Briefing sheet: Country analyses

You will be allocated two of the following four areas to research & analyse:  

1. The economic environment in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia	2. The economic environment in Hanoi/Vietnam
3.The society & culture of Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia	4. The society & culture of Hanoi/Vietnam

Your analysis briefings (2 x 1-2 page summaries) are due 9.00am Wednesday January 6th 2016. Your final analysis report (≈ 3200 words) is due 9.00am Monday 25^thJanuary 2016. 
Marking criteria
1. Information Literacy (20%): The ability to research & select relevant source materials, including use of the library databases.
a.       Evidence of a selection of quality data (i.e. reputable, relevant, and recent).
b.      Evidence of a breadth of quality source materials (e.g. not Wikipedia or CIA Factbook).
c.       Use of appropriate and consistent style of references and citations (UTS Harvard).
d.      Comprehensive, accurate and thorough in-text citations. All claims fully cited.
e.      Comprehensive     and         well         organised      reference      list (complete, alphabetical).
2. Communication (30%): Professionally written & presented work.
a.       Followed instructions (e.g. word count, format, content).
b.      Effective use of section headings, sub-headings, and paragraphs. 
c.       Effective use of visual aids (tables, graphs, charts).
d.      Good quality written English (e.g. punctuation, spelling, grammar).
e.      Professional tone, appropriate for reader and purpose.
 
3. Research & Inquiry (50%): Ability to integrate and synthesise data; clear and well argued conclusions; level of conceptual understanding of the data; level of conceptual understanding of risks and opportunities in the target country.
a.       Adequately addresses research questions that are appropriate & relevant.
b.      Comprehensive analysis addressing all important indicators relevant to the scenario.
c.       Demonstrates overall understanding of current business environment.
d.      Interpretation appropriately reflects data quality & uncertainties (e.g. source, recency etc).
e.      Balanced and nuanced analysis. Considers pros and cons. Evidence of judgements & weighing of evidence.

General advice for doing well:
ü  Choose good quality reference materials & base your analysis on the quality of the data. Ask yourself: How recent is this data? How relevant is it to my purpose? How reliable is it (e.g. does it come from a reputable source)? In general, give greater weight to data that is recent, relevant & reliable. Be more tentative when using poorer quality data. 
ü  Make your investigation targeted. For a start, we’ll be looking at the environments from the perspective of an Australian organisation wanting to do business in the target country. What challenges or opportunities will it face? How will the [economic/socio-cultural] environment influence the nature of the way it establishes & does business? Feel free to focus on other specific features of the environment (see the Subject Outline for details). 
ü  Drawing on the previous point, start with some specific ‘research questions’ & consider what data would help you to answer these questions. For instance, one part of your analysis of the economic environment will probably be: ‘What are the overall economic conditions in *target country/city+?’ To answer this question, you will probably want to collect data on a range of economic indicators (e.g. gross domestic product, ease of doing business indicators, inflation). Once collected, your challenge is to weigh up the data that you collect & ask yourself - ‘Collectively, what does it all mean for (an Australian) business wanting to enter or do business in this market?’  
ü  Focus on issues that are relevant to current business and management practices. A good starting point might be to look at some recent media articles about the target country. However, don’t overlook the importance of short- and medium-term trends. For instance, while current wage levels and inflation rate are relevant, looking at the trend across the past 10 or 20 years will give you additional insight into the economic stability.  
General advice for doing poorly:
Would you like to repeat the subject again next summer? If so, here are six ways to ensure that you fail this assessment item:
1.       Just go through the motions of completing a generic PESTLE analysis (or part thereof). 
2.       Use data you find from any old Internet site, like Wikipedia or The Hofstede Centre, without verifying the accuracy of the data or considering the reliability of the source.   
3.       Cut and paste images, charts, graphs or figures from someone else’s work into your document.
4.       Cut and paste ideas or words from other people’s work and don’t fully acknowledge it through correct citations and referencing.
5.       Dump a whole lot of facts but make no attempt to present your analysis.
6.       Give your opinion about the data without a clear and logical rationale. 
7.       Ask someone else to write or proof-read your work & then present it as your own.
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This basis for this assessment is (part of) a PEST(or PESTLE) analysisa common framework that is used by firms to analyse the business conditions in a particular country/region. The following pages contain a summary of some of the general issues that you might consider in relation to the economic and socio-cultural environments. It also identifies some possible sources of good quality information that you might consider including in your analysis. We will discuss how you might use this data in more detail at the first pre-departure briefing session.    

Economic environment 

Possible indicators that might help your analysis of the economic environment include:
•       The type of economic system (e.g. liberal/social market economy, planned economy, transitioning economy).
•       The overall economic environment (e.g. GDP levels per capita & growth; inflation; FDI; currency exchange rate).
•       The overall ‘business-friendliness’ (e.g. ease of doing business; challenges setting up a business). 
•       Patterns of economic activity (e.g. main sectors of economy, growth/recessionary patterns).
•       Labour costs (wage rates & wage rate changes); rates of taxation (corporate tax rate, GST, payroll tax). 
•       The cost & availability of natural resources. 
•       Standard, availability and cost of relevant infrastructure (e.g. electricity, transport, telecommunications). 
•       Conditions of any trade agreements between Australia & the country. 
Suggested data sources: 
•       World BankOpen Data: National level data for developing/emerging markets: e.g. gross national income, per capita income, Enterprise Surveys, Worldwide Governance Index.
•       Gini index(World Bank), a measure of income distribution (equality).
•       Doing Business Indexand ranking (World Bank). 
•       United Nations: Human Development Index.
•       OECD: National data, International Investment Agreements.
•       United Nations: Human Development Index.
•       Global EDGE: Emerging Market Potential index, Business Climate Ranking & Global Services Location indexes.
•       World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Rankings, Networked Readiness Index, Global Agenda (annual). 
•       Globalisation indexes (e.g. Dreher KOF Index;AT Kearney’s GlobalizationIndex).
•       The Economist: Economist Intelligence Unitdata.
•       Eurasia Group(consultancy): Top Global Risks.
•       Global Competitiveness Rankings(World Economic Forum).
•       Euromonitor International/Passport GMIDdatabase reports like ‘Country Profile’ and ‘Business Environment’. 
•       Austrademarket briefings&Free Trade Agreementinformation.  
Once you’ve collected your data, consider:
•       What types of conditions represent a favourable/unfavourable economic environment?  
•       Which aspects of the economic environment present the greatest opportunities/risks to (Australian) firms wanting to do business in this city/country?  
The importance of understanding the data:
An important part of your analysis will be making sure that you understand what the indicators & data you collect mean. It’s fine reporting that ‘Malaysia’s doing business ranking is 18 (World Bank Group, 2016)’. But what does this actually mean? Part of your job is making sense of the data that you collect & demonstrating this understanding.  
        

Socio-cultural environment

Possible indicators that might help your analysis of the socio-cultural environment include:
•       Population & population distribution data & trends. 
•       The characteristics of the domestic market, including wealth (e.g. age, size, consumer spending, disposable income) and demographic characteristics & trends (e.g. age, sub-cultures). 
•       Labour availability (growth & age; unemployment & underemployment; literacy; skill or productivity levels).
•       Cultural characteristics of the host culture (e.g. individualistic, high/low context communication, high/low power distance) and how these influence management and business practice.
•       Business practices & norms in the local culture.  
•       Socio-cultural similarities and differences between the target country and the firm’s parent country. 
•       Country of origin effect (= attitudes of people in the host country to products & services from the home country). 
Suggested data sources: 
•       Euromonitor International/Passport GMIDdatabase reports like ‘Country Profile’ and ‘Consumer Lifestyles’ reports. 
•       Transparency International: Corruption Perception Index.
•       Government websites with demographic data (e.g. national statistics offices; ABS equivalent).
•       United Nations: Human Development Index.
•       Hofstede’sCultural Dimensions  including dimensions of national culturebased on his VSM values surveyresearch.  
•       House et al.’s GLOBE cultural dimensions & clusters (2004) *‘Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies’] 
•       Kogut & Singh’s Cultural Distance Index (1988) *‘The Effect of National
Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode’] 
•       Johanson & Wiedersheim’s measure of Psychic Distance (1975) *‘The internationalization of the firm’].
Using Google Scholar 
Data on psychic distance & cultural distance indicators (e.g. trade, contact between nations etc.) is available from a range of academic and non academic sources. Google Scholaris a great way to find academic articles on particular topics. The advanced search function is handy. Whereas reference lists allow you to work backwards in time from an article, the ‘Cited by’ links on Google Scholar enable you to jump forward by identifying more recent articles that have cited this article. Used in conjunction with the reference list, this is a powerful way to effectively ‘position’ an article in a time (creating a clear lineage between previous & more recent sources). 
Google Scholar’s search results are based on the number of citations a paper receives so it does preference older articles. It won’t help you identify the quality of the publication either.
Once you’ve collected your data, consider:
•       What types of conditions represent a favourable/unfavourable socio-cultural environment?  
•       Which aspects of the socio-cultural environment present the greatest opportunities/risks to (Australian) firms wanting to do business?