Case 1

For this assignment you will looking at two completely different companies that sell completely different types of products. However, both companies have strong international potential. As you read about in the background materials, different types of products lead to different types of strategies regarding standardization or adaptation and whether you decide to become a global, multi-domestic, or transnational corporation.

The first business you will look at is Roy Choi's restaurant empire. Choi started out with a single food truck in Los Angeles, but soon gained celebrity status as one of the country's most famous chefs and the inspiration for the recent movie Chef. Food trucks soon became huge craze in Los Angeles, and Choi has since gone on to open up multiple additional restaurants and even has plans for a fast food chain. His fame and multi-ethnic cuisine gives him large potential if he ever decides to take his business overseas.

The second business to look at is Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone company that is starting to expand internationally. The smartphone business is a notoriously tough market with dominant competitors such as Apple and Samsung. Xiaomi has gained market share in China and is starting to expand into some neighboring countries. Given the high price of smartphones from Apple and Samsung, there may be room for a lower priced competitor in the global smartphone market.

Do a careful review of the concept of standardization and adaption in Herbig (1998) and Chapter 18.3 of Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and the concepts of multi-domestic, global, and transnational strategies in Chapter 14.3 of Carpenter and Dunung (2012). Then do some research on Roy Choi and Xiaomi in the Trident library or other sources. Here are some articles to get you started:

Walker, T. (2013, Dec 14). Keep on trucking. The Independent [Proquest]

Frausto, M. (2014, Sep 10). Choi's eyes bigger than his stomach? Orange County Register [Proquest]

Larson, C. (2014, Dec). Xiaomi's resolution: Double its smartphone sales volume in 2014. Business Week [Proquest and Businessweek.com]

Mozur, P. (2013, Oct 08). How upstart Xiaomi rattled China's smartphone race. Wall Street Journal[Proquest]

Once you have finished your research, write a four to five page paper answering the following questions:

1. What kind of strategy would you recommend if Roy Choi decided to expand his food truck or restaurant business internationally? Would you recommend product standardization or localization? Which overall strategy would you recommend - transnational, multi-domestic, or global? Explain your reasoning and apply the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Herbig (1998).

2. What kind of strategy would you recommend for Xiaomi's international expansion? Would you recommend product standardization or localization? Which overall strategy would you recommend - transnational, multi-domestic, or global? Explain your reasoning and apply the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Herbig (1998).

Assignment Expectations
- Answer the assignment questions directly.
- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing background materials.
- Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you find articles on the Internet, make sure they are from a credible source.

- Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the "Writing Style Guide," which is found under "My Resources" in the TLC Portal.

Case 2

Zipcar is a highly successful new company specializing in a brand new model for automobile rental services, which allows their customers long-term and flexible access to shared vehicles on a daily or hourly basis. Zipcar's innovative model allows those who sign up for their membership services to share cars with other members on a flexible basis, creating a cost effective alternative to car ownership. Since its founding in 2000, it has grown to become a major player in the U.S. automobile rental market and has expanded internationally to Canada, the U.K., Spain, and Austria and offers rental services to almost one million customers.

Before writing your paper, make sure to carefully review the concepts of target markets and market selection from de Kluyver (2012) as well as the discussion of advantages and disadvantages of different foreign entry mode decisions in Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Rajagopal (2009). Once you have finished reviewing the basic concepts of this module, read the following two articles and do some of your own additional research on Zipcar:

Zipcar expands in Sacramento becoming 26th major metro market: Based on strong demand, Zipcar increases number of vehicles, will open office (Nov. 6, 2013) PR Newswire [Proquest]

Esswein, P. M. (July, 2011). Zipcar: Robin Chase. Kiplinger's Personal Finance, 65, 1 [Proquest]

Zipcar, Inc.; Zipcar acquires leading car sharing service in Austria. CarSharing.at. (July 25, 2012).Mergers & Acquisitions Week, 196. [Proquest]
Now suppose you have been hired by Zipcar to come up with an international strategic plan. Write a four to five page strategic plan for Zipcar that addresses the following issues:

1. What country or countries should Zipcar enter next beyond the five countries they already operate in? Explain your reasoning for this selection based on criteria from the background materials including de Kluyver (2012).

2. What mode of entry should Zipcar use to enter this country or countries that you chose? For example, should they use a joint venture, franchising, a greenfield strategy, etc.? Refer to the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Rajagopal (2009) in your answer.

Assignment Expectations

- Answer the assignment questions directly.
- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing background materials.

- Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you find articles on the Internet, make sure they are from a credible source.

- Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the "Writing Style Guide," which is found under "My Resources" in the TLC Portal.

SLP

For this assignment you will looking at two completely different companies that sell completely different types of products. However, both companies have strong international potential. As you read about in the background materials, different types of products lead to different types of strategies regarding standardization or adaptation and whether you decide to become a global, multi-domestic, or transnational corporation.

The first business you will look at is Roy Choi's restaurant empire. Choi started out with a single food truck in Los Angeles, but soon gained celebrity status as one of the country's most famous chefs and the inspiration for the recent movie Chef. Food trucks soon became huge craze in Los Angeles, and Choi has since gone on to open up multiple additional restaurants and even has plans for a fast food chain. His fame and multi-ethnic cuisine gives him large potential if he ever decides to take his business overseas.

The second business to look at is Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone company that is starting to expand internationally. The smartphone business is a notoriously tough market with dominant competitors such as Apple and Samsung. Xiaomi has gained market share in China and is starting to expand into some neighboring countries. Given the high price of smartphones from Apple and Samsung, there may be room for a lower priced competitor in the global smartphone market.

Do a careful review of the concept of standardization and adaption in Herbig (1998) and Chapter 18.3 of Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and the concepts of multi-domestic, global, and transnational strategies in Chapter 14.3 of Carpenter and Dunung (2012). Then do some research on Roy Choi and Xiaomi in the Trident library or other sources. Here are some articles to get you started:

Walker, T. (2013, Dec 14). Keep on trucking. The Independent [Proquest]

Frausto, M. (2014, Sep 10). Choi's eyes bigger than his stomach? Orange County Register [Proquest]

Larson, C. (2014, Dec). Xiaomi's resolution: Double its smartphone sales volume in 2014. Business Week [Proquest and Businessweek.com]

Mozur, P. (2013, Oct 08). How upstart Xiaomi rattled China's smartphone race. Wall Street Journal[Proquest]

Once you have finished your research, write a four to five page paper answering the following questions:

1. What kind of strategy would you recommend if Roy Choi decided to expand his food truck or restaurant business internationally? Would you recommend product standardization or localization? Which overall strategy would you recommend - transnational, multi-domestic, or global? Explain your reasoning and apply the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Herbig (1998).

2. What kind of strategy would you recommend for Xiaomi's international expansion? Would you recommend product standardization or localization? Which overall strategy would you recommend - transnational, multi-domestic, or global? Explain your reasoning and apply the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Herbig (1998).

Assignment Expectations

- Answer the assignment questions directly.

- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing background materials.

- Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you find articles on the Internet, make sure they are from a credible source.

- Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the "Writing Style Guide," which is found under "My Resources" in the TLC Portal.