World Trade Organization Country

country Africa
regional trade agreement and member countries
major import /export
business obervation
Module Discussions
Module discussion questions are designed to help you make meaningful connections between the course content and the larger concepts and goals of the course. These discussions offer you the opportunity to express your own thoughts, ask questions for clarification, and gain insight from your classmates' responses and instructor's guidance. Refer to the Discussion Rubric for directions on completing these discussions.
Topic
Threads
Posts
Last Post
1-1 Discussion: Country Composition and Geography
Contains unread posts
Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
Begin by introducing yourself to the class and explaining your background.
Throughout this course, we will use the discussion topic in each module to work on the final project in a step-by-step manner. This gives you the opportunity to get feedback from your instructor and your peers while you work. Due to the nature of these discussion assignments, they are weighted more heavily than a typical course discussion and you will spend a majority of your time engaging in this topic.
Before we begin, you might want to complete the final project review for this module. Post any questions you have in the General Questions topic.
In this first discussion, you will choose a country, other than the USA or Turkey, that you would like to focus on for your final project, and work on the following critical elements: Rationale, Location, and Country Composition.
Share your country choice for the final project and the reasoning behind this decision. Next, visit the World Atlas and The World Factbook to begin collecting important geographic and demographic information on the region.
Share a map of the country in the discussion and identify the following elements:
Regional location
Water access
Bordering countries
Natural hazards or climate
Identify the following elements of the country:
Literacy rate
Rate of urbanization
Heavily populated cities
Major religions
Educational data
Age structure
Address the following questions based on your findings:
What opportunities do you see from this information?
What considerations would impact shipping, labor, or other operations?
Are there any risks?
Respond to two of your classmates by sharing your own observations on their chosen countries and asking questions to encourage other considerations.
Once you have received feedback from your peers and instructor, you will insert your data and summarize your analysis findings in the Final Project Presentation Template provided. A Final Project Guide is provided to offer some ideas on how you might present your information.
This is your first step toward the comprehensive final project presentation. Your first final project checkpoint submission will be in Module Three.
Note: You will not be able to see any of your peers' discussion posts until you have created and posted your own discussion thread.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
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View profile card for Shiala Williams
Shiala Williams
March 14 at 10:31 PM
2-1 Discussion: Cultural Analysis
Contains unread posts
Available after Saturday, March 9, 2019 11:59 PM EST. Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
Due to the significant impact of culture in the business environment, use Hofstede's compare countries resource to choose a country for your project and conduct a cultural analysis of your project country, using the resource to investigate the specific culture scores for Hofstede's dimensions of culture. In this discussion, you will work on the following critical elements: Values and Communication and Business Etiquette.
Discuss Hofstede's dimensions of culture that influence business in your project country.
Use The World Factbook and Commisceo Global Culture Guides to expand this further by identifying specific elements of communication, both verbal and non-verbal.
Finally, using Commisceo Global Culture Guides, identify five rules of business etiquette that would directly influence business interactions.
What risks or opportunities can you identify from this analysis of culture? Consider areas of management that can be adjusted when considering cultural drivers.
Respond to two of your classmates and make observations based on the information they provided. Work to include personal insight and research to supplement your classmates' analyses.
Once you have received feedback from your peers and instructor, you will insert your data and summarize your analysis findings in the Final Project Presentation Template provided. Use the Final Project Guide to help you generate presentation ideas.
This is your second step toward the comprehensive final project presentation. Your first final project checkpoint submission will be in Module Three.
Note: You will not be able to see any of your peers' discussion posts until you have created and posted your own discussion thread.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
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View profile card for Leslie Martinez
Leslie Martinez
April 2 at 10:48 PM
3-1 Discussion: Political Ideologies and Corruption
Contains unread posts
Available after Saturday, March 16, 2019 11:59 PM EDT. Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
Governments’ influence over trade and economies should not be underestimated. You may see some connections between culture and political ideologies, which can have positive and negative effects. Let’s dive into the political and legal environment for your project country. In this discussion, you will work on the following critical elements: Government and Ideologies, and Corruption.
Using The World Factbook and current news reports, identify the following elements of government:
Government type
Political leader(s)
Political pressure (or opposition) groups
Recent changes in governing rule
Other risks include corrupt practices, which are also heavily influenced by culture. Use Transparency International to identify three measures of corruption. Consider a review of the following:
Corruption Perception Index
Enforcement
Bribery measures
Discuss what these political risks mean for businesses. What challenges or opportunities might an organization recognize with regard to the government and corrupt practices in the region? How can an organization protect against these risks and prepare management for issues they might face?
Respond to two of your classmates and share your observations regarding the government and corruption in the country. Ask questions to encourage further considerations.
Once you have received feedback from your peers and instructor, you will insert your data and summarize your analysis findings in the Final Project Presentation Template provided. This is your third step toward the comprehensive final project presentation. Your first final project checkpoint submission will be in Module Three.
Note: You will not be able to see any of your peers' discussion posts until you have created and posted your own discussion thread.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
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View profile card for Leslie Martinez
Leslie Martinez
March 25 at 12:10 PM
4-1 Discussion: Government Regulations
Contains unread posts
Available after Saturday, March 23, 2019 11:59 PM EDT. Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
There are many regulations and legal considerations impacting business decisions; let’s work to narrow down that list. In this discussion, you will work on the following critical elements of the final project: Trade Regulations and Legal Considerations. Consider the following options to find four measures of government influence on trade and employment:
Use Wage Indicator to identify various employment laws in the country. These might include minimum wage, medical leave, holidays, discrimination laws, and so on. You may need to use the translation service through Google Chrome when accessing various sites. Additional resources can be found in the Reading and Resources section of this module.
Search VAT and/or GST rates for your country.
Use the Treasury.gov Sanctions Programs List to identify various sanctions influencing business in the country.
Use various government websites to learn more about tariffs, labeling, restricted items, and other barriers to trade. Consider using the U.S. Trade Representative resource to identify trade regulations.
Taking this one step further, discuss the significance of these four regulations. What do they mean for daily business and why do governments employ these methods?
Respond to two of your classmates and share some observations or additional research you found regarding their country choices.
Once you have received feedback from your peers and instructor, you will insert your data and summarize your analysis findings in the Final Project Presentation Template provided. This is your fourth step toward the comprehensive final project presentation. Your second final project checkpoint submission will be in Module Six.
Note: You will not be able to see any of your peers' discussion posts until you have created and posted your own discussion thread.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
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View profile card for Teresa Anderson
Teresa Anderson
April 2 at 10:37 PM
5-1 Discussion: Economic Measures and Physical Infrastructure
Contains unread posts
Available after Saturday, March 30, 2019 11:59 PM EDT. Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
Economic measures are an important piece of the market assessment process. In this discussion, you will work on the following critical elements of the final project: Economic Measures, and Transportation and Telecommunication. Using The World Factbook, World Bank (World Bank Video Transcript: INT-113 Geek out with Tariq - The Geek and the Internet.docx) Trading Economics, and International Trade Centre, find the following economic data on your project country:
Interest rates
Unemployment
Inflation
GDP
GDP growth rate
Exchange rates against usd
Exchange rate regime
Labor force major industries
FDI rates
Using The World Factbook, identify the following elements of physical infrastructure:
Major airports and seaports
Railway stations (government websites)
Internet users
Mobile providers (use txtNation)
Logistics performance index rating (use The World Bank Logistics Performance Index)
Consider the data collected and make some observations on the stability and strength of the economy in your project country. What do high and low levels of unemployment indicate? What does the exchange rate regime tell you about the economy? Consider the presence of existing industries and identify areas of opportunity or risk. Also consider the logistics of shipping and distribution based on physical infrastructure.
Respond to two of your classmates and share a business observation based on the data provided. This is a great opportunity to share examples from history or the current news.
Once you have received feedback from your peers and instructor, you will insert your data and summarize your analysis findings in the Final Project Presentation Template provided. This is your fifth step toward the comprehensive final project presentation. Your second final project checkpoint submission will be submitted in Module Six.
Note: You will not be able to see any of your peers' discussion posts until you have created and posted your own discussion thread.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
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View profile card for Scott Mitchell
Scott Mitchell
Tue at 1:40 AM
6-2 Discussion: Economic Integration
Available after Saturday, April 6, 2019 11:59 PM EDT. Must post first.
Use this discussion sample as a guide when completing your own analysis.
Economic integration has changed trade in the global market. In an effort to decrease barriers to trade, countries have worked together to establish relationships that award preferential treatment to member countries. In this discussion, you will work on the following critical element of the final project: Trade. Using the World Trade Organization Regional Trade Agreements website, identify the following elements of trade related to your project country:
Major trading partners
Major imports/exports
Regional trade agreements and member countries
Discuss how regional economic integration has influenced the way your country does business with other nations. Does it create more opportunities for trade or just increase the competition? Make some observations about the impact this might have on an organization's decision to invest in the country.