Assignment: Report Plan Stage one

Maximum length 6 pages (1.5 line spacing with 12 point Times Roman font) including all diagrams, tables and references.

Topic/s : Report Planning : A major international business enterprise. This stage of project requires you to select a major international business enterprise and examine its experience in the light of the concepts and theories introduced in this unit so far. These chapters cover foundation concepts and selected aspects of the environment of international business studies.

Details: The Task is to create a Report Plan as a way of building your research skills by adopting a systematic approach to the task. This involves library and electronic database searching, description and evaluation of a range of sources, brief summaries of materials, analysis of the significance of data sources and steps that will help you clarify and define the main issues relevant to the company that you select.
This exercise will allow you to use your research sources to develop a viable plan for research for the Project Report. (The skills learnt here should be transferable to all other units you study)

You MUST NOT write an essay for this stage of the assignment; brief notes are appropriate .You need to develop your research skills so that you can construct a research plan and creates notes that explain how the material in the listed chapters can be used to understand the experience of and challenges facing your selected company.

Following these steps should help you complete Assignment One. Listed here as A-F for your convenience

A. Identify a major international business enterprise

Use the library database to be sure that you will be able to access and understand the materials you require for the project. You will need to consider several companies before making a final choice. A crucial consideration in your choice will be the extent to which the company chosen allows you to explore its experience using the concepts of this unit.

-Explain why you have chosen this company? Some factors that might influence your choice are;

-A firm's role in the global pattern of trade

-Comparative and competitive advantage as they apply to the firm

-Does it activity represent some aspect New Trade Theory? If so examine the implications Of such theory for its pattern of international business

-Theories of Foreign Direct Investment and the Eclectic Paradigm

-Does the firm represent an example of the Stages Models of internationalization?

-Its organizational form

-Effects of and implication of culture, legal and economic systems in the country in which the firm operates.

-And other concepts or ideas from the relevant chapters of the Hill text.

Once you have settled on a company you should list the main issues that are pertinent to this company and offer examples to illustrate. The emphasis that you give to international business concepts will be depending upon the relevance of each to the company that you have chosen. You need to use your judgment here and that judgment needs to be informed by careful reading of the texted and selected journal articles.

B. Search library catalogues

Consult a range of catalogues. Data bases such as those for journals and companies (e.g. Global Mint).These will content books and articles relevant to your chosen company and the generic international business issues that confront that company.

C. Use quality items published on the internet:

Find some sources that meet these criteria

-It is authoritative

-The site is clear about its own sources and reliability

-It is up to date and provide material that most likely not been published in other formats (e.g. refereed journal)

D. Statistics and secondary data used to illustrate your argument.

Look for suitable statistics and data to include in your report. Show the reader a few examples of the type of evidence you will use in your Report. Cite the sources and availability of the data (probably after every 100 words), and show how you might compile and display it. A summary table you have constructed or a diagram that richly illustrates main points in your research would be ideal.

E. Progress so far - time to pause and reflect.

Reflect and carefully evaluate your progress. Form a thesis or main line of argument for your Project .Check that you have used the theory of the early part of the unit to examine key issues confronting your company.

F. Plan for the Project Report

Now as the final step for this Assignment One, construct a plan with section headings, sub-headings, bullet points or phrases and short paragraphs that related your development of the Report and your line of argument up to this point. It needs to be more than a list of points; the reader should be able to discern clearly your line of argument from your plan.

An assessment evaluation sheet will be provided on the model site, read it for guidance on the presentation of your work. Check you have covered all the points in this sheet before you hand in your assignment.

Take care to use correct citation methods: use Harvard Author/Date (check the UC library site for full information on these method.