Intercultural Issues in International Business: A Case Study Report

Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding

• Demonstrate a deep and systematic understanding of culture shock, its impact on human behaviour and relevant inter-cultural theories through analysing culturally diverse behaviour to explain the conflicting values, beliefs and behaviours of others in the context of group work.  

Demonstrate the following skills and abilities

• Analyse and evaluate cross-cultural scenarios in order to provide solutions in the context of international arena by applying inter-cultural theories.

What am I required to do in this assignment?

The Report (of a case study)

1.You will work in a team to provide business solutions to a case study chosen by your group. It is expected that you will select an existing company that operates on international market/s. After collecting secondary data about the company from public domains you will analyse the company in order to identify intercultural issues the company deals with or is very likely to face in the near future. Therefore, you will have to produce recommendation.

The chosen company needs to be approved by your tutor. Also, each team is expected to work on different cases.

In week 6 you and your team will present your case study for formative feedback before submitting your final individual paper. At that stage a grade will not be given yet; however you will be provided with valuable feedback allowing you to improve and strengthen your work before submitting written work. The case study will be placed in the appendix of your written report (see point 2).

2.Based on the Case Study prepared by your team, you will produce an individual written report summarising the main points and providing your conclusions and recommendations.  

This is a very important part of any report. It provides a brief outline of the major themes or issues covered in the report – reader can gain an appreciation of the whole picture without having to read the full report.

This gives a broad, general view of the report, indicating what will be covered and why it was necessary to write it. It provides sufficient background information to enable the reader to understand the context of the report and provide the motivation for them to continue to read.

Findings (the main body of the report)

This section presents the detailed facts and findings and indicates how they were arrived at and the inferences to be drawn from them – it is the foundation for your conclusions. This is your evidence.

• Develop ideas logically and as fully as possible ( with one main topic or idea per paragraph)
• Consider the different aspects of the problem but keep an appropriate balance – do not develop one section to the exclusion of others
• Your reasoning should be clear to the reader
• Explain and justify the points made, presenting supporting evidence where appropriate.  You can use theories or data or both but always support your statements, otherwise they could be seen as ‘hearsay’.
• Keep focused by constantly referring to the terms of reference

Materials in the main body of the report lead the reader logically to the conclusions.  The conclusion is not just a summary of the information but summarises the main findings and offers some evaluation and or opinion of them.

They should indicate action needed in order to achieve the aid of the report – should follow naturally from and based on the material presented in the conclusions.  Do not introduce any new issues or arguments at this point.

What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations from UIF)

In order to pass Assessment 2 you will need to:

• Employ a range of strategies and resources to analyse a given problem through relevant intercultural theories.
• Demonstrate an understanding of theoretical approaches and their impact on a given problem.
• Research different options and propose viable solutions preparing a case study for your chosen client.

How do I produce high quality work that merits a good grade?

We will be filling this section in together in class on Click or tap to enter a date. make sure you have downloaded/printed out the Assignment Brief and bring it to the session with you.

How does this assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?

The assignment focuses on key intercultural concepts and models discussed in the scheduled sessions, such as cultural dimensions and taxonomies, high and low context cultural and their influence on business interactions (covered in class).

How will my assignment be marked?

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.

You can use them to evaluate your own work and consider your grade before you submit.