April
2008

For the Final Exam, you are encouraged to research a Canadian company involved in exporting a product or service so that if you are asked questions about an int'l business situation .... and provide an example, you will be able to give a good detailed example. Some students mike cover two, or three companies such that they really make sure they have an example.

Some student like this because instead of having to memorize points from a text or website, they can earn marks by having found some information on their own. 

Some students find it frustrating cause they can't find a good company - so to give you more time, I am giving out the question now, March 13th, 5 weeks before the April 18h exam.

You should understand that in the past some students have done quite a bit of work looking for a good company and the standards are quite highfor marking this particular question. 

Don't just research the website of the company - you should also look for stories about the company in various media, and know something about the industry in which the company is operating. (I emphasized this when I discussed the matter in class , I hope you paid attention)

April
2008

In April 2008 this is considered a "take home" exam question.

You may begin work on this as of the morning of April 9th when I uploaded this. 
You have more than 2 weeks to do this question so there is a reasonably high expectation of quality.

1. The Question
Using a real example of a Canadian company discuss the several different strategies and ways/modes of exporting in the context of a real life scenario. 

Also, importantly, provide your comments/analysis, on what you think, of how well the company did on some of these strategies. In providing your comments/analysis, use any other “tools” you may have learned in the course about things a company does, or needs to know, to do business internationally.

In April 2008 you are required to make summary comments about how the exporter dealt with the various challenges you discuss, all in the context of a high Canadian dollar that appears as if it will continue to be high for several more months

(FYI In Dec 2007 I asked them to also make comments about your company, as far as you are able, in consideration of the "ethical challenges" and how circumstances therein are having many ramifications for exporters and companies in international business.)
 

You would be discouraged from discussing a company we had already discussed in this course in the lectures since you would not be able to demonstrate well your research ability to find a new company and have a learning experience.

You are welcome to do a company discussed by other students in years past - however.....

Keep in mind that marking is a "competitive evironment" - students who do uncommon or new exciting companies (because they used imagination and hard work to find something good) will be rewarded proportionately.

Basically, bottom-line, you want to convince me that you learned something "interesting and useful" and you were successful applying some of the things I taught you, in to context. What I mean is....learning the theory of  something like "how subsidies work" is OK, but finding a specific situation of a company that had to deal with that, and reading about what happened, is a much better teaching/learning experience..

   o If two students accidentally pick the same company you probably will not be penalized as long as the writing and explanations appears to be different

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES HAND THIS IN WITHOUT THE PAGES BEING STAPLED IN ADVANCE - lost pages due to "couldn't find a stapler" will be your fault

Some students make sure by running a small header on each of the 3 pages with their last name and student number

   o students doing assignments for other courses habitually use footnotes or a page of references, you are welcome to do that if you want on a 4th page - do not cause yourself to lose space by using footnotes running on the bottom of the 3 main pages

   o You may use brief quotes, but make sure you put " " around them so I may therefore presume that all words on the 3 main pages are you words alone. DO NOT under ANY circumstances "cut and paste" any text from any website without putting quotes around it and attribution.

   o you do not need a cover page - just put your first name first, and last name last in the upper right hand corner of the first page

I have been teaching you about management circumstances of international business.

The best way you can convince me you learned some stuff useful and interesting" is to demonstrate how you could look at a company (mid-term, FDI;  final exam, exporting) involved in FDI and exporting and understand what it is they need to do to be successful. In the "real world" of the students who finish C44, and actually work in int'l business, many report back that a fundamental skill is to "find stuff out" about how or why a company does things - then use that information to make a decision about something.

   o You are trying to impress me with your analytical ability - your ability to look at an international business situation and bring in many of the things we talked about in this course
   o You will probably know more about the company than can be fitted on 3 pages - so you are going to have to make a decision about what information to include, and what does not count - and write in a concise, well structured way
   o You are trying to impress me with your originality and work ethic by doing a good job and showing the depth to which you research a company

Or watch this YouTube clip of Billy Crystal and Robert Di Nero from Analyse This
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDbe0WD-aMI 
.