Homework: Portfolio Project
Part 1
Address the following 10 questions for Part 1:
a. Identify three major countries with which your chosen company operates. Preferably, the three countries are in different continents.
b. Are these three countries members of the IMF, the World Bank, and WTO?
c. Do you believe that these three countries actively follow guidelines of these three major international institutions?
d. Compare the institutional structure of these three countries to determine if they promote globalization, i.e., (i) are their political institutions transparent and (ii) do they have a functioning judiciary system?
e. Do you believe that the three countries under consideration practice policies that promote globalization? For example, what are those countries' policies toward (i) governance, (ii) competitive markets, (iii) property rights, and (v) corruption?
f. Determine whether your company is a producer of goods or services. What are the major products and/ or services provided by your company? Are those outputs sold only domestically or are they also exported?
g. Do these products and services face tariff or non-tariff barriers in the target export markets? What are the tariff rates or non-tariff barriers imposed on these items?
h. Identify regional trading blocs with which your chosen company operates as well as the benefits that your company gains because it is part of those trading blocs.
i. Would your company be better off under a system of multilateral trade liberalization like the WTO, or with bilateral or regional trading blocs?
j. If you were visiting a foreign country to negotiate a transaction on behalf of this company, what cultural knowledge would you need to gain before the visit? How and from where would you get the information?
Part 2
Instructions
It is a responsibility of the global firm to ascertain the level of importance of various aspects of culture. Companies' operations need to recognize and adjust to the cultural environment. In this week's Lesson, you will find eight elements of culture. For this homework, there are four elements of culture that are most important when marketing products and services internationally: language, religion, manners and customs, and aesthetics. Indicate why each is important and provide examples in your response.
Part 3
Address the following 14 questions for Part 3:
a. Examine the countries where your company does business according to where they rank on the Hofstede cultural dimensions.
b. Think of some examples of how a U.S. manager would need to modify his or her behavior when communicating with associates from one or more of these foreign countries.
c. Does your company operate in any countries that are considered very politically or economically risky?
d. Does your company primarily operate in civil law or common law countries? What are some of the implications of this?
e. Has your company purchased any insurance from the Development Finance Corporations (DFC)?
f. What are some key intellectual property protections, if any, that your company possesses? When do these protections (e.g., patents) expire? How does your company intend to recoup lost revenues due to any patent or other intellectual property protection expirations?
g. Find the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score for two countries where your selected company does business, one country with a relatively high score and one country with a relatively low score. Search for news stories about corporate financial scandals in these two countries. Prepare a short summary of news stories about financial scandals in these countries. Briefly describe what you perceive are the risks of corruption, such as paying bribes, that your selected company might face in these countries.
h. Determine your company's mode of entry into foreign markets. This should be based upon a serious analysis of your company's risk-return tradeoff. In your opinion, has your company taken the right approach?
i. Does your company have an exit strategy? Recall that exit strategies are to be determined before entry into the foreign market, rather than after entry.
j. Critically and objectively evaluate how ethical your company's global operations are and determine if they are good corporate citizens (i.e., do they have a well thought-out corporate social responsibility program for the long term?).
k. What is the corporate mission statement of your target company, assuming it has one? How well do the company's actions adhere to its stated mission?
l. With respect to its strategy formulation, would you categorize your company as a shareholder model or a stakeholder orientation? Why?
m. Is the company a stateless corporation? If not, is the company on its way to becoming a stateless corporation? What type of organizational structure is the company currently using?
n. Do you think the company may benefit from a hybrid or matrix structure? Why or why not?
Part 4
Companies collect a wide variety of information about their foreign markets to decide in which countries to conduct business and which market segments in these markets they should target. What are the three major markets that exist in all foreign markets? Describe the markets and provide examples of each.
Part 5
Address the following 11 questions for Part 5:
a. Are any employees of your company represented by labor unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements? Are any of these employees working outside of the United States?
b. Does your company employ expatriates in any overseas operations it might have? If so, what resources does the company provide to train expatriates before they go to the foreign location? Does the company also provide training or support for expatriates during the repatriation phase?
c. To what extent, or in what ways, does your company use the Internet for employee training and development?
d. What products are sold in the company's international markets? Do they vary by country or by region?
e. What types of promotion does your company emphasize in its international markets? Do they differ from those used in its domestic market?
f. What kinds of distribution channels are being employed in your company's international markets?
g. Is the company practicing global procurement? If the company is procuring globally, what goods and services is it procuring and from which countries?
h. Is the company practicing global production? If the company is producing globally, what goods and services are produced globally and in which countries?
i. Has the company outsourced goods and services? Has the company insourced goods and services?
j. Is the company a member of one or more supply chains? If yes, can you identify the major members of the supply chain(s)?
k. In what countries does your company export goods? Import goods? How would changes in the values of these countries' currencies relative to the U.S. dollar affect transactions and translation risks? Economic risk?
Part 6
This homework requires you to compile Parts 1, 3, and 5 into one document, which will be your final report on the global aspects of your selected company.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
a. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
b. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
c. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.