Study Guide for Final Exam
The exam will be conducted online and will consist of about 40 multiple choice and true/false questions. It
will be open notes; however, everything you need must be printed or written on paper; during the exam
you cannot access any electronic devices. Please bring a proper calculator for arithmetic calculations;
smartphones cannot be used for calculations.
For every topic, you should be familiar with all the contents of the PowerPoint handout and the relevant
class discussion-based notes. When you review the material for the exam, for each topic first review the
PowerPoint handout and class notes (including examples discussed in class), followed by the
readings/examples for that topic. There will be questions from the readings and examples from the pdf
files. One efficient way to review the readings in the pdf files is to answer the questions in the study guide
as you go through each reading.
Globalization
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
Globalization Supplemental Readings
1. “March of the mini-multinational”
a. Why did GNI globalize its activities right from the start?
b. What were the countries involved?
c. What specific comparative advantage(s) of each country prompted GNI to locate specific
activities in each country?
d. How was GNI’s product development strategy different from that of other Western
pharmaceutical multinationals?
2. “Lost in Shangywood”
a. What makes the Chinese film market attractive to foreign firms and Hollywood?
b. How does the Chinese government regulate the entry of foreign firms into this market?
c. What are the issues that foreign firms face in making films in China?
d. What are the key differences in the business models of Hollywood firms and their
Chinese competitors?
3. “Not Made in the USA: The Gerber Baby”
a. What factor(s) led Gerber to go global?
b. Why was Sandoz’s acquisition of Gerber a strategic failure?
4. “What cheese can tell you about international barriers to trade”
a. In general, what are the barriers to cross-border trade in cheese?
b. How does the European Union protect its dairy industry from foreign competition?
c. What are technical barriers to trade?
d. What is the impact of technical barriers/standards on cross-border trade in cheese?
5. “Balkanised banking”
a. How was the banking industry in Europe and America being deglobalized? What are the
requirements being imposed on multinational banks by bank supervisors in different
countries?
2
b. What is “subsidiarization”? What is its likely impact on the capital-markets businesses of
multinational banks?
c. What impact might deglobalization have on multinational banks? How would these, in
turn, affect the globalization process?
Country Analysis Framework
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
HBSP Coursepack Note
“Country Analysis: A Framework to Identify and Evaluate the National Business Environment”
(HBSP Teaching Note# 9-797-092)
1. What are the key components of the Country Analysis framework in this
teaching note?
2. How are they mapped onto the components of the more detailed framework
discussed in the PowerPoint presentation?
Country Analysis Framework Supplemental Readings
1. “Fakes and status in China”
a. What are the two primary types of motives that drive consumers in general to
buy luxury goods? What is the primary motive (incentive) for Chinese consumers
to buy luxury brands? How does this lead many of them to knowingly buy
counterfeit luxury products?
b. What externality do buyers of counterfeit luxury products impose on buyers of
genuine products?
c. How do local brands respond to the threat from fakes? How does this, in turn,
affect their marketing strategy?
d. What impact do buyers of genuine luxury products have on other consumers?
e. What is the potential overall impact on patterns of Chinese consumer spending
in urban areas? In rural areas?
2. “Small firms are a big problem for Europe’s periphery”
a. With respect to the manufacturing sector, what are the key differences between
countries in southern Europe and northern Europe?
b. What aspects of the country analysis framework explain the persistence of these
differences?
c. How do these differences affect the relative economic performance of these
countries?
d. What is the explanation for the unusual distribution of firm sizes (by number of
employees) in France?
3
e. What are some of the key barriers to small firm growth in Greece?
3. “The menace of moo-shine”
a. What are the formal constraints on selling milk in Wisconsin?
b. What business strategies do certain dairy farmers use to overcome these
constraints?
4. “Bangladesh, Cheap Production, and Worker Safety: The Cost of Externalities”
a. What is an externality?
b. How did many of the world’s largest retailers react to the deaths of over 1,100
garment workers in Bangladesh? What was Wal-Mart’s response?
c. What are the tradeoffs faced by companies like Wal-Mart and Gap in dealing
with externalities?
d. How are consumers likely to be affected by the actions taken by retailers to
address worker safety?
e. According to the author, what would be the most effective approach to address
the problem of worker safety?
5. “The Supreme Court grapples with tiny fruit”
a. What are the institutions that affect the business activity of raisin farmers?
b. What are the economic motivations underlying these institutions?
c. What specifically does the Raisin Administrative Committee do? How are raisin
farmers and customers affected?
6. “Generous to a fault: Why America’s biggest charities are owned by pharmaceutical
companies”
a. Why are some of the biggest charities in the U.S. owned by (or affiliated with)
pharmaceutical companies?
b. What incentives do pharmaceutical companies have to fund patients’ co-
payments for various non-generic drugs?
c. What is the impact of funding co-payments on consumer behavior? On health
insurance companies?
d. Why was the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigating charities
owned by (or affiliated with) pharmaceutical companies?
e. How does the U.S. tax code impact the behavior of pharmaceutical companies?
Economic Environment Analysis
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
HBSP Coursepack Readings
1. “National Income Accounting” (Note # 9-797-075)
a. Discussed in class lectures
Supplemental Readings
4
1. “9 Billion?”
a. In a bullet point or two, how would you characterize the trends in global
population growth?
b. What single factor accounts for much of the population growth in the last 50
years?
c. Which region of the world has the highest fertility rate?
d. What are the two most important determinants of fertility rate?
e. In a bullet point or two, what are the trends in life expectancy? What are their
likely economic consequences?
f. What are the consequences of demographic changes for developed countries?
for developing countries?
2. “The big freeze: Carmakers scramble to prepare for a chilly future”
a. What are the factors in the global business environment, economic and non-
economic, that are causing global car sales to slow?
b. If President Trump were to impose tariffs on imports of European cars, what is
the likely impact?
c. What are the strategic responses of various auto manufacturers to the sales
slowdown?
3. “Asahi Goes Shopping, Ignores Women”
a. What is the Asahi Group’s strategy?
b. What is the “domestic success story” that Asahi Group is ignoring?
c. According to the article, what is beer consumption is correlated with?
d. What is the article’s assessment of Asahi Group’s strategy?
4. “BRIC wall”
a. On average, why are poorer countries able to grow rapidly compared to rich
ones?
b. In general, what are the productivity differences between the manufacturing
and service sectors?
c. What are the prospects for continued rapid economic growth in China? What
are the factors that may adversely affect China’s ability to keep growing rapidly?
d. What can developing countries do to maintain continued economic growth,
even after they reach middle income status?
5. “The Big Mac index”
a. Calculations of PPP, under-, and over-valuation of currencies
b. What is the formula used to determine that the Norwegian krone was 65%
overvalued against the U.S. $? That the “Greek euro” was 27% undervalued
against the U.S. $? (Play with the numbers given and figure it out!)
6. “Enter the Frappuccino Wallahs: Starbucks Comes To India”
a. What is Starbucks’s major marketing challenge in the Indian market?
b. What was Starbucks’s entry strategy for India? Why did it choose this particular
strategy?
c. How does Starbucks’s pricing in China compare with its pricing in the U.S.?
d. How is the (Indian) Tata conglomerate hoping to benefit from Starbucks’s Indian
market entry?
e. Compare Starbucks’s sourcing strategy for coffee in India and the U.S.
f. How would Starbucks likely be positioned in the Indian market?
5
Marketing in Emerging Markets
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
HBSP Coursepack Readings
2. “Is the Bottom of the Pyramid Really for You?” (HBSP Coursepack reprint R1103J)
a. Discussed in class
3. “How I Did It…..The CEO of Heinz on Powering Growth in Emerging Markets” (HBSP
Coursepack reprint R1110A)
a. According to the CEO of Heinz, what are the four “A’s” of Heinz’s emerging
market strategies?
b. In general, what was Heinz’s strategy for entering emerging markets?
c. What are the similarities/differences between Heinz’s evaluations of
emerging markets and developed economies?
Supplemental Readings
1. “Cost-cutting in Asia: A Snip at the Price”
a. What is the key theme of the article?
b. Why are Hollywood studios keen to do deals with Indian filmmakers?
2. “Reverse Innovation 2.0”
a. What is reverse innovation?
b. Why are multinationals doing reverse innovation?
c. What was unusual about Burger King’s strategy in India?
3. “Consumer Goods in Africa”
a. What are the key challenges that multinationals such as Unilever and Nestlé face
in marketing to the middle class in Africa?
b. What are the key elements of Unilever’s strategy in Africa?
c. What additional transaction costs do multinationals face in doing business in
South Africa?
4. “Schumpeter: Emerging Market Companies are Trying to Build Global Brands”
a. What is the main incentive for emerging market companies to build brands?
b. What do emerging market companies need to do in order to become global
brands?
5. “Production lions: How manufacturing might take off in Africa”
a. What challenges do sub-Saharan African countries face in “industrializing” their
economies? What obstacles do African countries face in replicating the East
Asian path to industrialization?
b. Why are African countries transitioning slowly from agriculture to services
and/or “petty manufacturing” (instead of large-scale manufacturing)?
6
c. How are consumption behaviors changing in response to economic
development? How are these changes driving industrialization”?
d. What are the challenges for entrepreneurs trying to set up “Asian-style”
manufacturing in Ethiopia?
e. What are the major export markets for African manufacturers? Why could this
become a problem in the future?
Financial Environment Analysis
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
HBSP Coursepack
1. “Foreign Exchange Markets and Transactions” (HBSP Coursepack)
a. You are responsible for all the material (including calculations) in the first 14 pages
(see the Exercise specified in the Blackboard lecture).
Supplemental readings
1. “The Classroom Economist: Fractional Reserve Banking”
a. What key societal need or problem is solved by the existence of a well-developed
banking system?
b. What is direct finance?
c. What allows banks and other financial intermediaries to exist side by side with direct
finance?
d. What are “reserves”?
e. How does fractional reserve banking generate “money”?
f. How does the Federal Reserve manipulate money supply?
2. “Monopoly Power over Money”
a. This article was discussed in class. Please review this along with your class notes.
3. “Facts Behind the Figures: A Quick Guide to the Balance of Payments”
a. This article was discussed in class. Please review this along with your class notes.
4. “When Currencies Collapse: Two Tales from Thailand”
a. How do currency devaluations affect firms?
b. What factors explain the contrasting fortunes of Delta Electronics and Thai
Petrochemical Industries?
5. “U.S. Retailers Target-ing Avid Canadian Shoppers”
a. Why are Canadian shoppers near the U.S. border shopping in stores in the U.S.?
7
b. According to the Canadian media why do Canadians generally pay more for retail
items, compared to what Americans pay in the U.S.?
6. “Aeon Says Yen’s Climb Provides Growth Opportunity That’s too Great to Miss”
a. What changes in Japan’s financial environment explain Aeon’s change in its foreign
expansion strategy?
7. “Hong Kong’s Savers Losing Purchasing Power”
a. How does the Hong Kong Monetary Authority manage exchange rates?
b. What are the pros and cons of having a currency board?
c. How does this impact Hong Kong’s economy?
d. How is it affecting savers and retailers in Hong Kong?
Legal and Political Environment Analysis
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
HBSP Coursepack
1. “Managing Risk in an Unstable World” (HBSP Coursepack)
a. Discussed in class.
2. “Cracking the Next Growth Market: Africa” (HBSP Coursepack)
a. Discussed in class.
Supplemental Readings
1. “Vodafone Considers $2.2 Billion India Provision After Law Change”
a. Why was Vodafone considering a $2.2 billion provision in India?
2. “Energy in Argentina: Sparks in the Dark”
a. What factors in the economic and political environment led to the nationalization of
Repsol’s Argentine business?
3. “Adidas Withdraws ‘Sexual’ T-Shirts Following Brazil’s Complaint”
a. Why did the Brazilian government complain about the T-shirts sold by Adidas?
4. “China’s murky ownership rules: Who Owns What?”
a. What is the purpose of the investment vehicle VIE?
b. What are the potential risks to firms using a VIE?
5. “Google Won’t Play in China”
a. What was Google’s strategy for Google Play to enter China?
b. Why did Google leave China?
c. According to the article, what are Google Play’s prospects for doing well in the
Chinese market?
d. How will Google have to change its strategy to operate in China?
8
Cultural Environment Analysis
Class Lectures (PowerPoint Handout and Class Notes)
Supplemental Readings
1. “The Crescent and the Company”
a. According to this article, what were the reasons why the Middle East’s economic
performance lagged Europe’s since the eleventh century?
2. “Don’t Look Down: The Poor Like Taxing the Rich Less than You Would Think”
a. How do attitudes towards taxes and redistribution differ between America and other
rich countries?
b. What factors underlie these differences in attitudes? How are these attitudes
affected by the presence of a large immigrant population?
c. What factors explain within-country differences in attitudes towards taxes and
redistribution?
d. What factors explain poorer Americans’ attitudes toward taxing the rich? Why is it
paradoxical? What is “last-place aversion?”
3. “Consumer Goods: The Mystery of the Chinese Consumer”
a. What factors explain Nestle’s interest in Hsu Fu Chi?
b. What kind of market segmentation did consumer products multinationals do when
they first entered China?
c. How does the Chinese government view foreign multinationals?
d. What cultural differences do Western multinationals need to take into account in
order to successfully market consumer products in China?
e. Focus on the specific examples of successes and failures.
4. “Three Ways to Connect With China’s Profit Pathway”
a. What is guanxi?
b. What do foreign companies need to do to cultivate it?
5. “The Winter Olympics: Hot or Cool?
a. How has the Winter Olympics changed over time?
b. What factors account for these changes?
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
