GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL PROJECT “ COUNTRY ANALYSIS ” BUA 3345- 20% OF FINAL GRADE:

Choose any country in the world ( THAT HAS NOT BEEN SELECTED BY THE GROUPS IN CLASS ) that you are interested in studying as a potential destination for international business. Use the PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal) framework.

1. Assess the current economic performance and the competitiveness of this country. How

have they changed in the last 10 years? Include, for example, the following indicators:

•GDP/capita (PPP) and GDP growth rate

•Inflation, Unemployment

•FDI inflows, FDI potential index, FDI performance index

•Country competitiveness index

2. Explain the factors that account for the above change in economic performance and

Competitiveness of this country. Explore, for example, the following questions:

•How did the economic freedom change in this country in the last 10 years?

•Which aspects of economic freedom mostly account for these changes?

•How did corruption change in the last 10 years?

•How did governance change in the last 10 years? Which governance indicators

changed the most?

3. Analyze the remaining PESTEL factors (e.g., political, legal, social, technological, etc.) relevant to running a business in that country.

4. Analyze the culture of the country. Apply a cultural frameworks discussed in class (e.g.,

Hofstede, Trompenaar)

•Provide the scores of this country

5. Provide tips for conducting business in that country.

•Etiquette

•Dining & Socializing

•Business Meetings

PRESENTATION- 5% OF FINAL GRADE:

Each student will have to present their findings to the class. Each student will have approximately 6 minutes to present their paper. Due to the short amount of time, presentations should begin with brief facts about the country (e.g., population, fun facts, etc.) and focus on sections 4 and 5 for the remainder of the presentation.