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Major Canadian Trading Partner

Major Canadian Trading Partner

Conducting Business with a Major Canadian Trading Partner

This assignment asks you to apply the subject matters that you are exposed to in the Global Business Environment course to an international business situation. The assignment is intended to help you develop the skills needed to conduct secondary research, analyze problems, and provide coherent, persuasive and professionally presented recommendations. The assignment is targeted at dealing with a country selection challenge.

NOTE: ASSIGNMENT 2 CAN NOT BE COMPLETED UNLESS ASSIGNMENT 1 HAS BEEN COMPLETED.

YOU SHOULD TREAT THIS PAPER AS IF THE REPORT YOU ARE WRITNG IS FROM AN OUTSIDE CONSULTANT TO A SENIOR EXECUTIVE IN THE FIRM IN QUESTION.  A VERY SIMPLE TEST OF WHETHER OR NOT IT MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF SUCH A REPORT IS WHETHER OR NOT THE READER WANTS TO CONTINUE READING THE PAPER. THIS IS PRINCIPALLY A FUNCTION OF CONTENT, BUT THE DESIRE TO CONTINUE TO READ A REPORT IS ALSO INFLUENCED STRONGLY BY ITS READABILTY (E.G. PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION, FORMAT, GRAMMAR, SPELLING, WORD CHOICE, LOGICAL FLOW OF IDEAS).

Assignment

Working by yourself or with one other student, conduct research to identify a Canadian company THAT IS NOT CURRENTLY PRESENT IN AT LEAST TWO OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES (United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, Germany or Japan). You are to choose two of the countries from the above referenced list (as long as your company is not in the two you select) to be the focus of your assignment. The company should clearly be strategically positioned in the B to B “online” services sector, it should be a SME (annual revenue of up to 100 Million). These firms can be in the software service sector, they can be companies that produce goods and services off line but sell them online, or they can be firms that produce and sell their products, services online. The companies must be in the B to B space, not the B to C space.

You are expected to do independent secondary research on the company, and the industry/business environment that the company is specifically associated with, in order to support/defend your analysis.

You are to do a review of two of the countries, based on the PEST (EL) analytical model. The ultimate objective is to select the best country for consideration of market entry for your firm, given the current realities of the countries in question, the industry your firm is targeting in the countries in question, and the specific characteristics of the firm in question. IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOUR PEST(EL) ANALYSIS WILL LOOK AT THE TWO COUNTRIES THROUGH THE LENS OF THE “INDUSTRY” IN THOSE COUNTRIES THAT YOUR FIRM IS ASSOCIATED WITH, KEEPING IN MIND THE STRATEGIC INTERESTS OF YOUR FIRM.

Please note that the Library has prepared a research guide specifically addressing this assignment. Use it!

Your final “PROFESSIONAL” deliverable for assignment #1 will be a report that includes the following:

  1. Cover Page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. An executive summary of the paper (maximum half a page).
  4. A PEST (EL) of the two countries in question that leads to a credible and defensible rationale for country selection, evidencing a good knowledge of the company in question, the industry it is in, and the countries in question.
  5. This analysis should naturally lead you to the selection of decision criteria (next section) that will allow you to make a recommendation amongst the countries under consideration. The decision criteria must be reasonable and credible in the context of the company and industry in question.
  6. Your recommendation will be supported by a decision matrix (See Appendix A for a discussion of how a decision matrix should be introduced and discussed).
  7. Clear recommendation with a well-argued summary rationale as to why the company should proceed to consider market entry with one of the countries, as opposed to the other not selected.
  8. Your final report is to be written in the 3rd It will be judged on the factual information it contains, the clarity of your arguments (see Appendix B) for more clarity on the “flow” of argumentation expected, the incorporation of key concepts from the course in your narrative, the depth of your analysis and the professionalism expected of a formal memo prepared by an outside consultant to the firm in question.   In this regard a discussion of the history of the company is redundant, as it is assumed that the company executive knows far more about the company than the external consultant.

Formatting for the Assignment

  • Each paper is to be between 7 and 10 pages (maximum of 10) (12 pt. font, 2.54 cm margins) plus title page, table of contents, references, endnotes, and appendices. If the report is longer than ten pages, only the first ten pages will be read and graded.
  • The title page must contain all the names of your group, your respective student numbers, and the name of your company.
  • A table of contents will be included, that is linked to the “Heading” titles in your paper.
  • Do not forget to number the pages in your report.
  • The report is to be in a narrative format, NOT a bullet point format.
  • In preparing your final submission you must abide by Sheridan policies and procedures governing academic integrity.
  • “Turn it in” will be used and any score of more than 20%, will result in a discussion with the Professor.
  • Be sure to use APA style referencing whenever you incorporate ideas and content that are not your own. In text citation is expected.
  • Relevant figures and tables are to be included as appendices, with one exception (see below). References and appendices are not included when determining whether your submission exceeds the maximum page length.
  • The exception for inclusion of a table in the body of the report is that the decision matrix table is to be included in the main body of the report.

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