Socio-cultural factors Choose four social indicators. Now that you have a little more experience with the research, go ahead and find ones that interest you. Make sure at least two are quantitative and can be plotted in a graph (similar to the economic wo

2020060903423420200603174448political_and_economic_factors2 20200609034240ibm_4141_research_assignment2 x

 Socio-cultural factors

• Choose four social indicators. Now that you have a little more experience with the research, go ahead and find ones that interest you. Make sure at least two are quantitative and can be plotted in a graph (similar to the economic work last week).
• Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the socio-cultural factors of the countries.

  Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?

• Choose four tech indicators. Research them for each of your four countries.
• Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the technological factors of the countries.

  Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?

• Use the same process as last week.

Technological factors

Bringing it together

• Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.

 

Running head: MODULE 2
1

MODULE 2
2

Module 2: Political and Economic Factors

TianMing Guo

IBM 4141

Prof. Ong

Module 2: Political and Economic Factors

Economic Data

Figure 1: Comparison of GDP per capita (Current US dollar value) trends in the four countries (Data retrieved from The World Bank, 2020a)

Figure 2: Comparison of GDP deflator percentages of the four countriesfrom 2008 to 2017 (Data retrieved from The World Bank, 2020b)

Figure 3: Presentation of Unemployment rates from 2010 to 2019 in the four countries (Data from Trading Economics, 2020a)

Figure 4: Comparison of Consumer Price Index (CPI) changes since 2010 (Data obtained from Trading Economics, 2020b)

In the economic data analysis, in addition to GDP poer capita, I included data on inflation as shown by the GDP deflator rates, unemployment rates, and consumer price index. GDP per capita is an indicator of the health of the economy through an analysis of the spending the people are engaging in (Mankiw, 2016). Therefore, it is crucial in determining whether the economy is growing or in a recession. Inflation, on the other hand, highlights the price stability of goods which is determined by supply and demand among other factors. Rates of inflation determine the stability of the economy against shocks and hence it is a crucial trend to review. Additionally, unemployment rates also reflect the health of the economy in providing jobs for the people. High unemployment rates may show that the economy is struggling and welfare of the people is also low. I also utilized CPI trends as a comparator of economic health. CPI is the weighted price of goods in a consumer’s basket including essentials such as food commodities, healthcare, and transportation. It reflects the cost of living in an economy and hence shows the effects of economic times on the people (Mankiw, 2016). Changes in CPI can determine how well the economy is working for the people. Therefore, it was included in this data analysis as a means of determining cost of living for people in the four countries under comparison.

The data analysis presented in the four charts presents trends between 2008 and 2019 for the different countries’ economic indicators. Some interesting trends can be observed from the presentation. First, there is a consistently huge difference between GDP per capita for

Finland

and United States when compared to

India

and

Botswana

. This difference delineates the label for developed and developing countries. Although these terms are relative, they seem to explain the gap as observed in figure 1 above. Secondly, while India and Botswana seem to also maintain comparatively high levels of inflation, Botswana has large inflation and defaltion rates hence indicating highly unstable prices (figure 2). The trends delineating India and Botswana from Finland and U.S are also observed in figure 4. However, I was surprised to find that despite poor indicator ranks in many categories, India has the lowest unemployment rates among the four countries. This is a surprising trend which shows that among the four, India has managed to maintain very low unemployment rates over the ten years.

Political Data

Country	Political Risk Index	Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism	Reasons
USA	80	61.90	President Trump’s policies and sentiments have heightened divisions and reduced policy certainty hence reducing political stability even amidst his impeachment inquiry (Friedman, 2019).
Botswana	72.5	83.33	Botswana has been ranked one of Africa’s most stable countries with peaceful elections. However, overdependence on the diamond industry threatens social stability in the long run (The World Bank, 2019).
Finland	78.8	81.90	Finland is generally stable due to its strength in preventing security threats and maintaining a stable government. The forced resignation of prime minister in 2019 presents doubt in the political stability of the country’s leadership (The World Bank, 2019).
India	67.7 (Marsh, 2020*)	14.70 (The World Bank, 2019*)	Although India has a stable government, the emphasis on Hindu nationalism threatens democracy and political stability (Abi-Habib, 2020). Internal and regional conflicts involving anti-Muslim terror are to explain for the low score on absence of violence and terrorism.

*Note: Reference captures all data in the column it has been placed in.

While comparing the political factors of these countries, I became aware of the main challenges facing United States and India as violence and terrorism. Contrary to popular thought, some African countries like Botswana have more peace and lower threat of violence than developed countries like America. In India, I was surprised to realize the low rank of political stability. However, the ranks reflected in this comparison are in line with findings in the news. For instance, the U.S has recently lost on its political stability rank due to the acts of violence and indecision of government policy. India is also experiencing similar problems but on a worse scale due to the level of violence. This data has been interesting in outlining the effects of various political and economic factors on the countries. Going forward, I would like to know more about India’s unemployment rates. Despite the high rates of poverty in the country, records show that unemployment rates are low. I would like to learn more about this contradiction and the credibility of data on the same.

References

Abi-Habib, M. (2020, March 5). Violence in India Threatens Its Global Ambitions. New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/asia/india-violence-diplomacy.html

Friedman, U. (2019, Dec. 16). America Is Making the World More Unstable. The Atlantic. Retrieved from

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/12/donald-trump-global-instability-cfr-survey/603631/

Mankiw, N. G. (2016). Principles of economics. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

Marsh. (2020). Political Risk Map 2020: Trade Tensions Threaten Political Stability. Retrieved from

https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/political-risk-map-2020.html

The World Bank. (2019, Sept. 20). The worldwide governance indicators, 2019 update. Retrieved from

https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/Home/Reports

The World Bank. (2020a). GDP per capita (current US$). Retrieved from

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

The World Bank. (2020b). Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %). Retrieved from

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.DEFL.KD.ZG

Trading Economics. (2020a). Unemployment rate. Retrieved from

https://tradingeconomics.com/botswana/unemployment-rate

Trading Economics. (2020b). Consumer price index. Retrieved from

https://tradingeconomics.com/botswana/consumer-price-index-cpi

IBM 4141: International Marketing

Mini research assignment through peer review (Modules 2-5)

As part of “learning by doing” commitment of this class, you will be carrying out some basic research on four countries. Three of these countries are randomly assigned to you, and the fourth is the

USA

. Why the USA? Even if you are unfamiliar with some of the measures, having a point of comparison helps to make sense of what you’re finding. You can compare your lived e

x

perience to that of the data points. If you are not from the USA/grew up in another country, feel free to replace it with your home country and just note that in your write-up.

This assignment will progress over three weeks (Module 2-4) of the class. Each week you will add to the knowledge you’re finding.

Please cite all your sources. Use either MLA, APA, or Chicago style.

https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/citationtutorials

Suggested data sources

·

https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/ibm3001

The CPP library has pulled together a nice set of guides for research. I would recommend scrolling to the “other recommended resources”

· CIA world factbook – gives basic information about each country

·

Country

Watch – country profiles give a detailed understanding about key factors such as political trends, and recent news

· GlobalEDGE – A research tool that allows you to compare across a variety of indicators

·

https://data.worldbank.org/

The World Bank has a downloadable database of indicators – more detail than most other sources.

· You may also like the DataBank, which allows you to select specific indicators:

https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators

· There are many other reputable data sources out there – go ahead and explore!

Those four countries are my research countries.and USA

MODULE 2: Political and economic factors

Economic data

· Out of the different pieces of economic data discussed in our readings and videos, choose FOUR. One type of data must be GDP per capita (in USD).

· For each of your countries, pull the data for those indicators for 5-10 years (a longer time horizon is better).

· Take your data and plot it together in four different line graphs, one for each indicator. Example (not real data):

· Write 2-3 paragraphs summarizing:

· Why you chose the indicators you used? What do they mean, and why are they important?

· Did your countries have data points for all ten years? Take an educated guess as to why/why not.

· What were the trends you plotted?

· What is your response to what you found? Were you surprised at anything?

Political data

· Political data is sometimes (but not always) less quantitative than economic data. I would suggest going to CountryWatch and find their political risk index. For each country, note their political risk and then do some research to try to identify why the number is what it is.

· Pick another indicator, such as political stability, or freedom rankings.

· You can do this in a table, like this example:

Country	Political Risk #	Second indicator	Reasons (often pulled from the news)
USA	9.5	x	· Point one · Point two · Point three

· Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.

· How do the countries compare?

· Is there anything you found that surprised you?

· Did the reasons you could find in the recent news seem to support the indicator values you found? Do you agree as to the risk level for the countries?

· What other questions do you have about these countries, now that you have completed some initial research?

Submitting and review

· Please make sure your assignment is properly formatted and that you use paragraphs and full sentences. Save it as a document or a PDF.

· Upload the assessment in Blackboard as an attachment.

· Once the evaluation period begins, log back into Blackboard, and click back into the same assessment.

· You will be provided two peer assignments to review. There will be criteria and points with which to grade them by. Make sure you provide your fellow students with useful feedback.

· Note that I choose a random subset of submissions and feedback to check for quality of submission as well as review.

· Here’s a video that might help:

· How to complete a peer assessed assignment in Blackboard

MODULE 3: Socio-cultural and technological factors

Socio-cultural factors

· Choose four social indicators. Now that you have a little more experience with the research, go ahead and find ones that interest you. Make sure at least two are quantitative and can be plotted in a graph (similar to the economic work last week).

· Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the socio-cultural factors of the countries.

· Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?

Technological factors

· Choose four tech indicators. Research them for each of your four countries.

· Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3 paragraph write-up on the technological factors of the countries.

· Tie these back to business – what does this make you think about starting a business in these countries?

Bringing it together

· Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.
· How do the countries compare?
· Is there anything you found that surprised you?
· Did the reasons you could find in the recent news seem to support the indicator values you found? Do you agree as to the risk level for the countries?
· What other questions do you have about these countries, now that you have completed some initial research?

Submit and review

· Use the same process as last week.

MODULE 4: International strategy

Presentation

· Choose one product or service from the list provided by Professor Ong. You are going to decide if there are any possible markets for this in the three countries (e.g. not the USA) you have been studying.

· Review the work you have done up to now researching these countries. Are there any gaps in your research, especially given the choice of the product/service? If so, complete some additional research to bolster your case now that you are more familiar with data sources.

· For example, if you chose an electronic product, checking % of the country that has access to the internet or electricity might be useful.

· Develop a brief PowerPoint presentation (plan for it to be under 5 minutes) which goes over the following:

· Product/service you are focusing on

· PEST analyses on the three countries (one per slide)

· Summary slide(s) describing which country/countries are the most attractive proposition for the product/service you chose, with reasons why. Give some brief strategy ideas as to how to market the product in that new country context. How might there need to be shifts in the marketing in order to make this work? Will you focus on a different target market than in the USA? Why?

Submit and review

· Submit the PPT presentation to the group.

· Use the same process as last week to review.

Note – your final assignment in Module 5 will be to polish up this presentation (given the comments from your peers and your own work and ideas), and then record yourself giving a short (4-5 minute) presentation. You will submit this and I will grade this presentation.

Use all your peer review time wisely so that you can have an excellent presentation.

MODULE 5: International Marketing

This week’s assignment will not be peer reviewed. Instead, you will submit it directly to Professor Ong and she will grade it.

Take the work done so far and polish any rough edges, and fill in the gaps noted by your peers. Make sure your story flows logically.

Practice giving this presentation. I want it to be confident and clear.

Record yourself giving the presentation, and submit it as an assignment. You are responsible for all technology related to presenting it, so please practice beforehand so you are not scrambling!

· Newer versions of Powerpoint have ways to record your screen

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-your-screen-in-powerpoint-0b4c3f65-534c-4cf1-9c59-402b6e9d79d0

· You can host your own session and record it via Zoom

https://www.cpp.edu/studentsuccess/documents/zoom/how-to-host-your-own-zoom

· Screencastify is a Google Chrome add-in

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/screencastify-screen-vide/mmeijimgabbpbgpdklnllpncmdofkcpn?hl=en