INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND PROJECT FOUNDATION
GSBA 580: The Global Context of Business
Group Project
Description
The industry analysis and project foundation research report and presentation are meant to provide a solid
foundation and set the stage for the next phase of the group project, which focuses on a specific challenge
or opportunity facing your assigned company. This first phase of the group research project is meant to be a
global industry analysis to understand the global context of which your company is a part, while the later
phase will focus on a specific issue confronting your assigned company. A project proposal memo is also
due in which you outline the issues you will address in the next phase of the project, the company research
project, and the methods you will use for researching the next phase.
Deliverables
1) Industry Analysis Report (three hardcopies due on March 28 by 5:00PM in the MBA Program
Office, e-mail an electronic copy to Professor Voigt by 5:00PM, and submit an electronic copy
using Turnitin by 5:00PM).
2) Project Proposal Memo (two hardcopies due on March 30 at the beginning of class, e-mail an
electronic copy to your country-specific faculty before class, and submit an electronic copy using
Turnitin before class).
3) Industry Analysis and Project Foundation Presentation (three hardcopies of the slides (with two
slides per printed page) due on March 30 at the beginning of class and submit an electronic copy
using Turnitin before class).
Industry Analysis Report
The global industry analysis research report is an approximately 20-page report prepared in
management/consulting report format and is due by 5:00PM on March 28. You should submit three
hardcopies of the report to the MBA Program Office, e-mail an electronic copy to Professor Voigt, and
submit an electronic copy using Turnitin. For those unfamiliar with management report format, examples
have been posted to blackboard. (You have some discretion as to the length of the report. However, it
should not be too long or too short. Some reports are too long at 10 pages because they are poorly prepared
and lack organization and focus. Other much longer reports, 20 plus pages, read quickly because they are
well organized and have a clear simple focus.) The first two pages should be a title slide (that includes
your industry, your assigned company, your PRIME country or countries, the date, and your names) and an
executive brief of your report. The executive brief, not an executive summary, should be in normal text
format with number points or bullets.
The global industry that will be the focus of the industry analysis report is determined by the firm that is the
focus of the second phase of your group project, the company research project. Your company research
project will involve a specific firm within an industry within an economy that you will visit on the PRIME
trip. That industry will be the focus of the industry analysis project. Please note, though, that your
company research project and your industry analysis project are TWO separate and distinct research
projects. The company research project is determined by the firm and involves a deliverable specific to the
firm. The industry analysis report is related to the company research project that follows, but has a different
focus. Done well, however, your industry analysis report will inform and focus your company research
project.
Your assignment is to conduct a strategic analysis of the global, regional, and domestic economy of the
industry in which your assigned firm resides, as determined by your company research project. If you are
not sure how to define your global industry, make an appointment and get clarification.
The project should contain the following elements:
(A) Global Industry Overview
This should include critical success factors, trends, globalization drivers (drivers or barriers moving the
global industry to greater or lesser market integration), attractiveness of the global industry, the bases
and nature of global competition (i.e. how do firms compete with each other), identification of industry
leaders and key regional players, type of global competitive advantage, types of global strategies
adopted, etc. NOTE: Be very careful doing a global five forces analysis. It is often the case that the
five forces are different in various countries or regions, so be cautious in using the five forces.
(Sometimes you should have six or even seven forces.) Consider whether multinational firms (are there
any MNCs in the industry?) are taking multi-domestic approaches, global or transnational approaches,
or a mix of approaches. This should tell you a lot about the global industry. Examine the global
industry with the 3As framework; to what extent are arbitrage, adaptation, and/or aggregation
strategies important. Examine the geographic location of industry activity. Importantly, your
analyses should be focused on predicting “where” the global industry is likely to be, and what the
critical issues and opportunities will be, in 5-15 years?
(B) Regional Analysis
Do firms from any particular country or region dominate the global industry (national competitive
advantage)? Why or why not? Are any new countries or regions likely to produce dominant players in
this industry in the next ten years? Explain why or why not. Are there globally-relevant competitive
clusters? Your regional analysis should consider any and all relevant regional or bilateral free trade
agreements and their impact on investment strategies.
(C) Comparative Analysis of Your Assigned Company with Two Global Leaders
These two global leaders should NOT include the company that is the subject of your company
research project. You should select two focal companies with which to comparatively evaluate the
company that will be the focus of the company research project. Each comparative firm should be
based in a different country (preferably a different continent). Analysis should include description and
evaluation of global strategic configuration of each company, its bases of global advantage, its
resources and capabilities that form the basis of its global competitive advantages, and its relative
position in light of global trends. For each company, indicate whether the firm’s boundaries in terms
of diversification and vertical integration (the industries in which they compete) help them in this
industry. Can the firms use their presence in another industry to help them compete in this industry?
Conversely, does the firm’s presence in another industry hurt them in this industry?
(D) Domestic Economy and Industrial Sector Analysis In Your PRIME Country
Your report should detail out the key aspects of the domestic economy in which you will visit your
company on the PRIME trip and its impact, favorable or unfavorable, on the industrial sector that your
firm competes in. This should include a detailed analysis of the supporting institutional infrastructure,
the competitiveness of the industrial sectors, and any specific government regulations. Also, where
important, you should analyze the attractiveness of the industry to foreign competitors. Expectations
include, at a minimum, an institutional voids analysis, an examination of competitiveness factors,
enabling trade enhancers or inhibitors, a Porter’s diamond of competitive advantage analysis, and
sophisticated five forces analyses.
(E) Political Risk and Ethical Issues
You should also consider the extent to which political risk and ethical issues play a role in the industry
and for your focal firms in particular.
Conclusions and Generalizable Recommendations
Your report should conclude with carefully thought out conclusions about what the key issues are for
successful competitive (above normal returns) performance in the global industry over the next 5-10
years, and more specific recommendations that you would offer to firms similar to your assigned firm
to successfully create and defend a competitive position in that global industry.
These elements should be integrated into a cohesive report. We don't want five disconnected sections
shoved together. We also do NOT expect you to spend the same amount of time on each of the five
sections—some sections will be less important in some industries and more important in others. You have
freedom to cover these issues in any way you see fit considering the industry and firms that are the subject
of your report. The final report should consist of about 20 pages, the first two of which should be a title
slide and an executive brief (as discussed above). Since this is a research report, your report will rely on
the analysis of other researchers. All data used must be footnoted carefully. The quality and variety of the
research sources analyzed, and the number of footnotes used, is a good measure of the quality of your
report.
Some industries are primarily domestic or regional rather than truly global. If you have an industry that is
domestic or regional, explain why it is domestic or regional. (Will it continue to be that way in the future?)
Examine a couple of large regional players from different areas of the world and see if they are doing
different things to succeed. Are the critical success factors different in different areas? Is the industry
more attractive in different countries/regions? You may have to say that there is no global competition—
only regional or national competition. You would need to explain why there is no real global industry.
Then, however, your recommendations could address whether the barriers to going abroad can be
overcome by either of your subject firms in the short-term to intermediate future. You can look at Porter's
Diamond and the Global Competitiveness and Enabling Trade reports to see if firms from a particular
region are likely to emerge as dominant players (if anyone can). In other words, what countries are best
suited (according to the diamond) to produce globally competitive firms? Or is the diamond not really
useful for this industry (if so, then explain why not)? You are free to organize the project as you wish, but
you should explain up front why this is not a global industry.
Notes from Prior Year Projects (Pitfalls to Avoid)
- Please be careful in defining the industry. Many teams get sidetracked by trying to define the
industry according to where their assigned company (that is the focus of the company research
project) competes. Please look at a well defined global industry and don’t define an industry
around where a company chooses to compete.
- We expect you to make use of the frameworks that we have studied in class, and in other core
MBA classes. You are not required to use every framework, but do consider which frameworks
provide important analysis of your global industry. If you have any questions about how to use a
particular framework or what it tells you, please ask the faculty.
- Many reports are poorly organized. Try to create a coherent flow in your report.
Project Proposal Memo
A one to two page project proposal memo is at the beginning of class on March 30. You should submit two
hardcopies at the beginning of class, e-mail an electronic copy to your country-specific faculty before class,
and submit an electronic copy using Turnitin before class. This memo should outline the issues and types of
recommendations you will address in your company research project and the methods and approaches you
will use for researching and analyzing the issues. Your memo should be based on the rough project
description you will receive. However, you should finalize the rough project description in this memo by
being more specific about a) the issues on which you will focus, b) the methods for analyzing those issues,
c) the scope of the project, and d) what you will deliver in the company research project final report and
presentation. Since the company research project should be tailored to the specific situation facing your
target company, it is important that you obtain your country-specific faculty’s feedback and agreement on
the appropriate focus and scope of your project. The project proposal memo serves as a vehicle for
obtaining feedback from your advisor on the direction of your project.
Your team should schedule a time to meet with your country-specific faculty by March 23 to discuss ideas
about how to proceed with the company research project. Your team should meet with your countryspecific faculty on March 30 to discuss the project proposal memo you submitted and obtain the faculty's
advice and feedback on the proposed direction of your project. If the faculty suggests revisions to your
project proposal memo, you should modify the memo immediately. You should obtain your countryspecific faculty's approval of your project proposal memo before moving forward with the project. This
memo serves as an agreement between you and the faculty about the appropriate focus, scope, and direction
of the next phase of your group project. If you wish to make any changes to this agreement, you should
submit a revised project proposal memo and obtain your faculty's approval again.
Industry Analysis and Project Foundation Presentation
This presentation is meant to educate your classmates about your industry and company. It is also meant to
give the faculty an opportunity to provide you with feedback for the next phase of your group project. This
presentation is a 10 to 15 minute presentation and should include the following:
1) A summary of the global industry overview from your industry analysis report (see above).
2) A summary of the comparative analysis of your assigned company with two global leaders (see
above).
3) A summary of the domestic economy and industrial sector analysis in your PRIME country (see
above).
4) A summary of the major strategic challenges and opportunities facing the industry today and in the
future, both globally and in your PRIME country.
5) A summary of the key strategic challenges and opportunities facing your assigned company today
and in the future, both globally and in your PRIME country.
6) A summary of the specific issue facing your assigned company that will be the focus of the
company research project (from the project proposal memo, see above).
7) A summary of how you plan to go about researching and developing conclusions for the company
research project , i.e., the methods to be used and scope of the project (from the project proposal
memo, see above).
The slides from all of the presentations will be assembled into a briefing book that will be distributed
to all of your country-specific classmates, so that you will have this material to refer to during the PRIME
trip before visiting the companies.
So that the presentations have a consistent look when assembled into a briefing book, the first slide of
the presentation should be a title slide with the name of your industry, the name of your company,
the name or names of your PRIME countries, the date, and the names of the members of your group.
In addition, the hardcopy of the presentation (which will be photocopied for the briefing book)
should be printed out with two slides per page.