International Business Management

  

A - Assessment Overview

1. Assessment tasks

Assessment in this Unit consists of three linked assignments. Between them, they assess all components of the Unit in as realistic a manner as possible. You may do the assignments individually or as a member of a group of at most three students. We suggest that you choose the group option, and we urge you to remain in the same group for all three assignments. There is no examination in this Unit.

The assessment is based on the case of a fictitious (not real; made up for these assignments) Australian manufacturing company seeking ways to enter into a new international market – the target country. Details of the company and the country are given in section 2 below. 

(Note: The company and the target country used in these assignments change each trimester.)

Assignment 1: Expatriate Briefing

Type: Group (maximum 3 members per group) or individual 

Due date: 2359 (11:59 pm) on Friday, 8 April 2016, by online submission

Time limit: Maximum 20 minutes if group, 10 minutes if individual 

Value: 20%

Format: Video of oral briefing recorded on Camtasia or similar software in mp4 format 

Hurdle requirement: Each group member must appear as the presenter on the video for approximately his or her share of the group’s total of 20 minutes 

Assignment 2: Country Profile

Type: Group (maximum 3 members per group) or individual

Due date: 2359 (11:59 pm) on Friday, 6 May 2016 by online submission

Word limits: 3000-4000 words, definitely NO MORE (word count excludes Executive Summary, title page, table of contents, reference list and appendices)

Value: 40%

Format: Written report

Hurdle requirement: Each group member must individually submit the section they contributed to the assignment (about 1000 words)

Assignment 3: Entry Strategy

Type: Group (maximum 3 members per group) or individual 

Due date: 2359 (1:59 pm) on Friday, 3 June 2016, by online submission

Word limits: 3000-4000 words, definitely NO MORE (word count excludes Executive Summary, title page, table of contents, reference list and appendices)

Value: 40%

Format: Written report

Hurdle requirement: Each group member must individually submit the section they contributed to the assignment (about 1000 words)

2. Company and industry details

The assignments are based on a chocolate manufacturing company called Villiers Chocolates Pty Ltd. This is a fictitious company – that is, it is not a real company, but has been made up for these assignments. Villiers is a small company based in the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It is family owned, and has been operating at its present location since its establishment in 1948. It manufactures and sells chocolates of the very highest quality, modelled on the Swiss style of chocolate design and production. 

The company was established in 1948 when Pierre Auber, then 28, migrated to Australia from his home village of Villiers in Western Switzerland. Pierre had studied food production and food service in Switzerland and had served an intense apprenticeship at a leading chocolatier in Neuchatel, the nearest city to Villiers. Frustrated by the challenging economic conditions of immediate-post war Europe and the conservatism of his profession there, he emigrated to Melbourne in 1948 to seek more freedom and more opportunities.

He started his first chocolate shop in an inner Melbourne suburb and met with immediate success. His high quality, well-packaged chocolates soon found an enthusiastic market and the company’s growth began. His grandson, Robert, now owns and runs the company. 

Villiers Chocolates now operates four shops in Melbourne, one in the city centre and three in upmarket suburban centres. It also has a substantial mail-order business, sending chocolates to customers all over Australia. This is difficult in Australia (because of the heat) as chocolates must not get too hot or too cold or they discolour and loose their attractive appearance, so chilled containers and reliable express delivery are required. To service this market, the company has developed patented technology that allows it to keep its products within a controlled temperature range for 48 hours, allowing shipping to most places in Australia without any heat-related damage.

The company has had a clear, two-pronged strategy since its inception: it focuses on the premium (high-priced) section of the market and it seeks to distinguish its products from its competitors through superior quality and superior presentation of all its products. It does not compete in the mass market and its products are not sold in supermarkets or similar venues.

It has an extensive product range, with all products being made in its own premises by its own staff. Its milk and most other ingredients are sourced from quality Victorian producers, and its cocoa beans (which it imports raw and roasts itself) are sourced from environmentally-certified (UTZ Certification) growers in several countries. The products include loose chocolates, chocolate bars, boxed chocolates, special occasion chocolates (eg, significant birthdays, weddings, Easter, Christmas, etc), gluten and egg free chocolates, corporate packages, novelty chocolates, drinking chocolate and so on. The company is very happy to work with customers to meet special orders. The products are not cheap but their consistently high quality and careful and stylish packaging generate good business, much of it repeat business.

Robert Aubert has personally selected and trained all his staff and he places great emphasis on the quality of the products and their presentation. He also emphasises to his staff the importance of being open to new ideas, of ethical behaviour within the company, and of enjoying working with the company – all values that his grandfather introduced to the company in 1948. The company has modern, well-equipped kitchens that have considerable capacity for increased production.

The company last year reported a net profit of $2.3 million on sales of $11.6 million. Sales have grown at an average rate of 10.9% over the past 12 years, with a large fall in both sales and profit in 2009 (due to the Global Financial Crisis) being fully recovered by 2011. Profit has consistently been around 25% of sales for many years, and the company has no debt.

Although the company continues to do well, the competition in Melbourne – indeed, in all Australia – is very tough as there are several other specialty, quality-based, chocolate manufacturers. Robert and his experienced senior management team have been contemplating expanding to other countries, perhaps using their patented controlled-temperature shipping technology to help. In the longer term – say 10-12 years – they are particularly interested in China and Japan – China because of the size of the potential market and Japan because of the sophistication and wealth of the market. However, they know very little about either, but they do know that both are challenging and difficult markets in which other companies have failed. So, as a first step they have decided to investigate the possibility of entering the market in the Republic of Korea – South Korea. They know that South Korea is different from both China and Japan, but they think that what they can learn from 5-10 years in Korea will greatly assist them in later entering the Chinese or Japanese market.

Senior management is therefore considering South Korea as a potential new market. They need a great deal of further information to make a decision on whether or not to enter this market. The senior management team has therefore asked the Marketing Director to prepare materials to inform senior management about this market and about how Villiers could enter it. In turn, the Marketing Director has asked a group of international consultants – you – to prepare these materials. 

  

3. Your assessment tasks

Your group is the team of (or you are the individual) international business consultant/s. You have three tasks: 

1. to      prepare, deliver and record on video a presentation on some      aspect of international business in relation to South Korean business life      or an issue relating to South Korea and world trade (Assignment 1) 

1. to      prepare a country profile as a written report. Your country profile will      examine South Korea and its business environment from the point of view of      Villiers (Assignment 2) 

1. to      prepare a recommended business plan and entry strategy as a written report      (Assignment 3)

As consultants, you have discretion in advising which entry mode to choose, which strategies, structure, marketing approach and so on, for the company to take advantage of this business environment. You also have discretion on advising how much capital to allocate for entry into South Korea for Villiers.

For all three tasks you will report to the Managing Director of Villiers. 

4. Helpful Hints

Marking rubrics

Marking rubrics help you to address the criteria and will be used when marking each assignment. You should read and analyse the rubric to help you prepare your assessment tasks. A copy of the marking rubric is provided at the end of each assignment description. The rubric will be used to assess and provide feedback on your work.

Reading requirements

As a postgraduate student you are expected to read widely. You should demonstrate a sound grasp of the international business management literature and draw on a range of theoretical concepts and frameworks to inform and reinforce your discussion and analysis. A requirement of the assignments is to use a variety of good quality source information (including daily or periodic media, business databases, journal articles, professional reports and the internet). 

Use of the textbook and other academic sources will be necessary but NOT sufficient to complete the assessment adequately, as that material is dated in terms of the detail of the environmental factors and does not provide the level of detail required of the environment in the selected market. You need to put the context of your assignments into the current real world.

Hints for data collection

You will need to become familiar with the industry generally in Australia, internationally and in South Korea. Austrade is a useful reference providing details of the Australian Government assistance for international businesses as well as information about other Governmental help and overseas markets. Government websites may have information for the industry, but not always. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) publishes ‘Country Economic Briefs’ on countries including South Korea every year. The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London publishes a ‘Country Report’ and a ‘Country Profile’ on South Korea regularly. ‘Top Four’ accounting and advisory firms KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young also publish ‘Doing Business in South Korea’ reports, which can also be helpful. 

In addition, there is plenty of information available on South Korea through various local and international sources, both through the University’s databases and on the Internet. Please always check the quality of the sources used for your assignments, remembering that using information from Wikipedia or ‘no-name’ websites is not a good idea unless you can verify the information from a known or trusted website. 

Guidelines for group work

If you choose to do the assignments in a group, you may run into some issues when organising group work. These may result from different expectations and attitudes to work, other commitments that group members have, etc. The Unit Team expects that all group members will contribute equally to all assignments. 

Students can work individually or in teams within your group to collect, assemble and write up data. Each student’s sections should be collated with others, and the discussion and presentation of the data should be undertaken as a full group. Each assignment will be assessed as a complete and coherent presentation/paper.

If group members run into problems or believe that a group member is underperforming, not responding to messages, or not making an equal contribution, we suggest that you contact the Unit Chair to deal with the situation as soon as possible. Some remedies include the Unit Chair contacting and counselling the group member, or applying a reduction in marks to the underperforming group member based on their reduced contribution. It is important to contact the Unit Chair as early as possible when issues arise so as to rectify the situation as soon as possible and so that the problem does not carry on to the next assignment.

5. Support and Assistance

Writing style requirements

It is important that you understand what is required of a particular writing style to maximise your chances of academic success. For assignments 2 and 3 you are required to write a report.

This link gives help on report writing: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/academic-resources report writing

Referencing

Referencing involves acknowledging original sources of information when producing work. By referencing correctly, you not only give weight to any arguments or statements made in your work, but you also avoid plagiarism. The Harvard Style of referencing is used for MPM735/MPM935. It is very important to reference your work completely and correctly.

This link takes you to the Deakin guide to referencing: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing

Research skills

The library provides many resources to support your research. 

This link takes you to the Deakin University library: www.deakin.edu.au/library/research/index.php

Study Support

The Division of Student Life provides free one-to-one study support with a Language and Learning Adviser or a Writing Mentor. 

The following link takes you to Study Support: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support

Disclaimer 

This case is very loosely based on a real company doing real business (but not called Villiers). Some of the facts in this case have been made up to assist you with preparing your assignments. This is helpful as it will simulate what you would experience in a real life situation. We ask that you do not contact the original company (should you identify it) for further information. If you have any questions whatsoever, please direct them to the teaching staff.

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Dr Murray Frazer    Revised February 2016