global economies and markets

Analyzing the Investment Potential of a Country

You are scouting new markets for your company. The company would like to move all or part of its operations to a developing country to save resources. It is your task to evaluate the investment potential of two countries. You should display your data in a set of infographics (posters), along with the pros and cons of the possible market, and impact on the people and culture. Infographics provide a means of showing large amounts of data and information in a quick, easily accessible format.

At the end of the term you will present your findings to the class by sharing your collection of infographics, which tell the stories of your countries and graphically displays the information that you used to make your scouting decision.

You should have a set of 3 to 5 infographics for each country that you considered in depth that includes the following variables, (which are explained in more detail below):

1. Structure of the Economy

2. Economic Indicators

3. Health Indictors

4. Education

5. Governance Indicators

The list of countries classified by region and by income is provided below and can be found at: List of Countries

Please note the following:

1. The two countries chosen cannot be from the same region

2. Each of the countries chosen must come from one of the following income categories: Lower Income; Lower Middle Income, and Upper Middle Income.

EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC
American Samoa	Korea, Rep.	Philippines
Australia	Lao PDR	Samoa
Brunei Darussalam	Macao SAR, China	Singapore
Cambodia	Malaysia	Solomon Islands
China	Marshall Islands	Taiwan, China
Fiji	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	Thailand
French Polynesia	Mongolia	Timor-Leste
Guam	Myanmar	Papua New Guinea
Hong Kong SAR, China	Nauru	Tonga
Indonesia	New Caledonia	Tuvalu
Japan	New Zealand	Vanuatu
Kiribati	Northern Mariana Islands	Vietnam
Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	Palau
EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
Albania	Gibraltar	Norway
Andorra	Greece	Poland
Armenia	Greenland	Portugal
Austria	Hungary	Romania
Azerbaijan	Iceland	Russian Federation
Belarus	Ireland	San Marino
Belgium	Isle of Man	Serbia
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Italy	Slovak Republic
Bulgaria	Kazakhstan	Slovenia
Channel Islands	Kosovo	Spain
Croatia	Kyrgyz Republic	Sweden
Cyprus	Latvia	Switzerland
Czech Republic	Liechtenstein	Tajikistan
Denmark	Lithuania	Turkey
Estonia	Luxembourg	Turkmenistan
Faroe Islands	Macedonia, FYR	Ukraine
Finland	Moldova	United Kingdom
France	Monaco	Uzbekistan
Georgia	Montenegro
Germany	Netherlands
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Antigua and Barbuda	Curacao	Paraguay
Argentina	Dominica	Peru
Aruba	Dominican Republic	Puerto Rico
Bahamas, The	Ecuador	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
Barbados	El Salvador	St. Kitts and Nevis
Belize	Grenada	St. Lucia
Bolivia	Guatemala	St. Martin (French part)
Brazil	Guyana	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
British Virgin Islands	Haiti	Suriname
Cayman Islands	Honduras	Trinidad and Tobago
Chile	Jamaica	Turks and Caicos Islands
Colombia	Mexico	Uruguay
Costa Rica	Nicaragua	Venezuela, RB
Cuba	Panama	Virgin Islands (U.S.)
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Algeria	Jordan	Qatar
Bahrain	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
Djibouti	Lebanon	Syrian Arab Republic
Egypt, Arab Rep.	Libya	Tunisia
Iran, Islamic Rep.	Malta	United Arab Emirates
Iraq	Morocco	West Bank and Gaza
Israel	Oman	Yemen, Rep.
NORTH AMERICA
Bermuda	Canada	United States
SOUTH ASIA
Afghanistan	India	Pakistan
Bangladesh	Maldives	Sri Lanka
Bhutan	Nepal
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Angola	Gabon	Nigeria
Benin	Gambia, The	Rwanda
Botswana	Ghana	São Tomé and Principe
Burkina Faso	Guinea	Senegal
Burundi	Guinea-Bissau	Seychelles
Cabo Verde	Kenya	Sierra Leone
Cameroon	Lesotho	Somalia
Central African Republic	Liberia	South Africa
Chad	Madagascar	South Sudan
Comoros	Malawi	Sudan
Congo, Dem. Rep.	Mali	Swaziland
Congo, Rep	Mauritania	Tanzania
Côte d'Ivoire	Mauritius	Togo
Equatorial Guinea	Mozambique	Uganda
Eritrea	Namibia	Zambia
Ethiopia	Niger	Zimbabwe
LOW-INCOME ECONOMIES ($1,025 OR LESS)      Afghanistan Guinea-Bissau Sierra Leone Benin Haiti Somalia Burkina Faso Korea, Dem. People's Rep. South Sudan Burundi Liberia Syrian Arab Republic Central African Republic Madagascar Tajikistan Chad Malawi Tanzania Congo, Dem. Rep Mali Togo Eritrea Mozambique Uganda Ethiopia Nepal Yemen, Rep. Gambia, The Niger   Guinea Rwanda         LOWER-MIDDLE INCOME ECONOMIES ($1,026 TO $3,995)       Angola Indonesia Philippines Bangladesh Kenya São Tomé and Principe Bhutan Kiribati Senegal Bolivia Kyrgyz Republic Solomon Islands Cabo Verde Lao PDR Sudan Cambodia Lesotho Swaziland Cameroon Mauritania Timor-Leste Comoros Micronesia, Fed. Sts. Tunisia Congo, Rep. Moldova Ukraine Côte d'Ivoire Mongolia Uzbekistan Djibouti Morocco Vanuatu Egypt, Arab Rep. Myanmar Vietnam El Salvador Nicaragua West Bank and Gaza Ghana Nigeria   Zambia Honduras Pakistan   Zimbabwe India Papua New Guinea           UPPER-MIDDLE-INCOME ECONOMIES ($3,996 TO $12,375)  Albania Fiji Montenegro Algeria Gabon Namibia American Samoa Georgia Nauru Argentina Grenada Paraguay Armenia Guatemala Peru   Azerbaijan Guyana Romania Belarus Iran, Islamic Rep. Russian Federation Belize Iraq Samoa Bosnia and Herzegovina Jamaica Serbia Botswana Jordan Sri Lanka Brazil Kazakhstan South Africa Bulgaria Kosovo St. Lucia China Lebanon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Colombia Libya Suriname Costa Rica Macedonia, FYR   Thailand Cuba Malaysia Tonga Dominica Maldives Turkey Dominican Republic   Marshall Islands Turkmenistan Equatorial Guinea Mauritius Tuvalu Ecuador Mexico Venezuela, RB

Please note that you cannot choose more than ONE country from each region and you can only use countries from the list of countries provided. When choosing the countries, also make sure the country you are selecting has most of the data you need. You will lose points for choosing a country with hardly any data for the years of coverage.

Project Guidelines

The period of data analysis must cover 5 years (periods) starting not earlier than 1990 and ending in the most current year or the year prior to the current year. This means, for example, that you are required to choose 5 years, well-dispersed between 1990 and 2018. Please refrain from using 5 contiguous years, as the variables may not show significant (noticeable) fluctuations from year to year.

A good example for selecting the period of coverage is: 1990; 1995; 2005; 2010; 2015.

*Note for each variable analyzed, if you are not able to find data for a specific year under consideration, feel free to use data for a year or two prior or after that specific year.

Variables

1.) Structure of the Economy (Latest Year Only):

· Use the following variables to provide a broad economic overview of the country for the latest year for which data is available.

Discussion Points: Briefly comment on the development status of each country depending on the magnitude of a particular sector in the structure of the economy. For example, an economy dominated by manufacturing or industry is likely to be a developed or an industrialized economy.

· Services

· Manufacturing or industry

· Agriculture

Example:

Sample Answer to Discussion Points: The graphs show that the development status of Country A is lower than Country B because the structure of the economy is dominated by agriculture.

· Analyze the share of Exports as a Percentage of GDP for each of the two countries, for the years under observation. The data can be found at: World Development Indicators (World Bank) Data Set .

Detailed Instructions on navigating WDI indicators will be provided.

2.) Economic Indicators:

Provide data for the period of coverage for each of the two countries selected (required).

· Interest rate

· Exchange rate

· GDP per capita growth – annual %

· Consumer Price Index

· Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)(modeled ILO estimate)

Discussion Points:

· After specifying the economic indicators for each country, provide a brief explanation of these factors listed above affect trade flows.

3.) Health Indicators (all required)

Provide data for the period of coverage for each of the three countries selected.

· Life expectancy

· Under 5 or child mortality rate

· Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP)

4.) Education (all required)

· Government expenditure on education as a % of GDP

· Adult literacy rate

· Educational attainment, at least completed upper secondary, population 25+ years, total (%) (cumulative)

Discussion Points: One of the key considerations of an MNC in determining an investment destination is the human capital of the workforce of the country. Human capital is determined by the health, the educational attainment, the skill set and the health status of the labor force. Use the information obtained in your analysis in part 3 and 4 to comment on the human capital potential of the countries you are analyzing.

5.) Governance Indicators (Please familiarize yourselves with the meaning of each of the indicators chosen (you are required to use only 3 of the following variables). You can, however, use them all if you want.

· Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank (required)

· Rule of Law: Percentile Rank (required)

· Control of corruption: Percentile Rank (required)

· Voice & accountability (not required)

· Government Effectiveness (not required)

· Regulatory quality (not required)

·

The Governance Indicators can be found at the World Bank Institute at the following site: World Development Indicators (World Bank) Data Set .

Discussion Points: A review of the governance indicators of a country factors significantly in the decision of an MNC to extend its operations to a particular country. Use the information obtained in your analysis in part 5 to measure the investment climates of the countries you are analyzing.