Emphasize points that relate to the product or service you are proposing to bring to the Target Country and how those points impact your proposal to enter the Target Country (both positive and negative)
6. ii) Some examples of headings/points that might be used are (include others as appropriate):

• political stability and business climate (how stable is the country, is it “business friendly”, how

and why?)

• trading relationships or existing or proposed trade agreements with Canada (do many Canadian

companies operate there or are you the first?)

• geographical issues (climate, location, topography, etc and how this impacts your

product/service offering)

• legal system as it applies both to doing business in the country and protection of intellectual

property (how does this impact your product/service/company?)

• regional cultural variations (are there any? How does it impact your product/service/company?)
• business customs and practice (any differences with Canada? How does it impact you? How should you address these?)
• religion and culture
• language (which languages do they use? Is it difficult? Could English or French be used easily?

Are there linguistic protections? Labelling laws? How does it impact you?)

• attitude to foreign investment and repatriation of funds (is it “foreigner friendly”? Canadian friendly? Not? Are there taxes or rules on taking profits out of the country?)
• tax system (how does this impact your company?)

1. c) Economic Analysis:
2. i) Refer to the general economic data that would give a business person a clear picture of the economic soundness of the Target Country. For any (or all) of the below, explain how and why the data relates to your product/service. Only include things that are relevant
3. ii) Some examples of headings/points that you should consider are (feel free to include others):

• Population growth and distribution (where is it and why does this matter?)
• GDP – current, historical and trends (growing or falling? explain any distortions the GDP stats might hide)
• Per capita income and family income
• Distribution of wealth (is it a wealthy country but with only a few ultra-rich and many many poor people? Is wealth spread out geographically or concentrated in cities or coastal areas? How does it impact your product/service?)
• Transportation infrastructure (is it good? reliant on one mode more than others? sea ports, air, rail or roads? does this impact your product? how?)
• Communication infrastructure (is it easy to communicate? is it expensive? do they have free internet? limited? no internet? how does this impact you?)
• Working conditions (good? bad? problematic? to who and how?)
• Counter trade activities (is this something you need to worry about? how?)
• Foreign aid (is this something you need to worry about? how?)
• Labour force (growing? educated? is this important because they are your consumers or because they are your producers/makers? ie can they make your product, if that applies? or is it a good labour force because they are well paid and can thus afford your product?)
• Inflation rate (is it high? compared to Canada? is this a concern or not?)
• Available technologies and/or R&D
• Principle industries
• Foreign Direct Investment FDI (rules and attitudes to FDI)
• Exports, imports, trade balance (what’s the ease you think you can get your product / service into the country and why? could relate to existing import and export)
• Consumer/customer buying habits (as applicable to you)
• Advertising media availability, costs, types (as applicable)

7) Phase Two Headings: (do not write “Phase Two” in your report)

1. a) The purpose of this section is to provide an understanding of the capability of the Target Country to compete internationally
2. i) Entry Mode: You may wish to consider one or many different entry modes. Pick the one(s) you think the best and most appropriate in brining your product/service to the Target Country. Explain why they are best and how they work in your context. Consider if there are any rules or laws or attitudes that might make your entry mode likely easy or likely hard.

• State which one you are selecting and explain in detail how it would work:
• Direct or Indirect Exporting, Turnkey Projects, Management Contracts, Licensing, Franchising,

Wholly Owned Subsidiaries or Strategic Alliances

1. ii) Risks and Barriers: This section should describe and discuss the nature of the barriers to market entry and the risks of doing business in the Target Country. Be sure to identify the ways of overcoming these barriers and risks. The types of risks and barriers you should consider are:

• Country risks (specific to the country or even the region)
• Market risks (risks related to your target demographic, or to the broader international market

[interest rates, exchanges rates, international agreement collapse etc] in the Target Country)

• Product risks (risks related to your product/service but especially in the Target Country)
• Commercial risks (problems related to your company’s ability to do business)
• Barriers to market entry (legal impediments, geographic impediments, how to overcome them)
• Barriers to market acceptance (legal, cultural, etc – which exist and how to overcome them)

1. ii) Import and Export Analysis: This section can be relatively short. Research and provide the information for the Target Country’s:

• Major products imported
• Historical (5 years) import performance
• Principal countries imported from
• Major products exported
• Historical (5 years) export performance
• Principal countries of export

iii) Corporate Social Responsibilities and Strategies: As part of your understanding of a global business strategy for your company, product or service, you need to identify and discuss the CSR issues that may exist in your Target Country. Include in this section specific actions required to deal with these issues. You might consider:

• Environmental concerns and trends (carbon footprint in transport, manufacturing process, water use, etc)
• Human rights issues (sweat shops, immigrant workers, equal treatment)
• Unfair or corrupt business practices (bribery, false advertising, misleading financial statements)
• Health, safety or labour issues (working conditions, hours of work)
• Existing Corporate Philanthropy or support for Community, Social, Charitable, Educational, Medical/Health or Sporting Programs (and how they might be useful or good to your product or service in the Target Country, or how they could be better or changed or a new one you propose and why it would be better)

8) Conclusion:

1. a) Conclude your report by identifying three (3) key points that would identify your target market’s international trade potential
2. b) Make a recommendation about developing this Target Country and support your recommendation with reference to critical information from each section of this Report. It is okay to recommend NOT to enter the Target Country, if you think this is the correct recommendation. You need to explain why in either case

9) Sources, References, Appendices and Bibliography:

1. a) This section plays a role in the overall evaluation of the Written Report as it is an indicator of the time and effort spent on research. This section lists all the sources used in the preparation of the Report. Correct

APA citation is important

1. b) For full credit, use resources listed on the course Blackboard site (other than the text and slides) as well as external sources
2. c) DO NOT CITE WIKIPEDIA
3. d) You may use an unlimited number of appendices, but these must be referenced in the text if used. These must be useful to making your point or not used at all
4. e) Include Appendix titles in the Table of Contents. Direct downloads of data from the Internet are not to be included. You must interpret and analyze the information you collect rather than simply reproducing it