All About Your Country Briefings

This information is tentative and may change during the semester.

You can anticipate completing and delivering a Briefing every week between now and the end of April (except, of course, during Spring Break). There are 8 Briefings (but there could be more). Watch the blog for topics, deadlines and examples. The assignment will be posted on the blog approximately one week prior to the deadlines. You will be required to email the Briefing to me, and then bring a hard copy to class -- bring copies for your classmates, too.

Creating Your Briefings
Always use 12 point Times New Roman to create your briefings. I encourage you to include charts or graphs, when possible and space allows. You must consult at least three sources for each Briefing. Write concisely and, of course, Basic English counts. I accept assignments only in Word and only in Western formatting (reading left to right). Follow this format for naming files: Briefing(#)_YourFirstName_Spring2012.doc. Substitute the the Briefing numeral for #.

All of you (except one) are working in teams, and you are expected to work together to complete these Briefings. It's up to you how you divide the work. Check each other's work, however, to improve your chances of saving points.

Deadlines are written in stone. If you miss a deadline you do not earn any points for that Briefing.

Briefing Topics
Briefings will cover the following topics as related to your targeted country: History, Economics, Political Environment, Education, Technology, Infrastructure, Communications, Transportation, Culture, Business Relationships & Behavior, Product Suppliers & Distribution, etc.

On the due date, come to class prepared to discuss your briefing. Time may not permit every team to discuss their briefing each week.

Final Assessment
Keep your briefings in a Country Notebook . . . at semester's end, you will deliver the notebook to me as part of your final assessment. You will use the content of your Briefings to develop your final assessment presentation, which you will deliver in class. Details about the final assessment will appear on the blog later in the semester.

   

Briefing 2: Historical Overview

The second briefing outlines important historic events in your country's last 100 years. The briefing cannot be longer than two typed pages, including sources. See the example.

Use at least three different sources to study the history of your country of choice. You'll need to devote some time to understand how history may have changed the development of the country, and how history impacted the country's relationship with trading countries. You may divide the work with your partner (if you have one) and then spend time discussing historic events to determine which events should be included in your briefing and why.  Be prepared to explain why you selected the historic events listed in your briefing. Be prepared to explain why/how certain of these events impacted international marketing and trade. Follow the sample briefing to develop your final product.

Why this assignment?

The value of this assignment is that you become a "student" of another country with knowledge about its history and development in terms of international marketing. The assignment is also valuable because it requires you to see a larger issue (history of a country) and reduce it to a briefing. In the real world, marketers are often asked to explore a larger issue and summarize it for the company's leadership. Finally, this assignment helps fulfill several of the Learning Outcomes listed in the syllabus.

Deadline 

Email your briefing to me no later than 7 pm (Kuwait time) Wednesday 7 March . . . bring a hard copy of your briefing to class on Thursday 8 March and be prepared to discuss the details. Please bring 8 copies of your briefing.  

Terms: Chapters 3 and 4

Please learn these key terms; for the next quiz, you will be asked to provide an example to illustrate the term, or to demonstrate why the term is important to international marketers.

3.1.  Climate is the many weather conditions of an area.

Imp.  Weather affects [temperature, humidity, and altitude affect] humans and products.

3.2.  Topology is a bird’s eye view of the land that identifies important features.

Imp.  Geographic barriers can be difficult and expensive to cross.

3.3.  Historic understanding of cultural development is the awareness of the impact of specific events on how people in a country view their world. 

Imp.  A lack of knowledge of a country’s history can create big problems.

4.1.  Culture is what each new generation must learn.  It comes from human work and human thought.

Imp.  A marketer must be aware how a culture will react to planned marketing.

4.2.  Cultural values are long-held beliefs and opinions of a group: the way the world is viewed.

Imp.  There are big differences between countries, and even between parts of countries.

4.3.  Cultural borrowing is learning from other cultures experiences and borrowing ideas to solve problems.

Imp.  Often another culture will have a better solution to a problem.

Terms: Chapter 2

Here are the terms from Chapter 2 of the text. Even though I skipped over it in class, I do want you to know WTO. (You know that quiz is coming!).

2.1.  Balance of payments (also balance of trade) is the difference in value, over a period of time, between a country’s imports and exports.

Imp.  When gains from exports exceed imports, a country grows richer, and vice versa [when the costs from imports exceed exports, a country grows poorer.]

2.2.  Protectionism STOPS unwanted products from other countries.

Imp.  Among the 11 reasons . . . protectionism protects infant industries, keeps money at home, maintains a standard of living, maintains high employment, and helps national defense.

2.3.  Trade barriers SLOW unwanted products from other countries. 

Imp.  Trade barriers exist and protect local industry.

2.4  Tariffs are a tax imposed by a government on goods entering at its borders.

Imp.  Tariffs generate revenue; they also discourage the importation of goods.

2.5  GATT was formed after WWII to reduce tariffs and serve as a watchdog over world trade.

Imp. Offers nations a forum for negotiating trade and related issues. Decisions are not binding.

2.6  World Trade Organization is an institution, not an agreement, that sets rules for governing trade among 148 member countries.

Imp. Hears and rules on trade disputes and unlike GATT it issues binding decisions. 

Terms: Chapter 1

Here are key terms to understand from Chapter 1 of your text . . . (expect a quiz!)

1.1.  International marketing is business for profit that crosses a national border [boundary].

Imp.  As soon as a national border is crossed, different factors affect business.

1.2.  Environmental factors are situations or circumstances that affect doing business.

Imp.  Marketers must learn about different environmental factors, and adjust [adapt] to them.

1.3.  Self-reference criteria. When in another culture we do what we have learned before without thinking.

Imp.  This can become a major problem in another culture, resulting in perceived rude behavior or alienating oneself from the host country.   

1.4.  Three strategic orientations.  A business’s international sales are:

• not important [incidental] because most sales are domestic [local];
• very important [crucial] to sales but each country is treated alone; or
• serving global market segments around the world.

Imp.  As competition increases, many companies need to have a global marketing plan.

Assignment: Briefing #1

You (and a team member, so you will be in groups of 2) will write a series of Country Briefings during the semester. You and your team member must select a country and get it approved by me. Please email to me your two countries of choice (you cannot choose Kuwait or South Korea) no later than noon (in Kuwait) Saturday 18 February.  Subject of email: Country selection.

Approval for your country
Once your country has been approved, then you can begin to research the country. For the first briefing, you will need to research the country's geographic location on a map, plus provide brief information about the country's history, political, legal and economic essentials. I have provided this example for you to follow.

Briefing #1 deadline
Deadline for Briefing #1 is no later than noon (in Kuwait) Saturday 25 February.  Subject of email: Briefing #1. Submit via email, of course.

Please know that while there will be two of you per group, only one of you has to send me the emails and attachments (the Briefings). Look at the example and you will see that it requires both of your names and GUST IDs so that I can assign grades appropriately.

Importance of deadlines
While I frequently use Saturday as a deadline, some students complain that Saturday is not a school day. Please note that the "deadline" is the last day/time (moment) that you can submit your assignment. If you'd like to submit your assignment earlier, i.e. on a school day, please do! You must submit your work before the deadline; waiting until the last minute does not demonstrate good judgment. However, having some extra time to look over your project (especially to correct English) may be a huge benefit to your grade! But as to when you submit your assignment -- it's up to you, so long as it's before my deadline.

Mark your calendar . . . at 12:30 pm every Monday and Wednesday (no classes are scheduled during that time slot) plan to attend the GUST Grammar Clinic! It's one hour that will likely help you earn more marks in all of your classes (certainly in mine)!

Topics covered include Parts of Speech, Verb Tenses, Verb Forms, Modal Verbs, Articles, Conditional Clauses, Relative Clauses, Prepositions, and more!

For more information contact Dr. Marta Tryzna or visit WILL (N2-103) and ask for details.

GUST Grammar Clinic meets in room N4-103. Sessions begin 13 February and continue through 17 May.

Students who attend 8 different sessions will receive extra credit in my courses. The Grammar Clinic must verify in writing (by the last week of the semester) that you attended at least 8 different sessions.