Web-based Research Resources Exercises

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Guidelines for IBUS 590 Term Project Global Market Opportunity Assessment Plan

Objective The objective of this term project is to identify international business opportunities by conducting global market opportunity assessment and present it to venture capitalists. The term project consists of two parts: Part I – Country screening and product selection (Country level analysis) Part II – Evaluation of the national market environment (Industry/Firm level analysis) Project Deadline

1. The due date is indicated in the syllabus. (* No late assignment will be accepted!) 2. The presenting group (S group) needs to prepare 9 copies of ppt slides (for

professor Lee, H group, C group, and the rest of the non-presenting groups). Venture Capitalists Students not presenting on the day (the assigned C-critique group) will play the role of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists will prepare their critiques by reading the Solution (S) group’s business plan. After S group’s presentation, C group will prepare minimum three questions about the proposed international business plan. These questions should:

(1) seek clarification on confusing or misleading aspects of the proposal, (2) question the assumptions made by the S group, (3) probe the S group’s contingency plans (asking “what if … happens” kinds of

questions), (4) evaluate the feasibility and successful possibility of the business plan, etc.

Managing Overload I have structured the term project in two sequential subprojects to help you better organize the project and to even out the workload throughout the semester. As a result, the project offers an abundance of information, frameworks, and techniques that you will need to consider. As you learn from GlobalEdge Resource Desk web site and the business librarian at SFSU library, there is tremendous information available on the Internet as well as in the library. In order to be successful on your term project, your group will need to decide relatively quickly where to focus your attentions and efforts. You will need to think hard about how to use your time to process the large amount of materials that are available to you. In doing so, I hope you will learn, first-hand, about the role of knowledge management in international business decisions. Project Management I strongly urge you to resist the temptation to adopt a project management approach that puts some group members in charge of distinct stages. This would result in the effort becoming disjointed as group members’ hand-off different sections. The resulting strategy and concepts will likely reflect a lack of integration. A better strategy is to subdivide each section into parts with group members’ tackling different data sources, strategy frameworks, and concept development techniques.

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Part I: Country Screening and Product Selection (Country Level Analysis)

The objective of this project is to assess global market opportunities for a firm on a specific product/service. Each group will be assigned a region of the world to start with. In that region, you, as a group, will need to choose three potential countries where you plan to introduce a new product or service. Analyze the market potential for all three candidate countries. Then, based on your analysis screen out two countries that are not as promising.

The product/service that you select must NOT be sold in the country yet, or is considered as a very NEW product by the local consumers in that country. Basically, your chosen project may fall into one of these categories:

1. Market penetration – Develop new uses for existing products that will be of interest to customers in the new national market (the country you select).

2. Market expansion – Find new national markets for existing products. 3. Product expansion – Develop entirely new products for existing customers. 4. New business venture – Develop a new product for a new national market.

Country Level Analysis (Example Structure):

1. Economic environment (population, GNP/GDP, distribution of wealth, stage of economic development, labor

force, inflation rate, competitiveness of the country, business infrastructure…etc).

2. Cultural/social environment (education, languages, business practices, consumption behavior specific to this

product…etc).

3. Political/legal environment (political risk, political structure, restrictions on foreign investment, quotas, tariffs,

trade barriers, laws about advertising messages/media…etc).

4. Country market potential (Examples of criteria: market size, market growth rate, market intensity, market

consumption capacity, market receptivity…etc.) The objectives are to: (1) demonstrate that there is an excellent match between the product and the selected country, and (2) convince the venture capitalists that there exists substantial market potential for this new product.

Conclusion: Why this country and why this product? In preparing this project, you should ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why this product? (e.g., product characteristics and relative product advantage compare to the competing products.)

2. Will this product be attractive to the consumers in these candidate countries? 3. What makes these countries attractive markets? 4. Which criteria should be used in screening all three countries? 5. Why this finalized country (among the three) is the most promising foreign market

that provides the best market potential and strategic fit for your product?

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Part II: Evaluation of the Market Environment (Industry/Firm Level Analysis)

After finalizing the country and the product, you need to assess the market environment specific to this product category/industry in the selected country. The objective is to thoroughly understand the market competition in order to decide your target market/segmentation and to prepare your international business plan. Industry/Firm Level Analysis (Example Structure):

1. Industry/market potential (example criteria): a. Relevant environmental trends and their anticipated impact on the firm/product. b. Demand specific to the industry - potential market size, key market segments, and

segment growth rates, etc. c. Market entry barriers – economies of scale, cost advantages, capital requirements,

access to distribution, brand identity, switching costs, expected retaliation from rivals, government policy, etc.

d. Standards and regulations – any specific legal or technical standards for the product

2. SWOT analysis of the firm: a. Analyze the firm’s (or the product’s) unique strengths and how it provides value

to its customers and differentiates itself from its competitors. b. Recognize the firm’s (or the product’s) weakness and discuss how to overcome

these weakness. c. Analyze the key competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and their market share

trends.

3. Buyer analysis: a. Identify your target customers b. Describe customer demographics c. Address customers needs and discuss how buying decisions are made.

Conclusions and Recommendation:

Based on your global market potential assessment, you make recommendations to the venture capitalists. The goal is to convince those decision makers that your international business plan worth their investments.

Note: Remember that you are selling this business plan to venture capitalists to seek for funding. All they care is about ‘money’ (profits). So, it would be wise to illustrate the followings in your presentation:

1. Your business objectives (apply what you learned in class).

2. Your plan (marketing, distribution…etc) to accomplish your goal.

3. The amount of money that you are asking for, profit goals, and the estimated time to breakeven.

4. Strongly sell your project. Convince them that it will be a loss to them if they do not invest in you!

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Oral Presentation Format for Part I and Part II 1. 12 minutes’ power point presentation for reach group. 2. Hand in a hard copy of your presentation slides to Professor Lee at the beginning of

the class. 3. Make 8 extra copies of your presentation slides for Professor Lee and the class. 4. Make sure you show a photo of your product in your presentation and sell your

product up front. (What’s so special about this product? How is it going to make a sizable profit?)

5. Sell your product up front in your Part I presentation (e.g., talk about product advantages, value to customers…etc). In Part II, you shall remind the audiences about your product before go into the details of industry and firm level analysis.

6. Your presentation will be evaluated by Professor Lee. The non- presenting groups will provide feedbacks on the evaluation form distributed by H group.

Essential Tips 1. Exploit your passion

Don’t take this term project only as an in-class exercise. In fact, this is an opportunity to explore, create, innovate, and maybe develop a business idea that you will actually bring to fruition. Think about how could you make a difference?

2. Get it right

A successful marketing strategy will depend on (1) understanding how consumers actually view and use a particular product, and (2) understanding the environment in which the product is introduced.

3. Make it real

Regarding the country-market information, I strongly recommend that you interview people who are natives of the country chosen for the project. The purpose of these interviews is to practice sensitive cross-cultural skills and to gather more detailed market information in that country (e.g., cultural factors, existing products and brands, consumers’ attitude toward your product) from the first-hand perspective of the native individual.

4. Strategically interpret the data

The information in the analysis must be more than a collection of facts and statistics. It is important to interpret the statistics in a way that highlights their relevance to the marketing strategies being contemplated. For example, the fact that almost all the populations of Italy and Mexico are Catholic is an interesting statistic, but not nearly as useful as understanding the effect of Catholicism on values, beliefs, and other aspects of market behavior.

5. “Show me the money”

The most critical thing that I want to experience when reading a marketing plan is the conviction that there are real customer needs behind your words, people you interviewed, and for whom you developed your offering. Many businesses fail because they grew on a false assessment of the customer interest.