Assignment

Individual nations may have both written and unwritten policies regarding the regulation of investment in the country by foreign businesses. A foreign investor, first of all, must show that its proposed investment meets the criteria of the host state's foreign investment law. That does not, however, end the process of qualifying to make a foreign investment in some countries. Some countries also require that the foreign investor comply with the unstated rules, typically referred to as the operational investment code of the government authority that regulates investment in that nation.

Akosua and Isabella have developed a strategic business plan for Pharma Heal Corporation to locate production facilities; distribution networks; and delivery assistance for the manufacture, distribution, and delivery of generic HIV treatment drugs in five countries:

• Mexico
• India
• Thailand
• Albania
• Zimbabwe

Before moving forward with the play, they have asked you, their expert business consulting team, to advise them on the regulatory climate for foreign investment in each of these countries. Akosua and Isabella intend to use your consulting team's material at a board of directors' meeting. They have therefore asked your team to prepare a script that does the following:

• Describe a foreign investment regulation in each of those countries.

• Evaluate whether each country's regulatory approach poses any particular challenges for Pharma Heal Corporation's business plan in that country.

• Propose a specific action plan for addressing each challenge so that Pharma Heal Corporation's investment can go forward in an environment where the risks posed by the particular challenges have been minimized.

Choose five from the following list of topics to address in your discussion of each country's regulation of foreign investment and the effect on Pharma Heal Corporation's business plan. Your team may elect to choose different combinations of five topics among the five countries your team is evaluating. The same five topics need not be evaluated for each country:

• Openness to foreign investment
• Conversion and transfer policies
• Expropriation and compensation
• Dispute settlement
• Performance requirements and incentives
• Right to private ownership and establishment
• Protection of property rights
• Transparency of regulatory system
• Foreign trade zones/free ports

Akosua and Isabella have requested that you support the script with at least 10 PowerPoint slides (2 per host nation).

Your team will be graded on the quality of your script notes and PowerPoint presentation.