Essex Business School University of Essex

Spring Term, 2022-2023

BE268 International Business and Strategy

Individual Essay (100% of the total mark)

You are expected to write an essay of no more than 2,000 words.

All submissions must be presented in typescript (MS Word format), 12pt, 1.5 line spacing. Date of Submission:

Please refer to FASER for submission deadline.

Please read the additional notes below carefully.

Assignment Topic: Internationalisation Path of Amazon.com, Inc.

• Critically examine:

• Amazon’s international growth motivations. – 20 marks

In this answer you are expected to define internationalisation as a process (using reliable and reputable resources, such as modules’ core texts or journal articles in the field of international business and management) and to show critical understanding of Amazon’s growth motivation; students are expected to support their discussion with reference to the relevant theoretical frameworks (Uppsala framework/ OLI paradigm) and up-to-date, reliable sources of evidence.

• Amazon’s pattern of international growth (in terms of mode of entry and geographical expansion). -15 marks

In this answer you are expected to examine key milestones of international growth by Amazon, critically analyse company’s geographical presence and its change over time; students are expected to support their discussion with evidence from the relevant journal articles, up-to-date, reliable sources of evidence.

• Amazon’s value chain configuration in the last decade – 15 marks

In this answer you are expected to critically examine changes in Amazon’s primary and secondary value chain activities over the last decade; you are expected to support their discussion with up-to-date, reliable sources of evidence.

• Advantages of the current internationalisation strategy adopted by the company – 15 marks

In this answer you are expected to critically examine company’s current internationalisation strategy, examine the advantages of their current strategy and support your discussion with up-to-date, reliable sources of evidence.

• Can you think of any potential threats Amazon may face in the future? How might they respond to such threats? -20 marks

In this answer students are expected to examine potential threats Amazon might face in the future. These could be related to, but not exclusive competitive pressures or resource availability pressures. You are expected to propose a potential response to identified threats and to support their discussion with up-to-date, reliable sources of evidence.

• Evidence of the evaluation of the literature and data sources – 15 marks.

This should be presented as one-paragraph reflection (before the Conclusions section) on the use of the source of evidence in the assignment. You are expected to reflect on the quality of the evidence and examples used.

Guidance Notes:

The individual assignment is expected to cover the following issues:

• Clear reference to literature on theories/approaches to internationalisation, give clear reference to literature from reliable sources;
• Identification of motivations, mode of entry and geographical expansion of Amazon, give clear reference to literature from reliable sources;
• Identification of value chain activities and future risks, give clear reference to literature from reliable sources;
• Identification of international business strategy adopted by Amazon in the context of the examples explored in the assignment, give clear reference to literature from reliable sources;
• Reference to examples/illustrations (either based on reliable, reputable and relevant secondary sources information) to show the process as to how the different approaches to international strategy and practices work.

An essay (of no more than 2,000 words, plus/minus 10 per cent, excluding References List) should demonstrate the knowledge and critical understanding of the literature on the key aspects of international business strategy. Students should demonstrate a critical understanding of the external/internal contexts within which international businesses operate. The essay is designed to test the conceptual, analytical and written communication skills of the students.

The essay structure should clearly outline an introduction, main argument, conclusions and well as the evidence of the evaluation of the literature and data sources.

Notes: Writing an assignment

An introduction to an essay should address itself directly to the question or topics you have been asked to discuss.

The main section of the essay should outline the argument(s) that describe your response to an essay question. It might be an idea or a notion which explores in a discursive manner. In this case the order of the topics being examined forms the structure of the essay argument.

The conclusion of an essay should draw together all the previous points of your argument into one general statement, which is then directly related to the essay topic or the question you have been answering.

Students are required to show evidence of an extensive use of various well established and reputable literature sources (i.e. journal articles, books and other reliable, reputable and relevant sources of information).

Harvard Referencing Style Examples:

Reference List:

·       Book

Fisher, R., Ury, W. and Patton, B. (1991). Getting to yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in. 2nd ed. London: Century Business.

·       Edited Book

Bressler, L. (2010). My girl, Kylie. In: L. Matheson, ed., The Dogs That We Love, 1st ed. Boston: Jacobson Ltd., pp. 78-92.

·       Journal Article

Dismuke, C. and Egede, L. (2015). The Impact of Cognitive, Social and Physical Limitations on Income in Community Dwelling Adults With Chronic Medical and Mental Disorders. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(5), pp. 183-195.

·         Articles from Newspapers

Weisman, J. (2015). Deal Reached on Fast-Track Authority for Obama on Trade Accord. The New York Times, p.A1.

·       Magazines

Davidson, J. (2008). Speak her language. Men’s Health, (23), pp.104-106.

·       Articles from online resources

Messer, L. (2015). ‘Fancy Nancy’ Optioned by Disney Junior. [online] ABC News.

In-Text Citations

• In the main text:

One of the main motivations for western firms to go into counter trade is the low-cost sources of production and raw materials for use in the firm’s own production (Okoraofo, 1994).

OR

Okoraofo (1994) suggests that one of the main motivations for western firms to go into counter trade is the low-cost sources of production and raw materials for use in the firm’s own production.

·         Direct quote from an article or text:

One of the main motivations for western firms to go into counter trade is the “low-cost sources of production and raw materials for use in the firm’s own production” (Okoraofo, 1994: 74). OR

Okoraofo (1994: 74) suggests that one of the main motivations for western firms to go into counter trade is the “low-cost sources of production and raw materials for use in the firm’s own production”.

·       If a quotation extends more than one page:

One of the main motivations for western firms to go into counter trade is the “low-cost sources of production and raw materials for use in the firm’s own production” (Okoraofo, 1994: 74- 75).

·       When referring to two or more authors:

According to Knight and Yorke (2003: 10) meta-cognition includes three senses as: “knowing what you know, knowing how it can be used and knowing how you get new knowings”.

OR

Meta-cognition includes three senses including the things we know, knowing how to utilise these things and knowing how we can obtain new knowledge (Knight and Yorke, 2003).

Solomon et al. (2006) state that consumer behaviour includes disposal of purchased products. OR

Consumer behaviour is defined as “the study of processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires” (Solomon et al, 2006: 6).

BE268: Learning Outcomes

• Obtain a critical understanding of international business and strategy and theoretical approaches in this domain;
• Critically assess and analyse global market opportunities for expansion of firms;
• Understanding and critique different modes/forms of international expansion;
• Obtain a critical understanding of how processes of internationalisation apply to SMEs and international new ventures;
• Obtain a critical understanding of strategy and organisation in the international firms;
• Obtain critical understanding of global sourcing;
• Critically assess and analyse opportunities for expansion in emerging and transition economies.

EBS Marking Scheme

EBS Assessment Criteria

Learning outcomes from courses across the school were mapped on to indicative learning outcome statements from the QAA for each level of study. Combining and streamlining these, the Working Group developed the following overarching learning outcome descriptors.

QF LEVEL & STAGE	COMPREHENSION	RESEARCH	ANALYSIS	PRESENTATION
	Evidence of subject	Evidence of ability to	Explanation and	Communication of
	knowledge;	locate, extract and	evaluation of	ideas, structure,
	appropriate	analyse evidence from	appropriate	referencing.
	understanding of	appropriate sources;	argument and
	theories and	evidence of	evidence
	concepts.	independent learning
		and study skills
LEVEL 4	Introductory level of	Ability to locate and	Argument based on	Well-structured,
	subject knowledge	incorporate appropriate	appropriate	coherent and
	and understanding.	evidence. Appropriate	examples and	effective
	Basic understanding	planning, structure,	evidence.	communication.
1ST
YEAR	of relevant theories	style, etc.		Acknowledgement of
UG	and concepts.			sources and
				appropriate
				referencing
LEVEL 5	Evidence of	Ability to locate, extract	Evidence of analysis	Ability to present a
	intermediary level of	and integrate evidence	and explanation with	focused argument
	subject knowledge	from multiple sources.	reference to relevant	with analysis and
	and understanding.	Evidence of developing	empirical sources	commentary.
2ND
YEAR UG	Evidence of a developing	autonomous study skills	and theoretical concepts.	Correct referencing incorporating
	understanding of the			material from a
	nature and limitations			variety of
	of relevant concepts			appropriate
	and theoretical ideas.			resources
LEVEL 6	Evidence of in-depth	Ability to synthesise,	Evidence of critical	Critical, imaginative
	knowledge and	integrate and evaluate	analysis and	evaluation of
	understanding.	material from a variety	evaluation with	arguments and
	Critical evaluation of	of appropriate sources.	reference to relevant	ideas. Correct
	relevant theoretical concepts and ideas.	Evidence of independent thinking and insight.	theoretical ideas and debates.	referencing including a wide range of academic resources.
FINAL YEAR UG
LEVEL 7	Specialist subject	Evidence of ability to	Evidence of critical	Ability to synthesise
	knowledge and	undertake independent	analysis integrating	ideas to form a
	understanding.	research in order to	relevant empirical	coherent argument.
	Critical evaluation,	source appropriate	and theoretical	Evidence of full and
	integration and	evidence. Advanced	material.	accurate referencing
	development of	level specialist study		including evidence of
PGT	relevant concepts and	skills		independent
	theoretical ideas.			research

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