What percentage of the company’s revenue comes from its international retail operations?

The objective of this final assessment is to enable you to conduct an independent analysis of a large
multinational company (e.g., a Fortune 500 company). The company should be an international retailer that you
admire, a company that intrigues you, or a company that you’ve always wanted to know more about. It is
critical that this company sells directly to consumers (i.e. not business to business). It is preferable that the
retailer be listed on a major stock exchange like London, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Bombay, Frankfurt, or Paris so that various types of information (financial or otherwise) are readily available.
The firm must have direct retail operations in more than three countries. The firm does not have to be American
owned. For example, it may be a foreign owned entity that operates in several countries including the United
States.

You are to create a final report by answering all of the questions below. The report should be 1 1/2 spaced
(Times New Roman font) with headings similar to those shown below that are preceding the sets of questions.
Your paper must use in-text citations and conclude with a references section. Use APA formatting.

Company Overview
– What is the name of your company?
– In what country is your company headquartered?
– What is the
ultimate country of origin of the ownership of your firm? (You might have to do some digging given
that some foreign owned firms may have their corporate headquarters located in another country.)
– Determine whether your company produces its own goods (i.e. Dell Computers) or is a major retailer of
goods manufacturer by other firms (Costco for example).
– What are the major products and/or services
provided by your company?
– What percentage of the company’s revenue comes from its international retail operations?
– What are the
products or services being exported?
– In which countries does the firm conduct international retail
operations
– Why do you think the firm chose those countries?

Mission and Strategy
– What is the corporate mission statement of your target company, assuming it has one? If the company
does not have a mission statement, how would you go about writing one for it?
– How well do the
company’s actions adhere to its stated mission?
– What are some current or short-term operational and tactical plans that your company is pursuing with
regards to its international retail operations?
– How do these plans fit in with the company’s longer-term
strategic goals
– What type of organizational structure is the company currently using for its international retailing
operations?

Marketing Mix
– What types of retail promotion does your favorite company emphasize in its international markets?
– Do
they differ from those used in its domestic market?
– What kinds of distribution channels are being employed in your company’s international markets?
– Does your company appear to be charging the same prices for its products that are being marketed to
specific countries?
– How can you address that the prices may be quoted in different currencies?

Tariffs and Trading Blocks
– Do these products and services face tariff or non-tariff barriers in the international target retail markets?
– What are the tariff rates or non-tariff barriers imposed on these items?
– Identify regional trading blocks in which your chosen company operates.
– Identify the benefits (or
disadvantages) faced by your company as a result of operating with those trading blocs.
– Is your
company taking advantage of the situation?
– Which trading bloc is most attractive for your company, and why? Explain the importance of that bloc in
terms of economic geography (i.e., business density, distance and infrastructure, and intra-regional trade
barriers).

Economic and Political Challenges
– Does your company operate in any countries that are considered very politically or economically risky?
Discuss.
Volatile currency movements can have important affects on your company.
– Historically speaking, were
there any currency crises in different countries that would have affected your company’s costs or
revenues? What about the recent 2008 and 2009 global economic crisis period? Or the most recent rapid
increase in the value of the U.S. dollar?
– How does purchasing power parity affect your firm’s international customer’s ability to purchases the
goods and services?
– Conversely, what about your firm’s cost of doing business in the foreign country? – Will it cost significantly more or less to buy identical materials from local suppliers in the other
countries?

Culture
– Examine the countries where your company has its retailing operations according to where they rank on
the Hofstede cultural dimensions. What are some examples of how a U.S. manager would need to
modify his or her behavior when training and communicating with retail personnel of differing
nationalities at one or more of their foreign stores?
– If you were visiting a foreign country to negotiate a transaction on behalf of this company, what cultural
knowledge would you need to gain before the visit?
– How and from where would you get the
information?

Ethics and Corruption
– Critically and objectively evaluate how ethical your company’s global operations are and determine if
they are good corporate citizens (i.e., do they have a well thought-out corporate social responsibility
program for the long term?).
– Use the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score for two countries where your selected company does international retailing. Pick one country with a relatively high score and one country with a relatively low score. Find and present any news stories about corporate financial scandals in these two countries. (The story does not need to be about your particular firm if none exist.)
– Briefly describe what you perceive are the risks of corruption, such as paying bribes, that your selected company might face when establishing and maintaining retail operations within these countries.
– Do you think the CPI score accurately identifies the probability of a financial scandal occurring in the two countries you selected?
– What kinds of distribution channels are being employed in your company’s international markets?
– Does your company appear to be charging the same prices for its products that are being marketed to
specific countries?
– How can you address that the prices may be quoted in different currencies?

Entry and Exit into the Market
– Analyze and determine your company’s mode of entry into foreign markets. This should be based upon
a serious analysis of your company’s risk-return tradeoff.
– In your opinion, has your company taken the
right approach?
– Does your company have an exit strategy? Recall that exit strategies are to be determined before entry
into the foreign market rather than after entry.

Human Relations
– Are any employees of your company either foreign or domestic represented by labor unions or covered
by collective bargaining agreements?
– Does your company have any operations in places with collectivist cultures such as Taiwan, South
Korea, or Latin America?
– How are its performance appraisal and compensation packages in these
locations different from those in countries with individualistic cultures such as the United States and
Britain?
·
– Does your company employ expatriates in any overseas operations it might have? If so, what resources
does the company provide to train expatriates before they go to the foreign location?
– Does the company
also provide training or support for expatriates during the repatriation phase?

Conclusion
– Summarize your paper
References
·

Complete a references section using APA format.

Hint:
Gather your data from sources such as company annual reports; agencies like Standard &
Poor’s, Moody’s, and Value Line; and the following websites:

www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

www.xmarks.com/site/

www.stat-usa.gov/tradtest.nsf

www.globaledge.msu.edu/resourceDesk/

Also search for the company’s earnings statements and annual reports. Wikipedia is a useful
tool for finding references on a given subject but it should not be used as a primary source
in this paper.

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