PPT+Report
Session 10 - Instructions
Assignments:
Team Assignment. Company Analysis
Deliverable: PPT + Written Report
1. PowerPoint Presentation:
Each team should prepare its analysis in a PowerPoint presentation of no more than 10 slides. Your PowerPoint presentation should include: Cover page, agenda slide, analysis, conclusions. The cover page and agenda slide are not part of the page count.
Please keep your PPT presentations simple; do not use animation, video, sound, or fade-ins or outs!
2. Written Report:
Along with your PowerPoint presentation, include a 10 pages (double-spaced, size 12 Times New Roman font) report of what you will actually say while each slide is displayed. Your report should include: Cover page, Executive Summary (ES), conclusion, and References, and, if required, Appendices. The cover page, ES, References, and Appendices are not part of the page count.
Team Report #2: Directions
Team Report #2 Directions
For this report your team is once again assuming the role of consultants.
The same CEO of the hypothetical multinational corporation (MNC) you advised in Team Report #1 wants to expand its operations into the country you recommended in Team Report #1.
You have already advised the CEO on how the economic, social, legal, ethical, technological and political environments of the recommended country that may impact the specific industry to which the MNE belongs.
The CEO once again needs your advice. S/he wants to know:
What specific operational, managerial, and organizational problems did companies in that industry encounter in the country recommended in your Team Report #1, industry and country analysis?
What strategies and business practices have companies in the same industry used to enter and operate successfully in that country?
Using the real MNC you have selected to study for the purpose of this Team Report #2, what can your client CEO learn from their experiences in the country you recommended?
Your Assignment
Prepare an analysis of a real multinational corporation (MNC) from the industry you chose to analyze for Team Report #1 (See Team Report #1 for industry info). The real MNC must be presently operating in the country you recommended but not based there (Refer to Team Report #1 for country info), e.g., if you selected Germany in your Team Report #1, you must choose a non-German company (such as Proctor & Gamble, a US-based MNC, or Unilever, an English-based MNC).
Your analysis should focus on the real MNC’s strategic, organizational, operational and managerial practices in the country as indicated by your research, and supported by conceptual frameworks covered in the textbook and other course materials.
Based on your research of the real MNC, provide recommendations to your client CEO of the hypothetical MNC for its expansion into the country (e.g., recommended mode of entry; strategy to avoid or overcome problems that were experienced by the actual MNC you have researched). Unlike the real MNC, the hypothetical MNC should not be operating in the country you recommended.
Your research should be based on a thorough search of the real MNC’s and its subsidiaries' websites, databases, and other sources as indicated below. The report should demonstrate your ability to collect the necessary company- and industry-specific data. Work as a team and present your findings to your client CEO of the hypothetical company in the format of a PPT and a written report that accompanies the PPT.
Deliverable: PPT & Written Report
PowerPoint Presentation Format:
Each team is to present its analysis in a PowerPoint presentation not to exceed 10 slides. The presentation should include:
Cover page
Agenda slide/issues to be addressed
Analysis
Conclusions: Lessons Learned.
The cover page and agenda slides are not part of the slide count.
Written Report Format (in Microsoft Word)
Include with your PowerPoint presentation a 10-page Word report of what you will say while each slide is displayed. Your written report is to include:
Cover page
Executive Summary (ES)
Speaker's Notes for each slide in your presentation
Conclusion
References; and, if required
Appendices.
Report should be double-spaced with one inch margins, and size 12 Times New Roman font; the Cover page, ES, References, and Appendixes are not part of the page count.
Analysis
You are assessing a real multinational corporation (MNC) by the standards of "best practice" for international management as presented in your course readings.
Describe the nature of the MNC’s international operations in general, its specific interests in the country you selected, and its strategies. Research the implementation problems that it has encountered in the country.
Indicate, to the extent that data are available, how those problems were dealt with. Identify the general management, finance, accounting, marketing and human resources practices of the MNC: How does local culture and geography impact strategy, organization, and operations?
The specific Issues/topics you choose for analysis will depend on the industry and country you selected. Choose the ones you think are the most important problems/issues the real MNC faces in the country you selected. Some possible topics/issues for analysis are listed below:
Strategy: Briefly analyze the strategy (industry, products, markets, core competencies). What types of entry modes did the MNC use in the country? Does the mode(s) fit the MNC’s goals and objectives? What is the MNC's competition in the country? Are there local partners?
Structure: Provide an organization chart showing the MNC and its overseas operations. Why do you think the MNE has chosen this organization structure?
Management: Explain any special management issues that may concern the MNC for overseas operations in the one country. What are its coordination and control systems, and how does it monitor and report issues with subsidiaries? How does the MNC manage its global supply-chain, suppliers?
Finance and accounting: Are there issues related to financial, currency and accounting practices? What are the major sources of influence on the company's accounting standards and practices? Examine financial statements: Are there any differences in terms of language, currency, type of statements (income statement, balance sheet, etc., financial-statement format, extent of footnote disclosures, and the underlying GAAP) between the MNCs reports in the USA and the country you selected?
Marketing: Assess the MNC’s marketing mix in the country, its promotional practices, pricing, branding strategies--standardized or differentiated marketing program? What are the characteristics of the MNC's customers in that country?
Human capital: Analyze the organizational culture, the composition of the top management team, its international mentality (ethnocentric vs. geocentric) and staffing approach to the extent that public data allow you to do so.
Ethics, CSR: How does the MNC’s code of conduct or ethics address risks such as bribery and corruption? Does the MNC code specifically for that one country or is the code the same for all the countries in which it operates? Does the MNC’s CSR program address local community, stakeholders' concerns, supplier relationships?
To choose a company
globalEdge - Go to http://www.globaledge.msu.edu . Scroll down to “Get globalEDGE Insights,” click on “By Industry,” click on the down-arrow to get the list of industries. Select the industry you chose for Team Report #1. Click on “Corporations” from the menu for the list of companies.
Fortune Magazine - "Fortune Global 500 List for 2015" - http://fortune.com/global500/
To research the MNC/company
globalEdge - Go to http://www.globaledge.msu.edu – for each industry listed (see note above), use the information/resource available in the drop-down menu.
http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/businessresearch.cfm - UMUC online library "Business Research: Tips and Techniques."
Click on the link "Finding Company Information"
Here are some recommended UMUC library databases for company research:
ABI/Inform Complete - Click on "Data & Reports"
Business Insights: Essentials - Enter name of company in search box
Business Source Complete - Click on "Company Information" at top
Factiva - Click on "Companies/Markets"
General Business File ASAP - "Search investment reports - By Ticker Symbol" OR click on "Company ProFiles"
Hoover's - Click on "All Categories" and from the drop-down list select "Companies" and enter the company's name.
LexisNexis Academic - click on the "Get Company Info" link towards the bottom of the page to enter a company's name or ticker symbol.
Mergent Online
Company Profiles, Standard & Poor's (S&P) NetAdvantage - available fromhttp://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/index.do or by clicking on the link for that database from the alphabetic database list at http://www.umuc.edu/library/libresources/ In the S&P NetAdvantage database, click on the "Companies" tab in the blue menu bar at the top of the page.
Executive Summaries
Discussion Topic
Here is some guidance in preparing an Executive Summary from the UMUC Effective Writing Centerhttp://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/writingresources/exec_summaries.cfm
Purpose of the Executive Summary:
1. The primary purpose of the executive summary is to convey the most important information or conclusions from a longer report or data set.
2. The senior management and executives on the distribution list for a lot of this reporting, have no time to read through the data in our reports - nor should they need to read the detail necessarily. This allows them to get the most of the analysis without having to read the whole report.
3. To communicate effectively and efficiently by allowing the reader to become familiar with the whole report with only the summary.
4. To pull ourselves out of the data and address the business needs of the report, i.e. think like the executives.
5. Executives often want answers to four questions: a. What benefit can the company expect from this finding? b. What risk does this finding expose? c. What opportunity does this finding reveal? d. How does this finding relate to the ultimate success of what is being proposed? (Iacone, 2003)
Guiding principles for an effective Executive Summary:
1. Remember your audience – they may or may not have time to read the detail, but they need the relevant details.
2. Be a thought leader – by giving them the actionable information or key decisions you show your understanding the business purpose and leadership in developing conclusions.
3. Try to keep it to 250 words or less - even for more complicated reports.
4. You need to be the filter for the information - which means you have the responsibility of carefully selecting what to include.
5. Pay attention to grammar and spelling - this is of vital importance; this may be your only contact with senior management you want to make a good impression. This should be the most polished piece of your report.
6. Be as objective as possible – let the data and research guide the final conclusions.
7. This is not the same as an academic abstract which makes no attempt to filter out only actionable information.
8. Keep the tech-speak to a minimum.
9. There is always some flexibility as to style; for example, some readers prefer the bullet-point style as the prose style of executive summary can drift into being an introduction. One the other hand, a bullet style executive summary sometimes presents a mere outline of the entire report in lieu of an executive summary. Be sure to select a style that conveys the correct intention.
Where to use an Executive Summary:
1. It should be in any cover email and in the report as well. These can be redundant, but it allows for the ES to be portable with the report.
2. At the beginning of any longer document or report. It should be easy to find.
3. Use it to help with multi-media presentations – it can help you build your power points.
