Culture and Business in a Selected Country: Assignment

Requirements of the Assignment

This assignment is designed to allow you to gain an in-depth understanding of a particular country specifically in terms of its culture and how that culture impacts on doing business in that country.  The primary focus of your presentation should be on the country’s culture within the context of the theories and concepts described and discussed in the Deresky text.  Your goal, as the presenter, is to provide information and advice to a hypothetical client on how to predict behavior in your chosen country particularly in business situations.    

Pick a country that interests you and for which there is an abundance of web-based information that relates to doing business there, eg, you shouldn’t pick North Korea!  You may have already visited a country that interests you or you may wish to visit one in the future and want to find out all about it.  Alternatively, you might consider one that is particularly relevant or high profile in terms of current news or relevant to topics that have come up in other courses.  The key is to select a country which you find truly interesting and relevant.

Your primary source of information will come from the text.  But you will find that the web has an enormous amount of information about multicultural theory and countries around the world.  Do not rely too much on Wikipedia – there are lots of more informed sites including ones that are maintained by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), eg, the UN or the World Bank.  Most countries have their own governmental sites which provide information about their country and also countries with which they have business and other dealings with.  Also, business organizations maintain sites that can be useful, eg, Chamber of Commerce in various countries, professional organizations like accounting and consulting firms (especially those that specialize in export and import assistance), banks, shipping companies, and international law firms.  

The Assignment

This assignment has 1 deliverable – a PowerPoint presentation which should include but not necessarily be limited to

1. a description of the country, eg, location, size, history, political structure, economic factors (eg, major industries or economic activity), social factors (eg, languages), cultural elements (eg, religions);

2. some historical context for the development of the country’s cultural environment;

3. a discussion of the country’s culture in the context of the theories and concepts of the course;

4. a discussion of the impact the culture/s have on doing business in the country, ie, how does the culture predict and explain behavior;

5. advice to business people on how to conduct business in the country, eg, how to negotiate

Presentations typically range from 25 up to 35 slides.  Most will include a significant amount of graphic material which is desirable, both in terms of knowledge and maintaining interest levels.  If you wish, you can also submit ‘talking points’ attached to your presentation but this is not required.  Make sure, however, that your presentation doesn’t turn into a ‘travelogue’; it must be a serious theory-based activity and not just descriptive in nature.

You must be careful about referencing your sources of information.  Since the only deliverable is a PPT presentation (and talking points if you wish), you should reference your source/s in a footer on the slide where the information is used.  I’m not particularly ‘stuck’ on a particular referencing format.  If you know APA and are comfortable with it, that’s fine.  But the test is that you do cite sources when used and provide a reference list consistent with the protocol you use.

You must also be careful not to commit an academic offence in this assignment.  Do not copy another person’s work without citation and reference.  Your submission will be scrutinized by software designed to identify plagiarism.  And if it identified, it will be dealt with according to the OSB policy on cheating.