(Everything must be in own words. Each question must be 350 words

(Everything must be in own words. Each question must be 350
words or more).
Question 1:
Prepare:
· Read Module 1 in your course textbook and At Sea in a
Deluge of Data from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
· Complete the TATIL Exam (Links to an external site.) and
view your report.
· Complete the APA Skill Check - In-Text Citation (Links to an
external site.) and APA Skill Check - Creating
References (Links to an external site.).
Reflect:
· Make a list of the different components of information literacy
covered in your textbook.
· Consider how each of these components affect your daily life
and your chosen career. Pay particular attention to the
information literacy skills that employers expect from their
employees.
· Review your TATIL exam report and consider how the
information provided there relates to the information you read
in Module 1 of your textbook. Think about how you can
implement your personal recommendations from the report.
Write:
· Explain your understanding of information literacy. Choose
three example concepts or skills from Module 1 of your course
textbook and explain how these concepts illustrate your
understanding. Be sure to cite your course textbook.
· Explain how these concepts apply to you as a college student.
Why do students need to learn information literacy?
· Explain why these concepts apply to your personal or
professional life and how you will apply them.
Your initial post must be at least 350 words and address all of

the prompt’s elements.
You must cite and reference any sources that you use in your
posts, including your textbook or any other sources of
information that you use. Please refer to the Ashford Writing
Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
and Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.)
for help with citing and referencing your sources.
Question 2:
Prepare: Take a few minutes to think about the material that
we’ve covered in this course so far.
Reflect: Reflect on what you found interesting, surprising, or
confusing in this past week. What did you learn that caused you
to understand an issue differently? What habits, tips, or
resources did you discover that helped you to complete your
coursework more effectively or efficiently? Cite clear examples
and details to support your post.
Write: This discussion forum is an opportunity for you to
explore topics that interest you, share critical insights and
questions that you are working with, share your struggles and
triumphs, and discuss difficulties that may have arisen this
week, hopefully finding solutions. Your posts should describe
your experiences in the course this past week, prompting further
discussion. You should address at least one of the following
questions:
· What struck you in particular as you explored the course
materials this week?
· How might you apply this information to your life in the
future?
· What insights have you had?
· What have you been struggling with?
· What questions have come up for you at this point?
· What helpful tips have you picked up in this course or in a
past course?
· What questions do you have about the assignment that your
classmates might be able to help with? (If you have a question

for the instructor, be sure to contact your instructor through
email or Canvas messaging).
Running head: MODULE 2
1
MODULE 2
2
Module 2: Political and Economic Factors
TianMing Guo
IBM 4141
Prof. Ong
Module 2: Political and Economic Factors
Economic Data
Figure 1: Comparison of GDP per capita (Current US dollar
value) trends in the four countries (Data retrieved from The
World Bank, 2020a)
Figure 2: Comparison of GDP deflator percentages of the four
countriesfrom 2008 to 2017 (Data retrieved from The World
Bank, 2020b)
Figure 3: Presentation of Unemployment rates from 2010 to
2019 in the four countries (Data from Trading Economics,
2020a)
Figure 4: Comparison of Consumer Price Index (CPI) changes

since 2010 (Data obtained from Trading Economics, 2020b)
In the economic data analysis, in addition to GDP poer capita, I
included data on inflation as shown by the GDP deflator rates,
unemployment rates, and consumer price index. GDP per capita
is an indicator of the health of the economy through an analysis
of the spending the people are engaging in (Mankiw, 2016).
Therefore, it is crucial in determining whether the economy is
growing or in a recession. Inflation, on the other hand,
highlights the price stability of goods which is determined by
supply and demand among other factors. Rates of inflation
determine the stability of the economy against shocks and hence
it is a crucial trend to review. Additionally, unemployment rates
also reflect the health of the economy in providing jobs for the
people. High unemployment rates may show that the economy is
struggling and welfare of the people is also low. I also utilized
CPI trends as a comparator of economic health. CPI is the
weighted price of goods in a consumer’s basket including
essentials such as food commodities, healthcare, and
transportation. It reflects the cost of living in an economy and
hence shows the effects of economic times on the people
(Mankiw, 2016). Changes in CPI can determine how well the
economy is working for the people. Therefore, it was included
in this data analysis as a means of determining cost of living for
people in the four countries under comparison.
The data analysis presented in the four charts presents trends
between 2008 and 2019 for the different countries’ economic
indicators. Some interesting trends can be observed from the
presentation. First, there is a consistently huge difference
between GDP per capita for Finland and United States when
compared to India and Botswana. This difference delineates the
label for developed and developing countries. Although these
terms are relative, they seem to explain the gap as observed in
figure 1 above. Secondly, while India and Botswana seem to
also maintain comparatively high levels of inflation, Botswana
has large inflation and defaltion rates hence indicating highly
unstable prices (figure 2). The trends delineating India and

Botswana from Finland and U.S are also observed in figure 4.
However, I was surprised to find that despite poor indicator
ranks in many categories, India has the lowest unemployment
rates among the four countries. This is a surprising trend which
shows that among the four, India has managed to maintain very
low unemployment rates over the ten years.
Political Data
Country
Political Risk Index
Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism
Reasons
USA
80
61.90
President Trump’s policies and sentiments have heightened
divisions and reduced policy certainty hence reducing political
stability even amidst his impeachment inquiry (Friedman,
2019).
Botswana
72.5
83.33
Botswana has been ranked one of Africa’s most stable countries
with peaceful elections. However, overdependence on the
diamond industry threatens social stability in the long run (The
World Bank, 2019).
Finland
78.8
81.90
Finland is generally stable due to its strength in preventing
security threats and maintaining a stable government. The
forced resignation of prime minister in 2019 presents doubt in
the political stability of the country’s leadership (The World
Bank, 2019).
India
67.7 (Marsh, 2020*)
14.70 (The World Bank, 2019*)

Although India has a stable government, the emphasis on Hindu
nationalism threatens democracy and political stability (Abi -
Habib, 2020). Internal and regional conflicts involving anti -
Muslim terror are to explain for the low score on absence of
violence and terrorism.
*Note: Reference captures all data in the column it has been
placed in.
While comparing the political factors of these countries, I
became aware of the main challenges facing United States and
India as violence and terrorism. Contrary to popular thought,
some African countries like Botswana have more peace and
lower threat of violence than developed countries like America.
In India, I was surprised to realize the low rank of political
stability. However, the ranks reflected in this comparison are in
line with findings in the news. For instance, the U.S has
recently lost on its political stability rank due to the acts of
violence and indecision of government policy. India is also
experiencing similar problems but on a worse scale due to the
level of violence. This data has been interesting in outlining the
effects of various political and economic factors on the
countries. Going forward, I would like to know more about
India’s unemployment rates. Despite the high rates of poverty in
the country, records show that unemployment rates are low. I
would like to learn more about this contradiction and the
credibility of data on the same.
References
Abi-Habib, M. (2020, March 5). Violence in India Threatens Its
Global Ambitions. New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/asia/india-violence-
diplomacy.html
Friedman, U. (2019, Dec. 16). America Is Making the World
More Unstable. The Atlantic. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/12/donald-
trump-global-instability-cfr-survey/603631/
Mankiw, N. G. (2016). Principles of economics. New York, NY:
Cengage Learning.

Marsh. (2020). Political Risk Map 2020: Trade Tensions
Threaten Political Stability. Retrieved from
https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/political-risk-map-
2020.html
The World Bank. (2019, Sept. 20). The worldwide governance
indicators, 2019 update. Retrieved from
https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/Home/Reports
The World Bank. (2020a). GDP per capita (current US$).
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
The World Bank. (2020b). Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %).
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.DEFL.KD.ZG
Trading Economics. (2020a). Unemployment rate. Retrieved
from https://tradingeconomics.com/botswana/unemployment-
rate
Trading Economics. (2020b). Consumer price index. Retrieved
from https://tradingeconomics.com/botswana/consumer-price-
index-cpi
IBM 4141: International Marketing
Mini research assignment through peer review (Modules 2-5)
As part of “learning by doing” commitment of this class, you
will be carrying out some basic research on four countries.
Three of these countries are randomly assigned to you, and the
fourth is the USA. Why the USA? Even if you are unfamiliar
with some of the measures, having a point of comparison helps
to make sense of what you’re finding. You can compare your
lived experience to that of the data points. If you are not from
the USA/grew up in another country, feel free to replace it with
your home country and just note that in your write-up.
This assignment will progress over three weeks (Module 2-4) of
the class. Each week you will add to the knowledge you’re
finding.

Please cite all your sources. Use either MLA, APA, or Chicago
style. https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/citationtutorials
Suggested data sources
· https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/ibm3001 The CPP library has
pulled together a nice set of guides for research. I would
recommend scrolling to the “other recommended resources”
· CIA world factbook – gives basic information about each
country
· CountryWatch – country profiles give a detailed understanding
about key factors such as political trends, and recent news
· GlobalEDGE – A research tool that allows you to compare
across a variety of indicators
· https://data.worldbank.org/ The World Bank has a
downloadable database of indicators – more detail than most
other sources.
· You may also like the DataBank, which allows you to select
specific indicators:
https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-
indicators
· There are many other reputable data sources out there – go
ahead and explore!
Those four countries are my research countries.and USA
MODULE 2: Political and economic factors
Economic data
· Out of the different pieces of economic data discussed in our
readings and videos, choose FOUR. One type of data must be
GDP per capita (in USD).
· For each of your countries, pull the data for those indicators
for 5-10 years (a longer time horizon is better).
· Take your data and plot it together in four different line
graphs, one for each indicator. Example (not real data):
· Write 2-3 paragraphs summarizing:

· Why you chose the indicators you used? What do they mean,
and why are they important?
· Did your countries have data points for all ten years? Take an
educated guess as to why/why not.
· What were the trends you plotted?
· What is your response to what you found? Were you surprised
at anything?
Political data
· Political data is sometimes (but not always) less quantitative
than economic data. I would suggest going to CountryWatch and
find their political risk index. For each country, note their
political risk and then do some research to try to identify why
the number is what it is.
· Pick another indicator, such as political stability, or freedom
rankings.
· You can do this in a table, like this example:
Country
Political Risk #
Second indicator
Reasons (often pulled from the news)
USA
9.5
x
· Point one
· Point two
· Point three
· Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.
· How do the countries compare?
· Is there anything you found that surprised you?
· Did the reasons you could find in the recent news seem to
support the indicator values you found? Do you agree as to the
risk level for the countries?
· What other questions do you have about these countries, now
that you have completed some initial research?

Submitting and review
· Please make sure your assignment is properly formatted and
that you use paragraphs and full sentences. Save it as a
document or a PDF.
· Upload the assessment in Blackboard as an attachment.
· Once the evaluation period begins, log back into Blackboard,
and click back into the same assessment.
· You will be provided two peer assignments to review. There
will be criteria and points with which to grade them by. Make
sure you provide your fellow students with useful feedback.
· Note that I choose a random subset of submissions and
feedback to check for quality of submission as well as review.
· Here’s a video that might help:
· How to complete a peer assessed assignment in Blackboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv3cDy9gIp0
MODULE 3: Socio-cultural and technological factors
Socio-cultural factors
· Choose four social indicators. Now that you have a little more
experience with the research, go ahead and find ones that
interest you. Make sure at least two are quantitative and can be
plotted in a graph (similar to the economic work last week).
· Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3
paragraph write-up on the socio-cultural factors of the
countries.
· Tie these back to business – what does this make you think
about starting a business in these countries?
Technological factors
· Choose four tech indicators. Research them for each of your
four countries.
· Describe the data you identified, and complete a short 2-3
paragraph write-up on the technological factors of the countries.
· Tie these back to business – what does this make you think
about starting a business in these countries?

Bringing it together
· Write 1-2 paragraphs about what you found.
· How do the countries compare?
· Is there anything you found that surprised you?
· Did the reasons you could find in the recent news seem to
support the indicator values you found? Do you agree as to the
risk level for the countries?
· What other questions do you have about these countries, now
that you have completed some initial research?
Submit and review
· Use the same process as last week.
MODULE 4: International strategy
Presentation
· Choose one product or service from the list provided by
Professor Ong. You are going to decide if there are any possible
markets for this in the three countries (e.g. not the USA) you
have been studying.
· Review the work you have done up to now researching these
countries. Are there any gaps in your research, especially given
the choice of the product/service? If so, complete some
additional research to bolster your case now that you are more
familiar with data sources.
· For example, if you chose an electronic product, checking %
of the country that has access to the internet or electri city might
be useful.
· Develop a brief PowerPoint presentation (plan for it to be
under 5 minutes) which goes over the following:
· Product/service you are focusing on
· PEST analyses on the three countries (one per slide)
· Summary slide(s) describing which country/countries are the
most attractive proposition for the product/service you chose,
with reasons why. Give some brief strategy ideas as to how to

market the product in that new country context. How might
there need to be shifts in the marketing in order to make this
work? Will you focus on a different target market than in the
USA? Why?
Submit and review
· Submit the PPT presentation to the group.
· Use the same process as last week to review.
Note – your final assignment in Module 5 will be to polish up
this presentation (given the comments from your peers and your
own work and ideas), and then record yourself giving a short (4-
5 minute) presentation. You will submit this and I will grade
this presentation.
Use all your peer review time wisely so that you can have an
excellent presentation.
MODULE 5: International Marketing
This week’s assignment will not be peer reviewed. Instead, you
will submit it directly to Professor Ong and she will grade it.
Take the work done so far and polish any rough edges, and fill
in the gaps noted by your peers. Make sure your story flows
logically.
Practice giving this presentation. I want it to be confident and
clear.
Record yourself giving the presentation, and submit it as an
assignment. You are responsible for all technology related to
presenting it, so please practice beforehand so you are not
scrambling!
· Newer versions of Powerpoint have ways to record your screen
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-your-screen-in-
powerpoint-0b4c3f65-534c-4cf1-9c59-402b6e9d79d0
· You can host your own session and record it via Zoom
https://www.cpp.edu/studentsuccess/documents/zoom/how -to-
host-your-own-zoom.pdf
· Screencastify is a Google Chrome add-in

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/screencastify-screen-
vide/mmeijimgabbpbgpdklnllpncmdofkcpn?hl=en

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