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BUSM 37844 | International Business

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Assignment # 1 – Individual Assignment Report - Country Selection Analysis

This assignment asks you to apply the subject matters that you are exposed to in the Global Business

Environment course to an international business situation. The assignment is also intended to help

you develop the skills needed to conduct secondary research and analyze problems.

Assignment

You are working for a publicly listed Canadian company. The primary focus of your firm’s

international activities to date has been associated with opportunities in the US market. However

given the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency and after hearing a lot of his stated opinions

about trade agreements (i.e. let’s rip up NAFTA) the senior executive of your firm have realized that

the firm needs to prepare for a worst case scenario where the firm’s business activities in the US

may be severely curtailed due to possible US government action. At the same time, the Canadian

government had recently signed the CETA trade agreement with the EU. The executive thinks that

perhaps that is an opportunity for your firm, to offset any losses from a curtailment of the US

business. However the firm has had no experience in the EU, and as a consequence the CEO has

asked you to do an analysis of two EU country members by providing an analysis of the political,

economic, social, regulatory, legal, cultural issues, etc. that might impact the firm’s success in the

chosen country, and provide a recommendation as to which of the two countries would be most

suitable for your firm to consider entering into. The CEO is a very busy person so it is important that

the report be written in a clear and concise manner. It will be judged on the factual information it

contains, the clarity of your argument and the depth of your analysis.

Working by yourself or with one other student, conduct research to identify a current example of a

publicly listed Canadian company that has no EU presence, AND you are to pick one of the

following combination of countries to analyze for this assignment.

•  France/Germany
•  Sweden/Finland
•  Italy/Austria
•  Spain/Portugal
•  Belgium/Netherlands
•  Romania/Bulgaria

You are expected to do independent secondary research on the company, the countries in question,

and the business environment that the company is dealing with in order to support your report.

Once you have identified a company and a clear challenge associated with your chosen company,

prepare a report that includes the following:

1. An executive summary of the paper (maximum half a page).

2. Country comparison relevant to the Canadian company interests and characteristics.