Overview
Legal situations arise frequently in everyday business practice, but the assessment of the key issues is not always clear. A working understanding of essential business law concepts is critical for the successful navigation of complex and diverse business environments. Successfully addressing real-world situations will sharpen your skills in spotting issues, identifying vulnerabilities that you may face as a member of the corporate world, and becoming more sensitive to legal dilemmas that commonly arise in business.
Legal situations arise frequently in everyday business practice, but the assessment of the key issues is not always clear. A working understanding of essential business law concepts is critical for the successful navigation of complex and diverse business environments. Successfully addressing real-world situations will sharpen your skills in spotting issues, identifying vulnerabilities that you may face as a member of the corporate world, and becoming more sensitive to legal dilemmas that commonly arise in business.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
• Assess the impact of business law on organizational decision making for informing strategic legal decisions
• Analyze pertinent facts of business client cases by effectively employing foundational law principles
• Select key legislation and legal precedents that impact client cases for informing legal decisions
• Assess the impact of public perception on companies in legal situations for informing business practices
• Assess the legal and ethical implications of United States companies doing business abroad for informing business decisions that are compliant with applicable domestic laws
Scenario
You are working for a major U.S. corporation that wants to expand its reach globally and has narrowed the search to either Mexico or Japan. Your supervisor has asked you to prepare a memo that analyzes potential compliance issues with respect to aspects of law and ethics that are specific to one of the two countries. You will choose to prepare your memo for either Mexico or Japan and address the critical elements below. This will help inform the final executive decision.
Because you have some fluency with domestic laws, and given your background and history with the corporation, you have been asked to assess the pros and cons of the decision, and to provide your insights with respect to the ethical and legal implications of the expansion.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. What pertinent aspects of U.S. law should the company be aware of in its goal to do business internationally?
II. Assess the legal implications of moving business abroad specific to your chosen country. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
III. What are the ethical implications involved in this business decision?
IV. Explain how other domestic companies have managed to comply with the U.S. laws related to this business decision in the past. How did these companies address potential compliance issues?
Guidelines for Submission: Your professional business memorandum should adhere to the following formatting requirements: 5 pages (not including title and reference pages), double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. You should use current APA style guidelines for your citations and reference list. Generally speaking, the best memos include references to at least two cases for each point of law that is mentioned. Students also earn high marks when they cite cases that appear to support a different legal resolution than the one presented by the student, and then distinguishing that case from the scenario described in this assignment. Such distinctions demonstrate exemplary understanding of the course materials.