Country AnalysisProduct name Alternative MedicineCountr.docx

Country Analysis
Product name: Alternative Medicine
Countries: US and Canada
Group’s Names:
1. Abdullah Alzubaidi
1. Abdulrahman Alzahrani
1. Saad Alnashwan
1. Saleh Alqahtani
1. Hesham Jebrial
1. Fahad Alanazi
United States of America
4.1 Country’s profile:
4.1.1 Country Overview: THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS
PLAGIARISED
Geography:
USA is world's third-largest country by size after Russia and
Canada. In terms of population after China and India; Mt.
McKinley is highest point in North America and Death Valley
the lowest point on the continent. It is located bordering both
the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between
Canada and Mexico. Majority parts have temperate climate but
Hawaii and Florida has tropical climate. US terrain is central
plain but west has hills and east has low mountains, Alaska has
rugged mountains and broad river valleys, Hawaii has volcanic
topography.

Burning of fossil fuels generate carbon dioxide and hence cause
acid rain in US. US suffer from water pollution caused from
fertilizers and pesticides. The country has limited sources of
fresh water and requires a careful management.
Demography:
US population as estimated in July 2011 is 313,847,465. As
per 2011 estimation, the population growth rate is 0.899%. As
per 2009 consensus, Population in major cities like New York-
Newark has 19.3 million, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana
12.675 million; Chicago 9.134 million; Miami 5.699 million;
WASHINGTON, D.C. (capital) 4.421 million. As per 2007
estimations, country has several religions sharing different
percentage composition like Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic
23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%,
Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%,
unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4%. According to 2000 census,
English language top the chart by 82.1% followed by Spanish
10.7% , other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island
2.7%, other 0.7%. US literacy rate is equal as per 2003
estimations, 99% of both male and female over the age of 15
can read and write.
Government:
US conventional long form is United States of America (USA)
and conventional short form is United States (US). US is strong
democratic nation with Constitution-based federal republic
government type. Its capital is Washington DC. US have 50
states and one district. US was declared an independent nation
on 4 July 1776 and was recognized by Great Britain on 3
September 1783. Its constitution was formed on 17 September
1787 and become effective from 4 March 1789.
Economy:
US is the most technologically advanced economy in the world
and its per capita GDP is $48,100. In private economy, majority
of the decisions are made by individuals and business firms and
federal and state government make all the purchases of the
needed goods and services. Businesses in US have greater

flexibility in terms of expanding capital plant, lay off surplus
workers and in developing new products. Industry related to
computers, medical, aerospace, military equipment are at
technological forefront after World War II in US. Since 1975,
Households income gains have gone up by 20% and since 1996,
dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages. US
consume oil by making nearly 55% of imports. In 2001 and
2006, oil prices doubled and put many households budget in
deficit. Further in 2008, oil process soar to threaten inflation
and result in deterioration in the US merchandise trade deficit.
Since Great depression, in 2009, GDP downsized vastly and
deeply and to stabilize the economy, financial support was
given by a Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) established
in October 2008 by the US Congress with a total fund of $700
billion. Some of the amount is used to purchase equity in US
banks and industrial corporations by government and these
funds have been returned by early 2011. President Obama in
January 2009 passed a bill providing an additional $787 billion
fiscal stimulus to be used over 10 years. The federal budget
deficit in 2010 and 2011 reached 9% of GDP, lowering
government revenues from taxes and other sources. National
resources experience major shifts due to wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. President Obama, in March 2009, signed into law
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a health
insurance reform bill that will extend coverage to an additional
32 million American citizens by 2016, through private health
insurance for the general population and Medicaid for the
impoverished. Another reform signed by president Obama in
July 2010 is the DODD-FRANK Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act. Under this act, consumers rights are
protecting from financial abuses, dealing with troubled banks,
ending taxpayer bailouts of financial firms and bringing
transparency in the financial system.
Background:
Since the revolutionary war ended in 1783 with the Treaty of
Paris, Britain American colonies were separated from mother

country and form separate new nation called as United States of
America. Earlier the nation has 13 states, but with expansion
across North American continent in 19th and 20th century, 37
new states were added that were acquired from overseas
possessions. Civil war of 1861-65 and Great Depression of
1930’s were two shocking experiences in the history of the
nation. After World War I and II, US became the most powerful
nation as it’s economy has attain stability and reduce its
unemployment rate and inflation and also enhance rapid
increases in the technology (United States, 2012).
4.1.2 International business/ trade:
International trade administration is formed to support US trade
policy to stand in global economy. It helps to create
employment opportunities, bring economic growth by promoting
US companies, makes American industries strong, administers
US trade laws, and undertakes trade promotion efforts
(International trade adminsitration ). Year?
International trade deficit in goods and services falls to $41.5
billion in September from $43.8 billion in August and exports
increased imports. As of per September 2012, exports of goods
and services were recorded as $187.0 billion, and service
surplus was $15.9 billion (U.S. International Trade Data, 2012).
Proofread!
There are several trade agreements that works for America’s
workers and businesses like with World Trade Organization and
with individual countries that proves to create beneficial trading
relationships between the nations of the world. All these trade
agreements benefits Americans only when their rights are
enforced.
To better enforce the existing trade agreements, President
Obama created USTR that is a new approach to utilize all tools
from negotiations to litigation for the better running of existing
trade agreements. Under this enforcement mechanism,
American workers, farmers, ranchers, producers, and

manufacturers rights would be protected in the international
trade system .
4.2 Political Characteristics and Governance
Political Conditions
US has a federal constitutional republic government where the
supreme power is in the hands of citizens. All citizens have the
right to vote and choose their representatives like senators and
members of the House of Representatives (What type of
government does the United States have?).
US has four political parties with leaders namely, Democratic
Party [Debbie Wasserman SCHULTZ]; Green Party; Libertarian
Party [Mark HINKLE]; Republican Party [Reince PRIEBUS]. It
has many political pressure groups like environmentalists;
business groups; labor unions; churches; education groups; civic
groups; youth groups; ethnic groups; political action
committees; ; women's groups; reform lobbies etc. (Source?)
US government is stable because of the public confidence in the
government and other political parties. Since civil war
American government is stable. Stability is maintained due to
strong democratic traditions, people in US strongly support
government and considers government as supreme. One more
reason for the economic stability is that government is in the
condition to meet economic needs (Why has American
government been relatively stable for over 200 years?). Use
proper format, author and year, not title is needed
4.2.2 Government’s international trade and investment policy
American economy is massive and significantly impact
international trade. During its expansion phase it can also
prompt growth in other nations and vice versa. Imports have
kept the prices lower in United States and resulted in a trade
deficit of $447 billion but this deficit is underwritten by imports
providing the nation capital to expand. Exports in 2000 stood at
$776 billion, while imports stood at $1.223 trillion (United
States of America - International trade, 2012).
Yes US economy is an open economy. US has signed several

trade agreements. To lower its tariffs on goods and services, in
1934, US signed its first reciprocal trade agreement with?. And
since then US has initiated open and free trade. In 1990, United
States signed more than 300 trade agreements with both specific
countries and international groups. Majority of the growth in
free trade is contributed by United States participation. In
1944, foundation of the Bretton Woods economic system was
founded by US, in which three institutions were formed namely,
the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In 1994,
GATT was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
US use WTO to take more advantage of open trade with nations
and to settle trade disputes. The country also settle many
disputes between 1996 and 1998 (United States of America -
International trade, 2012).
Good discussion here.
4.2.3 Regulatory Barriers
The given economic system give rise to many legal, political
barriers for international trade in particular target country in
which exporters wants to expand his services. And such trade
barriers are local content laws, tariffs and subsidies.
No need to make definition here. Expected that you and the
reader know that. The discussion should be what is the state and
level of them in the U.S?
Quotas, tariffs, and subsidies
Quota refers to the limit selected by one country on the imports
of goods and services from another country. Quota can be easily
established by government in free market economies and these
quotas affect pricing and quantities of the foreign goods. Quotas
negatively affect supply chain and increase price of the
products.
A tariff refers to a tax rate imposed on the imports of products.
It increases the price of the imported goods and this increased
pricing is passed to the consumer. There are two types of tariffs,
revenue, and protectionist tariffs.
A subsidy refers to when government provide financial help to

the domestic business and help them to survive competition
from foreign market goods, giving them the chance to capture
market share (Legal and political barriers to trade, 2010).
Yes, US has accessible, sufficient and adequately funded
intellectual property system. There is no need to make any
detailed law , the only thing needed is they must be able to take
action against infringers in order to prevent further
infringement and recover the losses incurred from any actual
infringement. Although, all intellectual property systems needs
a strong judicial system for handling both civil and criminal
offenses. It is required that judicial systems should be staffed
with adequate number of judges with excellent background and
experience. If there is no proper system to enforce the rights of
intellectual property that intellectual property will have no
value (Chapter 4 Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights).
4.3 Physical and Commercial Infrastructure
4.3.1 Physical infrastructure
The main telephones lines in use are 151 million, as per 2009
estimations and mobile cellular users are 279 million. US
telephonic system is large, technologically advanced and used
for multipurpose communication systems. For domestic
telecommunication, the industry uses fiber-optic cable,
mmicrowave radio relay, coaxial cable, and domestic satellites
are used to carry all telephonic traffic. And for mobile
telephonic traffic, cellular system carries all traffic rapidly
throughout the country. For international telecommunication,
every country has been given a code and code of US is 1.
Telecommunication can be possible by using multiple ocean
cable systems that provides connectivity and 61 Intelsat satellite
earth stations, 5 Intersputnik and 4 Inmarsat satellites across
Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, as per data gathered in 2000.
Where does the data come from?
US have 4 primary terrestrial TV networks with associated
stations all over the country. All these TV networks, cable and
satellite networks, independent stations and limited public

broadcasting sector are provided support by private grants.
There are many commercial stations like National Public Radio
(NPR) which has a network of 600 member stations. Satellite
radio is also available covering 15,000 operating stations. As
per 2006, television broadcast stations are 2218. Its internet
country code is .us. Internet total host count is us, .com, .edu,
.gov, .mil, .net, and .org. Around 245 million internet users
exist in 2009.
4.3.2 Business Operating Environment
Inflation and interest rate appears on same breadth. Federal
Reserve is responsible for deciding interest rate in US and Fed
meets 8 times in a year to establish short term interest rate.
Credit markets are directly dependent upon the interest rates,
higher the interest rates borrowing becomes more expensive.
Fed is responsible for stabilizing the prices by maximizing
employment, and dropping the interest rates so that consumer
spending increases and in total it affects the overall economic
growth (Inflation: Inflation And Interest Rates). This doesn’t
sound like a source.
Carrying shipment outside the US, it is required to check
whether product carries export or import license. License
obtaining is a long process and takes several months in
obtaining license. It is necessary to assign a broker for all these
tasks and fulfill all legal formalities required for customs and
packaging (Ordering or Shipping Outside the U.S).
In United States taxation is applied on net income of
individuals and corporations by the federal, state and some local
governments. Income includes worldwide income which is then
taxed and citizens are allowed a credit for foreign taxes.
Business expenses reduces the taxable income (Taxation in the
United States, 2012) .
US currency is dollar and its convertibility means its ability to
exchange a currency without government restrictions and

controls.
There are various risks associated with business trading
domestically or internationally and specific when trading in
currencies other than their home currency. Currency risk is
more common when domestic companies might sell to domestic
customers and competitor trade in different currency (Corporate
Currency Risks Explained, 2012).
In United States, banking sector is regulated y both the federal
and state government. Five largest banks were JPMorgan
Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman
Sachs. All the five banks holds 56% of the US economy. Yes
US have active banks, as perAugust 22, 2008, there were 8,430
FDIC-insured commercial banks in the United States.
Good attempt.
4.4 Source country experience in the target country:
My understanding is your source country is Saudi Arabia.
Therefore your discussion here should be what is the experience
of Saudi Arabia in the U.S?
For US products, Canada, Mexico and Japan are the three target
markets. Trade is only small part of the big relationship
network between the countries. Canada and the US trade many
things between each other; wood products, uranium, car parts,
fruits and vegetables, wood pulp, maple syrup, lumber, and
much more.
4.5 Product/Service fit
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Center for Health
Statistics in December 2008, released that American use
alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is not included in
conventional medicine.
Alternative medicines are used after gathering safety evidences.
Approximately, 38% of adults and 12% children use some form
of alternative medicine in USA. Highly educated and higher
incomes people consume higher levels of alternative medicines.
Non-vitamin and non-mineral products are most commonly used
as alternative medicine in US among adults. Its use enhances

several therapies, including deep breathing
exercises, meditation, massage therapy, and yoga
These alternative medicines are available at suitable prices and
do not require any changes to make them more affordable.
Alternative medicines match the sophistication of the US market
and do not need any alterations.
Alternative medicine is a big business in USA and made $34
billion in out-of-pocket spending, as per the government report.
In 2007, data gathered released that more than 38 million adults
visited chiropractors, acupuncturists and other specialists in
alternative care. In this business, nearly $12 billion go to the
practitioners and two-third of the total amount was spent on
products like supplements etc. Out of total health care
expenditures 1.5% of the $2.2 trillion made alternative
therapies. People in US spend $14.8 billion out of pocket to buy
non-vitamin, non-mineral, natural products -- a third of what is
spent on pharmaceuticals (Alternative medicine a big business
in U.S.: report, 2009). Check your formatting. Author and year
here
You are not discussing how your product fit the market
specifically
Also which specific medicine are you talking about here?
4.6: Target Market Characteristics:
The current market for the alternative medicine in US is adults.
From 1990 to 1997, use of alternative medicine has been
increased which has raised expenditures. Although alternative
medicine is hugely accepted in USA but it is still not sure that
whether these therapies will ever become a part of the
Conventional healthcare system. In future, there is a need of
better co-operation between alternative medicine and
conventional healthcare approach and practitioners. It depends
upon how well practitioners consider alternative medicine as
safe and effective means of healthcare (hapter 2: Overview of
CAM in the United States: Recent History, Current Status, And
Prospects for the Future).
Yes US produced similar products domestically and they should

be consumed under supervision. Variety of population groups
consumes alternative medicine, mostly, women, people with
higher education, people who hospitalized frequently, former
smokers. These alternative medicines are more commonly used
to treat back pain or problems, colds, neck pain or problems,
joint pain, anxiety, depression. It has been found that majority
of the people who consume alternative medicine, do not consult
any practitioner. People use alternative medicine because of
many reasons like, 55% of the adults use alternative medicine
because they think that combined treatment of alternative
medicine and conventional medicine might be beneficial.
Around 50% try these medicines on experimenting basis as it
interests them. 26% uses this medicine on the suggestion of the
professionals and 13% believes that conventional medicines are
too expensive. Approximately 28% people believe that
conventional medicine will not help them in solving their health
problems and they are not satisfied with the conventional
medicines (Cathy Wong, 2004).
You haven’t defined the target population in detail, not all
adults can be your market.
4.7 Competition and competitive barriers:
There are just few companies that produce alternative medicine.
Alternative medicines compete with conventional medicines,
although they are not included as a part of conventional
medicines but they face competition from these medicines.
Alternative medicine industry covers all medicines and health
care products that are not covered under conventional modern
medicine.
In healthcare industry competition is limited because licensing
is important and licensing limits entry. Regulations make sure
that minimum quality is maintained and for this many
professionals replace licensing with certification. And when the
market of alternative medicine faces direct competition on
quality and price , government set minimum quality standards
should be reassessed (Danzon, 2002).
Competition not well investigatedCanada

4.1 Country Profile:
4.1.1 Country Overview
Geography:
Canada is locate at the Northern of the North America ,
bordering the North Atlantic ocean and North Pacific Ocean.
Area wise, Canada is located at the strategic point between
Russia and US through north polar route and is the second
largest country in the world after Russia. Canada is little larger
than US. Around 300km near the US- Canada border ,
approximately 85% of the population live. Its south has
temperate climate and north has arctic and sub-arctic climate.
Canada is mostly plain country with mountains in west and
lowlands in south-east. Its highest point is Mount Logan 5,959
m and lowest point is Atlantic Ocean 0m (Canada, 2012) .
Demography:
As per July 2011 estimates, Canada has 34.03 million
population, covering 9,984,670 million sq km area. Its capital is
Ottawa city. Canada is the land of multicultural people who
have settled from all over the world. The country has two
official languages; English and French. There are several
religions followed in Canada, namely, Roman Catholic 43%,
protestant 23%, other Christian 4%, Muslim 1% and some other
11% and none 16% (Canada, 2012).
Government:
Canada is a federal state with democratic system with
constitutional monarchy and government is based on
Westminster model (Canada, 2012).
Your discussion is scattered. You can put these section together.
Economy:
As per 2011 survey, Canada’s nominal GDP is US$ 1,737
billion. In Canada, around 19 million people are working as
labour force and unemployment rate is 7.5%. Canada’s major
industries are automobile manufacturing industries, pulp and
paper industry, extraction of fossil fuels industry, agriculture,

iron and steel work, machinery and equipment manufacturing
and mining industry. As per 2011, its gross government debt is
C$ 1460 billion, government debt is 85% of GDP
Background:
After developments in the USA, that is after the endfinish of
civil war, a mew movement of unification of the colonies of
British North America begins. It has resulted in the formation
of new nation called the Dominion of Canada. Canada was
created by the British North America Act of 1867 and
proclaimed in Canada on 1 July 1867.
4.1.2 International business/ trade:
Canada is the member of many international groups like North
America Free Trade Association (NAFTA); North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO); Organization American States
(OAS); G8, G20; World Trade organization(WTO); La
Francophonie (Canada, 2012).
Country’s export as per 2011 estimation is US $ 462.4 billion.
Canada mainly exports commodities like machinery and
equipment, automobile and parts, high-technology products, oil,
natural gas, forest and farm products and metals. Imports were
recorded at US$ 493 billion by importing commodities like
motor vehicle and parts, mineral fuels and oils, industry goods,
plastic, machinery, electrical machinery and equipment.
Canada mostly trade and invest in the US? in British companies
of all sizes dealing in all business activities. Canada is
positioned among one of the top 10 countries with advance
industrial power and is one of the world’s richest and most
developed country. People living in Canada enjoy high standard
of living. Canada offers good trading options to British
companies because of its stability, I economic growth and low
inflation. Major area open for trade are energy, food and drink,
aerospace and biotechnology. In 2002, the Canadian
government announced to invest $108m in the Canadian digital
content industry. Its service sector is also flourishing by
making it privatized. There are also good opportunities for

technology transfer between UK and Canadian companies by
establishing strategic business partnerships.
In trading goods, Canada is UK’s third largest export market
after US and China. In 2011, the total goods exported to Canada
amount £4.5 billion comprising of energy products, industrial
goods and machinery equipments. And in trading services,
Canada is UK’s 11th largest market. For Canada, UK is the
second largest foreign direct investor after US.
What is the relevance of UK here? I thought your destination
was Saudi Arabia.
4.2 Political Characteristics and Governance:
4.2.1 Political Conditions
There are many political parties at federal and provincial level.
Federal level parties are: Conservative party, Liberal party,
Bloc Quebecois and New Democratic Party (NDP). Provincial
levels parties are; The Progressive Conservative party, the Parti
Quebecois in Quebec, the Saskatchewan Party and the Yukon
party (Canada, 2012).
There are 308 electoral districts in Canada and voters in each
district elect one Member of Parliament (MP) to send to the
House of Commons. The Canadian parliament consists of two
chambers namely, the House of Commons and the Senate. Direct
voting assign members for the House of Commons for five
years. And the Senate members are assigned by Governor
general to serve until they reach 75 years of age, these members
are selected on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Canada has friendly relations with US and United States is the
main trading partner of Canada with Mexico , in the North
America Free Trade Association (NAFTA). Canada and us are
the members of NATO. Canada is also a member of World
Trade organization (WTO) and has also expanded free trade
areas. Canada is also involved in many other foreign policies
like promoting international peace or security through
multilateral bodies and also respect human rights. In 2011,
Canada‘s participation in the NATO mission in Libya has

worked and contributed towards maintaining stability in
Afghanistan. In November 2011, when combat troops were
withdrawal, Canada begins its training mission in Afghanistan
Before exporting to Canada, there are few things that should be
kept in mind. Doing business in Canada is not similar to doing
business in US. You should be aware that Canadian market is
slightly smaller than US market because Canada’s population is
one tenth the population of US. It should also be remembered
that Canada is an international market with its own trade
customs and regulations. So exporters have to be little cautious
while exporting goods to Canada. Canada cities like Toronto
and Montreal holds 90% of the markets for all goods and
services. This shows that exporters need to concentrate on only
few selected areas. Exporters need to establish their agents in
country that help to form a close relationship in these locations.
There are few main barriers to US imports of goods as
compared to other countries. Initially there are import tariffs
but after the trade agreements between US and Canada , all
import tariffs have been eliminated. But still Canada continues
with its regulatory requirements of trade on US imports.
Another issue which was raising concern was labeling, most
provinces in Canada requires labeling to be done in both
languages English and French (Exporting to Canada).
good
Physical resources in Canada includes all the things that we
need to carry our livelihood. It includes, roads, power plants,
communication equipment, public service buildings, military
assets, properties, furnishings, warehousing, transportation and
many more (Infrastructure, 2010).
Nations infrastructure includes all the things that are used by
public like transportation, communications, distribution, energy,
engineering, cultural and military assets etc. All these things
represents development of a nation, if these things are well

developed and improves people lifestyles, it reflects that nation
is developing or developed. From last many decades physical
resources are being used and few of them have obsolete and
need renewing. To meet the ongoing progress, Canada also
needs to make use of advance technology to build new
infrastructure. Use at least grammar check in word.
There is uneven growth and distribution of physical resources
across the nation, this is due to Canada's geography, and
distribution of natural resources. Therefore, there is a need to
establish a more equitable future development of infrastructure
physical resources by utilizing the technology so that Canada
can grow progressively (Infrastructure, 2010).
You don’thave data here!
Canada’s currency is dollar known as “Loonie”. Its
convertibility is 1 dollar is equal to 100 cents. Loonie refers to
a native bird (Canada, 2012).
As per 2011 estimates its inflation rate is 2.9%.
Each Canadian province and territory has their own set of
governing laws to carry out business. When establishing
business operations in Canada, companies consider tax
processes, business processes and form of business
organizations. From tax perspective, it is always advisable to
open a business organization through a subsidiary corporation
instead through a branch. While other forms of business
organizations popular in Canada are Co-operative Corporation,
Joint Venture, limited partnership, general partnership,
licensing, distribution, agency or franchising arrangement.
In establishing incorporations in Canada the following
provisions needs to be followed; The corporate name should be
different, it should have different trade name or trade-mark. The
corporate name should not include legal element like Ltd. or
inc. Corporate may issue unlimited number of shares belonging
to different classes. Corporation should have a minimum
number of directors at least one unless it is a public company.
Shareholders share limited liability (wright, 2010).

Again, section 4 is all about data and you don’t have enough of
that
4.4 Source country experience in the target country you
misunderstood this section
Its major trading partners are United States, UK, Japan and
China. In Canada small businesses are less satisfied with the
operations of banks and are more likely to switch off their bank
services. These businesses have doubled their deposits in
average retail customers and taken four times higher loans for
doing business.
4.5 Product/Service fit:
It has been found that Canadian choose alternative medicines
when they fail to get any help from conventional medicines to
treat their health problem. People who do not faith conventional
medicines are the major consumers of alternative medicines. In
Canada, people consume alternative medicine not because they
believe in its benefits but because they have negative past
experience of taking conventional medicine which informing
them to choose alternative medicine with no other option left.
Therefore people in Canada are selecting alternative medicine
for pragmatic reasons.
But now , people have start believing the alternative medicines,
and this population does not choose to take conventional
medicine at the same time. People consuming alternative
medicines are paying out of their own pocket, as there is no
insurance involved with alternative medicines. This means that
if people stick to the conventional health care method of
treatments, they have the chance to reimburse from government
but if they use other options then they have to bear the cost of
tehir healthcare.
Most people who become the followers of alternative medicines
are those who suffer from chronic diseases and does not receive
any help from conventional medicines. People opt alternative
medicine not just because of the nature and duration of the

illness, but also due to age, gender, and educational level and
health beliefs. Other factors that decide the acceptance of
alternative medicine is knowledge of available treatment and
level of income.
People who are choosing to try alternative treatments had taken
their well-being and health in their own hands and are going
beyond conventional practice and are also taking the risk of
using treatments that have yet to be validated by scientific
evidence (Wellman).
Similar comment as for U.S.
4.6 Target Market Characteristics:
Before starting alternative medicine in Canada it should be
understand that this product can be rewarding but at the same
time requires lots of challenges like regulations, financing,
licensing, taxation, management, advertising, and much more. It
has been estimated that demand for alternative medicine
continue to grow in Canadian market. Canadians used
alternative therapies an average of 8.6 times during the year
previous to the 2006 survey.
There are some practitioners who choose to sell these
alternative medicines under cosmetic category for retail aspect.
Establishing this business requires appropriate licensing and
permits. In Canada, you must involve municipality along with
provincial/territorial and federal governments while creating
any business. Business has to obtain license under its
jurisdiction , this shows that there is no uniformity throughout
the country regarding municipal licenses for businesses
(Starting an Alternative and Complementary Health Care
Business).
4.7 Competition and competitive barriers:
Licensing have limited the competition in healthcare industry
and has increased the costs of the treatments. Canadian
alternative medicine markets are run by few companies because
it requires licensing. Alternative medicine competes with
conventional medicines and mainly all the alternative medicines

are domestically produced in Canada so are not expensive also.
References
Alternative medicine a big business in U.S.: report. (2009, July
30). Retrieved November 16, 2012, from
http://www.reuters.com:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/30/us-usa-health-
alternative-idUSTRE56T6MN20090730
Canada. (2012, September 20). Retrieved November 17, 2012,
from http://www.fco.gov.uk/: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-
and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-
profile/north-central-america/canada/
Cathy Wong. (2004, June 03). Alternative Medicine Use on the
Rise in the US. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from
http://altmedicine.about.com:
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/alternativemedicinebasics/a/CA
Muse.htm
Chapter 4 Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.
Corporate Currency Risks Explained. (2012, May 25). Retrieved
November 16, 2012, from http://www.investopedia.com/:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/09/corporate-
currency-risks.asp#axzz2CObiwiRI
Danzon, P. M. (2002). Health Care Industry. Retrieved
November 17, 2012, from http://econlib.org:
http://econlib.org/library/Enc1/HealthCareIndustry.html
Exporting to Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2012,
from http://www.gaebler.com:
http://www.gaebler.com/Exporting-to-Canada.htm
hapter 2: Overview of CAM in the United States: Recent
History, Current Status, And Prospects for the Future. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 17, 2012, from
http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov:
http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/fr2.html
Inflation: Inflation And Interest Rates. (n.d.). Retrieved

November 16, 2012, from http://www.investopedia.com:
http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation3.asp
#axzz2CObiwiRI
Infrastructure. (2010). Retrieved November 17, 2012, from
http://www.canadianfederalistparty.com:
http://www.canadianfederalistparty.com/cfp_canadasresources/i
nfrastructure.html#DETAILS
International trade adminsitration . (n.d.). Retrieved November
16, 2012, from http://trade.gov/: http://trade.gov/
Legal and political barriers to trade. (2010, July 17). Retrieved
November 16, 2012, from http://www.helium.com:
http://www.helium.com/items/1894901-business-practice-local-
content-laws-bc-wal-mart-tariff-quotas
Ordering or Shipping Outside the U.S. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 16, 2012, from http://www.bu.edu:
http://www.bu.edu/sourcing/preferred_suppliers2/services/
Starting an Alternative and Complementary Health Care
Business. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2012, from
http://www.canadabusiness.ab.ca/:
http://www.canadabusiness.ab.ca/index.php/start-up/34-starting-
an-alternative-and-complementary-health-care-business
Taxation in the United States. (2012, November 09). Retrieved
November 16, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_States
U.S. International Trade Data. (2012, November 08). Retrieved
November 16, 2012, from http://www.census.gov:
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/data/
United States. (2012, July 26). Retrieved November 16, 2012,
from http://www.indexmundi.com:
http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/#Introduction
United States of America - International trade. (2012).
Retrieved November 16, 2012, from
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com:
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Unite
d-States-of-America-INTERNATIONAL-TRADE.html
Wellman, M. K. (n.d.). HEALTH CARE AND CONSUMER

CHOICE: MEDICAL AND ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES.
Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.utoronto.ca/:
http://www.utoronto.ca/CAMlab/publications/col_health_care_c
onsumer_choice.html
What type of government does the United States have? (n.d.).
Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://wiki.answers.com/:
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_United_States_have
Why has American government been relatively stable for over
200 years? (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2012, from
http://answers.yahoo.com:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110622011126
AAWV3Rf
wright, D. (2010). Guide to Doing Business in Canada. Canada.
PLAGIARISED PART SHOULD BE REDONE AND
RESUBMITTED!!!!
Guide for the Preparation of
International Marketing Research Report
(40% of your final marks)
I. General Instruction
You are required to work in groups (maximum 5 per group) to
develop an International
Marketing Research Report (IMR) – the fundamental step to
make key decisions

regarding entering and operating a foreign market. The IMR
will lay the ground work
for two other major assignments in the program, international
marketing plan and
international business plan. This shows you the importance of
this assignment. You are to
use the template to be provided to write the research report.
Your performance will be
evaluated based on the marking scheme indicated in the table at
the end of this document.
Organize your International Market Research report as follows.
two countries you
intensively researched date of submission, course name as well
as the name of the
instructor.
text (1.5’
spaced, 1” margins,
using normal fonts). This is excluding your exhibits. You may
add as many
exhibits as you like. All exhibits must be referred to in your
text. Penalties apply
for extra pages.

llowing products/services
should not be used:
Wine, maple syrup and hockey stick.
market research
report. The following guides/templates will be provided:
o Country Attractiveness Matrix
o Product Description
o Country Analysis guide
o Strategic Issues
plagiarizing.
Plagiarized document will not be marked and may jeopardize
your academic
standing with the course and the program. Safe Assign will be
used to detect. If
you are not familiar with proper formatting or if you need
refreshing, make use of
the resources available at http://www-
apps.umuc.edu/vailtutor/index.html
The required
report should be
completed and submitted on time. Failing to do so will hurt
your grade.
is important that
your report has each of these sections outlines and that the
sections are

accordingly titled.
peer review. If your
review is consistently low among group members, your marks
will be reduced.
http://www-apps.umuc.edu/vailtutor/index.html
II. Content and structure of the report
Table of content
1. Executive Summary
2. Research Definition
3. Product/Service Description (see posted guide)
4. Country Analysis (see posted guide)
4.1 Country Profile
4.2 Political Characteristics & Governance
4.4 Source Country Experience in the Target Country
4.5 Product/Service fit
4.6 Target Market Characteristics

4.7 Competition and Competitive Barriers
5. Strategic Issues (see posted guide)
6. Recommendations and Action Plan
Appendices
Bibliography
III. Timelines and due dates
Activities Due dates
Outcome
Product/service as well as
five countries and
discussion of high level
reasons
September 21
th
Name list
Select two countries out of
the five countries you chose

based on your ranking
using the attractiveness
matrix
October 8
th
, 5:30pm Complete attractiveness matrix
including the data collection
tool
Country analysis for the two
chosen countries (use
template)
November 2
nd
5:30pm Country Analysis
Submit final report December 7
th
5:30pm Complete document according
to instruction

IV. Marking Scheme
Maximum
Marks
Country Attractiveness 10
Country Analysis (Section 5)
10
Final Report 20
Total 40
Breakdown of the 20 marks for
the final report
Maximum
Marks
Executive summary 2
Research definition
2

Product description
2
Country analysis
3
Strategic issues
3
Recommendation & action plan
3
Document organization and
format
5
Total 20
IV. Peer Evaluation of the International Market Research
Project
Your Group Subject (Product/service and Final Country):
_____________________

Instructions:
names in the columns including yours
including you.
evaluation: Strongly
Disagree(1), Disagree (2) Neutral (3) Agree (4) Strongly Agree
(5)
Key Behaviors
Name Name Name Name Name
1 Came prepared by reading
assigned article and
reviewing rough draft
2 Carried fair share of the
workload
3 Was respectful of other ideas and
opinions; stayed positive and
open-minded

4 Communicated with the group
(gave constructive feedback and
input, listened; alerted to
problems )
5 Kept group focused and moving
toward goals
(e.g., summarized, evaluated,
coordinated)
Rating of Overall Effort of the
individual
Other comments:
VI. Recommended Sources of data and information for your
research:

Niagara College Databases
Available at: http://www.niagaracollege.ca/content/Library.aspx
– Good for specific company, industry and
market data -
http://360.datamonitor.com.proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/
– try the Business Searching Interface with
Country and Company Reports at
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/bsi/
search?sid=52743c29-
bd4b-48e5-9698-
8fb16d5813a8%40sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=122
-STAT - Canadian statistics from Statcan.ca
External Sources
- nation master.
Good for data on individual
or pair of countries on various issues such as government,
corruption, health, transport,
crime, etc.
background
- The World Bank and
International Finance
Corporation. Good for commercial infrastructure section (the
business environment)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/0
,,pagePK:180619~theSitePK

:136917,00.html – World Bank on general country information
as well as specific data.
Also World Bank – Data through http://data.worldbank.org/
- Especially the competitiveness
reports for regions and
countries are very useful: http://www.weforum.org/reports
– US Government website gives
information about countries’
politics, economy, regulation, health, etc. macro factors.
–
U.S. Government site for
country specific market information (market characteristics,
market entry, strategy, etc.)
including commercial code.
anada Data base of Canadian import and export
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/h_00081.html
http://www.niagaracollege.ca/content/Library.aspx
http://360.datamonitor.com.proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/
search?sid=52743c29-bd4b-48e5-9698-
search?sid=52743c29-bd4b-48e5-9698-
http://proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/login?url=http://www.s
tatcan.gc.ca/estat/licence-eng.htm
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
http://www.doingbusiness.org/

,,pagePK:180619~theSitePK:136917,00.html
,,pagePK:180619~theSitePK:136917,00.html
http://data.worldbank.org/
http://www.weforum.org/reports
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
http://www.buyusa.gov/home/export.html
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/h_00081.html
Section 4: Country Analysis Guide
Instructions:
· Use this as a discussion guide. Do not use it is Q & A form.
Your discussion should be in paragraph format. Feel free to add
discussions not suggested here and if it is not applicable you
can also skip some questions. However, all sections should be
discussed somehow.
· Use as much data as you can and don’t forget to cite properly.
· Make sure you keep all numbered headings.
· Please note that you need a separate section for each country
you discuss here. In this case the two countries are the ones you
selected based on your marking scheme. In other words, you
discuss first country A and cover all sections from 4.1 to 4.7
and then country B again 4.1 to 4.7
Section
4.1
Country Profile
4.1.1 Country Overview: Give an overview of the country’s
geography, politics, economy and social.
· General information about the country, official name,
geography, size, political system, history, etc,
· Use the general descriptions (population) Population can be
used to show market potential (use both total, change overtime)

· Use GDP data for 5-10 years to discuss trends.
· Add any information to give general background about the
country.
4.1.2 International business/ trade: Discuss the degree of
integration of the economy in the world market place.
· Volume of export and import
· Growth of export and import (Use 5-10 years data),
· Information about any major happenings or policies in
international trade such as free trade agreements, WTO
membership, tariff revisions, and policy shift towards foreign
trade, etc.
4.2
Political Characteristics and Governance: Discuss the political
condition and assess the political risk involved in doing
business in the country
4.2.1 Political Conditions
· The type of governments (democratic or not, the type of
constitution)
· How stable is it? (use stability indicators)
· Who are the major parties, who is governing, how does
political representation look like (seats)
· What are the fundamental policies of the ruling party
· Is the country considered open (use indicators such as
openness indicators)?
· Discussion of foreign investment climate such as incentives or
lack of incentives,
· Is there any danger of expropriation? (See if there is history of
expropriation, if there is outstanding claims)
· Is the country a signatory to international agreements on
intellectual property (WIPO), WTO, etc?
· Is the country a member of trading blocks (or free trade
agreements?
· Are there legal or political barriers to exporting into the target

country?
· Are there restrictions imposed by Source country to export
(export ban, sanctions, for example)?
· How restrictive is the target market? Discuss the tariff levels
or quota levels (if applicable)?
· What environmental, health, safety or technical standards
might apply to the proposed venture?
· Are there specific measurement, packaging and labelling
requirements?
· Are there other non-tariff measures used in the country?
· Are there sufficient intellectual property laws and are they
enforced?
4.3
Physical and Commercial Infrastructure: Review the state,
quality, quantity, cost of overall physical infrastructure with
emphasis on the ones that are vital to your business.
· What is the extent and sophistication of telecommunications?
(Data on phones, internet access, roads, airports, ports, and
others that are vital to your business)
· Transport, warehousing and other necessary stuff.
· Distance between home and target market and its impact.
· Geographic and climatic conditions
· Discuss quality and try to find cost figures
· Inflation, Interest rates and implications
· Tariff levels (General and specific to your venture)
· Also research custom and other regulations such as health,
safety, licensing or permit
· Which taxation applies? (Is there Goods and service tax or
VAT, what is the tax level overall and specific to your venture?
· Does the country have tax treaty with the source country?
· What is the currency, its convertibility? Are there foreign

exchange restrictions?
· Talk about risks: Currency risk and payment risk
· Business services required for your venture and their
availability in the target market?
· Banking sector: How many banks? Are private banks active?
Their efficiency? Do they facilitate international transaction?
· Are there any incentives for foreign investors?
· Are there foreign investment restrictions, e.g. limits to profit
repatriation?
4.4
Source country experience in the target country: Discuss source
country’s presence or absence and what does it mean to doing
business in that country
· Trade between source country and the target market (volume,
composition, trend)
· What are the most traded items between the two countries?
· Are there source country companies including banks doing
business in the country?
· Is there source country diplomatic or trade representation?
4.5
Product/Service fit: Discuss how your product/service meets the
needs, requirements, characteristics of your customer and
destination country.
· What factors (values, culture, religion, and attitude) affect the
demand for your product/services?
· Given the characteristics of the target market, what
modifications would help the product in matching local
preferences?
· Is the price appropriate? Are modifications required to make it
more affordable?
· Is the product matched to the sophistication of the target
market? Any modification required? (e.g. simplifying operation)
· If so, what is the degree of modification? (Totally different
product, major or minor modification? Which specific part of
your product/service will be modified? What are the changes to
be made: Should product feature be changed? (e.g. appearance),

Should different materials be used? Should measurements be
changed? (e.g. metric or U.S. standard) or should technical
specifications be changed? (e.g. voltage)
· Does language play a role in modification in product/service
features, labelling, instructions, delivery or after-sales service?
· Do technical specifications in the target market require
modifications to the design, standards, contents or functioning
of the product?
· Are there environmental considerations that would require
modifications (e.g. emissions, reusability, disposability)
· Is the quality embedded in the product appropriate for the
standards of the target market?
· Is the technology used appropriate?
· Can it be readily maintained in the target market?
· Can IP embedded in the product be protected?
· Does the technology used challenge any patents in the target
market?
· Is the product/technology at its early stage to justify
investment in future modification?
· Has the product/technology run its useful life cycle? Should it
be replaced with a new product/technology?
4.6
Target Market Characteristics: Describe your customers and
their characteristics
· What is the current market for the product or service in the
target market? (4- 10 years data)
· What is the projection or the future trend?
· What is going to be projected market size and share for your
product/service? Size and share for your product/service?
· Are similar products being produced locally? Are similar
products being imported?
· Who are your target customers? Describe them in terms of
demographic data: Age, income, location, sex, etc.
· Psychographics: Find information about their lifestyle.
Information about psychographics would be helpful. Their

spending behaviour is very important. What is the structure of
and priorities of their spending.
· Are similar products/services being sold or offered in the
target market?
· Talk about your segmentation strategy
· How would you differentiate your offering?
· Are there ways in which the company can modify its
products/services in order to differentiate them from others?
4.7
Competition and competitive barriers: Identify and discuss the
competition and the competitive nature of the market as well as
the competitive barriers in the market.
· How do you describe the market (purely competitive,
dominated by government or by few companies, etc.?)
· What products/services compete with yours (directly and
indirectly)?
· Are these competing products/services local or import?
· Which companies are direct competitors in the target market?
· Choose the main ones and discuss their size, market share,
resources, and strategies.
· How do you plan to deal with the competition? Discuss your
differentiation strategy.

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