Business
IBM 4141: International Marketing
Mini research assignment through peer review
As part of “learning by doing” commitment of this class, you will be carrying out some basic research on four countries. Three of these countries are randomly assigned to you, and the fourth is the USA. Why the USA? Even if you are unfamiliar with some of the measures, having a point of comparison helps to make sense of what you’re finding. You can compare your lived experience to that of the data points. If you are not from the USA/grew up in another country, feel free to replace it with your home country and just note that in your write-up.
This assignment will progress over three weeks (Module 2-4) of the class. Each week you will add to the knowledge you’re finding.
Please cite all your sources. Use either MLA, APA, or Chicago style. https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/citationtutorials
Suggested data sources
· https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/ibm3001 The CPP library has pulled together a nice set of guides for research. I would recommend scrolling to the “other recommended resources”
· CIA world factbook – gives basic information about each country
· CountryWatch – country profiles give a detailed understanding about key factors such as political trends, and recent news
· GlobalEDGE – A research tool that allows you to compare across a variety of indicators
· https://data.worldbank.org/ The World Bank has a downloadable database of indicators – more detail than most other sources.
· You may also like the DataBank, which allows you to select specific indicators: https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators
· There are many other reputable data sources out there – go ahead and explore!
MODULE 3: Socio-cultural and technological factors
Socio-cultural factors
• Choose four social indicators. Now that you have a little more experience with the research, go ahead and find ones that interest you. Make sure at least two are quantitative and can be plotted in a graph (similar to the economic work last week).
• Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the socio-cultural factors of the countries.
o Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?
Technological factors
• Choose four tech indicators. Research them for each of your four countries.
• Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the technological factors of the countries.
o Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?
Bringing it together
• Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.
o How do the countries compare?
o Is there anything you found that surprised you?
o Did the reasons you could find in the recent news seem to support the indicator values you found? Do you agree as to the risk level for the countries?
o What other questions do you have about these countries, now that you have completed some initial research?
Submit and review
• Use the same process as last week