MGMT 406 International Business Policy
Individual Project
Applying the Strategy Tripod to a Global Company
This assignment aims to engage you in critical thinking and analysis, using management research as a tool and source of information. This research project invites you to examine a multinational company’s global operations, strategy, and environment using the strategy tripod as the primary framework for your analysis. The individual project includes three deliverables: a report (80 points), two peer reviews (2 x 15 points), and a class presentation (60 points).
Main Elements of Your Research
- Company Analysis
- Choose a multinational corporation with a significant global presence (see available list).
- Provide an overview of the company’s history, mission, and global strategy.
- Analyze the company’s internal capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, resources, and core competencies contributing to its global success.
- Evaluate the company’s global competitive advantage and how it sustains or enhances its position in the global marketplace.
- Industry Analysis
- Investigate the industry in which the selected company operates on a global scale.
- Discuss market trends, competitive landscape, and key drivers shaping the industry.
- Evaluate the opportunities and challenges presented by globalization within this industry, considering factors like market entry barriers, competitive intensity, and technological advancements.
- Assess the company’s position within the global industry and its response to industry-level challenges.
- Institutional Analysis
- Examine the institutional environment in various countries or regions where the company operates. Consider political, legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological factors impacting its international operations.
- Discuss how the company adapts its strategies to diverse institutional contexts and handles challenges related to differing institutional frameworks.
- Evaluate the role of international institutions (e.g., WTO, IMF) and regional agreements impacting the company’s global strategy.
- Conclusion and Recommendations
- Summarize key findings from the Company, Industry, and Institutional analyses.
- Provide strategic recommendations for the company to leverage strengths, mitigate weaknesses, and capitalize on global opportunities while navigating institutional challenges.
Written Report (80 points)
The written component requires that you develop your project from the library and other secondary research (use the outline above to construct your report). All supporting documentation and raw data analyses are to be included as appendices to the report. A minimum of 5 academic peer-reviewed and/or professional references is required. Use the DAE (Description-Analysis-Evaluation) framework to organize your paper (See Appendix 1 to learn more about how to organize your report). The report should be at most 10 pages long (excluding cover page, abstract, table of contents, references, and appendices). It must be written in APA style, double-spaced, in font 11-point Arial (or 12-point Times New Roman), with one-inch margins. See Appendix 3 for the grading rubric.
Draft of your Report
Before submitting the final report, you can submit a draft of your work to two peers for a peer review. This learning activity aims to take advantage of the diverse knowledge available in our classroom to provide valuable insight and feedback to each other. Your draft should be as complete as possible.
Peer Reviews (2 x 15 points)
You are expected to peer-review two reports for this portion of the project. Your instructor will assign the peer reviews. The purpose of peer review is to help your peers improve the quality of their work. As a reviewer, you will provide critical and valuable service to your colleagues by offering suggestions and recommendations for revisions, identifying additional work needed or necessary for consideration, and/or making clarifications that will enhance the quality of the final project.
The guidelines for the peer reviews are the following:
- Make sure you read the entire report carefully before making any comments.
- Is the report following all of the assignment instructions? (Alert your peers if this is not the case.)
- Identify at least three strengths and three weaknesses of the draft.
- Provide at least three suggestions on how to improve the draft.
- You can give recommendations where appropriate, but be considerate and respectful.
- Make sure your comments are clear and to the point.
- Be mindful of your biases and opinions.
- Re-read your feedback before posting it; ensure it is coherent and easy to follow.
Please note that your peer reviews should be comprehensive and value-added for your peers (follow the guidelines mentioned above). Submit your peer reviews using the designated Canvas discussion link.
Important Note: If you fail to submit a draft for peer review, you will receive a zero grade for this portion of the assignment.
Oral Presentation (60 points)
The oral component requires that you present your project to the class. The purpose of the presentation is for you to share the main takeaways of your analysis and recommendations. The oral presentation is expected to be at most 5 minutes long, with an opportunity for Q&A afterward. The use of visual aids is required. See Appendix 4 for the grading rubric.
Important Note
On the use of AI-generated content: There is zero tolerance for cheating and plagiarism, and any other violation of academic integrity in this course. This includes the use of AI-generated content (from, e.g., ChatGPT, Dall-e, Bard, Grammarly Premium, etc.). All the work submitted for grading is assumed to be original. Any group caught cheating will receive a zero mark for the assignment(s). Please refer to the syllabus for additional details.
Appendix 1: Suggested Outline for the Report
Cover page (see Appendix 2)
Abstract (Brief summary of your research and main takeaways, 200-300 words max.)
Table of Contents
Introduction (Describe the project and how you organized the paper)
- Purpose of the project
- Introduce the company and its business
- How you organized your paper
- Define important terms used (Optional)
Analysis Section (Apply the strategy tripod to your case study)
- Company analysis
- Industry analysis
- Institutional analysis
Evaluation Section (Provide your informed opinion)
- Summarize key findings from the Company, Industry, and Institutional analyses.
- Provide strategic recommendations for the company to leverage strengths, mitigate weaknesses, and capitalize on global opportunities while navigating institutional challenges.
References (APA format)
Appendices (optional)
