international business assignment questions

International Business

(5 reviews)

Mason A Carpenter, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Sanjyot P Dunung, Atma Global

Copyright Year: 2011

ISBN 13: 9781453312995

Publisher: Saylor Foundation

Language: English

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Reviewed by Ashley Beleny, Instructor, Virginia Tech on 4/11/22

The textbook covers a range of issues; however, it goes into areas that are beyond the scope of international business and increases the large about of information to be covered in one semester. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The textbook covers a range of issues; however, it goes into areas that are beyond the scope of international business and increases the large about of information to be covered in one semester.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

The book is overall accurate, but it needs to be updated. Case studies, information about the current status of China, the WTO and international trade agreements all are out of date.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Trade agreements have changed, such a the RCEP being negotiated, and those changes have affected a number of geopolitical elements that should be acknowledged.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is written in a very conversational tone which is easy to read.

Consistency rating: 5

It is very consistent throughout in its organization.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is divided into sections that can be moved around and organized as is desired for the course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The structure is a little awkward in the order I would put things and the emphasis I would put on different areas. It skips from one area to another, but overall that makes it more modular if the course is organized in a way that just necessitates readings or sections that can be inserted into the course.

Interface rating: 5

The book is laid out clearly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are not a significant number of grammatical errors to skew the understanding or flow of the textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Culture is a key issue for international business. The cultural section of the book doesn't continue to go into how culture affects how businesses operate to the point appropriate for this course.

The highlighted words that are emphasized in the book are not the keywords in the situation.

Reviewed by Samira Hussein, Professor, Business Administration, Johnson County Community College on 5/30/21

I currently use a textbook from a major publisher which is an introductory text in international business, much like this one. I find that the topics in both texts are comparable. I would not need another text to supplement the material. However,... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I currently use a textbook from a major publisher which is an introductory text in international business, much like this one. I find that the topics in both texts are comparable. I would not need another text to supplement the material. However, as others have mentioned in their review, the examples seem dated. As long as I emphasized the theoretical part, I would be fine with adopting the textbook. Also, each sub heading is organized with "key takeaways", discussion questions, and a summary. All of this provides reader friendly pedagogy.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No inaccuracies were noted. The examples provided throughout the textbook provide multiple perspectives, due to which this textbook will enjoy broad appeal to many instructors.

As long as instructors use the book to provide a framework of international business, the textbook will provide the foundation in a comprehensive manner. In the digital world where newsletters to supplement the textbook also become dated, instructors can always add currency to this textbook by providing examples that are current. The book is very relevant to a foundational course since it covers all aspects of international business.

Clarity rating: 5

The prose is written in a manner that creates interest in the topics. I found myself drawn to the several topics and sub topics because of the interesting examples given from not just one part of the globe, but all over. The points made in these headings and sub-headings are summarized, and also practical tips are given quite often. All this provides clarity for the reader.

Consistency is the biggest appeal of this textbook. By the second or the third chapter the reader knows what to expect, and how terminology will be understood through examples, and practical applications.

Modularity rating: 4

Although, I am used to chunking the chapters into sections, I believe that instructors can easily divide the various chapters into broader themes. The author provides each sub-heading as a comprehensive reading assignment. Bibliography is provided at the end of each section which can be assigned as further reading and research for the students.

I would rearrange the topics differently since there are some chapters that would logically flow better next to each other. Sub themes can be created by re-arranging the chapters differently.

Interface rating: 3

I found the blue text within the chapter distracting since they are not hyperlinked. Also, many of the hyperlinks at the end of the section are not functional. The text does not offer many images that may enhance the explanation provided. This creates lack of interest for the reader. However, the images that are provided are relevant within the context of the discussion.

There are no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The very fact that the book provides examples from all over the world rather than certain economies demonstrates cultural sensitivity to me. Furthermore, the examples are interesting and create curiosity for the different regions of the world.

I found the textbook to be relevant, user friendly, and fairly comprehensive. However, with all the bells and whistles provided by textbook publishers, the accuracy of working links, and superior supplements provided for the textbooks a strong draw towards sticking with the publishers. This by no means implies that this text cannot be used as is. If power points, testbanks and other supplements can be added, some of the negatives of this textbook can be easily overlooked. The price is just right ($0)!!

Reviewed by Trunnis Goggins, Adjunct Instructor of Business, Trine University on 4/16/21

This textbook does a great job at providing the basics and foundation of international business. However based on the ever dynamic and changing world of international business, some information is a little dated. read more

This textbook does a great job at providing the basics and foundation of international business. However based on the ever dynamic and changing world of international business, some information is a little dated.

The author does a great job at presenting well-founded and peer reviewed facts. Again due to the rapidly changing laws and trade agreements, it is rather difficult to maintain accuracy in a book like this even from one semester to the next.

This book does a great job at presenting the fundamentals. There are only some aspects of this textbook that may deem to be obsolete. However, the foundational approach of this textbook does give the student a clear and concise description of the inner workings of international business.

The book is well written and does provide real-world scenarios. These scenarios can be extremely helpful in understanding the technical and academic aspects of international business.

The author does a fantastic job of providing a consistent message.

This textbook is written in a way that builds from one chapter to the next. It is easy to follow and its sequence allows the student to continually build on prior learning from prior chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This textbook is very organized and very well planned.

Extremely manageable interface.

I found no grammatical errors

This book was written in a fashion that was sensitive to all cultures. It also gave very valuable insight to the ethical values and cultures of many other economic systems throughout the world.

Reviewed by Ruby Lee, Professor, Florida State University on 11/5/18

The text covers a wide range of topics that are important and timely to international business. Instructors who teach international marketing should also find the text helpful. Nonetheless, the text does not provide index or glossary. read more

The text covers a wide range of topics that are important and timely to international business. Instructors who teach international marketing should also find the text helpful. Nonetheless, the text does not provide index or glossary.

The content is absolutely unbiased and accurate at the time of writing. Many examples and cases discussed in the text are real companies and their issues are continuing.

The text is highly relevant and up-to-date. Examples are well used. The theory and most concepts will not be obsolete within a short period of time. However, the challenge of teaching international business is that companies are consistently changing, revising their strategies, and making various adaptations to stay afloat, and therefore some of the examples (e.g., Google in China) might need to get updates more frequently than others. But it should be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The text is easy to understand and follow. Examples are abundant to adequately illustrate various concepts or terminology used in the text. But it would be better if a glossary was included.

The text is highly consistent. Examples (opening cases), contents, and exercises to reinforce students' learning are in order.

The book's modularity follows most mainstream IB textbooks. So, it should not be a problem for instructors to switch from their current text to this one. Each chapter is well organized with smaller reading sections. This definitely allows instructors to pick and choose the topics that fit into their curriculum.

The topics in the text are well organized and presented. Examples (opening cases), contents, and exercises to reinforce students' learning are in order. It would be very helpful if the beginning of each chapter has a table of content.

Interface rating: 4

The text does not have many images and charts. So, I don't see any interface issues.

The text is written in plain English. I do not spot any grammatical errors.

The text is very culturally sensitive indeed. It uses examples from different parts of the world. It further includes real company examples from various countries across the globe to demonstrate the challenge of conducting international business. It's really a nice text.

The text is wonderful overall. Please include a table of content of the text, a table of content for each chapter, a chapter summary, a glossary. More tables and figures to illustrate some of the contents would be helpful too.

Reviewed by Barry Hawkey, Adjunct Faculty, Portland Community College on 6/19/18

This is a massive text, and seems to cover everything I’d need in my International Marketing course. Without a table of contents or an index, however, it is difficult to understand the complete flow of this 730-page text! Any instructor using... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This is a massive text, and seems to cover everything I’d need in my International Marketing course. Without a table of contents or an index, however, it is difficult to understand the complete flow of this 730-page text! Any instructor using this text would need to begin by constructing their own.

This text seems to be very professionally written, and I have found no errors or evidence of bias. I would recommend it to college-level instructors

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

International Marketing is a rapidly changing topic, so it is difficult to write a text with examples that will not seem out of date in a few years. Examples in this text include Coca-Cola, DeBeers, and Google, which seem unlikely to be rendered obsolete any time soon.

The text is well-organized by section and subsection, but the lack of a table of contents or index makes it very difficult to find every reference to a particular topic. Without those, future updates will be very hard to integrate.

The text is very professionally written. Sentence structures and explanations are easy to follow, and should be easily accessible to college-level students.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is professionally written, and appears well laid-out. I do not see much evidence of language or concepts building on themselves, or of early topics being referenced in later chapters, however. There is also no glossary, and key words do not seem to be given highlighted definitions in the text. Still, the overall voice of the text is very consisent.

The case studies and matching exercises given in every chapter are a huge help, and make the massive text much more approachable to readers.

While the case studies, “amusing anecdotes” and exercises are very helpful, in some areas they seem to overwhelm the actual text. For example, Section 5.3, on The United Nations and the Impact of Trade, begins on page 252 and continues for 9 pages. If you remove all of the ‘asides,’ however, you are left with only 4 pages! More than half of the section is spent on asides.

The lack of any pictures or illustrations hinders reader understanding in some places. For example, the ‘6 Steps of Scenario Planning’ on page 397 would greatly benefit from a flowchart or diagram.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

The text does not have a table of contents or index! This makes it very hard to use as a reference, and they should definitely be added. At 730 pages, the lack of a table of contents even makes it hard for an instructor to get a handle on what the book offers.

Interface rating: 2

Blue, underlined text of chapter and section headings are not working hyperlinks, although they seemed designed to look like them.

The lack of pictures and illustrations make these text tiring to read. It always makes the text ‘feel’ unprofessional, although the content itself is great.

This text is very professionally written. I have not found any grammatical errors.

This text appears to be very professionally written. I have not found any evidence of cultural insensitivity, and the examples appear to come from many different countries. It is a large text, however, and I have not read all 730 pages.

While I understand that intellectual property rights somehow must require this book be published with the phrase “Author’s Name retracted as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee,” it is disconcerting to see that phrase appear again and again. That phrase is given 15 times in total, and I expect it will cause readers to question the quality of the content, unfortunately.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment
• Chapter 3: Culture and Business
• Chapter 4: World Economies
• Chapter 5: Global and Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration
• Chapter 6: International Monetary System
• Chapter 7: Foreign Exchange and the Global Capital Markets
• Chapter 8: International Expansion and Global Market Opportunity Assessment
• Chapter 9: Exporting, Importing, and Global Sourcing
• Chapter 10: Strategy and International Business
• Chapter 11: Global Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
• Chapter 12: Winning through Effective, Global Talent Management
• Chapter 13: Harnessing the Engine of Global Innovation
• Chapter 14: Competing Effectively through Global Marketing, Distribution, and Supply-Chain Management
• Chapter 15: Understanding the Roles of Finance and Accounting in Global Competitive Advantage

Ancillary Material

About the book.

International Business is one of the most challenging and exciting courses to teach in the Business School. To teach a current, dynamic and complete course you need a textbook by authors as passionate and informed about International Business as you are.

Carpenter and Dunung's International Business: The Opportunities and Challenges of a Flat World provides exploration into building, leading, and thriving in global organizations in an increasingly flat world. The authors define ”Flat world“ as one where service industries that dwarf manufacturing industries in terms of scale and scope, an Internet that pervades life and work, and networks define modern businesses, whether service or manufacturing. Carpenter and Dunung's text is designed to speak to technologically-savvy students who see national borders as bridges and not barriers.

The authors use the lexicon of international business, and additionally, develop students' knowledge of international contexts with the aim that they may launch, run, and work in any organization that is global in scope (or is wrestling with global competition or other global threats).

The textbook is organized in 5 Sections:

• Section 1 introduces the global business course and concludes with a chapter on seizing global opportunities.
• Section 2 develops student knowledge about key facets of the global business environment, while
• Section 3 develops knowledge about how a student or organization can exploit opportunities in that global environment.
• Section 4 is devoted to entrepreneurship in a flat world — this section will explore why the entrepreneurial context is changing, provide lenses for identifying and capitalizing on entrepreneurial opportunities, and
• Section 5 shows how key organizational activities can be managed for global effectiveness. Every chapter has five enumerated learning objectives, each of these five sections concludes with a short summary (”Key Takeaways“) and five review questions.

In addition, each chapter concludes with a mini case on a unique global business that encompasses the topics shown in the chapter. The authors even provide a set of end-of-chapter questions that are mapped to AACSB learning standards, so that you will be able to measure how well students are grasping course content that aligns with the AACSB guidelines. Request a desk copy of Carpenter and Dunung's International Business: The Opportunities and Challenges of a Flat World to experience its current and progressive look at International Business for yourself.

About the Contributors

Mason A. Carpenter (PhD, 1997, University of Texas at Austin) is the M. Keith Weikel professor of leadership at the Univeristy of Wisconsin Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business. His research in strategic management concerns corporate governance, top management teams, social networks, and the strategic management of global startups and is published widely in leading management and strategy journals. He is also author of numerous books used in leading undergraduate, MBA, and educutive education courses around the world, including Principles of Management published by Flat World Knowledge. He is associate editor of the Academy of Management Review and serves on the editorial board of the Strategic Management Journal. At the University of Wisconsin, he is responsible for the undergraduate, MBA, and ExecMBA courses in business, corporate, and global strategy. With others, he has also advised the top management teams and business unit leaders of Fiskars, SABMiller, GE, Harley Davidson, Rockwell International, Vivendi, Kerry Ingredients, Covance, Danisco, Badger Meter, and Banta in the areas of strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic change. His teaching accomplishments include MBA Professor of the Year, notoriety as one of the two most popular professors in several BusinessWeek MBA program polls, the Larson Excellence in Teaching award from the Wisconsin School of Business, and, most recently, a Distinguished Teaching award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also works to integrate experiential and behavioral perspectives of strategic management into the classroom through positions on the BPS and SMS Executive Committees, Doctoral and New Faculty BPS consortia, and the widely-used BPS Strategy Teaching Toolkit.

Sanjyot P. Dunung is president of Atma Global (www.atmaglobal.com), a publisher of innovative learning products and solutions for the corporate, higher education, and K-12 markets. The company’s mission is to create engaging, best-of-class, global learning products and solutions focusing on countries, cultures, and global business issues. Sanjyot is a recognized leader in the field of cross-cultural learning and has more than fifteen years of extensive experience in developing leading-edge, multimedia learning solutions. Notably, she is the author of Doing Business in Asia: The Complete Guide, focusing on the cultural issues of conducting business in twenty Asian countries (1995 and 1998 by Simon & Schuster). Sanjyot periodically authors articles on doing business internationally. Further, she has appeared on CNBC-TV, CNN International, Bloomberg TV, and various radio programs and is often a guest speaker at conferences and seminars addressing international business and entrepreneurship. Her book, Straight Talk About Starting and Growing Your Own Business, was released in November 2005 by McGraw Hill; she has two entrepreneurship books, Starting Your Business and Growing Your Business with Business Expert Press. Sanjyot also worked as a banker in New York with American and Japanese banks. Sanjyot was selected as a protégé member of the Committee of 200. She’s cofounder and president of the Dunung-Singh Foundation, committed to providing educational opportunities and hope to underprivileged children. She also served as a member of the board of directors of the US Committee for UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). Sanjyot mentors Afghan women entrepreneurs through Project Artemis. Sanjyot’s academic history includes a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA, with an emphasis in international finance, from Thunderbird, School of Global Management. She is the school’s 1997 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award. Sanjyot was born in India; was raised in Liverpool, England and Chicago, and now lives in New York with her three sons.

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12.7 End-of-Chapter Questions and Exercises

These exercises are designed to ensure that the knowledge you gain from this book about international business meets the learning standards set out by the international Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International, 2010). AACSB is the premier accrediting agency of collegiate business schools and accounting programs worldwide. It expects that you will gain knowledge in the areas of communication, ethical reasoning, analytical skills, use of information technology, multiculturalism and diversity, and reflective thinking.

Experiential Exercises

(AACSB: Communication, Use of Information Technology, Analytical Skills)

• One of the reasons that firms seek to employ people in other countries is the relative cost of labor. Visit the US Bureau of Labor Statistics website and scan the available comparison data for international compensation ( http://www.bls.gov/fls/flshcaeindnaics.htm ). Which countries have the lowest wages? Which have the highest? Why wouldn’t companies always locate their operations where labor costs are the lowest?
• You are an SHRM consultant called in by an American firm that wants to staff its new international operations with expatriates. They have asked you to compile a checklist of the key concerns the company should address and steps it should go through before embarking on this endeavor. Engage Michigan State University’s globalEDGE site ( http://globaledge.msu.edu/ ) and similar resources to prepare your report.
• Drawing on information in this chapter and in resources such as globalEDGE, design a preparation plan that might improve the chances for success in foreign assignments. Does your plan include selection criteria as well? Why or why not? If so, what might these selection criteria be?
• Pick a foreign country where you’d like to sign up for a job assignment. How well do you know the business practices in that country? To see how well you understand the ways of doing business in other countries, go to Kwintessential—Language and Cultural Specialists’ web page at http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/aims-and-objectives.html . Click on Tools and Resources. From here, you can choose several online quizzes to test your knowledge of business etiquette in a number of countries.

Ethical Dilemmas

(AACSB: Ethical Reasoning, Multiculturalism, Reflective Thinking, Analytical Skills)

• Your company is just beginning to branch out of the United States, and your CEO suggests that it might be good for the company to put its ethical standards related to SHRM into writing for the entire company. Regarding selection and placement, job design, compensation and rewards, and diversity management, what standards would you propose? How would you go about determining if these standards fit every country in which your company wishes to do business?
• Your company’s home country believes in gender equality. What happens when locals from another country follow that country’s customs by treating a female expatriate employee as a second-class citizen? What obligations does your company have to her? How should she respond?
• Your company appears to be taking unfair advantage of the working conditions in an overseas subsidiary in which you work. At the same time, however, your company is providing much-sought-after employment in this developing region. Your conscience is bothered. What should you do? What rights and obligations does your company have in such a situation?

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business website, accessed January 26, 2010, http://www.aacsb.edu .

International Business Copyright © 2017 by [Author removed at request of original publisher] is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A Successful International Assignment Depends on These Factors

• Boris Groysberg
• Robin Abrahams

Your marriage, your family, and your career will all benefit from advance planning.

The prospect of an international assignment can be equal parts thrilling and alarming: Will it make or break your career? What will it do to your life at home and the people you love? When you’re thinking about relocating, you start viewing questions of work and family — difficult enough under ordinary circumstances — through a kind of high-contrast, maximum-drama filter.

• BG Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate at the school’s Race, Gender & Equity Initiative. He is the coauthor, with Colleen Ammerman, of Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). bgroysberg
• Robin Abrahams is a research associate at Harvard Business School.

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International Business Management Question Papers

Sample Question papers of International Business Management for MBA, MMM, PGDM, BBA and other management Students. We hope these IBM model question papers will help students to get an idea about the pattern of Question Papers. We have referred previous years Pune University questions papers to create these sample sets.

Ref. SPPU/M’9

Table of Contents

Instructions for Candidates

I) Section-II (case study) is compulsory. 2) Attempt any three questions from section-I. 3) Each question from section-I carries 15 marks and section-II (case study) carries 25 marks.

SECTION – I

Q1) What are the barriers to internation~l trade? List and explain all the types of barriers to international trade.

Q2) Explain the concept of country risk analysis. Comment on socio-economic risk and its management.

Q3) What do you mean by Multi-National Enterprises? Explain all t~e advantages and disadvantages of MNEs from the point of view of MNEs as well as the host country.

Q4) What are the various methods of payment available for settlement of international trade? Explain the working of a letter of credit and list all the types of L/Cs.

Q5) Write short notes on any three:

a) International Monetary Fund.

b) WTO Ministerial Conferences.

c) International market selection.

d) 2004-09 EXIM Policy.

e) Global sourcing and its impact on an Indian Industry.

SECTION – II

Q6) CASE STUDY

Gillette Targets Emerging Markets’

As it entered the twenty-first century, Gillette faced a difficult choice. Should it continue targeting emerging markets or not? Its strategy to move aggressively into markets in the developing world and the former Soviet bloc had been hailed as a success only a few years before. Recent poor earnings, however, had management considering whether this choice had been a wise one.

The Boston-based firm was founded in 1895 and is still best known for its original products, razors and razor blades. By the end of the twentieth cent~ry, Gillette had grown into a global corporation that marketed. its products in 200 countries and employed 44,000 people worldwide. About 1.2 billion people use Gillette products every day. Its sales are about equally distributed among the United States (30 per cent), Western Europe (35 per cent), and the rest of the world (35 per cent).

As markets matured in developing countries, Gillette sought growth through product diversification, moving into lines such as home permanents, disposable lighters, ballpoint pens, and batteries. In the mid-1990s, Gillette targeted several key emerging markets for growth. Among them were Russia, China, India and Poland.

Russia was already a success story. Gillette had formed a Russian joint venture in St.Petersburg and within 3 years Russia had become Gillette’s third-largest blade market.

Gillette’s move into the Czech Republic had prospered as well and in 1995 Gillette bought Astra, a 10caI; privately-owned razor blade company. Astra gave Gillette expanded brand presence in the Czech market. Astra’s relatively strong position in export markets ~n East Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia proved a boon to Gillette in those markets as well. Jus.t as in other markets in the developing world, 70 per cent of East European blade .consumers used the older, lower-tech double-edge blade. In more developed markets, consumers appreciated product innovation and the shaving market had moved to more high-tech systems such as Gillettes Sensor.)

Then disaster struck. A financial crisis that began in Thailand quickly spread across Asia. Many wary investors responded by pulling money out of other emerging markets as well as depressing economies across the globe. Bad economies meant slower sales for Gillette, especially in Asia, Russia and Latin America. In Russia, wholesalers could not afford to buy Gillette products. Consequently, these products disappeared from retail stores and Gillette’s Russian sales plummeted 80 per cent in a single month.

Gillette found it could not meet its projected annual profit growth of 15-20 per cent. The price of Gillette shares tumbled 36 per cent in 6 months. To save money, Gillette planned to close 14 factories and layoff 10 per cent of its workforce.

Despite its recent bad experience in developing countries and in the former Soviet bloc, Gillette was still moving ahead with plant expansion plans in Russia and Argentina that would total $64 million. Some even suggested that this was a good time to expand in the emerging markets by buying up smaller competitors that had been hurt even worse by the crises. Meanwhile, back in the developed world, another large global consumer products firm, Unilever, announced that it would be entering the razor market.

Discussion Questions

1. Why do companies such as Gillette target emerging markets? Do you agree with this strategy? 2. What are the dangers to Gillette of targeting emerging markets? 3. Why would local, privately-owned companies like Astra want to sell out to companies like Gillette Why are such companies attractive acquisitions to multinational firms? 4.   What global strategy would you suggest for a company such as Gillette? Explain your choice.

Ref. SPPU/M’8

Instructions to the candidates:

1) Attempt any Four questions. 2) All questions carry equal marks.

Q1) Explain with diagram Griesinger’s Cybernetic Paradigm of the Control Process.

Q2) What are the features of a profit centre? What are the advantages and disadvantages of profit centre?

Q3) What do you understand by ROI & EVA as a performance measure for Investment centres? Compare the merits and demerits of the two?

Q4) What do you understand by Goal Congruence? Give examples and explain the problem of Goal congruence faced by multidivisional companies at different levels.

Q5) Write short notes on (Any Three) a) Internal Audit. b) Value Chain. c) Just in Time. d) Activity-Based Costing. e) Two-step Transfer Pricing.

Q6) National Ltd is a wholesaler who sells its products to a wide range of retailers. Marketing is done through three geographical areas: the South, the Midlands and the North. The estimates of the costs and revenues for each sales territory for the next accounting period are as follows.

South                 Midlands             North                               Total (£)        (£)               (£)        (£)           (£)            (£)             (£) Sales                      900 000                 1000 000                900 000     2800 000 Cost of goods           400 000              450 000             500 000         1350 000 Sold Gross Profit            500 000                 550 000                   400 000     1450 000 Fixed selling Costs: Salesmen’s 80 000          100 000           120 000

Sales office and Management expenses     40 000                  60 000                 80 000 Advertising  50 000                  50 000          50 000 Salesmen’s expenses   50 000  220 000     60 000  270 000  80 000        330000 Headquarters administration expenses                  80 000                 90 000                   90 000 warehousing            32 000                  36 000                  36 000 costs Total costs               332 000                396 000                   456 000     1184 000 Net profit (or loss)     168 000               154 000                     (56000)           266000

The products are packaged and dispatched from a central warehouse, and it is estimated that 50% of the costs are variable and the remainder are fixed. All of the selling costs are fixed, with the exception of salesmen’s expenses, which are variable with sales revenue. All of the administrative expenses of the headquarters are common and unavoidable to all alternatives and have been apportioned to sales territories on the basis of sales value. In view of the loss, should the North area be closed?

Ref. SPPU/M’8new

1) Attempt any three questions from Q1 to Q5.

2) Q6 is compulsory.

3) Figures to the right indicate marks.

Q1) Explain the Informal Management Control System structure with detailed discussion on the following sub-systems. [18]

a) Management Style and Culture.

b) Infrastructure.

c) Rewards.

d) Coordination and Integration. e) Control Process.

Q2) Explain the nature of Activity Based Costing and compare it with Traditional Costing. What are the four different levels of activities used in ABC to allocate costs? What are the benefits of ABC? Give examples to show how ABC is superior to Traditional Costing and how it leads to more accurate management control of product costs.   [18]

Q3) In deciding on the investment base to be used in evaluating managers of Investment centres what practices the best measure the performance of the unit as an economic entity? Give the pros and cons of different practices related to current and fixed assets measurement. [18]

Q4) What do you understand by goal congruence? Explain the importance of achieving goal congruence in designing Management Control Systems in following Sub-systems.

a) Staff welfare & Rewards System.

b) Profit Centres / Transfer Pricing.

c) Allocation of Head Quarters’ expenses on different divisions.     [18]

Q5) Write short notes on any Three

a) Control Systems in Service Organizations.

b) Management Audit.

c) Strategic Planning and Management Control.

d) Annuity Depreciation.

e) Engineered and Discretionary expense centres.

Q6) Actual performance data of 5 divisions of XYZ Ltd. are as follows. (Figures in Rs. Lakhs)

Division  Profit Average Current             Average Fixed Assets                            Assets A             80            90                   400 B             60            190                 450 C             50            350                 550 D             105          200                 800 E             155          200                 800

a) Compute ROI for each division.

b) Compute EVA for each division. Charge on the usage of Current Assets is 50/0 and Fixed Assets is 10%.

c) XYZ Ltd. decides to make an investment in Fixed Assets costing Rs. 1 Crore. This investment is expected to produce a profit of Rs. 10 lakhs per year, what will be the effect on ROI and EVA of each division? Comment on the results.

d) If XYZ decides in a declining market, a retrenchment strategy and sells a plant reducing fixed assets by Rs. 75 lakhs, there will be a reduction in annual profits by Rs. 5 lakhs. What will be the effect on ROI and EVA of each division? Comment on the results.                                                       [16]

Ref/ SPPU/D’8

Time: 3Hours

1) Attempt any three questions from 1 to 6. 2) Attempt anyone from 7 & 8. 3) Figures to the right indicate full marks.

Q. 1)  Explain the control process thoroughly. Elaborate the role played by each of its elements. Elaborate scope of management control systems.  [18]

Q. 2) In a typical organization one can observe goal conflicts arising out of different roles its people play/assume i.e. an individual, hierarchical, functional, organizational. How one can resolve this conflict? Explain with suitable example.” [18]

Q. 3) Explain the input-output relationship. What role it plays in performance assessment of responsibility centres. Justify your answer with suitable examples:  [18]

Q. 4) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning.  [18]

Q. 5) Discuss the cause-effect relationship between the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard. Give a suitable example. [18]

Q. 6) Compare (any three) :   [18]

a) Profit centre and revenue centre.

b) Rolling budget and zero-based budget.

c) MCS in a manufacturing unit and for a project.

d)”Engineered cost and budget” and “Discretionary cost and budget”.

e) Financial and Non-financial measures.

f) Traditional costing and ABC.

Q. 7)  ABC Ltd is a multi-division integrated company. One of its division “A” produces a product, which is being sold in the open market entirely. However, in view of demand from division “B”, “A” supplies part of its produce to ‘B’. To keep motivated both the divisions, the company has established a transfer pricing policy such that’ B’ shall pay actual full cost plus 50% of profit division.

‘A’ would have made if it would have sold the product in the open market. Given below the sales and cost data for division’ A’.

Volume per annum 10,000 units

External sales @ Rs.150 per unit 6,000 units Internal transfer as per TP policy 4,000 units.

Variable cost Rs.80 per unit

Fixed cost Rs.20 per unit.

a)     Compute the transfer price per unit need to be born by division ‘B’ in the Present circumstances. b)      Incase demand from division B goes up from 4,000 to 6,000 units and division agrees to pay 60% of profit instead of 500/0 agreed earlier. Compute transfer price in this situation.

c)      Compute profitability of division’ A’, in case of situations discussed in 1 & 2 above.

d)     Given selling price of the final product by ‘B’ is Rs.250 per unit, variable cost ofRs.30 per unit (excluding transfer price) and fixed cost ofRs.20 per unit (based on the volume of 4,800 units). compute the profitability of division ‘B’ in both the above-discussed situations’- 1 & 2. Offer your comments on the suitability of approach. [16]

Q. 8)  Mis. Mittal Ltd has two divisions M & N. Division M sales two-third of its produce to division N and rests in the open market. Cost and revenue of these divisions and that of the company for year 2,000 is given as under:

(Amt.in Rs.)                          M              N          Company Sales (outside only)                        16,000     48,000     64,000 Cost of manufacturing            24,000     20,000     44,000 (Internal + outside sales) Profit                                                      20,000

There is no opening or closing stock. You are required to find out the profit of each division and that of the company under following options of transfer prices-

a) at cost.

b) at cost plus a margin of25%.

c) at cost plus a margin of 25% ; but there is overspending in division M by Rs.3,000. d) at market price.  [16]

Ref. SPPU/O’7

1) Please attempt any three questions from serial No.1 to serial No.6. 2) Question No.7 (Case Study) is compulsory. 3) Answers from Q. 1 to Q. 6 will attract a maximum of 15 marks each. 4) Question No.7 will carry 25 marks.

Ql) Using the example of a suitable company. Describe their process of achieving Globalisation, in various stages.  [15]

Q2) Analyse the factors that affect a. country risk evaluation? Which are the three worst types of risks? And why?   [15]

Q3) Write all you know about ‘World Trade Organisation’. Explain TRIPS, TRIMS and DSBs.  [15]

Q4) How do trade blocks function? Illustrate with two examples. What are tariff Nontariff & trade barriers?  [15]

Q5) Write Short Notes on (Any three) :  [15]

a) Balance of Trade.’

b) Balance of Payment.

d) World Bank

e) Methods of Payment.

f) EXIM Policy.

Q6} Describe the various methods used for evaluating & selecting countries as markets. What strategies should be deployed for successful entry?   [15]

Q 7) P1ease scrutinise the enclosed case study & answer the questions at the end of the case study [25]

The localisation of Global Companies:

Korean Experience Countries tend to be more concerned about large companies than small ones because of their greater potential impact on national economic and political. objectives. But not all companies operating internationally is large. In fact, the number of new MNEs is growing at about 4,000 to 5,000 per year. These are generally smaller companies with smal1er foreign investments. Generally, they have to do less to justify their entry and operations. Because they are assumed. to have less impact on host societies, countries often treat their entries differently. Further, many LDC governments prefer the entry of smaller companies because they may be more willing to yield to host -country wishes, increase c01npetition because of their numbers, and supply smaller-scale technology more suited to LDC needs.

Internationalisation is viewed as a process leading to the outcome of a competitive environment that in turn induces efficiency in production and optimality in resource allocation. A few economists refer to internationalisation as a surrogate to indicate the level of cross-border production by Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and their network of affiliates, subcontractors and partners. Yet another viewpoint analyses the different dimensions of internationalisation ascribing the internationalisation of corporate strategies, in particular, their commitment to competition as well as the internationalisation of consumer and financial markets, the diminished role of national governments in designing the rules for international governance, and so on as a set of characteristics describing the different. dimensions df the process.

Superior Performance from Indian Subsidiaries

In the past, it was the Indian subsidiaries of the MNEs who had to depend on their parent companies for financial support. Though many of the Indian subsidiaries still do that, a new phenomenon is also gaining ground. Many of the Indian subsidiaries of major MNEs like ABB, LG, Samsung, Nestle, and Siemens, to name a few, are all beating their parent companies on the performance scale, and India is fast emerging as the growth engine for MNEs. Some of these Indian subsidiaries are even clocking double-digit growth even when their parent companies are recording losses.

Though the vast Indian market of the billion-plus population holds great opportunity for the consumer goods companies, this phenomenon is not restricted to that sector only. Indian subsidiaries for the MNEs in non:-consumer goods sectors such as engineering and pharmaceuticals are also showing the same phenomenon. Global sales for Siemens (Siemens AG) has decreased by 3.4 per cent m 2002 (total sale in 2003 was only $83,784 million) while the Indian subsidiary of Siemens showed an increase in net sales by 13.8 per cent.

Changing Global Dynamics

With rapid globalisation, intensive competition and poor economic conditions prevailing in most economies, l’vfN”Es arc always searching for ways to reduce costs to improve the bottom line. As a result, we have seen a rise in outsourcing to India Along with this- India’s advantage of the availability of low-cost skilled labour gained importance. On the flip side, with the opening up of the Indian economy, new opportunities arrived, which these companies have grabbed successfully. International Business

At the same time, opening up of the Indian economy and moderately high growth rate have attracted new competitors. With increased competition, companies have to reassess their existing investments and business portfolio. Those businesses, where returns on investments were not high and were not contributing significantly to their overall profit, were sold or hived off. The restructuring has left the Indian subsidiaries in a better position to move ahead of the competition.

Manufacturing Efficiencies

Production of goods and managing supply chain effici~ntly has also helped Indian subsidiaries of the MNEs to contribute more to their bottom line. Low manpower cost in manufacturing has helped the Indian subsidiaries very much. Siemens India benefited by shedding its excess workforce and reorganising its workforce has been able to reduce its costs. At the factory level, the company reorganised its workforce on the basis of employees’ ability to handle functions across one or more divisions. As a result, Siemens was able to maintain the same efficiency in terms of output level with 50 per cent fewer employees.

Hyundai India has the best-integrated manufacturing plant amongst the Indian subsidiaries of the MNEs. The efficiency of Hyundai India’s operation at its Chennai plant has made the top management of its parent company in South Korea to send 2,000 managers and workers from its plant to Seoul to study Indian subsidiary’s operations. Siemens has also reduced -its number of vendors from 20,000 to 2,000 with plans of further reducing them. Earlier the sheer number of vendors complicated the process of checking, ensuring quality, and delivery time. It has since then started grading its suppliers on several- parameters.

LG has followed kaizen in its Indian manufacturing plants, with the ultimate aim to achieve Six Sigma Quality. LG has also passed on the same. work ethics to its suppliers.

Hyundai is planning to make Hyundai India as the global sourcing base for Santro. Siemens India is now also becoming increasingly significant. contributor to Siemens AG. The outsourcing from Siemens India now contributes 21 per cent of its consolidated revenues. Cummins India now exports to China and Mexico.

Customer-Driven

While MNEs like Kellogg’s failed to understand the Indian consumers, relentless focus towards the Indian consume~s has enabled these companies to increase their sales, which has a positive impact on their revenues and profits. The localisation of products and knowing what the Indian consumers want worked well for the consumer goods companies. Samsung has learned this aspect quickly and that it is very important for them to live to the expectations of the Indian consumers to stay on in the Indian market.

Samsung has washing machines with unique ‘sari guard’ and a memory restart: the feature that is ideally suited for India where there are frequent power cuts. LG has also launched TV s with Hindi and regional language menus.

Both Samsung and LG have launched TV sets with more than 800 watts ‘of sound, compared to the normal 200 watts. This is a result of findings by both the companies that Indians like more volume on their TV sets because famili~s often watch in a noisy environment. With the end-consumers in mind, LG now offers products with unique technology. Its Plasma range air­conditioners with their unique Gold Fin technology offer air-filtering benefit. For the lower-end market, where the consumers are price-conscious, LG has launched low-priced TV such as Cine plus.

Nestle India launched a low priced (Rs 2) liquid chocolate, called Choc stick to cater to the price-conscious customers. Hyundai Accent has a powerful engine and sleek interiors at an attractive price range. In Siemens’ case, the company has introduced several programmes to seek, generate and monitor customer feedback, and improve response time. It even redesigned indirect sales channels. One such customer-related programme is the Key Account Management (KAM) concept. Earlier, a customer was being approached by people from. two or more. divisions of the company.. In the KAM concept, one key’= executive is responsible for getting business from all divisions of that customer. The company ~Iso initiated a mystery call~r competition, under ­which top Siemens executives acting as customers would call up executives of various centres at different times, even during lunch hours. These initiatives have resulted in an increase in the number of repeat orders, which resulted, in generating more revenues and profits.

Strategic Wonders

Formulating successful strategies and executing them efficiently played an important role in behincl these companies’ profitability; be it in the entry-level, manufacturing, marketing, branding and pricing. Some of these companies have also found huge success by entering the vast rural market. Even though Hyundai entered the Indian market only in 1996, it was able to lead in all the three auto segments, namely B-segment, C-segment and D-segment, in which it competes. Hyundai’s choice of the deluxe small car to enter the Indian auto market instead of a sedan was its brilliant strategic move. Hyundai had correctly read the gap in the Indian market in that segment. That success helped Hyundai to establish its brand among the Indian consumers and has allowed Hyundai’s parent company to introduce more new cars in other segments in India.

Marketers of these companies have adopted different strategies for launching products, LG’s strategy of promoting its premium models like Flatron helps the brand creation. an image of a high technology company. , The company has positioned its products keeping.in ‘mind the health-conscious attitude of Indians. Samsung’s ‘DigitaIAll’ campaign has worked in positioning. ~ Samsung as a company, which produces high technology products in the minds of the consumers. Hyundai has used the image of Shahrukh Khan in advertising its Santro, which was an instant hit among the Indian consumers: ~

CASE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• A parent corporation is looking at Indian subsidiary for improving its quality of corporate governance and enhancing profitability. The theory says the reverse will happen, i.e. spillover effect from the parent to the subsidiary. This is also considered as the greatest honour ever received for Indian corporates in the professional arena.

i) What are the factors that may result in higher profitability? ii) What can be the impact of customer-driven business practices in Indian environment? iii) What are the measures that can be taken by the MNEs to improve their local image in India? There is a growing concern about the opening up of the retail sector in India. What is the significance of retail MNEs in the national economy by looking at the experience of Korean MNEs in India?

Ref. SPPU/M’7

Instructions for candidates

1) Please attempt any three questions from Q. No.1 to Q. No.6. 2) Question No.7 (case study) is compulsory. 3) Answers from Q. No.1 to Q. No.6 will attract a maximum of 15 marks each. Q. No. 7’s answer 25 marks.

Ql) What is Globalization – Its forces, meaning, dimensions and stages? Select any company as an example and describe their working. [15]

Q2) What are Tariff, Non-Tariff barriers and Trade barriers? What are Trade Blocks – explain 2 examples. [15]

Q3) What do you understand by Country Risks? What are the factors that affect? a country’s risk? [15]

Q4) Write short notes on IMF, World B~ Exim Policy, Methods of Payment in International Trade, Balance of Payment, Balance of Trade? (Any 3) [15]

Q5) Write all you know about WTO with emphasis on TRIPS, TRIMS and DSB. [15]

Q6) What the strategies for Market selection and Entry in the International Market?  [15]

Q7) Please examine the enclosed case study and answer the questions at the end of the same.  [25] The emergence of New Industry: Story of Indian BPO

Trade theories advocate the optimum utilisation of resources and reducing the cost of production globally. This leads to a new tendency, which we call outsourcing less important or back-office works to low wage countries like India and China. The growing demand for backup is adding a dimension to the quickly proliferating outsourcing industry. Traditionally, conservative businesses such as insurance companies and mortgage brokers are contracting out back-office and customer service work, mirroring the way corporate titans such as IBM and General Electric moved such tasks away from the US several years ago. As new clients are handing over duties to third party companies rather than to their own subsidiaries, and in countries where they often have little experience, they feel more comfortable with suppliers who have good backup plans.

(a) Role  ‘Of Educational Institution

Clearly, there are things that the educational institutions can do to help that. Some of the institutions have taken initiatives to get there and some are ~ waiting to see how these experiments shape up. There is also a lot of talks ‘:. about the need for the industry and academia to come together so that it will ” eventually help the industry better. But not much seems to be happening in this area. The orientation (of the academic institutions) will have to be a little different than the existing one, view the industry as their customers and do what’s good for the industry and get rated by the industry.

Unless the academia has that kind of alignment with customer interests, it’s difficult for them to devise the most appropriate curricula and syllabi. It is only when the academic institutions realise that they are serving ‘” a certain customer base and they need to fulfil the needs of that customer base and take proactive action internally, that the situation would improve. But, at this point of time, it appears as though the entire onus is on the industry to do it. Today, academia seems to say if you want these people you come and do whatever it is to make these people suitable for companies.

(b) Rising Demand

The huge pool of human resources in India is much talked about and a chunk of the human resources from the engineering colleges. The mistake companies commonly make is to underestimate the human potential that is available, and not providing them with the right type of opportunities. We must remember that the IT industry recruits the top 1 per cent of the brainpower that is available in this country. This number is small compared to the ones “that go to school, and the ones that graduate. So it means its the cream of the cream that gets into this industry. And so in terms of brainpower, it’s quite unmatched.

Unlikely, for the next several years, it’s not going to be uncompetitive. The wage increase is only marginal, and the productivity improvement that happens year after year compensates for the bulk of the increase that happens. To that extent, its not a factor ~o worry about, at least for the next four to five years. Nasscom report (May 2004) predicts that within a few years, there will be less supply of qualified human resource in India compared to the demand. Forrester (May 2004) says that by 2010, 3.3 million jobs will be created in IT and IT-related areas in India, That’s a lot of people. This means many companies may not go after the top 1 per cent, and they would expand it to the top 5 per cent, for which, the educational institutions have to change and intensify the courses, and should be meritocracy-based. People who score good marks or are more intelligent do get into higher schools.

(c) In Search of Talents

In order to get a comprehensive mix of capabilities and high talent, companies decided to look at outside universities as well. They went to Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, MIT, and Columbia for recruitment. These are all Ivy League schools that attract top talent. Earlier, people hesitated to come to India. A couple of years back, many Indian companies went to recruit but they .were not interested in coming to India and spending some time here.

The beginning of 2003 was a turning point when the media turned their attention to offshoring in a big way. The visibility was very high and everybody was suddenly talking about India. There is a lot more that gets outsourced to China in terms of manufacturing than to India, but India got a far greater share of that visibility. That’s when people realised that there is so much happening in India, and wanted to be a part of. it.

But when a company goes to these schools, ask for GPA-based filtering of candidates, say a GPA of over 3.5 or 3.8, most of them are Indians. Indians somehow seem to have mastered the trade of how to get high GP A. So, companies had to do a different mix in order to make sure they have a good mix of people who have gone from India to study in the USA as well as the local people, and people from other countries.

(d) Chennai, the BPO Hub

Offshore projects accounted for over 70 per cent of the total software exports of Tamil Nadu during 2003-4, according to Software Technology Parks of India, Chennai. Tamil Nadu’s total IT exports stood at Rs. 7,621.50 crore (Rs. 7621 billion) during the last fiscal, including exports from STPI, MEPZ, and other units.

Chennai and its suburbs continued to be the major software exporting locations in the state. Exports from these locations stood at Rs. 7,557.64 crore (Rs. 75.58 billion), followed by Coimbatore region at Rs. 45.76 crore (Rs. 457.6 million), and Tiruchi at Rs. 13.42 crore (Rs. 134.2 million). Application software and system software accounted for 60 per cent of total exports, followed by consultancy services at 28 per cent, and ITES at 8 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services was the top exporter from Tamil Nadu, followed by Infosys Technologies, HCL Technologies, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Wipro, and Polaris Software. Tamil Nadu’s hardware exports crossed Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion), and stood at Rs. 118.88 crore (Rs. 1.19 billion) in 2003.

1. To what extent does the theory of Comparative Advantage explain the rise of th~ Indian BPO industry? 2. To what extent does the Heckscher-Ohlin theory explain the rise of the Indian BPO industry? 3. Use Michael Porter’s diamond to analyse the rise of the Indian BPO industry. Does this analysis help explain the rise of this industry?

SPPU/M’6

Note: 1)     Question No 6 (case study) is compulsory 2)     Attempt any three questions from the remaining question 3)     All question carry equal marks

1)     Define a multinational corporation. What are the benefits of MNC’s operating in developing countries from the point of view of the host country?

2)     What are the causes of political risk that may impact a firm? What are the different means adopted by companies to deal with political risks in international business?

3)     Explain the mechanics of ‘Currency Trading’ in detail. What do you understand by

a)     spot

b)      forward and

c)      Swap transaction?

4)     The whole universe is a potential market for your products. Discuss the various market entry strategies that need to be evolved to exploit this potential.

5)     Write short notes on any three of the following

a)     Function and objectives of W.T.O.

b)      Classical theory of comparative cost.

c)      Different types of Letters of Credit.

d)     South-East Asian crisis.

e)     Asian development bank.

6)     CASE study: cutting edge ltd

Cutting Edge Ltd., a Nashik based company is globally set up, for its unique products. This is a precise example of a which has remarkable skills and strategies for identifying new product developing them for commercial exploitation. The company always at global operation right from the beginning. It was very quick in and establishing itself firmly in the international markets.

The company began its corporate journey in the year 1995manufacturing of quality scissors used for various application/uses did not lose any time and was quick enough to spread its wings in other countries. By the end of the year 2004, it had added more products portfolio, popular among them are razors and blades.

CEL’s manufacturing operations, apart from Nashik are in more than 10 locations in four countries. The products are market for more than 20 countries. Within a span of fewer than 10 years, CEL has its overseas revenue from a meagre US$50000 to US$140 million. It concentrated on its main line of scissors and blades and expanded the by adopting novel ideas like distribution-free razor blades or scissors bank(Shave and save plan) or (Cut and cut the expenditure plan). Even the recessionary period it sponsored major sporting events and through worldwide advertising kept up its sales.

The remarkable strategy adopted by this company is in identifying a for which there was need and developing from the beginning a high product and convincing consumers to buy quality and sophisticated. This enabled the company to sell more expensive products at a higher profit. It kept in close touch with the market and the needs of the and produced new product as demand arose. The company considerable market research and design engineering.

CEL realized the importance of exports and international operation. Words, international operation/business was the part of the plan from inception to the company and not an afterthought.

Out of the total sales of US$140 million, almost 92% sales are coming from the developed market like U.S.A., Canada Japan, etc. the company has not been able to make inroads in developing and underdeveloped markets. One of the main reasons fearing is that in the developing and underdeveloped markets it may able to enjoy the same profit margins as it is enjoying in developed CEL would like to make sure that its presence must be felt in the developing and underdeveloped markets and business contribution from these markets must be enhanced to a  large extent without harming the profitability picture.

Analyse the case and guide the CEL management in increasing the sales revenue from the less developed markets without hampering the company’s overall profitability.

SPPU/O’5

1) Question no. 6 (case study) is compulsory

2) Answer any three questions from the remaining questions.

3) All three carry equal marks

Q1) Explain the various factors to be considered while scanning the international business environment. Give one example of each Factor.

Q2) Explain the terms:

a) Transaction Exposure.

b) Transfer Pricing.

Q3) Write a note on contributions of multi-national enterprises with reference to the market. Highlight the criticisms levelled against the MNE’s.

Q4) Describe the objectives and functions of the World Trade Organisation. Comment on the organization structure of WTO.

Q5) Write short notes on any three of the following.

a) Global sourcing.

b) Ricardian theory of comparative advantage.

c) Non-tariff barriers to international trade.

d) Management of political risk in international business.

e) International Monetary Fund.

Q6) Case Study:

The globalization of the Indian economy has led to the establishment of a number of large and medium firms as licensing was not necessary. This resulted in the production of a number of goods, more than the demand in some cases. Consequently, some small scale units which were receiving Govt. protection became sick. The earlier sick units became mortal. Some examples in this category were textile units in Ahmedabad, electronic units in Delhi, consumer goods firms in Mumbai, AP Lightings, Anantapur, steel melting units in Hindupur, paper mills in Coastal Andhra and leather units in Chennai. Globalization resulted in the entry of a number of MNC’s in India through exports, joint ventures etc. in the addition, U.S.A and Malaysia dumped cooking oil, steel, electronic products etc. European countries exported milk and other agro-based products. These factors created a slump in the market due to excess supply. Further, the decline in employment opportunities affected the purchasing power of middle-class consumers adversely.

This created like China, S.Korea produced goods at a cheaper rate than India. This created havoc in the market. The policy of globalization was criticized by some. Other quarters of the industry felt that Indian business and industry should learn management techniques and focus on high productivity and low cost.

In the light of above answer the following questions:

1) Is globalization desirable for the Indian economy? Why?

2) How globalization will benefit Indian Consumers?

3)  Identify the key areas wherein the Indian manufactures need to improve to enable them to compete internationally.

Q1) Discuss the importance of strategic marketing decisions in marketing planning with suitable examples.

Q2) In view of the foreign institutes entering India in near future, what strategic options you will suggest to Indian Management institutes to counter the possible competition? Your suggestions shall be based on SWOT analysis.

Q3)” Freebies and discounts are aimed at making loyal customers purchase more quantities in advance attracting non-users to try the product. However, with all major players offering freebies and discounts, this strategy is proving counter-productive’. Critically discuss this statement with examples.

Q4) Discuss with examples of how marketing mix strategies change within PLC stages of a product.

Q5) Write short notes on any THREE:

a) Export pricing strategy

b) Cost strategy v/s differentiation strategy.

c)  Distribution strategy in declining markets.

d) International branding.

e) MLM and ethical issues.

SECTION – II

Q6) Explain with examples how the characteristics of rural market segments based on various criteria of segmentation.

Q7) Sachet packing is normally introduced to ultimately increase the demand for large packing. However, in India, sachet packing is contributing to almost 70% of the sales of FMCGs like shampoo and tea. Discuss this phenomenon with reference to typical characteristics of Indian rural market.

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18.7: The International Assignment

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Learning Objectives

• Describe how to prepare for an international assignment.
• Discuss the acculturation process as an expatriate.
• Describe effective strategies for living and working abroad.

Suppose you have the opportunity to work or study in a foreign country. You may find the prospect of an international assignment intriguing, challenging, or even frightening; indeed, most professionals employed abroad will tell you they pass through all three stages at some point during the assignment. They may also share their sense of adjustment, even embrace of their host culture, and the challenges of reintegration into their native country.

An international assignment, whether as a student or a career professional, requires work and preparation, and should be given the time and consideration of any major life change. When you lose a loved one, it takes time to come to terms with the loss. When someone you love is diagnosed with a serious illness, the news may take some time to sink in. When a new baby enters your family, a period of adjustment is predictable and prolonged. All these major life changes can stress an individual beyond their capacity to adjust. Similarly, in order to be a successful “expat,” or expatriate, one needs to prepare mentally and physically for the change.

International business assignments are a reflection of increased global trade, and as trade decreases, they may become an expensive luxury. As technology allows for instant face-to-face communication, and group collaboration on documents via cloud computing and storage, the need for physical travel may be reduced. But regardless of whether your assignment involves relocation abroad, supervision of managers in another country at a distance, or supervision by a foreign manager, you will need to learn more about the language, culture, and customs that are not your own. You will need to compare and contrast, and seek experiences that lend insight, in order to communicate more effectively.

An efficient, effective manager in any country is desirable, but one with international experience even more so. You will represent your company and they will represent you, including a considerable financial investment, either by your employer (in the case of a professional assignment) or by whoever is financing your education (in the case of studying abroad). That investment should not be taken lightly. As many as 40 percent of foreign-assigned employees terminate their assignments early (Tu, H. and Sullivan, S., 1994), at a considerable cost to their employers. Of those that remain, almost 50 percent are less than effective (Tu, H. and Sullivan, S., 1994).

Preparation

With this perspective in mind, let’s discuss how to prepare for the international assignment and strategies to make you a more effective professional as a stranger in a strange land. First we’ll dispel a couple of myths associated with an idealized or romantic view of living abroad. Next we’ll examine traits and skills of the successful expatriate. Finally, we’ll examine culture shock and the acculturation process.

Your experience with other cultures may have come firsthand, but for most, a foreign location like Paris is an idea formed from exposure to images via the mass media. Paris may be known for its art, as a place for lovers, or as a great place to buy bread. But if you have only ever known about a place through the lens of a camera, you have only seen the portraits designed and portrayed by others. You will lack the multidimensional view of one who lives and works in Paris, and even if you are aware of its history, its economic development, or its recent changes, these are all academic observations until the moment of experience.

That is not to say that research does not form a solid foundation in preparation for an international assignment, but it does reinforce the distinction between a media-fabricated ideal and real life. Awareness of this difference is an important step as you prepare yourself for life in a foreign culture.

If the decision is yours to make, take your time. If others are involved, and family is a consideration, you should take even more care with this important decision. Residence abroad requires some knowledge of the language, an ability to adapt, and an interest in learning about different cultures. If family members are not a part of the decision, or lack the language skills or interest, the assignment may prove overwhelming and lead to failure. Sixty-four percent of expatriate respondents who terminated their assignment early indicated that family concerns were the primary reason (Contreras, C. D., 2009).

Points to consider include the following:

• How flexible are you?
• Do you need everything spelled out or can you go with the flow?
• Can you adapt to new ways of doing business?
• Are you interested in the host culture and willing to dedicate the time and put forth the effort to learn more about it?
• What has been your experience to date working with people from distinct cultures?
• What are your language skills at present, and are you interested in learning a new language?
• Is your family supportive of the assignment?
• How will it affect your children’s education? Your spouse’s career? Your career?
• Will this assignment benefit your family?
• How long are you willing to commit to the assignment?
• What resources are available to help you prepare, move, and adjust?
• Can you stand being out of the loop, even if you are in daily written and oral communication with the home office?
• What is your relationship with your employer, and can it withstand the anticipated stress and tension that will result as not everything goes according to plan?
• Is the cultural framework of your assignment similar to—or unlike—your own, and how ready are you to adapt to differences in such areas as time horizon, masculinity versus femininity, or direct versus indirect styles of communication?

This list of questions could continue, and feel free to add your own as you explore the idea of an international assignment. An international assignment is not like a domestic move or reassignment. Within the same country, even if there are significantly different local customs in place, similar rules, laws, and ways of doing business are present. In a foreign country, you will lose those familiar traditions and institutions and have to learn many new ways of accomplishing your given tasks. What once took a five-minute phone call may now take a dozen meetings and a month to achieve, and that may cause you some frustration. It may also cause your employer frustration as you try to communicate how things are done locally, and why results are not immediate, as they lack even your limited understanding of your current context. Your relationship with your employer will experience stress, and your ability to communicate your situation will require tact and finesse.

Successful expatriates are adaptable, open to learning new languages, cultures, and skilled at finding common ground for communication. Rather than responding with frustration, they learn the new customs and find the advantage to get the job done. They form relationships and are not afraid to ask for help when it is warranted or required. They feel secure in their place as explorer, and understand that mistakes are a given, even as they are unpredictable. Being a stranger is no easy task, but they welcome the challenge with energy and enthusiasm.

Acculturation Process

Acculturation, or the transition to living abroad, is often described as an emotional rollercoaster. Steven Rhinesmith provides ten steps that show the process of acculturation, including culture shock, that you may experience:

• Initial anxiety
• Initial elation
• Initial culture shock
• Superficial adjustment
• Depression-frustration
• Acceptance of host culture
• Return anxiety
• Return elation
• Reentry shock
• Reintegration

Humans fear the unknown, and even if your tolerance for uncertainty is high, you may experience a degree of anxiety in anticipation of your arrival. At first the “honeymoon” period is observed, with a sense of elation at all the newfound wonders. You may adjust superficially at first, learning where to get familiar foods or new ways to meet your basic needs. As you live in the new culture, divergence will become a trend and you’ll notice many things that frustrate you. You won’t anticipate the need for two hours at a bank for a transaction that once took five minutes, or could be handled over the Internet, and find that businesses close during midday, preventing you from accomplishing your goals. At this stage, you will feel that living in this new culture is simply exhausting. Many expats advise that this is the time to tough it out—if you give in to the temptation to make a visit back home, you will only prolong your difficult adjustment.

Over time, if you persevere, you will come to accept and adjust to your host culture, and learn how to accomplish your goals with less frustration and ease. You may come to appreciate several cultural values or traits and come to embrace some aspects of your host culture. At some point, you will need to return to your first, or home, culture, but that transition will bring a sense of anxiety. People and places change, the familiar is no longer so familiar, and you too have changed. You may once again be elated at your return and the familiar, and experience a sense of comfort in home and family, but culture shock may again be part of your adjustment. You may look at your home culture in a new way and question things that are done in a particular way that you have always considered normal. You may hold onto some of the cultural traits you adopted while living abroad, and begin the process of reintegration.

You may also begin to feel that the “grass is greener” in your host country, and long to return. Expatriates are often noted for “going native,” or adopting the host culture’s way of life, but even the most confirmed expats still gather to hear the familiar sound of their first language, and find community in people like themselves who have blended cultural boundaries on a personal level.

Living and Working Abroad

In order to learn to swim you have to get in the water, and all the research and preparation cannot take the place of direct experience. Your awareness of culture shock may help you adjust, and your preparation by learning some of the language will assist you, but know that living and working abroad take time and effort. Still, there are several guidelines that can serve you well as you start your new life in a strange land:

• Be open and creative . People will eat foods that seem strange or do things in a new way, and your openness and creativity can play a positive role in your adjustment. Staying close to your living quarters or surrounding yourself with similar expats can limit your exposure to and understanding of the local cultures. While the familiar may be comfortable, and the new setting may be uncomfortable, you will learn much more about your host culture and yourself if you make the effort to be open to new experiences. Being open involves getting out of your comfort zone.
• Be self-reliant . Things that were once easy or took little time may now be challenging or consume your whole day. Focus on your ability to resolve issues, learn new ways to get the job done, and be prepared to do new things.
• Keep a balanced perspective . Your host culture isn’t perfect. Humans aren’t perfect, and neither was your home culture. Each location and cultural community has strengths you can learn from if you are open to them.
• Be patient . Take your time, and know a silent period is normal. The textbook language classes only provide a base from which you will learn how people who live in the host country actually communicate. You didn’t learn to walk in a day and won’t learn to successfully navigate this culture overnight either.
• Be a student and a teacher . You are learning as the new member of the community, but as a full member of your culture, you can share your experiences as well.
• Be an explorer . Get out and go beyond your boundaries when you feel safe and secure. Traveling to surrounding villages, or across neighboring borders, can expand your perspective and help you learn.
• Protect yourself . Always keep all your essential documents, money, and medicines close to you, or where you know they will be safe. Trying to source a medicine in a country where you are not fluent in the language, or where the names of remedies are different, can be a challenge. Your passport is essential to your safety and you need to keep it safe. You may also consider vaccination records, birth certificates, or business documents in the same way, keeping them safe and accessible. You may want to consider a “bug-out bag,” with all the essentials you need, including food, water, keys, and small tools, as an essential part of planning in case of emergency.

Key Takeaways

Preparation is key to a successful international assignment. Living and working abroad takes time, effort, and patience.

• Research one organization in a business or industry that relates to your major and has an international presence. Find a job announcement or similar document that discusses the business and its international activities. Share and compare with classmates.
• Conduct a search on expat networks including online forum. Briefly describe your findings and share with classmates.
• What would be the hardest part of an overseas assignment for you and why? What would be the easiest part of an overseas assignment for you and why?
• Find an advertisement for an international assignment. Note the qualifications, and share with classmates.
• Find an article or other first-person account of someone’s experience on an international assignment. Share your results with your classmates.

Contreras, C. D. (2009). Should you accept the international assignment? BNET . Retrieved from findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5350/is_200308/ai_n21334696.

Rhinesmith, S. (1984). Returning home . Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Bureau for International Education.

Tu, H., & Sullivan, S. (1994). Business horizons . Retrieved from findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_nl_v37/ai_14922926.

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60 Exceptional International Business Topics To Score High

International business is today one of the most eyed professions in the world. As businesses continue to invest globally, it becomes necessary to explore markets in other parts of the world. But i t is not easy to write a research paper for a high grade.  With that in mind, we explore global business topics to help you complete your business paper in no time.

What Is International Business?

It is an academic field that gives students an understanding of globalization in the different business management practices found worldwide. International business also prepares the students for graduate careers working abroad or in organizations engaged in business on a global scale.

How To Write International Business Topics

To outsmart your peers in such a paper, following the guidelines below in choosing a top-notch topic:

Have a topic that you have an interest in Avoiding picking narrow or broad-based topics Choose one that is based on the current affairs in the world of business Explore annual reports, periodicals, and news articles for unique topic ideas Ensure that the topic has sufficient sources

The structure of your topic will also determine whether it is viable or not. Reading previous international business topics will also give you an idea of coming up with a top-rated topic. However, we have 60 impressive ideas to jumpstart your international business paper.

Captivating International Business Topics

• Why do most international companies prefer candidates with a Master’s degree?
• The role of digitization in enhancing international businesses
• How the coronavirus has made the international business a risky venture
• Considerations when choosing to invest in developing countries
• How e-commerce has made international business more accessible and manageable
• Market segmentation as a factor in international business ventures

International Business Research Paper Topics For College Students

• The impact of off-shore business accounts in combating corruption
• How terrorism affects international businesses
• The role of modern technologies in enhancing international businesses
• What is the implication of the stock market exchange in international business?
• How to strategically manage global business ventures in the technological age
• How does cultural imperialism affect the effectiveness of the business in the international arena?

International Business Research Topics For High School Students

• Discuss the impact of political upheavals in international business
• Discuss the ethical dilemmas in conducting businesses globally
• Why is Coca-Cola making inroads in the international world of business?
• Evaluate the best HR management strategies for global businesses
• Legislations and policies among countries that inhibit the performance of global companies
• Does the presence of international companies on social media have an impact on their market?

Top Trending International Business Paper Topics

• The role of different geographical locations in affecting consumer behavior
• How can international companies’ best identify the needs of their global clients?
• Conduct a consumer behavior analysis for international and local businesses
• Factors that affect the hiring of employees for international companies
• How language and a cultural understanding are critical tenets of international businesses
• How employees from different cultures, race, and languages can collaborate on an international business venture

Business Topics For Research Paper in Digital Marketing

• The role of digital marketing in flourishing international businesses
• Designing business strategies for international digital marketing
• The impact of search engine optimization in increasing the online presence of international businesses
• What is the effectiveness of email marketing for international businesses
• The rise of site, video, and game advertising in international business marketing techniques.
• The aggressiveness of paid reviews or articles and hiring influencers in digital advertising

Current Topics in International Business

• How are mergers and acquisitions transforming international businesses?
• Supply chain management and logistics in international companies – a case study of the risks involved
• Training and development strategies in developing economies
• Risks associated with global banking systems
• How are regional trade blocks instrumental in international businesses?
• How the World Bank and IMF are essential in facilitating international business ventures

International Business Research Papers For Master’s Students

• How organizational culture is essential in innovation management
• Impacts of employee turnover and measures of addressing them
• How intercultural differences affect consumption patterns
• How emerging small and medium business enterprises can get funding
• Analysis of the Coca-Cola marketing strategy
• The running of international non-governmental organizations: A case study of Red Cross

International Business Topics For Projects

• Marketing strategies that have made KFC a global brand
• The role of corporate leadership in international companies
• How governments impact international trade
• Impact of pandemics on international businesses
• Effects of corruption on global business ventures
• The success of Amazon as a global internet company

Hot Global Business Topics

• Penetration of Chinese investors in Africa
• An overview of the horticulture Industry
• The rise of mask production companies
• Impacts of crypto-currencies on international businesses
• Who assesses the quality of products in the international markets?
• The effect of BREXIT on global markets

International Business Research Topics List

• Impact of war on global businesses
• Economic consequences of Trump’s administration
• How does artificial intelligence take part in the global market
• A case analysis of companies that have succeeded and failed in the global arena
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• Impacts of legislation on tobacco and marijuana globally

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5 Common Challenges of International Business You Should Consider

• 24 Nov 2020

The world is big and, when it comes to business, everyone is intertwined. Whether or not you produce and sell goods internationally, global business impacts every organization.

“Everybody has to care about macroeconomics and the global economy,” says Harvard Business School Professor Forest Reinhardt in the online course Global Business .

In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, doing international business has become an essential part of companies’ growth and expansion strategies. Yet, this journey is filled with obstacles that you must overcome to succeed.

So, how can you, as a business owner, manager, or employee, stay informed and find your organization’s place in the global market?

Here’s an introduction to international business, some common challenges to consider, and suggestions for how you can prepare.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is International Business?

International business is the production and sale of goods and services between countries. There are several ways a business can be international:

• It produces goods domestically and sells both domestically and internationally.
• It produces goods in a different country but sells domestically.
• It produces goods in a different country and sells both domestically and internationally.

Businesses typically produce goods overseas due to lower labor costs or taxes, and they sell products and services in the global market because of the high potential for gaining a larger audience, new customers, and increased revenue.

“Although international business is extremely exciting, it can also be risky,” Reinhardt says in Global Business .

But what are the factors that affect international business?

The most common include:

• Shifting economic stability
• Ongoing geopolitical tensions
• Changing global trade networks

These highlight just a few of the current global business issues affecting organizations though. Every country has its own government, policies, laws, cultures, languages, currency, time zones, and inflation rate. Therefore, navigating the global business landscape can be difficult. This means business owners need to learn how to adapt to these challenges. Here are five to consider.

Related: 3 Economic Indicators to Consider Before Expanding Your Business Globally

5 Common Challenges of International Business

1. language barriers.

When engaging in international business, it’s important to consider the languages spoken in the countries to which you’re looking to expand.

Does your product messaging translate well into another language? Consider hiring an interpreter and consulting a native speaker and resident of each country.

One example of a product “lost in translation” comes from luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz. When entering the Chinese market, the company chose a Mandarin Chinese name that sounded similar to “Benz”: Bēnsǐ. The name translates to “rush to death” in Mandarin Chinese, which wasn’t the impression Mercedes-Benz wanted to make with its new audience. The company quickly adapted, changing its Chinese name to Bēnchí, which translates to “run quickly, speed, or gallop.”

It’s also critical to consider the languages spoken by your company’s team members based in international offices. Once again, investing in interpreters can help ensure your business continues to operate smoothly.

2. Cultural Differences

Just as each country has its own makeup of languages, each also has its own specific culture or blend of cultures. Culture consists of the holidays, arts, traditions, foods, and social norms followed by a specific group of people. It’s important and enriching to learn about the cultures of countries where you’ll be doing business.

When managing teams in offices abroad, selling products to an international retailer or potential client, or running an overseas production facility, demonstrating that you’ve taken the time to understand their cultures can project the respect and emotional intelligence necessary to conduct business successfully.

One example of a cultural difference between the United States and Spain is the hours of a typical workday. In the United States, working hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., often extending earlier or later. In Spain, however, working hours are typically 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 8 p.m. The break in the middle of the workday allows for a siesta, which is a rest taken after lunch in many Mediterranean and European countries.

3. Managing Global Teams

Another challenge of international business is managing employees who live all over the world. When trying to function as a team, it can be difficult to account for language barriers, cultural differences, time zones, and varying levels of technology access and reliance.

To build and maintain a strong working relationship with your global team , facilitate regular check-ins, preferably using a video conferencing platform so you can interact in real time.

Research by Gallup shows that employees who have regular check-ins with their managers are three times more likely to be engaged at work than employees who don’t.

When distance divides teams, as it has for many during the COVID-19 pandemic , communication is key to ensuring everyone feels valued and engaged.

Related: How to Foster Employee Engagement When Your Team Is Remote

4. Currency Exchange and Inflation Rates

Another common issue with international trade is navigating foreign exchange rates. The value of a dollar in your country won’t always equal the same amount in other countries’ currency, nor will the value of currency consistently be worth the same amount of goods and services.

Familiarize yourself with currency exchange rates between your country and those where you plan to do business. The exchange rate is the relative value between two nation’s currencies. For instance, the current exchange rate from the Canadian dollar to the US dollar is 0.74, meaning one Canadian dollar is equal to 74 cents in US currency. Make it a point to watch exchange rates closely, as they can fluctuate.

It’s also important to monitor inflation rates, which are the rates that general price levels in an economy increase year over year, expressed as a percentage. Inflation rates vary across countries and can impact materials and labor costs, as well as product pricing.

Understanding and closely following these two rates can provide important information about the value of your company’s product in various locations over time and help prevent international trade problems.

5. Nuances of Foreign Politics, Policy, and Relations

Business doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it’s influenced by politics, policies, laws, and relationships between countries. Because those relationships can be extremely nuanced, it’s important that you closely follow news related to countries where you do business.

Political leaders’ decisions can have a significant impact on various aspects of a country, including taxes, labor laws, raw material costs, transportation infrastructure, and educational systems.

One hypothetical example Reinhardt presents in Global Business is that if the Chinese government decided to subsidize Chinese dairy farms, it would impact dairy farmers in all surrounding countries. This is because, with extra funding, Chinese dairy farms may produce a surplus of dairy products, causing them to expand their markets to neighboring countries.

It’s both exciting and intimidating that the nuances of international politics, policies, and relations can impact your business. Stay informed and make strategic decisions as new information arises.

Preparing for International Business Challenges

If you aim to expand your business, it’s important to prepare for international business challenges. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not an opportunity for enormous organizational growth.

To prepare for those challenges, vary your news intake and closely follow foreign politics, make connections in countries where you hope to do business, invest in interpreters to overcome language barriers, and consider taking a global business course to develop your international business skills and prepare for today's nuanced, interconnected business world.

Are you interested in breaking into a global market? Sharpen your knowledge of the international business world with our four-week Global Business course, and explore our other online strategy courses .

This post was updated on April 19, 2024. It was originally published on November 24, 2020.

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International business assignment Final

Internation business (ibs301), the university of asia pacific.

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Preview text

International business, (individual assignment).

Name: ABDULLAH BIN MOHD WAHID

TP number: TP

Module Name & Code: BM023-3-2-INTB

Intake Number: UC2F1808IBM

Hand out date: 12th APRIL 2019

Lecturer’s Name: SHAILAJA KUMAR A/P KUMAR

Executive Summary

This project assignment has done to accomplish the condition of the current export market and economic condition in Malaysia. This research has been evaluated the total production of commodities and how it effects country economy in term of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The determination of this project is how the Malaysia exports their commodities to another countries which includes the cost of commodities, benefits, risks as well as distribution strategy. This assignment also shed some light on the fluctuation rate of commodities year-to- year. It will also explain about the total export in the recent years. Finally, in this task there are numerous recommendations and the conclusion for Malaysia to improve their exports strategies.

1 Introduction

Export is a determination of international trade whereby goods formed in one country are distributed to another country for upcoming sale or trade. The sale from export will lead to making the nation’s gross domestic product. Exports of a nation play a significant role in the economy. There has been the widespread debate among economists about the relationships between export growth and economic growth. The effective of macro-economic will lead to the quality of life (Biondo, 2017). In significance, fast growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has become the most vital objective of any republic including Malaysia. An important issue immediately interferes, that is whether export promotion leads to higher economic growth or economic growth promotes exports.

Export of goods and services stand for one of the most important sources of foreign exchange income that facilitate the pressure on the balance of expenses and create employment opportunities. For Malaysia years of industrial growth and political stability, helping to gain a position as the 20th largest export economy in the world. According to analytical result, Malaysia’s total annual exports amount to $184 billion and its imports for the same period come to $156 billion, resulting in a positive trade balance of $27 billion (Workman, 2019).

Based on Trading Economics (2012), the Malaysia foremost exports commodities are: palm oil (15 percent), petroleum products (9 percent), liquefied natural gas (7 percent), timber as well as rubber. Malaysia also exports chemicals, machinery, appliances and manufactures metals. Top destinations of Malaysia exports are Singapore (15% of total exports which is $27), China (13% of total exports is $23 billion), the United States (19 billion), Japan ($15 billion) European Union (9 percent) and respectively Thailand

($10 billion). Others includes Hong Kong, Indonesia, Middle East, African countries, etc. (Pines, 2011).

The following diagram shows the Malaysia’s major export partner in the year 2010;

Sources: (Economywatch, 2010)

Southeast Asia, predominantly Malaysia, has been a trade centre for eras. Since the foundation of history, Malacca has served as an essential regional commercial hub for Malay, Indian, Arab and Chinese traders for business of valuable commodities. Currently, Malaysia shares strong trade relations with many nations specifically the United States, European, Middle East, etc. The country is affiliated with trade organizations such as WTO, APEC as well as ASEAN (Economy Watch, 2010).

Malaysia is rich in natural resources and its traditional economic strength lay in commodities. It is still a vital source of rubber and tin, produces more than half the world’s palm oil and is a net exporter of oil and gas. The exports of the Malaysia are mostly rubber, timber, tin, palm oil, etc. Its exports have a significant role in its economic growth and development of the country. According to 2019 result, Malaysia’s top 10 imports for over 71 percent of the overall value of its commodities purchases from other countries due to lack of resources and materials. For instance, iron and steel posted fastest-growing increase in value among the top 10 import categories, up to 27% in value from 2017 to 2018. In second place was the mineral fuels including oil category which expanded 26% in value, caused by higher purchases of petroleum oils, coal and petroleum gases (Daniel, 2019).

Figure 2 Sources: (Lyddon, 2018) 2

The Malaysia’s rubber industry was one of the primarily source of earning of the country from the exportation in past decades. Afterwards, the production of rubber has been lessening and some investors even labelled rubber sector as a sunset industry. With the accessibility of better-quality raw materials, political stability, and up-to-date infrastructure as well as research and development (R&D) support from the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) and the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC), Malaysia persists a worldwide player in rubber, supplying the world market with a widespread range of rubber commodities (MREPC, 2019).

Malaysia rubber commodity shows a comparative advantage for the country economic growth and development. The Malaysian rubber commodity are basically used in other imported countries for multiple products which is made from rubber such as cord, medical rubber glove, latex thread, tires, mattresses, rubber boots, etc. The Malaysia Export Promotion Council (2016) claimed that numerous countries often choose Malaysia to import rubber to their countries because the rubber formed in Malaysia has best quality and the price are reasonable. Regardless of competition from Indonesia, China and Thailand, Malaysia is anticipated to endure as one of the main providers of glove due to the energetic and farsighted glove producers (Idris, 2009).

Sources: (CEIC, 2018)

The above chart illustrates the Malaysia total exports of rubber from 2002-2018. There is a fluctuation in some year but it still going upward in the following year. The fluctuations occurred due to the low volume of production as well as competitors from other countries who are also producing rubber.

The country export of natural rubber contributes 46 percent of the world production and produce more than one million tonnes of rubber annually. Malaysia rubber are currently exported to more than 190 nations globally. The USA, Japan and Germany persisted the largest markets for Malaysia rubber, accounting for over 40 percent of Malaysia’s total exports of rubber commodities. Other significant markets for Malaysia rubber consist of UK, China, Australia and Brazil. This commodity will remain to play a role in the country’s exports, despite the move to modernisation and industrialisation (Aznam Shah, 2018).

2 and gas Malaysia oil and gas industry are one of their main export commodities to worldwide which contributes 20-30 percent to the country gross domestic product (GDP). Malaysia is the second largest exporter gas exporter in Southeast Asia, with more than 26 million tonnes in 2017. The top export destinations for Malaysia’s oil & gas industry are Singapore, Korea, China, Australia and Thailand. Malaysia is also a major oil producer, with an output of approximately 647,000 barrels oil per day in 2015. According to Malaysian Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC), there are more than 3600 companies in the hydrocarbons industry, these government agencies accountable for promoting the oil & gas industry. Though, the Malaysian oil and gas industry face one of its toughest periods in recent

financial investment in proportion to the associated costs. There are different types of costs which is set according to the commodities. The major costs associated with exporting to different nations and economic zones, including; taxes, income taxes, promotional cost, international communication, travelling cost, GST taxes, overseas agent, overseas distributor, labelling & packaging cost, insurance, transportation, chasing payment, etc. (Delaney, 2019).

The export cost from Malaysia incurred the local production costs as well as manufacturing costs to produce the commodities to be distributed. Afterwards, logistics costs will be imposed by exporters. This is the cost to be borne as the delivery of commodities or goods to the anticipated location or country. This can be done efficiently by sea, by air or by land (Hyatt, 2018). Another cost is bribery and corruption within the country or outside, according to the new report from NGO Transparency International claimed three quarters of the universal major exporting countries are failing to punish corporations that pay bribes overseas. There are still more than 22 countries showing tiny or no enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convection. Those are failing to inspect and prosecute foreign bribery including South Korea, Russia, Netherlands, Japan and Spain. Some of this country are the major importer of Malaysia commodities (Bergami, 2017).

The country that I have chosen is Singapore for the distribution of three commodities and as a major export country. Singapore is top importer and partner of Malaysia since decades of importing different types of commodities such as crude petroleum, palm oil, rubber, oil & gas, chemical commodity, iron, etc. In 2018, the total commodities exported to Singapore valued at RM139 billion is due to higher exports of petroleum related commodities, E&E, crude petroleum and oil & gas (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, 2018).

Singapore is hastily developed from low income nation to a high-income country. The country provides one of the universal most business-friendly regulatory environment for local businesspersons and is ranked among the global most modest economies (The World Bank, 2019). Singapore is well known for its clean as well as incorrupt system. The “Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 has ranked Singapore as the 6th least corrupt in the world” (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, 2019). In term of Singapore political stability, no corruption & bribes, advanced infrastructure, fair law and regulations to every citizen even local or foreigner will have a great impact on the commodities imported from Malaysia.

For the most part when a business starts operating globally, there are several additional features which can have an enormous impact on its achievement. Exporting of commodities is not just the fundamental of any large, successful business; it also helps nationwide economies enlarge and grow. Every country is endowed with some specific resources as Malaysia is known for rich for natural resources such as petroleum, palm oil, rubber, timber, tin, etc. At the same time, a nation may absence other resources to expand and mature its inclusive economy. For instance, while some countries are rich in precious metals, minerals or fossil fuels, others are experiencing a scarcity of these resources. In addition, some nations have highly developed educational systems, technology or infrastructures such as Singapore, while others do not. Therefore, exporting will benefit them in their own capabilities and more opportunities in future.

There are other benefits also can be gain from exporting commodities to other countries. Firstly, exports play a significant role in the country economy, influencing the level of balance of payment, economic growth and employment. For example, the strength of exports has a key role in certifying the current account deficit. In 2017, Malaysia has had a bad current account deficit in 4th quarter registered a deficit of RM13 billion as compared with surplus of RM2 billion in the third quarter. The current account deficit caused by the Malaysia poor export performance (Bernama, 2017).

Furthermore, exports are an element of aggregate demand (AD). Increasing exports will help upsurge AD and cause higher economic growth for the country. For example, the success of palm oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) exports industry in Malaysia contributes to the country economy because they are largest producers in the Southeast Asia as well as world and help Malaysia economy in long term. Besides that, exports help to increases the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which bring money into country. When the money consumed on imports leaves the economy and that declines the nations GDP. If the net exports are surplus, the country has an optimistic balance of payment. Practically every country including Malaysia in the earth wants its economy to be larger rather than smaller because they want to defend their own markets, avoid high tariffs or taxes on imported commodities or goods (Pettinger, 2017).

upsurge, economic growth, exchange rate become higher and constant at a fixed rate (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, 2018). As per this, Malaysia can get numerous benefits from exporting to the Singapore and maintain as a major partner for their commodities.

Export have multiple risks depending on which country is exporting to and cause a risk for the importing country. There are main risks may face by the exporters such as political risk, legal risk and economic risk. Firstly, political risk including conflict or wars which can affect the business through defaults on payments, anti-business fraud, political violence, tax laws, tariffs, confiscation of property or assets and blockages in transmission of earnings. Political risk is different from other commercial risks and inclines to be difficult to evaluate (Robson,2012)

The next is legal risks which means that legal requirement and regulations can differ significantly across different countries. Some of countries have differences in liability law, trade restrictions, contract law, health and safety laws, etc. This is requiring the exporters to check on legal requirements of the country exporting to which can provide a clear direction and avoid future difficulties. Another risk economic and financial risks which affect the profits, cash flow and company or country viability. For instance, broken contracts, country economic downturn, currency fluctuations, etc. This can be due to a higher level of corruption, political instability as well as shaky economy (Thomas, 2018).

However, Singapore is developed country and provides a healthy business trades with Malaysia since the decades. As from the country position, every industrial of Singapore has their own law and consequences regarding international trade in term of political, economic and legal factors which provides proper ways of trades, avoid unfairness and attracts foreign countries to invest or exports their commodities. So that, the exporters become willingly to enter the country without fears of risks which explained above.

4 Distribution Strategy

Distribution strategy is a tactic or a plan to make a product, commodities or a services obtainable to the target customers over its supply chain. Building a robust requires several key features including time, money, energy, commitment and focus. A successful exporter will have the purpose to determine the relevant strategies that are used in specific export strategies for each selected market. The proper distribution strategy will increase business growth. For instance, working with sales agents and corporations with established customers by an outstanding way to advance into new markets (Sucu, 2017). Exports in term countries, there different distribution channels that organization may design accordingly (through cost benefits, risk analysis and research) to best suit their resources.

Considering the different methods of distributing commodities in another country the company should have a vast experience in that market in order to achieve business targeted objectives. In this scenario the company should make an agreement with the 3rd party which already existed in Singapore for the sake of their experience and convenience to operate in their market. Company which is already importing oil & gas such as Winson Oil Trading Pte. Ltd. a mass distributor in the current market of Singapore. For the palm oil commodity Olam international Ltd is the largest import export operating company in Singapore which distributed the large quantity of palm oil in the market. Whereas, rubber commodity has been widely distributed by Archipelago Rubber Trading Pte. Ltd.

Singapore’s fragmented market invokes the selected distribution strategy to be the best suited option. Considering the firm is a new entrant in a foreign market especially keeping petroleum commodities (oil & gas) or rubber existing in a market with major competition in the large industry; partnership or alliance with an existing firm eliminates competition as well as the risk factor of failure to comply with and increased familiarity with market trends, country laws and consumer preferences. The long channel length prevents the brand, or the product served to be left behind the competition and earn enough shelf space. Especially, considering an alliance with the existing firm the channel length removes uncertainty in terms of keeping up with competitors, while hectic to operate the pros fairly beat the cons of a long distribution channel.

The chosen distribution channel is exclusive to the firm since it involves a partnership/alliance agreement with a seasoned firm with market experience and does not provide open opportunity to new entrants. The sheer size of firms and the market itself require the firm to utilize a quality channel to ensure the product reaches the target market as

6 Conclusion

This study examines the trends of commodities, costs, benefits and risk analysis as well as distribution strategies of Malaysia’s export market growth in the past years. Based on the above discussion, Malaysia’s exports are play an important role in contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as national income of the country. Malaysia has revealed to make positive improvement to increase the commodities exports in another country by supervising the local government or private sector of those commodity to improve their production as well as efficiency. Moreover, Malaysia trade exports shows a surplus in the current account which allow them to increase their GDP per capita, exchange rates fixed, low inflation rates, employment increase, etc. As mentioned above, the major partners of exports of Malaysia are mostly developed as well as developing countries such as Singapore, USA, China, Japan, Europe, Indonesia, Thailand, etc. which help Malaysia generates more earnings from the importing countries.

7 References

Lawrence Pines, (2011) Malaysia’s Top Commodity Imports & Exports [online] Available at: commodity/malaysia/ [Accessed on 25th March 2019]

Chris Lyddon, (2016) Focus on Malaysia[online] Available at: world- grain/articles/11117-focus-on-malaysia [Accessed on 26th March 2019]

Tekle S., (2019) Advantages and Challenges of Exporting[online] Available at expertbase/a238-advantages-and-challenges-of-exporting [Accessed on 28th March 2019]

Mark Robson, (2012) How to manage the risk of exporting[online] Available at: theguardian/small-business-network/2012/oct/16/managing-exporting-risk [Accessed on 28th March 2019]

Bepi.mpob.gov, (2018) Export Of Palm Oil By Destination: 2018(tonnes) [online] Available at: bepi.mpob.gov/index.php/en/statistics/export/192-export-2018/867- export-of-palm-oil-to-major-destinations-2018[Accessed on 30th March 2019]

Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, (2018) Trade Performance For 2018 and December 2018[online] Available at: matrade.gov/en/about-matrade/media/press-releases/4515-trade-performance- for-2018-and-december-2018 [Accessed on 25th March 2019]

Miti.gov, (2016) Malaysia’s Total Trade Up 1 Pct to RM1 trillion[online] Available at: miti.gov/miti/resources/MITI%20Weekly%20Bulletin/MITI_Weekly_Bullet in_Volume_373_-_10_February_2016 [Accessed on 2nd April 2019]

The Borneo Post, (2016) Malaysia exports of rubber products up 19 per cent to RM18 billion in 2015[online] Available at: theborneopost/2016/02/29/ malaysia-exports-of-rubber-products-up-19-per-cent-to-rm18-billion-in-2015/[Accessed on 2nd April 2019]

Balu Nambiappan, (2017) Malaysia's Palm Oil Supply and Demand Balance for 1st Half 2017 and Outlook for 2nd Half[online] Available at: researchgate/publication/324560655_Malaysia's_Palm_Oil_Supply_and_De mand_Balance_for_1st_Half_2017_and_Outlook_for_2nd_Half[Accessed on 2nd April 2019]

Statista, (2019) total rubber exports of Malaysia from 2000 to 2018 (in 1,000 metric tons) [online] Available at: statista/statistics/619289/total-malaysia-rubber- exports/[Accessed on 2nd April 2019]

Keith Biondo, (2017) Redefining Globalism [online] Available at: inboundlogistics/cms/article/redefining-globalism/ [Accessed on 25th March 2019]

Economy Watch Content,(2010) Malaysia Trade, Exports and Imports[online] Available at: economywatch/world_economy/malaysia/export-import.html [Accessed on 23rd March 2019]

Daniel Workman, (2019) Malaysia’s Top 10 Exports [online] Available at: worldstopexports/malaysias-top-10-exports/ [Accessed on 25th March 2019]

Ahmad Kushairi, (2017) Malaysia's Palm Oil Supply and Demand Balance for 1st Half 2017 and Outlook for 2nd Half [online] Available at:researchgate/publication/324560655_Malaysia's_Palm_Oil_Supply_and_ Demand_Balance_for_1st_Half_2017_and_Outlook_for_2nd_Half[Accessed on 2nd April 2019]

MREPC, (2019) Rubber Industry[online] Available at: mrepc/industry/industry.php[Accessed on 3rd April 2019]

Izwan Idris,(2009) Rubber price hits 15-month high[online] Available at: thestar.com/business/business-news/2009/12/25/rubber-price-hits-15month- high/[Accessed on 3rd April 2019]

Pamela Hyatt, (2018) 7 Delivery costs to budget for in your export strategy[online] Available at: tradeready/2018/topics/international-trade-finance/7-delivery- costs-to-budget-for-in-your-export-strategy/ [Accessed on 25th March 2019]

PwC, (2016) The Malaysian Oil & Gas Industry [online] Available at: pwc/my/en/assets/publications/2016-msian-oil-n-gas-industry.pdf[Accessed on 3rd April 2019]

MPOC.org, (2019) Malaysian Palm Oil Industry [online] Available at: mpoc.org/Malaysian_Palm_Oil_Industry.aspx [Accessed on 23rd March 2019]

Stephen Chin, (2018) Facing up to dwindling oil and gas resources[online] Available at: theaseanpost/article/facing-dwindling-oil-and-gas-resources [Accessed on 24th March 2019]

Course : Internation Business (IBS301)

University : the university of asia pacific.

• Discover more from: Internation Business IBS301 The University of Asia Pacific 21   Documents Go to course
• More from: Internation Business IBS301 The University of Asia Pacific 21   Documents Go to course

How to Write an International Business Essay

The primary step you need to take as soon as you have learned how to write an international business essay is to be sure that you have a good comprehension of the business theory and its practices. International business explores the general idea of closing the deals in foreign nations, addressing the problems like the risks and benefits of doing business in other cultural and sociological origins, the international business climate, and consumer trends in the progressive markets, the social behavior in global negotiation or intercultural exchange.

The research stage

Gathering all the information is the initial part of every pupil who knows how to write an international business essay. Regardless of the subject you wish to tackle, you need to collect all of the information from a reliable academic source only. With the advent of technology, gathering the academic works has been easier than ever before. Famous books and journals are also available on the web like Google Scholar or SpringerLink, sites that offer lots of worthy and dependable sources of information.

The primary reason behind this phase is the use of reliable bibliographical sources written by highly acknowledged professionals and researchers. On the other hand, you must not restrict the research and browsing the web, since some online sources are not enough for the academic writing. In a lot of cases, you need to check for a local library. Interviews & online surveys about international business topics can also be the best way to gather all the materials needed for the essay, particularly if you will make statistical statements about the insights of the people regarding the advantages of the closing international deals or if intercultural agreements are targeted.

You need to collect all the materials appropriately and then note down all of the important keys you will need, organize the outline and keep a record of every point you need to tackle. When you learn how to write an international business essay , keep in mind that to collect all of the details like the author of the content, the title of the essay, date of publication and who is the publisher, you have used, this will be for the referencing of the paper by the end of the essay.

The writing stage

If you are knowledgeable about how to write an international business essay, you will comprehend the essence of making an outline. This can help in better organizing the parts and arguments of the paper, so that they adhere to the rational flow of the thoughts when you start to compose the paper.  The key to your international business essay is the language. You can use a precise and lucid language and then be able to identify the particular business term. Moreover, do not use waffle words in the paper. If you will use an acronym, bear in mind that the whole phrase should always be spelled first when the acronym is used. For instance, the Court of International Trade or CIT, Assistance for Customs and Trade Facilitation or ACTF, more so, overusing the acronyms is also unacceptable in a lot of instances.

• The introduction must be described in a short manner in the whole part of the paper. You need to start the paper with an eye catching sentence and then describe how you have planned to address the thesis, what side you wish to take, the points you wish to create in the essay and the proof that will bring sustenance to your approach.

Keep in mind that the subjects must be clearly defined and the way they influence the international business context at the same time to elaborate the complications along with the limits available in the topic if appropriate. The introductory page of the paper should be well designed to persuade the reader’s attention and to make them focus on the exposure, but it also needs to make them acquainted with the foreign business environment. Moreover, you can also show some grand theory about the topic tackled.  The details must be modified and demonstrable, a relevant truth to show you possible tactic.

• In the body of the paper, you must also categorize the primary subjects and conduct a thorough examination that is established on the foundations that you have collected. The pupil who is familiar with the ways of how to write an international business essay will pay close attention to the paragraphs. The paragraphs must be different in length, but they need to be around 5 to 15 sentences long only and then they must be in sequential manner, so that the details showed may flow accordingly from one concept to another.

The evolution from one paragraph to another can also be made by means of using the impermanent words or by repeating the keywords assigned to you. You must never end the paragraph with a summary, quote, paraphrase, instead you can also explain to the reader the essence of every bit of information by connecting it to the paper. To be able to come up with a debatable argument, you also need to check some viewpoints from various writers and then take the pros and cons for all the arguments.

More so, you may also emphasize the background of the paper by providing your own thoughts about the discussed matter, especially in terms of the topics such as the risk of international joint venture, the internalization of firms, cultural impact about business and other associated problems. However, if you will tackle about less flexible topics like international business management, economics and or corporate governance, your personal viewpoint about business management must be lessened or restricted. Keep in mind that you need to reference the texts, taking from different sources. In every 1000 words, there must be 10 references, but this may vary on the environment and measurement of the paper.

• The conclusion must emphasize every primary idea that you have dealt with in the body of the paper, so reassuring the thesis statement will not be a problem. This part of the paper must be the outcome of a rational reasoning and it does not have to adhere to a set of formula, you can also make a review about some points or define your insights or thoughts about the subject. You can also give a short acknowledgement to every concept to be able to give a powerful foundation of the credibility. Be cautious not to lose yourself in the details, the conclusion must also give a sense of closure to the readers. Those who are familiar with the way to compose an international business essay must not leave the readers with questions unanswered, or to ask questions that may raise new problems. Bear in mind that your paper doesn’t have to end with THE END or any other kinds of elements.
• The bibliography is part of the paper wherein all the sources of the data gathered in the essay are written. If you have used footnotes in the body of the essay, you can also include the bibliography there.
• The appendix is another part of the paper wherein the international business essay will sustain the materials like charts, screenshots and graphs along with photos. If they are too big in the main body of the paper, you can also include them in the appendix. You will be given a subject to discuss, length and format like the MLA, APA or Harvard by your professor before you start with the paper.

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Question: For the assignments in this course, you will be building on material in each unit. You will select a business that is currently operating in the country within which you reside, and you will report on different aspects of the business as you consider international expansion. Before choosing a particular business and country for expansion, it may be helpful

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Statistics and Actuarial Science

Information for new graduate students in actuarial science, data science and statistics at the university of iowa..

Welcome New Graduate Students!

Information for NEW graduate students in Actuarial Science, Data Science and Statistics at the University of Iowa. 

Last Updated, May 30, 2024.                                   Additional  updates will be sent this summer!

Important Information for International Students

The Office of International Students and Scholars does an incredible job helping you settle into Iowa City and the University of Iowa.  They have webinars to help with:  

1. Getting Started and Making Travel Arrangements

2. Achieving Success: On-campus Involvement and Cultural Adjustment (undergraduate students)

3. Graduate Student Professionalization and Support

4. Understanding Orientation Expectations, Responsibilities, and Placement Tests (graduate students)

5. On-campus Housing Assignments and Move-in Tips (undergraduate students)

6. Student Employment

7. Money Matters - University Billing

Do you need to take the SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English for the Classroom)?

All students for whom English is not a first language (as self-reported on their admissions application) and who have first-time appointments as graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are required to go through a testing process to assess their effectiveness in speaking English before they are assigned assistantship responsibilities. Beginning in Fall 2024, there will be a new test to assess communication in English in a classroom context called SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English in the Classroom).  This is replacing ESPA and ELPT.  Details will be coming soon.

Any graduate student who is included in the following categories needs to have their oral English proficiency tested by the TAPE Program:

• Students whose first language is not English (i.e., learned another language first) as self-reported on their admissions application, and
• Have been appointed as a Teaching Assistant

Exemptions (may change):

• Students with an official valid (within the last two years) iBT Listening score of 25 and an iBT Speaking score of 26.
• Undergraduate degrees and/or     
• Continuous attendance of English-language schools since the age of 12 (or younger)
• Students who served as teaching assistants at other institutions of higher learning in which the language of instruction is English, if they were listed as the instructor of record for a course or led a discussion section in English for at least one year, with a year defined as either two academic semesters or three academic quarters.
• Requests for exceptions regarding the SPEC  can be submitted for evaluation to a committee consisting of the Director of ESL Programs, the Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs in the Graduate College, and a representative from University Human Resources.

Requests for exemption and exceptions must come from the department by the deadline, not the student.   Deadlines to register students for the SPEC are:

• March 1  

NOT Exemptions:

• Students who come from a country where English is one of the official languages.
• Students who are U.S. permanent residents or U.S. citizens whose first language is not English.

Testing Procedures & Results

 To be announced soon!

Graduate/Professional International Students Important Dates

July 12, 2024:  Earliest date you may enter the U.S. in F-1 or J-1 status. August 11, 2024:  Latest date by which you should arrive in Iowa City August 12 - 16, 2024: International Student Orientation August 26, 2024:  Classes begin.

Housing Information for All Students

The department has a housing webpage, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. If you are looking for a roommate, please let us know and we can update this web page!

Looking for housing options ?

All US citizens that are financially supported (TA, RA) need to be here on August 21.

All students will register for classes the week before classes start.  International students must complete the required Orientation Program before  they can register for classes.    

____________________

Fall Classes Advising will be August 19-23

All NEW UI students must meet with their advisor prior to registration.  There is no worry about getting into any of the classes we teach.  

• IF you are an Actuarial Science MS or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Shyamalkumar.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected] to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (233 Schaeffer Hall).
• IF you are a Data Science MS, Statistics MS, or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Boxiang Wang.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected]  to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (261 Schaeffer Hall).

New Graduate College Welcome and Orientation, August 21

The Graduate College Fall 2024 Graduate Student Orientation event will take place on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.  A registration form will be sent to your UI email sometime this early summer from the Graduate College. All new doctoral and master’s students are invited to attend.  

Financially Supported Graduate Students must come in person and present required documents for employment verification.   

• Details coming soon!

New Student Department Orientation, August 23 at 9 a.m., Room to be determined.

• All New Student Orientation —Group Introductions and General Policy Procedures.

New Supported Graduate Assistants Orientation, August 23 at 1 p.m., Room to be determined.

• Our Director of Graduate Studies will have a department review of expectations and your specific roles in our department. Teaching and grading assignments will be explained, as well as preparation, teaching tips, problems and questions, quizzes and exams, weekly meetings, grading, appropriate office use and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Education

Mailbox in 241 Schaeffer Hall 

All graduate students will have a mailbox in our main office.  The faculty do as well.  Please check your mailbox at least once a week!

Office Desk Assignment

Nearly all supported students will have a desk in one of our offices.  The assignment priority (in this order) includes Ph.D. and Fellowship candidates, research assistants, half-time teaching assistants, quarter-time teaching assistants and lastly graders.  Having a desk is a privilege and should be used only for university business.  Office assignments will be given to students on, August 23.  Keys are checked out ONLY after that time.  Please remember to keep the rooms clean and take out all trash to the large bins in the main hallways.

Set-up your University of Iowa Email

All University of Iowa students are required to activate their assigned uiowa.edu email address, as all official communication from university offices are now sent via email, rather than hard copy. This address usually follows the pattern [email protected]   (However, often a number is also attached.) 

To activate the account:

• Log on to  MyUI
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Request Email Account
• Complete the specified steps.

Students who prefer to maintain only their work or home email addresses can do so by routing the uiowa.edu email to a work or home account. To do so, follow these steps:

• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Update Email Routing Address

Important Notes:

• If your uiowa.edu email address is routed to a different account, you will  not  need to change your address in ICON, as your messages will already forward to your routed address.
• Log on to MYUI.
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Email Account Filter bulk mail.
• Make sure that none of the categories are checked.

Required Graduate Assistants Teaching Courses:

• ONLINE CLASS Requirement: Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu.  Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) click on Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu., follow instructions.
• ONLINE CLASS Requirement:  Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) next click on Available Online Icon Courses, next FERPA Training, then click on View Details twice and the last click will be to Enroll in this ICON Course Session.
• A six-hour orientation program will be required of all students who are certified at level A or B and are teaching for the first time.  This orientation helps new teaching assistants understand the culture of the U.S. classroom and treats topics such as student expectations, teacher-student relationships, and understanding and answering student questions. Discussion focuses on suggestions for maximizing comprehensibility in spoken English. This course meets twice for 3 hours early in the semester. Both meetings are held in the evening.

Administrative Department Staff:

Professor aixin tan (until july 1, 2024).

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected]   (319) 335-0821.

Professor Boxiang Wang (beginning July 1, 2024)

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected] (319) 335-2294.

Professor N.D. Shyamalkumar

Actuarial Science Graduate Advisor:  [email protected]    (319) 335-1980

Margie Ebert

Academic Services Coordinator ,  [email protected]  (319) 335-2082

Heather Roth

Administrative Services Coordinator  [email protected]   (319) 335-0712

Tammy Siegel

Department Administrator ,  [email protected] , (319) 335-0706