Assignment: Mexico - US Trade Partner

Executive Summary

This should be a about a 2 page summary assessment of:

• The country's economic political situation and risks (if any)

• The country's current economic situation, opportunities, challenges and risks

• Whether the country represents a good opportunity for your products and/or services. And, do you recommend entering or not entering the country and market with your products and/or services?

1. Political environment analysis:

• Political system and structure
• Stability of government
• Future political risks, if any
• Bribery and corruption risk/index

2 Economic and business environment analysis:

• Demographics: Population, growth rate, distribution of population (age groups), rural vs. urban, cities vs. villages
• Per capita income levels, wealth distribution
• Major exports and trading partners
• Business environment: Government attitude to foreign investment and trends, ease of doing business, trade regulations
• Inflation levels, currency exchange rate; risks of devaluation versus the dollar
• Education and literacy levels, availability of skilled labor, labor costs
• Membership in regional economic and trading blocks
• Legal system: Protection of intellectual property rights, enforcement of contracts

3 Industry - Market Opportunity Analysis for your products and/or services:

Identify a new product(s) and/or service(s) opportunities according to the Beacon Council South Florida Target Industries-Products/Services to do business Import-Export with this country that your Company International Doing Business in LATAM Executive team believes will succeed in that country and recommends for market entry. (You cannot pick an existing brand in that country). Why does the country represent a good industry - market opportunity for your product and/or service? Rationale.

• Industry Analysis
• Market Analysis
• Market prospects
• Current product usage habits
• Competitive products on the market in that country
• Retail distribution channels
• Major advertising media used in the country
• Total size of the market and market potential for your product
• Target market and demographics for your product

4 Cultural dimensions of doing business in the country

This section should be developed with a set of key guidelines for success when doing business in this country - how some of the cultural habits and differences are likely to impact doing business and the marketing and distribution of your product and/or service in that country, as well as marketing challenges.

• Major religions, ethnic makeup and languages

• Major sports, recreation

• Major differences in beliefs, values, customs and behaviors, role of family

• Unique business customs, etiquette and practices one should be aware of when doing business in that country (time and decision-making, meetings, negotiations, business relationships, dress code, status, gift-giving, etc.)

• Unique aspects of written, oral and non-verbal communications

• Describe the country's culture using Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Power distance - hierarchy, Individualism/collectivism, Masculine/feminine, Uncertainty avoidance, Time)

. 5 Market Entry strategies:

• Suggest the most suitable market entry mode, e.g. exporting, licensing, franchising, joint venture, wholly-¬-owned subsidiary, etc. Explain rationale.

• Provide at least 2 recent examples/case studies of market entry strategies of other multinationals in that country that have succeeded or failed.

6. Summary:

• Most interesting or fun facts about the country
• Key challenges, risks, threats of doing business in the country

7. Bibliography/References:

This section will be a listing of all your research - your sources of information for this Country - Industry - Market - Product/Service Import-Export Research and Business Plan Report with at least 10 diverse sources, including relevant research using some of the business newspapers, magazines, and online databases from the FIU Library.