Integrated Management Project (IMP)

This additional section of the Guide provides greater depth in understanding what is expected from you from the perspective of each of the three subjects that make up the IMP.

Global Business Environment (GBE) perspective Prepared by EH

From a GBE perspective, the IMP is about the review of the external environment when you undertake your organisation's strategic analysis. It relates to issues at the macro and not the industry or organisational level. Basically it amounts to an analysis of the critical factors of the environment that result from a PESTEL; it does not include other analysis such as Five Forces, competitor analysis or company valuation which are left for the other two subjects of the IMP. Since the external business environment encompasses a vast range of topics, we only expect you to refer to those which have been covered in the course materials.

As shown in the guide, the topics are:

1. macro-economic policies and measures adopted by governments at the national level; we include only those which were considered to be of more direct relevance to international business.

2. agreements and institutions at the multilateral (e.g. WTO, World Bank, IMF, UN) and at the regional level (e.g. European Union, NAFTA and ASEAN)

3. Technological changes as a driver and enabler of globalisation.

4. A range of current challenges, namely environment, culture, ethics, fair trade and sustainability. Other important subjects, such as energy or foreign aid, were not covered for lack of time in the course. The important task of GBE is in selecting the macro environmental issues which are more relevant to the analysis in question. These are likely to include all the elements of PESTEL, but some will be more critical than others. For instance in the case of an organisation in a high tech industry, technological changes will probably need to be discussed in more depth than in agriculture. In the case of the latter, government policies and multilateral/regional agreements will be more relevant. For companies that produce only in one market and export globally, protective measures adopted by governments and exchange rate considerations will loom high. Or, a company operating in the oil and gas industry will need to focus on environmental and political factors. In the case of a pharmaceutical company, a critical concern will be the intellectual property rights in a country and how these are implemented. Finally for public service companies, analysis of the likely changes in legislation and regulation will be essential.