International Business Expansion:

The purpose of assignment is to evaluate the potential for a new business or business expansion to a foreign country of your choice. You will evaluate business opportunities in a foreign country from the perspective of American business entry.

Steps:

Write your country choice on the group sheet (passed out in class). If the country of your first choice has been selected by another group, please go with a second choice to avoid redundancies in the presentations.

Determine an unmet need the country. Select a business concept, product brand or a company you wish to introduce.

For example you can propose the expansion Starbucks to Belgium; offer financial services in Russia, propose construction project management in the United Arab Emirates, or you can be as specific as suggesting for Starbucks to expand to Latvia Organize your research and outline your paper.

When writing the paper and preparing the presentation, keep in mind that you are presenting as a consultant to a particular industry or company. The outline below is only a suggestion as to what you paper should include:

Executive summary. State your proposal and country focus and give a brief summary of major findings. SWOT analysis Micro issues: Introduction of the concept. Reason for entering a foreign market at this time.

Evaluate conditions for your concept (include discussion of competition if any, cultural challenges, etc )

Macro analysis: Brief description of the country (geography, major industries, demographics)

- Economic system / role of government in the economy / Current political conditions

- Financial markets (foreign exchange rate, interest rate, stability and performance)

- Government policies applicable to your industry (tariffs, non tariff barriers, taxes, regulations re. foreign ownership and other FDI regulations)

- Current economic conditions (wages, income distribution, economic growth rate, unemployment rate, inflation rate etc.) -

Foreign economic policy and openness. - Attitude towards American business. Major trading partners and investors, member of a trade block? Strategy: entry mode (joint venture, franchise, FDI etc).

Promotional strategy Conclusion. Do you recommend / not recommend business expansion to the country in question based on your findings.