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BUSM1227 International Business Semester 2 2013 SIM

List of companies that you can choose for assignment

The following list comprises 112 Singapore companies. All these companies are listed on SGX in order to give you easier access to their company profiles, annual reports etc. You need such information to complete your assignment. Choose any ONE of the following companies, imagine you are working for this company, and complete the tasks spefified in the assignment.

BUSM1227

Semester 2 SIM

Assignment – Case study

• Type: Individual
• Format: Report
• Value: 50%
• Word limit: 2500 words (variation within 10% more or less is allowed)
• Due: To be announced 

Aims

This activity is a platform to sharpen and demonstrate your knowledge and analytical skills in international business.  This assessment also provides you with opportunities to link the international business theories with the practice.

Assignment background

One of the important decisions that businesses need to make in its internationalisation is to choose an appropriate entry mode to foreign markets. Imagine you are working for a Singapore company listed on Singapore Exchange (see below for more details) and have been asked to expand the company’s product/service to Australia. Your task is to choose the most appropriate entry mode for your company based on your analysis on a range of related factors.

Which company shall I choose for this assignment?

A list of Singapore companies will be provided to you inside the Blackboard of this course. You may choose any one of the companies from the list to do your assignment. The list comprises firms incorporated in Singapore and listed in Singapore Exchange (SGX). This will give you easy accesses to the information that you will need to complete this assignment, such as the company’s profile, annual report, financial performance etc.

What products/services of the company should I focus on?

Most of the given companies have more than one segment of products/services. In this assignment, you ONLY need to focus on one product/service of the company.

Assignment question

What is the most appropriate market entry mode, and why?

In this assignment, you need to choose the most suitable entry mode for the chosen company and MUST justify it by analysing the followings:

· Company analysis: justify your choice of entry mode by analysing the company’s resources and the nature of its main products/services

· Context analysis: justify your choice of entry mode by considering the cultural, legal, political, economic and market environments related to the product/service in the target (Australian) market;

· Scale analysis: why do you think your choice of the entry mode suits the company in terms of scale, risk level, return level, control level and integration level (level of integrating with local market)?

Format

This assessment task should be presented as a report and should include the following sections:

· Title page (title of your report, your name, student number and word count)

· Introduction (up to 200 words)

· Entry mode and Analysis ( what is the most suitable entry mode and why – you can make your own sub-headings in this section)

· Conclusion (up to 200 words)

· Reference List (is excluded from word counts)

Other requirements

· A minimum of five (5) academic journal articles must be used in your report.

· The assignment must be well-structured and well-presented.

· The clarity of expressions together with the appropriate use of grammar, spelling and punctuations are important to maintain.

· Any use of comments, information, data or quotations from any sources (books, journals, newspapers, web etc.) must be cited using Harvard referencing style.

· The 12 point font in Times New Roman should be used throughout. Appropriate spacing (1.5 lines) and margins on all sides (at least 2 cm) need to be maintained.

· Number each page.

Guidelines

1. The core of this assignment is to assess your level of mastery of the subject matters and your analytical skills in relation to market entry modes. Being descriptive is NOT appropriate for this assignment.

2. Keep the Introduction and Conclusion short (maximum 200 words each) and focus on the entry mode analysis.

Assessment Criteria

· Level of mastery of the subject matters

· Quality of analysis and justification

· Academic writing clarity, logic and skills

· Quality, relevance and sufficiency of references

· Format

· Presentation
A marking and feedback proforma will be provided separately inside the Blackboard)

Submission of assignment

1) RMIT is moving to electronic submission of all assignments. In the current transition stage you are asked to submit your assignment in both hard and soft copy. The hard copy should be submitted to SIM by 23:00 (Singapore time) on the due date. The soft copy needs to be submitted on-line to the Blackboard of this course by 23:30 (Singapore time) on the due date.

2) The soft copy should be same as the hard copy in terms of content.

3) A signed Assignment Cover Sheet must be submitted together with your hard copy and the soft copy.

4) Any late assignment, unless granted an extension, will be penalised at 10% of your assignment result for each day after the due date. No assignment will be accepted more than seven calendar days late without Special Consideration (see Extension of time for assignment submission section in the course guide).

Important Information about electronic submission of the soft copy

1) Multiple submissions to the Blackboard are allowed. However, only the latest submission will be assessed. You must note that the soft copy submitted to the Blackboard will be Turnitin checked. Therefore, you are recommended to make only one submission as multiple submissions might cause a very high Turnitin similarity index.

2) You need to note that the Blackboard system might not be able to process your submission in the case of large volume of submissions simultaneously (for example: when a large number of students submit their assignments just right before the due time). Therefore, you need to allow yourself sufficient time to submit the soft copy. 

Turnitin Software

Turnitin will check your assignment for originality and will generate a report indicating areas in which the content overlaps with other resources. Therefore you need to make sure that your assignment is your own work and never do ‘copy and paste’. When you use others’ idea in your essay, you need to understand and paraphrase it thoroughly and acknowledge the sources by proper citation (in-text) and in the reference list (end-of-text).