Graded Homework

INT
113 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

The final project for this course is the creation of a
country analysis PowerPoint presentation that will answer the following prompt:
What country-specific information is important in the consideration of market
entry? How do cultural differences impact business communication and
decisions?

Your assessment for this course will require you to place
yourself in the role of an international business professional. Imagine you
work for an organization that has decided it wants to enter a foreign market,
but has not settled on the region or country. Your boss has received the
directive to research some countries for market entry and, in turn, has asked you
to select a country and perform a country analysis for market entry. Your boss
expects you to present your research and general recommendations for market
entry.

Keeping this scenario in mind, select a country other than
the United States for your research. When selecting a country, consider the
following:

•
What countries have you visited?

•
What countries would you like to visit?

•
Does your company maintain a presence in another
country?

•
What is your heritage?

Once you have selected your country, you will begin your
research on the relevant forces—including cultural, political, and
economic—that could impact business operations and decisions. You will then
determine your final recommendations, communicating all in a PowerPoint
presentation. The research will be communicated in presentation format, giving
you the opportunity to practice business communication skills.

Checkpoint submissions will be posted within Modules Three and Six, which will allow
the opportunity for you to upload your project-in-progress for a participation
score. You should follow the Final Project Guide and use research incorporated
into the weekly discussions to complete the checkpoints. Project elements will
be covered in the weekly discussions to scaffold learning and ensure quality
final submissions. Your comprehensive final PowerPoint presentation will be
submitted in Module Seven.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the
following course outcomes:

•
Apply macroenvironment business research to an
analysis of international market conditions

•
Analyze the dimensions of culture as they apply
to and inform market analyses and business communication

•
Examine market entry strategies and
multinational business practices applicable to global organizations in
preparation for market entry

•
Articulate the impact of forces of global trade
for informing international business opportunities and determining risks

Your country analysis should answer the following prompt:
What country-specific information is important in the consideration of market
entry? How do cultural differences impact business communication and
decisions?

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed in consideration of your
country of choice:

I.
Introduction and
Country Choice

A.
Rationale:
Select your country and share why you chose your specific country for further
analysis.

B.
Location: In
what region is your country located? Is the country landlocked or does it have
water access? Describe the geography of the region and include a map for visual
impact.

II.
Macroenvironment:
Address the following with respect to your chosen country.

A.
Sociocultural
Environment

i.
Country
Composition: What are elements of country composition that impact business
decisions? Consider literacy rates, urbanization rates, heavily populated
cities, age structure, major religions, and educational data.

ii.
Values and
Communication: How do cultural values shape communication and behaviors?
Highlight cultural norms that align with Hofstede’s and/or Trompenaars’s
cultural dimension models. Outline major languages and nonverbal communication.
For example, you could include nonverbal cues, physical contact, and body language.iii. Business Etiquette: What are some
behaviors in business that are driven by culture? Highlight five rules of
business etiquette that are pertinent in the region. For example, consider gift
giving and greetings.

iv. Observation
Deck: In what ways do sociocultural elements apply to business practices
and market entry? For example, highlight cultural issues that impact marketing
or consider the following areas: employment, consumer demand, managerial
approach, and business etiquette.

B.
Political–Legal
Environment

i.
Government and
Ideologies: Who is the ruling political party and leader? Has there been a
recent change in ruling parties? Does a large opposition group exist?

ii.
Corruption:
How do unethical practices impact business? Explain how data regarding bribe
index, corruption perception index, and other transparency ratings show risks
in the market.

iii.
Trade
Regulations and Legal Considerations: What are four measures of government
influence on trade and employment? Consider sanctions, tariffs, labeling
requirements, restricted items, or other barriers to trade, minimum wage rates,
employment-discrimination laws, or environmental regulations.

iv.
Observation
Deck:How would a company apply political and legal information to
market-entry decisions and business practices? Make an observation regarding
political and legal risks or opportunities. For example, consider safety risks,
additional costs, industry barriers, high corruption rates, risky ideologies,
and so on.

C.
Economic-Infrastructural
Environment

i.
Economic
Measures: What are some economic measures and development data that impact
business? Include data on interest rates, unemployment, inflation, GDP growth
rate, exchange rates against the USD, exchange rate regime, GDP, labor force,
major industries, and FDI rates.

ii.
Trade:
Describe the important aspects of trade in your country of choice.
Specifically, answer the following questions:

a.Trade partners: Who are the most
significant trading partners? What percentage of trade do they fulfill? b.Imports: What are major imports to the
region?

c. Exports:
What are major exports to the region?

d. Trade
agreements: What are some important regional trade agreements (RTA) impacting
the country? Who are the members of the agreement?

iii.
Transportation
and Telecommunication: How does infrastructure impact trade? Identify major
airports, seaports, railway stations, internet users, mobile providers, and the
Logistics Performance Index rating.

iv.
Observation
Deck: What economic and infrastructural elements apply to multinational
business practices and market entry? For example, consider ease of
distribution, economic growth, and telecommunication barriers.

III.
Final
Recommendations

A.
Market Entry
Strategies: Based on the research findings and your knowledge of market
entry strategies gained in this course, which market entry strategy is most
attractive? Considering the risks, should the company enter this market?

B.
Cultural
Awareness: What specific cultural considerations should be addressed if the
company were to enter this market?

Checkpoint
Submission One

In Module Three,you
will submit your project-in-progress. Use the work completed in Modules One
through Three discussions and transfer your work into the

Presentation Template document.This will cover the following critical
elements of the final project: Rationale, Location, Country Composition, Values
and Communication, Business Etiquette, Sociocultural Environment Observation
Deck, Government Ideologies, and Corruption. This checkpoint submission is for participation credit only.

Checkpoint
Submission Two

In Module Six,you
will submityour
project-in-progress. Use the work completed in Modules Four and Five
discussions and transfer your work into the Presentation Template document.
This will cover the following critical elements of the final project: Trade
Regulations and Legal Considerations, Political-Legal Environment Observation
Deck, Economic Measures, Transportation, and Telecommunication. This checkpoint submission is for
participation credit only.

Final Submission: Country
Analysis Presentation

In Module Seven,you
will submit your country analysis PowerPoint presentation. It will include
cultural, political, and economic research that may impact business operations
and decisions. You will determine your final recommendations, communicating all
in your PowerPoint presentation. The research will be communicated in
presentation format, giving you the opportunity to practice business
communication skills. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all
of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the
incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. Your final submission will be graded using the Final Project Rubric.

Guidelines for
Submission: Your PowerPoint presentation should be approximately 11 to 15
slides—not including the title slide and reference slide—with all references in
the most recently published APA format.

Instructor Feedback:
This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view
instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, reviewthese instructions.

Critical Elements	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Introduction: Rationale	Meets “Proficient” criteria and rationale is exceptionally well detailed or includes examples to emphasize rationale	Provides detailed rationale for country choice	Rationale is present but is unclear and/or includes few details	Does not provide rationale for country choice	3.04
Introduction: Location	Meets “Proficient” criteria and is exceptionally detailed or informative	Accurately illustrates the location and geography of the chosen country with a map for visual impact	Illustrates the location and geography of the selected country with a map but with gaps in accuracy	Does not illustrate the location and geography of the selected country with a map	4.6
Sociocultural Environment: Country Composition	Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes substantive details to illustrate country composition	Accurately identifies elements of country composition, including literacy rates, urbanization rates, heavily populated cities, age structure, major religions, and educational data	Identifies elements of country composition but information is limited or inaccurate	Does not identify elements of country composition	4.6
Sociocultural Environment: Values and Communication	Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes examples to support the analysis	Analyzes cultural norms of the country that correspond to Hofstede’s and/or Trompenaars’s models and describes the cultural values that shape communication, including major languages and non-verbal communication	Analyzes cultural norms of the country that correspond to Hofstede’s and/or Trompenaars’s models and describes the cultural values that shape communication but analysis includes gaps in details	Does not analyze cultural norms and values of the country	7.66
Sociocultural Environment: Business Etiquette	Meets “Proficient” criteria and description is supported by examples	Describes five rules of business etiquette pertinent to the region	Describes five rules of business etiquette pertinent to the region but with gaps in accuracy or key information	Does not describe five rules of business etiquette pertinent to the region	7.66
Sociocultural Environment: Observation Deck	Meets “Proficient” criteria and shows keen insight into applying sociocultural elements to business practices of the chosen country	Applies sociocultural research to business practices in the chosen country	Applies sociocultural research to business practices in the chosen country but with gaps in appropriateness or detail	Does not apply sociocultural research to business practices in the chosen country	5.75
Political-Legal Environment: Government and Ideologies	Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is supported as necessary with sources or examples	Explains governing parties and political ideologies in the country, including research on political leaders, opposition groups, and any recent changes to leadership	Explains governing parties and political ideologies in the country but misses key information or is inaccurate	Does not explain governing parties and political ideologies	7.66
Political-Legal Environment: Corruption	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides examples to contextualize explanation	Accurately explains corruption indicators, including bribe index, corruption perception index, and other transparency ratings	Explains corruption indicators, but with gaps in detail or accuracy	Does not explain corruption indicators	4.6
Political-Legal Environment: Trade and Legal	Meets “Proficient” criteria and including examples to highlight accuracy of explanations	Explains four elements of government influence on trade and employment	Explains four elements of government influence on trade and employment, but with gaps in detail	Does not explain four elements of government influence on trade and employment	7.66
Political-Legal Environment: Observation Deck	Meets “Proficient” criteria and shows keen insight in identifying risk and opportunity, based on political and legal research	Applies political and legal research to business practices, identifying risks and opportunities	Applies political and legal research to business practices, identifying risks and opportunities, but with gaps in details or accuracy	Does not apply political and legal research to business practices	5.75
Economic: Economic Measures	Meets “Proficient” criteria and description shows insight into economic measures	Describes economic measures of the country, including interest rates, unemployment, inflation, GDP growth rate, exchange rates, exchange rate regime, GDP, labor force, major industries, and FDI rates	Describes economic measures of the country but with gaps in detail	Does not describe economic measures of the country	4.6
Economic: Trade	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides examples to support the description	Describes aspects of trade in the country, including major trading partners, list of imports/exports, and details of RTAs and member countries	Describes aspects of trade in the country but with gaps in details	Does not describe aspects of trade in the country	7.66
Economic: Transportation and Telecommunication	Meets “Proficient” criteria and supports description with examples or illustrations	Describes infrastructural elements that impact trade, including major airports/seaports/train stations, internet users, mobile providers, and a Logistics Performance Index rating	Describes infrastructural elements that impact trade but with gaps in detail or relevancy	Does not describe infrastructural elements that impact trade	4.6
Economic: Observation Deck	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides examples to support the accuracy of application	Applies economic and infrastructural research elements to business practices and market entry	Applies economic and infrastructural research elements to business practices and market entry, but with gaps in detail	Does not apply economic and infrastructural research elements to business practices and market entry	5.75
Final Recommendations: Market Entry Strategies	Meets “Proficient” criteria and recommendation is substantiated with research, examples, or substantive detail to show keen insight into market entry	Provides logical, applicable market entry recommendation based on previous research	Provides market entry recommendation but lacks logic or applicability based on previous research	Does not provide market entry recommendation based on previous research	5.75
Final Recommendations: Cultural Awareness	Meets “Proficient” criteria and elements described demonstrate keen cultural awareness regarding market entry in the country of choice	Describes reasonable and relevant elements of culture that should be addressed during market entry	Describes elements of culture that should be addressed during market entry but with gaps in reason or relevancy	Does not describe elements of culture that should be addressed during market entry	7.66
Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization	Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas	5
Total	100%