International Business in Practice

Description

Assessment task details and instructions

You must structure your report in the same order as indicated in the section headed “Presentation” (see below).

The word count for the report is 3000 words (+ / – 10%). Indicative word counts for each task are set out below and are based on the 3000-word limit.

Background

You work for BMW (UK), and have been asked to prepare a short brief detailing the potential outcomes of Brexit for the company. The main focus of your brief must be on opportunities within the BMW for UK nationals, following the UK’s departure from the EU.

Task

“Post-Brexit opportunities for UK nationals in the BMW group.”

Presentation

You should present your answer in two parts:

Part one: The Potential Outcomes of Brexit (35%)

In this section, you should identify the possible post-Brexit scenarios, and show the ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ aspects of future cross-cultural interaction.

Part two: Consequences for UK involvement (55%)

Based on the scenarios you have identified in part one (above), discuss how the possible ‘positive’/‘negative’ scenarios might influence the way in which the German Group Headquarters views UK graduates seeking opportunities within the BMW Group – either in terms of Apprenticeships, Industrial Placement Opportunities or more general Graduate Programmes.

Part three: References (10%)

You should list references at the end

The report should be typed as follows:

· Font: Times New Roman

· Font size: .12

· All references etc at the end – no footnotes

· References should be in Harvard style

Useful sources of information

“The UK has an important role to play within the BMW Group. It is the only place in the world where all three of BMW Group’s brands – BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars – are represented by manufacturing operations. BMW Group employs around 8,000 people directly in the UK with an additional 14,000 in its 147-strong Retailer network representing BMW and MINI brands. The company has invested nearly £2 billion in its UK operations since 2000, and the UK is BMW Group’s fourth largest sales market in the world.

UK Operations

The growth of BMW Group’s UK operations has been significant. MINI Plant Oxford, the heart of MINI production, began producing MINIs in 2001 and has now produced over three million to date. BMW Plant Hams Hall started producing 4-cylinder petrol engines in 2001. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited began manufacturing vehicles at its Goodwood plant in 2003, while MINI Plant Swindon has been the main supplier of MINI body panels since 2005. BMW Group also has a UK Sales and Marketing subsidiary in Farnborough with a Vehicle Distribution Centre in Thorne. https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/index.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwdbu8rfz5QIVSrTtCh0WWQJMEAAYASAAEgJpsPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Assessed intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

1. Undertake a critical analysis of the theory, concepts, and models of cross-cultural interaction

2. Appreciate different cultural identities and their impact upon business practice in the areas of leadership, decision-making, communication and negotiation.

3. Work independently to examine cross-cultural management issues

4. Understand ethical challenges faced by managers when working in a cross-cultural environment

Transferable Skills and other Attributes

1. Apply planning, organising, decision-making, and time – management skills appropriate for use in an organisational context.

2. Experiment and develop personal initiative and responsibility in undertaking complex investigations in the solving of organisational problems and issues

3. Critically analyse and apply key ideas and concepts via comprehensive research relevant both to the subject area and to professional practice in the field

4. Develop and enhance individually effective written and/or oral communication skills for both specialist and non-specialist audiences

Module Aims

· To present the theory, concepts, and models of cross-cultural interaction

· To examine different cultural identities and ways in which these influence management practice in the areas of leadership, decision-making, communications, and negotiation

· To facilitate the development of an appreciation of different cultural attitudes towards ethics in international business operations

· To develop participants’ ability to work on their own and/or with others in preparation for employment in the international business environment

· To reinforce and consolidate learning through a one – week overseas residential study that exposes students to a range of different organisational/sectoral practices.

Word count/ duration (if applicable)

Maximum of 3,000 words for the written individual assignment (+/- 10%).

Everything apart from references is included in this word count

The penalty for exceeding word count will be a 10% deduction for every 100 words over the maximum, and a capped mark of 50% for submitting your work up to 7 days late and after seven days late, it is classed as a non-submission

Feedback arrangements

You can expect to receive feedback for the individual assignment, within ten working days of submission respectively.

Assessment Criteria

You should look at the assessment criteria to find out what we are specifically looking at during the assessment.

Reassessment

If you fail your assessment, and are eligible for reassessment, you will need to resubmit on or before (date to be confirmed via administrator). For students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances, this will be your replacement assessment attempt. Students should be aware that there is no late submission period at reassessment (this includes those students who have an accepted PMC request from a previous attempt).

The reassessment task will normally be the same as the original task unless there is a good academic reason to offer a different task. For the group presentation, a re-assessment would be very difficult, but would have to done on an individual basis by those students who have failed this part.