Business

Introduction to Business Assignment: Emerging Economies

    Assignment: You will choose one country considered an emerging economy, research it, and propose to a business that they expand operations in some way to that country.   Here’s how: Imagine that you are a junior executive in an American company of your choice, writing a proposal to your CEO. Write a recommendation that your company undertakes ONE of the options below in the emerging economy of your choice.  

1. Open a plant in that country for manufacture of products to be shipped back to the U.S.,

2. Open a plant in that country for manufacture of products to be sold in that country or another foreign country,

3. Open an office to serve that market, or

4. Export your existing products to that market.

  The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking “outside the U.S”—to try and get you to imagine what life and business is like in countries that are very different than ours. International students will have an advantage here. 

I also want you to try and imagine trying to conduct business without the infrastructure that is so widespread in American life we consider it a given: efficient phone service, computer access and dependable (usually!) connections, reliable shipping methods over decent roads and dependable railways, a currency that is accepted around the world, banks that can accept and transfer money anyplace on the planet and are safe repositories for your company’s earnings. Take away even one of those things and imagine how things would change.

The United States evolved from an agrarian economy to our current developed one in 200 years. Emerging economies are trying to compress that process into only a few years, and it’s proving a very bumpy road for many of them.   SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:

I. Research your chosen country. Emerging economies include but are not limited to Singapore, Chile, Estonia, Peru, Slovenia, South Africa, Lithuania, Venezuela, Taiwan, Kuwait, Latvia, Romania, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, Hungary, Poland, North Korea, Russia, Vietnam, and China.   See the document, “A Few Suggestions,” for more info. There are also a few resources listed at the end of this assignment.  

II. Write your recommendation

a. You are writing as the employee of a FOR-PROFIT business, not a non-profit agency. Most, if not all, of these countries are in dire need of the type of assistance offered by non-profits, but for this assignment we are concentrating on a business. You must support your proposal by pointing out the advantages to the business, not just to the country involved.

b. I want to see the company name in the title, salutation, or first sentence of your paper. For example….

• “Tully’s Expansion into Ethiopia” (title)

• Memo To:     John Jones, CEO Boise Cascade Company

• “I propose that Boeing expand production into Namibia….”

c. You are recommending that an identified company expand a certain type of operation in a named country. 

• For example, you recommend to the CEO of Starbucks that they begin opening stores in Romania. Better yet, recommend to Howard Schulz (Starbucks CEO) that they establish coffee carts rather than the usual stores, starting in Bucharest, because foreign investors are forbidden bay law from leasing more than 200 square feet of commercial property, yet coffee is a strong part of the Romanian culture. (This example is facetious, of course).

• DON’T make a recommendation that some vague Company X open a branch office offering undefined services in, oh, say, Nigeria.

• You will explain the advantages and challenges for your company by covering the following points:

✓ What is the size of this market? What is the average income? Which of your company’s products do you see a demand for and why? Does the size of the market justify this expansion? Would it be the beginning of an expansion into a larger geographic area?

✓ What is this government’s stance on foreign investment and U.S. businesses operating in their country?

✓ What is the condition in that country that would affect business operations? I.e., transportation, communication, financial systems, economic conditions, culture.

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· DON’T include a lot of obviously copied and pasted factoids off the Internet (“5,000 miles of railroads, 14 radio stations and 3 TV stations…the currency is the

Naira.”) Yes, discuss the country’s infrastructure, but in the context of how it will affect your proposed operation.

If I detect plagiarism (which is pitifully easy to spot), I will not be a happy camper. Draw your own conclusions about how it will affect your grade.

III. Include a paragraph describing a community service project your company will undertake in this country. 

As part of the negotiations with the foreign government, and in part to meet your company’s social responsibility, your company will agree to donate time and money towards helping this country’s developing economy in some way. It could be by providing products, services, expertise, whatever. For example, if you are an engineering firm, you might oversee the building of a bridge or roads connecting key trading areas if that country’s transportation infrastructure is lacking. You will determine what this country needs and how your company can help.

IV. Cite your sources.  Include all your sources: books, newspapers, Internet, personal interviews, video, etc.   For formatting guidelines, use MLA Style formatting. You will find an index to different style formats at http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/library/mla.htm. 

Submit two concise, organized, well-written pages of text (that means two pages excluding citations). Top executives are pressed for time, and you need to deliver a good argument in a relatively short space. Don’t bore or annoy the reader by going on at length about the country’s history, etc. when it is not directly tied to some point you’re making in the proposal.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I’ll say it again. Beware of copying and pasting off the Internet—this is called plagiarism, and I will be checking your sources. By all means use the information on the Internet, but cite your sources and use your own words. If I identify any plagiarism, that assignment will automatically receive a zero.  

  Grading:

• Demonstrates understanding of conditions in the country: 25 pts

• Demonstrates understanding of how American company can advantageously trade with this country : 8 pts.

• Recommended social responsibility project demonstrates what is needed to move towards market economy: 5 pts.

• Grammar, spelling, general quality of writing: 2 pts