BUSI 2701 D

Assignment # 1 – Business Report - Country Analysis

You are an executive working at a large Canadian company that is considering expanding its foreign operations. The CEO has asked you to do an analysis of one of the target countries and provide a recommendation as to whether or not to proceed. Please note that you are being asked to do a general analysis of the country. You are not doing the analysis based on any one company or industry. The CEO is a very busy person so it is important that the report be written in a clear and concise manner. It will be judged on the factual information it contains, the clarity of your argument and the depth of your analysis. Please note that you should not try to gather data that supports only one side or the other of whether or not to proceed. Rather, you should gather all the pertinent data and let your analysis guide you to the best recommendation.

The report is to be submitted via CU Learn, due on the date indicated in the course outline. The paper is to be a maximum of seven (7) pages (doubled spaced, 12 pt font, 2.54 cm margins) plus title page, references, endnotes, and appendices if any. If the report is longer than seven pages, only the first seven pages will be read and graded. The title page must contain your name, student number and the country you have chosen from the list provided. The first half page (maximum) of the report will be an executive summary of the report’s highlights and your recommendation. The remainder of the seven pages will cover the material noted in the rubric below with marks allocated as shown. Do not forget to number the pages in your report. You should use the items (left-hand column) listed in the rubric as headings in your report.

The report must cite at least six different sources, which could include resources from the globalEDGE Website (http://globaledge.msu.edu), institutions such as the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/) and the International Monetary Fund (http://www.imf.org/external/), the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/), country websites, business journals, business newspapers, business websites, etc. Be wary of relying too heavily on any one source, especially a country’s own websites as they will most certainly put a positive spin on the material. Do not use Wikipedia as a data source.

Ensure that all data is cited in APA Style. Guidelines for APA Style can be found at: http://www1.carleton.ca/sasc/ccms/wp-content/ccms-files/apa_style2.pdf. In this report, there should be few, if any, quotations. If you do use a quotation, ensure that it is in quotation marks and properly cited. If a quotation is not in quotation marks and properly cited, it is plagiarism.

Please note that Carleton University offers a Writing Tutorial Service through the Student Academic Success Centre which provides free face-to-face sessions or online sessions to help you with your writing. This may be especially helpful for those for whom English is a second language. Information can be attained on their website (http://www1.carleton.ca/sasc/writing-tutorial-service/).

Countries to choose from:

• Armenia

• Bangladesh

• Bolivia

• Nigeria

• Qatar

• Switzerland

Assignment #1 Rubric

Item | Item % of Grade | Sub-item | Sub-item % of Grade | Executive Summary | 10 | This should be a concise and very well written summation of the whole report. Approximate length one-half page. | | Country’s Macro Environment | 40 | Country description: This could include evidence of the maturity or lack of maturity of the infrastructure (e.g. transportation, communication), clear identification of the major industries in the country, identification of economic ties to other countries (e.g. NAFTA or EU). Provide evidence of the history of inward foreign investment, identification of large multinationals with operations there (indicative of foreign investment), as well as other measures of business climate such as levels of corruption. | 10 | | | Political description: Describe the nature of the political system, discuss briefly the stability of the system, identify the nature of the legal system and assess the stability/maturity of both the political and legal system. | 5 | | | Identify any existing, or currently under negotiation laws/legislation (be it domestic or international) that could affect inward foreign investment into your country. This could include items related to tariffs, subsidies, informal trade barriers, intellectual property protection, quota’s etc. | 5 | | | Economic conditions and stability including growth statistics, various measures of the level of development and the general wealth of the country and its citizens. | 10 | | | Cultural issues that may affect business and social stability, such as language, religion, working conditions, education level, work force skills, specific norms or values related to your country. | 10 | Factor Endowments | 20 | An analysis of BOTH the basic and advanced factors of production (Hill & McKaig, p.184/5) in the country and the sorts of business opportunities they might support. Note that all countries have a mixture of both basic and advanced factors. | | Analysis | 15 | An analysis of the business implications (i.e. benefits, costs and risks) inherent in doing business in the country. This section must be a logical distillation of the most important facets of the macro environment and factor endowments discussions. (Hill & McKaig, p.78/83) | | Recommendation & Conclusion | 5 | Your recommendation regarding your company expanding into the country. This section must be a logical follow-on from the summary of benefits, costs and risks. State the key rationale for your recommendation. | | Style & Presentation | 5 | Presentation: Spelling, grammar and clarity of writing. This is in recognition of the negative credibility impact on an executive reader of a poorly written document. | | Formatting | 5 | Accurate use of APA style citations/endnotes and use of at least six reference sources. | | | Total=100 | | |