Individual business report – Term 2 (individual)Week 24, students will discover on Blackboard a number of multinational enterprise casestudies. They will choose two and write 1,000 words on each (+/- 10%), answering andexpanding upon specific questions associated with each. This will be an opportunity todemonstrate the full range of module curriculum, with a slight emphasis on micro-leveltopics.Notes– Students should recall that the prime learning outcome for second year is “problemsolving”. To fulfill this objective, the questions associated with the case studiesprovided will each be structured so that students can start their essays by identifyingthe main issues/challenges/choices/arbitrages that the multinational enterprises(MNEs) in question face, before moving on to specify a number of potentialresponses, with attention paid to the advantages and disadvantages associated witheach.– Similarly, given the module’s underlying philosophy that there is no standard “onebest-way” optimal response to an international business problem, students will wantto offer analysis of why certain remedies they suggest might be more or lessappropriate for the particular MNE in question in the given situation it faces. This isan opportunity to develop analysis not only of possible corporate strategy but alsohigher level reflection upon decision-makers’ “psychology” (attitudes towardsinternational risk and uncertainty, desire for control, etc.)– It will not be enough for students to simply propose possible actions withoutjustifying them. Instead, the ideas being formulated should be rooted in the differentinternational business debates that the module covered over the course of the year,including with reference to seminal theories in this field and to instructive examplesset by other MNEs facing similar dilemmas. Towards that end, responses mustinclude a robust amount of referencing to different readings that the student has done.
