TOPIC: Prospects and Challenges of Free Trade Agreements

You have been appointed as an International Business consultant to investigate potential international business opportunities which can arise out of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which Australia has signed with China, Japan and South Korea in recent years.

You can explore a number of options including:

• Potential export, import and investment opportunities for Australian businesses in these three countries.
• Potential export, import and investment opportunities for Japanese, S Korean and Chinese businesses to Australia.

For your assignment you are required to submit a written report which undertakes a comprehensive assessment of:

• Relevant elements of the specific FTA which you are considering. How does the FTA open up new opportunities in the country and sector/industry under consideration.

• Detail analysis of the business environment of the location which the firm is likely to face. Your report should consider the economic, social, political, environmental, legal and technological environments in the location which you have chosen. You should also include any other factors which you believe are critical to consider particularly how these are likely to change under the FTA and their implications.

• Discussion of how the industry/sector/business is likely to benefit under the FTA.

• Recommendations of the implications of the particular FTA and the challenges facing the sector/industry/business etc.

The project consists of two stages:

(A) Initial Research Proposal:

The main purpose of the research proposal is to engage you in deciding on the topic, ensure that the topic is feasible and that you have a plan for executing your research. For your research project, you need to choose an industry and country for you to focus on and identify an international business issue / problem currently facing the industry/country. This can be a manufacturing business or a service provider wanting to expand overseas through foreign investment, exports, import etc. Plenty of ideas are available from international business news papers (e.g financial times) magazines (e.g the Economist) and trade journals.

Your proposal serves as the initial stage in executing your research. The research proposal is to ensure that:

• you have a viable and feasible topic for you to research
• you have given plenty of thoughts to the topic
• you have done some preliminary scoping of the resources which you will require for your project, including the availability of research material and statistical data
• you have a workable plan to execute the project on time.

The research proposal must address the following:

• Project Title: Come up with a meaningful title which captures the problem which you are investigating

(b) Introduction and background:

(1) Briefly describe the business/industry which you are investigating and state why this topic is relevant within the context of the FTA. You need to introduce the topic to the reader in such a way that the reader has an appreciation of the issues at hand and why you are investigating these issues. The relevance of the FTA and its implications are central to this project.

(2) objectives of research (100 words).

Clearly outline the problem which you are investigating - this is what is known as the ‘research problem'. Once you identify the main issue(s), you will be able to articulate the main research problem which you want your research report will focus on. For example, A topic such as ‘Live cattle export to Japan" is very broad and generic. You will need to tell the reader what precisely your report will be focusing on in the context of the FTA.

Ideally you should identify 2-3 main objectives which the report aims to fulfil in point form.

(c) Provide a list of resources which you have identified and which will assist you to execute your research. The research resources could include books, government reports, statistical sources such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank, OECD, IMF and WTO etc, journal articles, and material provided in class.