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APPENDIX A: COUNTRY MARKET REPORT OUTLINE
The outline below guides you through a market assessment and market-entry plan for a
particular business and country such as Dicks Sporting Goods to Japan, IKEA to
Brazil, or Sea World to Dubai. Source suggestions are presented and include Internet
sources and sources commonly available through online university library sites. Your
instructor may suggest alternative or additional options based on sources available at
your particular university.
Executive Summary
Briefly describe your product/service and the state of your business.
Briefly state the international experience of your business. Check out your
firms corporate website to see when and where the firm internationalized.
oPLEASE NOTE: This experience might provide very useful insights for
your own project such as product adaptations abroad or pricing policies.
Provide a very short summary of your report
oHow attractive or unattractive is the proposed market and why?
Economic Environment
What is the general economic outlook for your market? What implications
could this have for your business model? A good and timely source for this is
Review issues in Chapter 2 in your textbook to identify pertinent issues for
assessing the economic environment. Address:
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otrade restrictions
omembership in economic integration organizations
oforeign exchange issues
For your section on implications of exchange regime and rates, specifically
address the following:
oWhat is the nature of the local currency regimefreely floating, pegged
to dollar, pegged to the euro, etc.? For a description of different
oWhat has been the recent history of the local currency versus the home
currency? Examine the past three years (at least) for developed countries
and ten for developing countries. If you have a major global competitor
from a third country, also look at the recent history of the local currency
versus the currency of their home country.
Wikipedia often provides a good summary of national currencies.
oDo experts propose that the local currency will devalue/revalue against
the local currency/third-country currency? What are the pressures to do
so? Please note: If you have a pegged currency, recent stability is no
indicator of future trends. The currency could be stable or it could be
heading for a steep devaluation.
Business Monitor is one possible source for expert insight.
What are the implications of your analysis above to your business plan?
For example how might a relative change in currency values affect the
following:
oThe value of profits when translated to the home currency?
oThe value of licensing or franchising fees when translated to the
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Political Environment
Review Chapter 4.
What are the short-term and longer-term macro political risks associated with
your country? What are the micro political risks associated with your particular
industry or home country? Business Monitor is a good source for this as well.
contracts.
Research more about specific regulations concerning your industry in your
country. This can be done on the Internet and Factiva.
Also address government corruption in this section (see Chapter 5) and, if
appropriate, explain how corruption could affect your business operations in the
Cultural Environment
Address the different cultural issues discussed in Chapter 3 that could apply to
buyers of your product or service.
In addition to the topics raised in the textbook, think how other more specific
aspects of culture might affect your specific business model and research
accordingly. Food culture? Furniture aesthetics? Dating and marriage habits? These
Look for articles or websites that discuss the cultural aspects of doing business in
your particular target country. Use search terms such as business culture and
business etiquette. How might these insights affect how you market in the
country and how you relate to local stakeholders such as employees, partners, and
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Do any of these cultural insights appear to support the Hofstede scores for your
target country? Can you find any cultural paradoxes related to the Hofstede scores
or other generalizations concerning national culture?
Competition
Review Chapter 6.
Can your business expect a country-of-origin advantage? Disadvantage? Explain.
Check your university online library site. Business Monitor, Business Source
Complete, Euromonitor and Marketline Advantage may have industry reports that
can be helpful in identifying and evaluating competitors.
Mode of Entry
Review Chapter 9.
What are the realistic entry options given your product/service and the target
country? For example, if your business model consists of establishing
restaurants or retail outlets, you will not choose exporting as a mode of entry.
You could however be interested in franchising, joint-venturing, establishing a
new wholly-owned subsidiary or acquiring an existing company.
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What is your choice and why?
How will you attempt to mitigate the cons of your choice?
If your plan includes partners such as distributors, franchisees, or joint venture
Target Market(s)
Review the section on target markets in Chapter 5.
Identify your target market or markets. On which specific segments of the
population will you focus your marketing efforts? This is an important question
After identifying the target market(s), determine the various steps you would
take to put a number (customers and sales) on your target market. Try to find
numbers as you work through these steps. Dont worry if you cant find all
necessary numbers. This is to be expected. This missing information can later
be added to your Unanswered Questions section of the report. However,
attempt to establish that your target market is large enough to be viable and
specific enough to address with the marketing strategy you will later propose.
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Alternatively, ignoring multiple segments when they in fact exist can result in
confusion, frustration and wasted time.
Marketing Strategy
For the marketing strategy section, see if your library has any country-industry reports
appropriate for your project. Again, these reports may be found via Business Monitor,
Business Source Complete, Euromonitor or Marketline Advantage on your university
Product/Service Adaptations
oReview Chapters 10 and 11.
oWhat will your product line consist of and how will it differ from that in
the home market? Why?
Pricing Strategy
oReview Chapter 12.
oHow might cost factors affect your pricing strategy?
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oRevisit the Economic Environment section of your report: How could
exchange-rate issues between the currency of the home country of your
business and the currency of your potential host country possibly affect
your pricing strategynow or in the near future?
oBased on the discussion above, what is your proposed pricing strategy?
For example, will you price the same as in the home market, a bit lower,
a lot higher, etc.? Explain.
Distribution Strategy
oReview Chapter 13.
oWhat do you suggest as your distribution strategy? Why?
oIf appropriate to your product, describe the wholesale/retail
oWill you consider selling via the Internet? If so, discuss the e-
commerce environment in your country.
oWhat impact does your countrys infrastructure (e.g., ports, railroads,
roads) have on your distribution strategy? How might this affect your
logistics?
Promotion Strategy
oReview Chapters 14 and 15.
oWhat is the message you wish to convey to your target market(s).
Remember to tie your promotion strategy clearly to your target market.
oWhich promotion optionspersonal selling, sales promotions,
telemarketing, advertising, buzz, etc.are best suited for your business
model in your target country? Why?
oWhat insights can you find concerning your proposed promotion
choices in your target country?
oAre there any regulations pertaining to promotion that might affect your
strategy?
Unanswered Questions
Did you identify important questions that proved difficult to research? If so,
how did you attempt to address these questions? Why were your attempts
unsuccessful?