Question Trident Bus401 full course (module 1-5)

The World Bank has being doing an extensive study of this subject for many years. Please visit

Select a country at this site.

Write a 2 page paper about this country:

• Identify the country and summarize its profile.
• Describe how easy it is to do business in this country according to the information at this site.
• What factors make it easy to do business? What factors make it difficult to do business? Are there explicit factors that deal with marketing? Explain why.
• Please make sure to use APA style and to use an Introduction, Main Body, and Conclusions. Use Headings and Titles. Click here for

Remember, this is NOT a term paper due at the end of the course. Rather, this is done module by module.

SLP 1 Assignment Expectations

• Select a country for your SLPs for BUS401 and write 2 pages about how easy or not it is to do business.
• Use appropriate writing style (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

Zipcar is a highly successful new company specializing in a brand new model for automobile rental services, allows their customers long-term and flexible access to shared vehicles on a daily or hourly basis. Zipcar’s innovative model allows those who sign up for their membership services to share cars with other members on a flexible basis, creating a cost effective alternative to car ownership. Since its founding in 2000, it has grown to become a major player in the U.S. automobile rental market and has expanded internationally to Canada, the U.K., Spain, and Austria and offers rental services to almost one million customers.

Case Assignment

Read the following two articles and do some of your own additional research on Zipcar

Tice., C. (2012) Zipcar: Two Moms, a Business Idea and $68 in the Bank, Entrepreneur.com,http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223692

Zipcar Expands in Sacramento Becoming 26th Major Metro Market: Based on strong demand, Zipcar increases number of vehicles, will open office (Nov. 6, 2013) PR Newswire (available on Proquest)

Zipcar (July 11, 2012) World’s Leading Car Sharing Network Continues European Expansion in Top Growth Market,http://zipcar.mediaroom.com/2012-07-11-Zipcar-Acquires-Leading-Car-Sharing-Service-in-Austria-CarSharing.at

Now suppose you have been hired by Zipcar to come up with a international strategic plan. Write a four to five page strategic plan for Zipcar that addresses the following issues:

1. Should Zipcar expand into other countries beyond the current five countries that they operate in? If so, which countries should they enter first?

2. What kind of strategy should they use? For example: multidomestic, international, global, transnational, or other?

Helpful Tips:

• Please first read in-depth the background materials for module 2.
• Identify key concepts in the background materials write a list, and study them
• Read the case in-depth and conduct additional research, if necessary

Case 2 Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to general background materials
• List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
• Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

module 2 SLP
For SLP2, please discuss international trade issues and how they impact your selected country and how it pursues doing business with other countries.

Find out as much as you can about the international trade of the country you selected in module 1. Answer the following two questions in a 2 page paper and post it by the end of this module. Please be sure to use the proper paper format.

Visit these websites:

World Bank Data from Indicators: Exports, ODA, Services, Goods, Imports http://worldbank.org

Globalization Index: http://globalization.kof.ethz.ch/

World Trade Organization:

Determine how international trade affects how easy it is for your country to do business.

SLP 2 Assignment Expectations

• Continue to write about the country you selected in Module 1.
• Write 2 pages discussing the type(s) of international trade aspects of your country.
• Illustrate how open or not your country is to international trade. List supporting references and cite sources.
• Use appropriate writing style (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

Case 3 Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to general background materials
• List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
• Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines)
• module 3 SLP

SLP 3 Assignment Expectations

• Continue to write about the country you selected in Module 1.
• Write 2 pages discussing the human resources affect the ease of doing business in your country. Use examples from various measures to illustrate human resource issues and level of development inyour country.
• List supporting references and cite sources.
• Use appropriate writing style (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines)

The number one semiconductor company in the world Applied Materials recently merged with the world’s number three semiconductor company Tokyo Elecktron. The stock prices of both companies went up significantly after the merger was announced, which shows that investors welcome this move that may create synergies and help both companies battle declining revenues in the semiconductor industry. However, even though there are potential benefits to this merger in terms of operational synergies the human side of a merger can often be difficult. Furthermore, Japanese and American cultures are widely perceived as being extremely different from each other which may add to the difficulties in managing the human side of this merger.

Case Assignment

For this assignment, review the following two articles and do some of your own research on these two companies:

McClatchy, S. (Sep 2013) Applied Materials to merge with Tokyo ElectronJohnson, Tribune News Service, Washington [Available on Proquest]

Negishi, M. (Sep 2013) Deal-Shy Tokyo Electron Chief Pushed for Sale to Applied Materials; Tetsuro Higashi’s Decision Was Based on Experience Watching Japanese Peers Flounder, Wall Street Journal(Online), New York, N.Y [Available on Proquest]

Then once you’ve finished researching these companies and reviewing some of the key concepts of cross-cultural management in the background materials, write a four to five page paper answering the following questions:

1. What do you think the biggest challenge in terms of cross-cultural management will be in the merger of these two companies? Remember to consider to issues of differences in national cultural values between Japan and the U.S.

2. What steps do you recommend be taken to help ease cultural differences between the two companies?

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to general background materials
• List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
• Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

module 4 SLP

SLP 4 Assignment Expectations

• Continue to write about the country you selected in Module 1.
• Write 2 pages discussing the macoeconomic enviroment of your country.
• Provide examples that show how this environment helps or hinders the ease of doing business in your country.
• List supporting references and cite sources of your research.
• Use appropriate writing style (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

Case 5: International Financial Management

International airlines always receive a large portion of their revenues from a variety of different currencies due to their international reach and global range of customers. Furthermore, their risk may depend on political/economic developments in other countries. Furthermore airlines need to purchase oil at world market prices, and oil is one of their largest single costs.

El Al Airlines in particular is in a risky business in a risky part of the world. Read the following articles on El Al Airlines and do some of your own research on El Al:

Steinblatt, R. (May 3, 2013) El Al makes $17.3m gain on currency hedges, Tribune Business News, Washington [Available on Proquest]

Solomon, S. (2013) El Al Says Fimi to Invest as Much as $75 Million for Stake, Bloomberg News,http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-04-14/el-al-says-fimi-to-invest-as-much-as-75-million-for-stake

Case Assignment:

After researching El Al Airlines and reviewing the background materials on international financial management, write a four to five page paper addressing the following questions:

1. What recent major events do you think El Al’s financial management team need to worry about the most?

2. What strategies can El Al employ to guard against their main international financial risks?

3. Would you personally invest in El Al Airlines? Explain your reasoning and use their international financial risks and their efforts to hedge against these risks as part of your answer.

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to general background materials
• List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
• Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, & spelling- see Writing Guidelines).

module 5 SLP