perform an international business analysis on an mnc chosen from appendix 1 as attached

Guide for

International Business Essay:

Internationalisation of Business

Prepared by Associate Professor Natt Pimpa & IB Team

Semester 1/2017

Objectives:

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are among the key players in the global economy. Their emergence from a wide range of diversified national production systems results from the globalisation process and the proliferation of different forms of competition.

In recent decades, MNCs have started to operate in emerging and frontier markets. There are also disruptive technologies that promote the growth of MNCs from all countries around the world. It is, therefore, important for us to be able to comprehend the nature of internationalisation process of business.

In this task, you are asked to perform an international business analysis. In doing so, you will need to understand some international business theories from this course. This assignment will help you to be able to ‘learn’ and ‘apply’ key international business theories from the course to ‘real-life’ multinational corporations (MNCs).

- Type: Individual

- Value: 50% (length: up to 2,500 words)

- Due: TBA

Structure of your Essay:

The key question for this essay is:

“What are the key challenges for an MNC in the international business arena?

Step 1:

You need to select a multinational corporation from appendix 1. All companies from the list are ranked among top MNCs from various industries.

Step 2:

Select one country where your company has invested in (in any foreign direct investment forms). Then, you need to will need to answer the following questions in your essay.

Part 1: Analysis of your Multinational Corporation (MNC)

In this section you will need to present and analyse key data supporting the status of your company as a multinational corporation.

Question 1: Please explain your company’s profile as an MNC.

Question 2: Please use one theory related to ‘globalisation of business’ to analyse the status of your company.

Part 2: Host Country Analysis

You will need to focus on ONE factor from the host country that influences the internationalisation process of the firm. As we focus on politicaleconomy and socio-cultural factors in the first part of this course, we recommend you to answer the following questions in this section:

Question 3: What are the key country/regional factors affecting your firm’s choice of country? Why?

Question 4: Please use one theory from the course to support your argument(s). The application of some theories from this course such as Uppsala internationalisation theory, Eclectic paradigm, and Porter’s diamond theory can also be useful at this point.

Part 3: Foreign Entry Strategies: In this section you will need to answer these questions:

Question 5: What is entry strategy performed by the company? Please use academic resources (i.e. journal articles) to explain the concept of the company’s entry strategy and its benefits/pitfalls. Please identify some constraints of the selected entry strategy. It is important that you combined points from academic sources (i.e. academic journal articles) and information from the company to analyse potential constraints of the entry.

Part 4: MNC and its Impacts

Question 6: What are the key international business challenges for your company?

Question 7: From the UN Global Compact Principles/Sustainable Development Goals, which area(s) that your MNC will need to focus in their current and future business? Why?

Tips

1. The core of this assignment is to assess your level of mastery of the subject matters and your analytical skills in relation to foreign market entry strategies. It is important that you can integrate key international business theories from the course to your analysis of an MNC in this assignment.

2. Do not perform PESTEL/SWOT/ five forces analysis in this essay.

3. This is an international business essay. Please avoid marketing and general management points/analyses in this essay.

4. You can use primary data from corporate’s social media channels such as twitter, facebook, or Instagram to analyse its position in the current international business climate.

Other requirements

- A minimum of six (6) academic journal articles must be read and cited.

- The assignment must be well-structured and well-presented.

- The clarity of expressions together with the appropriate use of grammar, spelling and punctuations are important to maintain.

- Any use of comments, information, data or quotations from others (books, journals, newspapers, web etc.) must be cited using Harvard referencing style.

- The 12 point font in Times New Roman should be used throughout. Appropriate spacing (1.5 lines) and margins on all sides (at least 2 cm) need to be maintained.

- Number each page.

Essential Information

• This is an individual assignment (50%)

• Length of this essay should be between 2,000-2,500 words (including country analysis).

• Theories from the course (BUSM1227 International business) MUST be incorporated in your analysis

• Marking criteria is available from the learning hub.

• We focus on the quality of reference. Make sure you combine both academic and industrial or trade information. Please use, at least, six academic journal articles to form your arguments.

• The clarity of expressions together with the appropriate use of grammar, spelling and punctuations are important to maintain.

• Any use of comments, information, data or quotations from others (books, journals, newspapers, web etc.) must be cited properly.

• The 12 point font in Times New Roman should be used throughout. Appropriate spacing (1.5 lines) and margins on all sides (at least 2 cm) need to be maintained.

• Number each page.

• This link will be useful for your writing, referencing and academic style presentation https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/writing-skills

Appendix 1: Company List and its country of origin

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