BUSI2025 International Business
Business Environment Analysis Report – Task Specification
Due date:
4pm, Monday 23 September 2013 (submitted to the RSM office)
Expected length: 2,000 words + 10% including the executive summary, but excluding references
Weighting:
30% of the final grade

Overview
The individual assignment takes the form of a business report to the CEO at the headquarters of an Australian company chosen from the list provided separately on
Wattle. In writing your report, be aware of the following: the CEO knows the company and its products or services well and thus does not need specific information on those; the CEO needs to be informed about the possible risks/opportunities to the company from the business environment in the foreign country; the CEO only has time for a focused but informative and analytically sharp report; the report should focus on the country-level conditions and any industryspecific issues of a political, economic, regulatory etc nature that are relevant to your firm’s products and/or services. You do not need to assess the competitive environment that the firm is operating in. For example, the pricing, product, and strategic decisions of other firms in the industry can be ignored for the purposes of this report; attention should be paid to any aspect of the business environment relevant to the firm and its products/services, such as the political environment, government regulation, commercial law, intellectual property issues, level and rate of economic development, demographics, policies on international trade and investment, environmental law, regional cooperation etc; and the report should focus on current conditions and issues and therefore should not dwell on old or historical information.
Please bear in mind that you are required to conduct research that goes well beyond the data/information contained in the textbook for this course. A list of useful sources can be found on pages 13 & 14 of the course outline.

Formatting requirements
Please take into account the following requirements for your submission:
Your submission must include the signed assignment coversheet;

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You must correctly reference all information that you have used in preparing your submission;
The text of your assignment should be 1.5 spacing (except for the Executive
Summary, which should be single spaced);
You are encouraged to use sub-headings where appropriate; and
You are encouraged to print your work double-sided to save paper.

Suggested structure and contents
Executive Summary (maximum of one page)
Provide a brief summary of the report’s contents and key recommendations for the CEO
1. Introduction
State the purpose of the report, an overview of the firm’s products/services, and a brief overview of the report’s structure etc.
2. Overview of the target country
Outline why the target country was chosen for consideration, the nature of possible engagement in this country (e.g. as a final market, source of inputs etc) 3. Analysis of the Business Environment
Provide an assessment of the key opportunities and risks arising from the business environment. You should only analyse factors that are potentially relevant to the firm and its products/services but you may wish to consider the following factors:
Social and cultural environment – e.g. population size and growth rate, urban/rural composition, cultural issues and barriers etc that are