BUSS 3103: International Business Environments
1. BUSS 3103: International Business Environments
This assessment requires you to complete a case study with two components:
- A one page memo
- International business plan
Note: For full assessment details, please see your course site and course outline.
2. Choose your company
Note: Your company must be registered on one of these stock exchanges:
| Australia: Australian Securities Exchange | New Zealand: New Zealand Stock Exchange |
| United Kingdom: London Stock Exchange | Germany: Börse Frankfurt |
| France: Paris Stock Exchange: part of Euronext | Spain: Bolsa de Madrid |
| USA: New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ | Canada: Toronto Stock Exchange |
| Denmark: NASDAQ Copenhagen | Sweden: NASDAQ Stockholm |
| Finland: NASDAQ Helsinki | Iceland: NASDAQ Iceland |
| Brazil: B3 | Singapore: Singapore Exchange |
| Japan: Japan Exchange Group | South Korea: Korea Exchange |
| Hong Kong: Hong Kong Stock Exchange | Italy: Borsa Italiana |
3. Company and industry information
- Company and Industry Information GuideSee this guide for more information and databases that can help you with finding company, industry and country information.
The guide also includes information on searching for the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.
4. Finding company information
Tip: Company websites are a great place to look at when you first start researching a company. Look for the 'about us' or 'our story' pages.
This will help you find more information on the history of the company, the industry, previously run promotions and media releases, and annual reports.
- DatAnalysis premiumIt provides comprehensive information for all Australian Stock Exchange listed companies including annual reports.
Use the search box on the right to search for the company's ASX code or name. This will open up the company report.
Company Report
- to find subsidiaries: select Controlled Entities
- to find ratios: select Financial data on the left, and then the Ratio tab
- to see monthly (Jan 1988+) or daily (from Jan 2000) prices: select Price History
- to see a price chart: select Price History, and then choose the Price Chart tab
- to find current and previous annual reports - select Annual Reports
D&B Hoovers
D&B Hoovers is a another good database to start for company information with.
- Type the name of the company in the search box at the top right of the page, then select search.
- Select your company from the results list. If there are multiple entries for the same company, check the details including country of origin and the industry the company operates in.
NewsBank
Information and figures presented in the company analysis should be updated from other sources such as the internet; industry and company reports; newspaper and industry magazines.
The library subscribes to a number of databases which provide access to Australian and international news media articles. You can start search for media articles using the NewsBank database.
- Below is an example search on Toyota and Covid-19
- Add your concept or search term into each search box
- Select Search.
- Newest articles are displayed as default.
- You can also refine your results by limiting the Source location > Australia
You can also browse news media articles by by using the 'Suggested Topics' on the homepage of NewsBank. To do this:
- Select a suggested topic e.g. Business and Economics.
- Then select one of the sub-topics within this area e.g. Business types > Large Corporations.
- You can refine your results by applying filters such as date e.g. 2021-2022.
See the NewsMedia guide for a full list of relevant databases that provide access to Australian and International News media articles.
5. Finding industry information
- IBISWorldIBISWorld provides company reports for the top 2000 Australian companies as well as detailed industry reports on Australian industries and selected US and Chinese industries.
Industry reports include information such as:
- SWOT analyses
- major competitors
- products and markets
- competitive landscape
To find industry reports type your industry within the main search box, e.g. computer system design, then select search.
- From the results page, filter your results by region > Australia/global, to show relevant results.
- You can also browse industries by selecting Industry research > Australia Industry Reports (ANZSIC) OR Australian Specialized Industry Reports.
- PassportPassport is a global market research database providing statistics, analysis, reports, surveys on industries, countries and consumers worldwide.
Note: this site requires a one-time authentication to access. Follow the Library instructions.
To find industry information:
- Click on the drop-down menu and select Industries (towards the top of the page) and then select GO.
- Search for specific categories, or browse the categories on screen. Click the plus icon to see sub-categories.
- Under Select Geographies select the country. Click Search.
- View Statistics and Analysis information relevant to your search.
6. Finding country information
- StatistaStatista provides access to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on over 600 industries.
- Country reports accessed through Statista provide information on macro environmental factors such as economics, demographics, and culture.
- To access country reports go to Reports > Country & Region Reports, from the Statista homepage. Note the new Company DB tab, for researching companies.
From the Country & Region Reports page you can either filter or search for your country, then select the country report from the results list.
- Select Economies, then Economy, Finance and Trade (top of page).
- Scroll down and select Country Reports from the Explore Analysis box.
- Select Economy, Finance and Trade, then the country that you want from the drop down box. Select Go.
- Business Source UltimateBusiness Source Ultimate is a great place to find country reports and country risk reports. These contain information on the political, economic and business environment needed for your analysis.
Note: Remember to check the publication date of the report for currency of the data.
- Enter the name of the country in the search box and select GE Geographic Terms from the drop down box. Select search.
- Under Refine Results, select Sources Types > Country Report (select Show More to see the full range of sources)
To find risk reports
- Type your country into the search box.
- Type "risk report" into the second box, then search.
7. Report writing
Once you have all your research it's time to put together your report.
Watch the video below (2 min 53 sec) for some tips on report writing.
More help
- Study Help: ReportsView a report writing overview, useful tips and see report writing examples
- Study HelpStudy Help is an online Hub packed with useful assignment and study tips and tools
8. Referencing support
- Referencing websiteResources on different referencing styles. Find examples of in-text citations and references for diverse formats including articles, books and book chapters, websites and more.
Note: Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the referencing style required for your course.
Managing your references
What do you do with all those references you have found? You can use a bibliographic management software to store, organise, and cite your references.
There are many free systems available. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. EndNote automates citing your references and allows you to create and organise a library of references. For more information and to download the software, check out the EndNote Guide: