Guidelines for the Project Report
Your final report will be over 2,000 words.
Start and end your report with an Introduction plus a Summary and Conclusions sections respectively, each about 100 words. An Introduction should tell the reader about the report that follows and a bit about how the team selected its concept and what it expected to learn from the project. The Summary and Conclusions puts a wrap-up on your report where you can demonstrate your critical thinking and what you learned from the project.
The report should follow the following outline:
Describe Your Company
Describe your imaginary company and its operations, its size, etc. It can be a service company or a company manufacturing a product. It can be an internet based company as long as the company’s overseas operations are such that it will experience all the challenges and opportunities faced by more traditional companies expanding overseas.
In describing the operations of your imaginary company, ensure that you give a clear description of your business model and structure. For instance, if you operate a chain of coffee shops, where do you get your coffee from? If you manufacture a clothing line, do you have your own retail outlets or do you wholesale your product to existing retailers? If you repair an electronics product, e.g. smart phones, do you do this at the retail level or do you offer your services to existing large tech companies?
Describe Your Home and Host Countries
The country where your company has been operating domestically will be U.S. In selecting a host country for international expansion, the country should be one of interest to the team, have potential for business expansion, and be a country where you can develop the type of information and insights you will need in developing your integrated project. Be sure that you explain your reasons for selection of your host country (see chapter 3 and criteria for selection of a host country, benefits, costs, and risks).
Decide on an Entry Strategy
Describe your planned market entry strategy and give your reasons for this strategy. Also, how does your entry strategy relate to your core business strategy? See chapter 15. Note, to build a MNE, your entry strategy cannot be exporting or licensing. You have to set up some form of FDI in order to have operations in your host country. .
Describe the Environment in Which You Will Be Operating Your Company
Describe the overseas environment you will be operating in and the critical operational, political, legal, and economic factors you must consider and how they will affect your company. Chapters 2 and 3 provide important background on the issues you should be describing, but you will have to do research on your particular host country, particularly whether it is developed or developing and its stage of development.
Describe the Cultural Profile of Your Host Country
Provide a cultural profile of the local area in which you will be operating. What are the workers going to be like? What kind of reception do you anticipate from local government, suppliers, distributors, and so on? How will the culture affect your leadership and motivational approaches? Chapter 4 is important for this section of your report, but again, you will need to conduct research.
Describe Your Organization Chart Showing the Company and Its Overseas Operations
Draw up an organization chart showing your company and its overseas operations. Describe why you have chosen this structure and how you will connect your overseas operation to headquarters. Also ensure that your structure and controls make sense in terms of your chosen business level strategy (cost reduction, localization, or both). Consult chapters 13 and particularly chapter 14.
Decide on a Staffing Policy for Top Level Managers in Your Overseas Operations
How will you staff your management positions in your overseas operations? What is your rationale for this approach? Consult chapter 19.
Describe the Kinds of Leadership and Motivational Systems You Will Use
Given the culture where your overseas entity will be operating, what kind of leadership and motivational systems and practices do you think will be most effective? Consult chapter 14 and read the case on Lincoln Electric (page 419) where what worked in the U.S. was a cultural and motivational disaster overseas.
Discuss the Kinds of Communications Issues Your Company May Face
Discuss the kinds of communications problems your company may face in the host country working environment. How should they prepare for and deal with these problems? Consult chapter 4 on culture and understand difference between high and low context communications.
Discuss Any Special Control Issues Your Company May Face in Its Overseas Operations
Explain any special control issues for your overseas operations that concern you. How do you plan to deal with them? There is a host of potential control issues, e.g. protecting intellectual property, protecting against graft, quality control, protecting your brand, etc. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 are relevant here, but you will have to think about your operations and do research on the particular circumstances to be faced in your host country.
Identify Concerns of the Host Country and the Local Community
Identify the concerns of the host country and the local community regarding your operations there. What plans do you have to deal with their concerns and to ensure a long-term cooperative relationship? For instance, local concerns may relate to such matters as environmental pollution, creating jobs, following government regulations, employee training, and advancing new technologies, etc. Here you have to think politically and what you need to do to be accepted and ideally welcomed in your host country. This will require research on the particular concerns and issues of your host.
List references used at the end or in endnotes. Include in-text citations when you used secondary resources, as you would in any paper.
