Assignment 1 Information Sheet

To be supplied to students when they receive the coursework assignment task

Unit Co-ordinator: Balal Qayum

Unit Name: International Business

Unit Code: BSS036-3

Title of Coursework: Entry Mode Business Report

% weighting of final unit grade: 40%

Submission Date: 14th December 2018 10am

Assignment Brief
Submission
instructions

Assignment should be handed in by 10am of the submission date.

Pages should be numbered. Headings and sub-headings must be provided.

The unit title and code number must be clearly marked on the assignment top sheet.

Coursework must be submitted into turnitin by the date and time specified. Late work is not accepted,
and will be deemed a fail and graded G(0) (no work submitted).

Learning Outcomes

The completion of this assignment requires you to demonstrate the ability to:

 Identify and critically evaluate environmental, firm-specific and country-specific factors that can
affect the success of international business ventures.

 Identify and critically assess in a comprehensive fashion the current strengths and weaknesses
of the organisation relative to its external environment.

 Apply consistently in-depth knowledge and reference relevant theories/concepts. Generate a

variety of ways of tackling a selected problem and identify option(s) that have a chance of
success in the organisation under consideration.

 Identify quantitative and qualitative “information gaps”, and the relevant sources needed to fill
such lacunae. Prepare and use IT to aid efficient searching, evaluation and selection of

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 information, exploring alternative lines of enquiry where appropriate. Present information
effectively, including evidence to support your conclusions.

 Evaluate and synthesise information from different sources, theories and principles, and
communicate relevant information effectively, and with accuracy. Put forward relevant and robust
strategic recommendations for the organisation.

Format for submission

The word limit is 3,000 words excluding cover page, references in the bibliography and the
appendices. Your cover page must have your full name and ID number.
All work should be word processed. References must include academic sources.

Assignment Detail

Assessment 1: Entry Mode Business Report

Business Report Task:

Apply relevant concepts, frameworks and models of international business, market selection and entry
modes to a specific company (which will be allocated to you) and recommend a new market to enter, the
optimal entry mode and any other relevant particulars.

You need to utilise both theoretical knowledge and necessary frameworks/tools relevant to the
assessment alongside strong consideration of practical issues and potential obstacles. You need to
apply your research skills to find information and literature on the allocated company and potential
markets.

Additional Guidance

1. The balance between market analysis and the actual planning/recommendations– ensure
that your submission is balanced with regards to analysis and recommendations. For example,
keep summary of the analysis concise (after an in-depth analysis) and present your
recommendations and considering potential issues sufficiently.
2. Vagueness – be specific for planning. Simply stating the decision of entry country X using entry
mode Y is insufficient. You need to present the rationale behind your decision, analysis based on
relevant academic frameworks, and the issues for consideration. You also need to demonstrate
potential implementation and implications of your recommendations.
3. Academic content – you are expected to include academic material into your report rather than
relying upon online sources alone. You need to demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical
background of international business through your citation of relevant academic content.
4. Executive summary – an executive summary should be written in a way that allows the
executive who reads it to know what the problem is and how it is to be solved. Essentially, it is a
summary of your problem statement, objectives and how to achieve them (i.e. how to solve the
problem).
5. Secondary data use – Analysis should be supported with secondary data (from the literature).
You should demonstrate wider reading and acknowledge the sources of your information, both in
the main body and in your bibliography. Information pertaining to the potential markets and

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 selected company should be sourced from reliable sources rather than through general web
search, you should speak to an Academic Librarian if you require assistance with this.
6. Presentation and structure – to achieve an excellent grade, your presentation needs to be
immaculate – this includes numbering tables, referencing correctly etc. Do not present a lot of
data and information in tables as appendices. Data or statistics that refer directly to your
discussion in the main body, should be presented in the main body. Tables and figures – tables
and figures need to be numbered and each should have a title that is self-explanatory. Your
analytical content must be high, demonstrating critical thinking and the ability to apply relevant
marketing concepts
7. Word limit – 3,000 words. This will exclude your references in the executive summary,
reference list, title page, table of contents and the appendices. Please, note that your
cover page must have your Full Name and ID Number.

New Assessment Regulations

In response to student feedback the University has revised the regulations that govern how your work is
assessed, by introducing the use of a percentage scale to replace the previous letter grades.
More information for students is available on BREO, in the “Assessments Information for students”
community.
The full regulations are available at: http://www.beds.ac.uk/aboutus/quality/regulations

The table below shows the percentage points to which grades are mapped.

Grade Percentage
Points
A+ 80 - 100
A 75 -79
A- 70 -74
B+ 67 - 69
B 64 - 66
B- 60 - 63
C+ 57 - 59
C 54 - 56
C- 50 - 53
D+ 47 - 49
D 44 - 46
D- 40 - 43
E 35 - 39
F 25 - 34
F- 1 - 24
G 0

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 % Excellent Good Fair Pass Fail
Marking (70% +) (60-69%) (50-59%) (40-49%) (1-39%)
Scheme

Application 40 Very good Good use of Fair use of Some use Little or no
of course use of academic academic of academic use of
concepts, academic literature, literature but literature academic
models and literature in good use of lack of but with literature, or
theories to connection to course depth/connect little or no use of
the problem problem set concepts, to problem set. logical marginally
set – and excellent models and Some use of interrelation relevant
including overall theories but course with the literature.
use of application of lacking in concepts, problem Badly
appropriate multiple depth and/or models and set. Little applied or
academic course breadth theories. use of no use of
literature concepts, relevant course
models and course concepts,
theories. concepts, models or
models or theories.
theories.
Quality of 40 Excellent Good quality Fair quality of Poor quality Very poor
non- quality and of research research but of research quality of
academic range of with limited in scope with now- research,
research research reasonable or depth, quality no reliable
and demonstrated, input into limited input sources sources
integration with clear discussion into discussion used. Poor used. Little
into input into and and conclusion input into positive
business discussion conclusion of report. discussion impact on
report and of report. and discussion
discussion conclusion of May be conclusion and
and report. limited in of report. conclusion.
conclusions scope/depth.
Coherent 20 Well- Well- Fair structure Poor Very poor
argument, structured structured and design. structure structure
logical arguments arguments Report and design and design.
structure, with good and design structure used with a No
overall design of the with by with errors reasonable referencing
presentation sections with reasonable and/or poor flow of system
of the good flow of flow of the implementation. ideas. No present.
report, and ideas. Formal report. Referencing report
referencing report Formal present but structure
structure use. report some errors. used or
Accurate structure poor report
referencing. used. Mostly structure.
accurate Referencing
referencing. present but
frequent
errors.