1 (incl.

page #s on final report)

INBA 3810 Group Project Outline Template

Note: The final report should be from 14 to 16 double-spaced pages, so even in your outlining stage begin
to “budget” the number of pages that you will allot to each section so that the report will not end up “top-
heavy”- that is, too much detail on the front end and not enough analyses of the strategic alternatives,
which is where your group’s “value-added” (*grades*) should be.

Strategic Profile of the Firm & Overview of the Issue at Hand

- Provide a description of the background of the firm/MNE and the problem(s) that it’s faced with: the
key is to focus on a specific issue related to this firm’s international operations rather than list a number
of general problems of the firm, as you will need to provide in-depth analyses of this issue (most of this
you have already completed for your project proposal :)

Situational Analysis

- External environment of the host country (in outline format describe the political, legal, economic,
cultural and/or technological environment in the host country/region as these pertain to the firm and the
issue it’s facing, i.e., you may choose to focus on one or more or all of these aspects of the host country
environment as you topic dictates)

- Internal attributes of the firm/MNE (in outline format list the firm’s resources and capabilities; this
portion of the project may become clearer as we progress through to later class meetings on firms rather
than the macro environment)

Alternatives to Consider for the Issue at Hand

- Pros and cons of strategic alternative #1 (why?)

- Pros and cons of strategic alternative #2 (why?)

- Pros and cons of strategic alternative #3 (why?)

*These may be preliminary thoughts on various solutions to the firm’s problem/issue and can be
developed further as we progress in this class- in the final report you will develop arguments underlying
these pros and cons exist, drawing on your analyses above for the macro environment and the firm

Recommendation

- List the alternative from above that you chose and state the reason (your decision-making criteria),
based on your situational analysis

Implementation and Conclusion

- List components for the action plan for executing your recommended strategy
e.g., Change labor practices? Which regulations to comply with? Cultural training? etc.
e.g., If you recommend that the firm take on a local partner in the host country, explain how they should
proceed to find this partner, etc. (for the outline, you can just put: “local partner selection” as an
implementation item for elaboration in the final report)
- In the final report this is where you would put a few conclusive remarks

References
 1 (incl. page #s on final report)

- List the sources you used to develop your outline here (this list may be expanded upon for the final
report)