International Business Strategy

Develop an international business strategy – Part 1

Objectives:

• Enhance global perspectives in a strategic proposal;
• Identify and analyse strategic issues (Strategic gap analysis);
• Develop awareness of ethical and social considerations for strategic issues;
• Evaluate strategic positions and strategic options;
• Evaluate information to support a case study

How the assessment fits into the subject/course:

The assessments in this subject allow students to explore, consider and evaluate current business practice and develop an international strategy for their own organisation or an organisation of their choice.

Assessment Linkages of Part 1 and 2:

Part One of the assessment allows students to develop the framework for a company’s international operation and strategic approach exploring risks, strategies and business models. This is developed further in Part Two of the assessment where students utilise the knowledge gained to develop a business model and propose a strategy to enter an international market.

Instructions:

In the Part One of the assessment, students will individually consider the economic principles deemed most important for the international business context, and will then form a group that will use these principles as part of a strategic approach for framing a business model for entry into a country of their choice.

Output/Deliverable and parameters of the assessment:

Part 1

Students will submit the results of their independent research into economic principles and events to a ranking site in order to determine which principles and events are most influential to consider in framing an international business model. Working in groups and using results from the ranking site, students will then describe the general framework for a business model and select a country into which they will propose business entry. The framework should be described in a paper of not more than 2000 words, presenting a company’s proposed operations and strategic approach. The following elements are to be addressed in the paper:

• Critically evaluate the key modern economic theories and key events in recent global economic history as they relate to international business.
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed business model and consider strategies for improvements;
• Examine how the business model would be impacted upon by global competition;
• Describe characteristics of the country to be entered, describing risks and mitigations required within the business model.

RESOURCES TO BE PROVIDED:

• An electronic library and reading guide is provided to all students including a range of etextbooks and journals available through online journal databases including EBSCO.
• Electronic links to key resources

Criteria

• Global perspectives in strategic proposal
• Identification and analysis of strategic issues (Strategic gap analysis)
• Ethical and social considerations for strategic issues
• Strategic development and vision setting
• Evaluation of strategic position and strategic options
• Evaluation of information selected to support the business model as a case study

Learning Outcomes

• Critically evaluate the key modern economic theories and key events in recent global economic history as they relate to international business.
• Develop an appropriate market entry strategy for an international business, paying attention to the key leadership, marketing and human resource management issues that arise in an international business context.
• Analyse the financial risks of common international business strategies, making recommendations for specific business contexts and circumstances.