Project description

Critically evaluate the international strategy of a small or medium enterprise in a chosen industry

Please do select a company in line with your career aspirations. This means that you might select a family business; a company you had an internship in and you want to end up working in; a company in an industry you are interested in (e.g. luxury; fashion; glassmaking). Please be aware that, as customers, we are only familiar with some industries and we have the tendency to just look for jobs in those. Many successful companies are in industries we normally do not consider. Post a thread on the discussion board on NOW if you want some suggestions.

Your work should critically evaluate the following:
international business literature relevant to the module, to the organisation and its sector
international business environment (focusing on the micro-environment) of the company
the international strategy of the company and its relationship to core competences and KEVs (key environmental variables)
effectiveness of the organisation’s strategy and operations including qualitative and quantitative performance measures
comparisons with strategies and performance of principal competitors
appropriate and justified recommendations for improvement and/or development of the company’s international operations

Assessment Criteria
The grade awarded will be based on evidence of:
a) critical understanding of the international business literature relevant to the chosen organisation and analysis of its business sector
critical understanding of the international competitive environment for the organisation and its sector
critical evaluation of the international strategy of the organisation in the context of its own resource base, competitive environment and Integration-Responsiveness
(IR) pressures
appropriate and justified recommendations relevant to the development of the international strategy of the organisation
appropriate format, writing style and referencing
All elements bear the same weighting. However, due to the nature of the report, they will be holistically considered.

Requirements
The organization studied should
be a Small or medium Enterprise according to the criteria set by the European Union (see here)
Ideally, the organisation studied should be located in the geographical area you are originally from (e.g. the East Midlands of England; the Haute-Savoie in France;
the Sichuan Province in China; Andalusia in Spain). This is mainly proposed as it might be easier for you to find contacts and/or to understand the socio-demographic
aspects. If you wish, you can in fact select a company from anywhere in the world (e.g. Greenland, Ontario, Uttar Pradesh). Should you not be able to find a suitable organisation, please post your queries on the discussion board on NOW.

Style required
The report should be word-processed on white, A4 paper.
1.5 spacing with margins of 2.54 cm all round.
full Harvard referencing (no footnotes).
Pages should be numbered.
The word count should include all text (plus endnotes and footnotes), but exclude diagrams, tables, bibliography and appendices.
Please use figures and graphs to strengthen your argument.