1. International Businessand Foreign Market Entry in BRIC countries
Dr. Dheeraj Sharma
Faculty, Marketing Area
IIM Ahmedabad
Dr. Subhash Sharma
James F. Kane Professor of Marketing
Moore School of Business
University of South Carolina
December 2012-January 2013
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2. Course Objectives
Brazil, Russia, India and China have slowly emerged over the past two decades years from the
shadows of centralized planning and controlled structures to a more de-regulated environment,
thereby becoming vibrant free marketsand important players in global markets. Major focus will
be on India’s attractiveness as an emerging market and India’s strength of availability of
relatively cheap and technically well-trained work force which provide significant advantages for
economies in industries such as software development and maintenance. Concurrently, an
absence of well-developed power generation, transportation, and telecommunications
infrastructure has limited growth opportunities. When coupled with a large and growing
population that possesses enhanced purchasing power, Indian economy presents exciting
opportunities as well as challenges to multinational corporations that seek business services and
products from India, and penetrate Indian markets in order to expand their global presence. Also,
reverse innovation has presented Indian companies to enter lucrative markets in developed and
emerging economies.
To meet the course objectives we will mostly use an assortment of Harvard Business Review
articles and case studies, articles from business periodicals, McKinsey Quarterly Reports and
class discussions.From a pedagogical standpoint, course will use a combination of case studies,
lectures, guest lectures and in-class exercises.
Preparation
You are expected to prepare the readings and cases in advance, and be ready to discuss them in class
on the assigned day. Your discussion should bring out additional insights on the topics. Apart from
voluntary inputs, we will randomly select students to participate in the class discussions. In your
discussion you should refrain from mere summarization of casereadings and facts. High quality
discussion that offers insights into the resolution of the managerial problems is a must.
A team of 4 or 5 students per team would also be expected to present a project on market entry into
foreign markets. Your presentation should be limited to 20 minutes with five minutes of Q/A. You
must also turn in a written report. The report should be amaximum of 15 pages in double-spaced
Times 12 font with 1-inch margins (excluding exhibits that can be appended to the main report).
Schedule
We have put together a fairly comprehensive schedule of readings and case analysis. Success of
the course, and thereby your own evaluations, will strongly depend on your prior preparation,
class participation and project report and presentation. We expect everyone to complete the
readings and case analysis before they are discussed in the class.
The following schedule shows what we will cover in each of the 10 classes. We may be slightly
behind or ahead on different days, so please be prepared for such contingencies.
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3. Class 1&2 Thursday, December 27, 2012 (Morning)
Introduction and Competing at Home and Foreign Markets
Read: Emerging Giants Competing at Home: How Emerging Market-Based Companies Can
Build Competitive Advantage at Home (Excerpted from Winning Markets: A Road Map
for Strategy and Execution by TarunKhanna and Krishna G. Palepu), Harvard Business
Press.
Class 3&4, Thursday, December 27, 2012 (Afternoon)
Overview of BRIC Emerging Countries (Doing Business in Brazil, Russia, India and
China)
Download and read the Economy profile from the following World Bank Reports.
Links to be provided in class.
Read “China + India: The Power of Two,”TarunKhanna. Harvard Business Review, December
2007.
Class 5&6, Friday, December 28, 2012 (Morning)
Establishing Business Ventures in India: Political and Social Environment and
Infrastructure
Read NY Times articles and view the Slide Show
Links to be provided in class
Case: “Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A
and B),” Harvard Business cases 9-797-085 and 9-797-086.
Prepare the case and respond to the following questions:
1. Is Dabhol a good project for Enron? For India? For Maharashtra?
2. Evaluate Enron’s strategy with respect to Dabhol and its implementation.
Class 7, Friday, December 28, 2012 (Afternoon)
Establishing Business Ventures in India:Political and Social Environment, and
Infrastructure (continued) and Distribution Channels
Case: Wal-Mart and Bharti: Transforming Retail in India. Case No. HKU845
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4. Class 8&9 Wednesday, January 3, 2013 (Morning).
Establishing Business Ventures in India: Putting together the Management Team to Enter
the Market
Read Strategies that Fit Emerging Markets, Harvard Business Review, TarunKhanna, Krishna G.
Palepu and Jayant Shah, June 2005.
Case: Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A), Harvard Business Case # 9-303-086, November 6,
2006.
Class 10, Wednesday, January 4, 2013 (Afternoon)
Professional Services, Information Technology Infrastructure,and Outsourcing Trends and
Issues
Read: “Offshoring and Beyond,” McKinsey Quarterly, 2003 Special Edition: Global Directions
Case: EXLService: Business Process Outsourcing in India, Stanford Graduate Business School
Case # E-221, 9/11/2006.
Class 11, Thursday, January 5, 2013 (Morning)
Importance of Operations, Supply Chain and Marketing Interface
In class lecture
Class 12&13, Thursday, January (Afternoon).
Competing in Multiple Foreign Markets, Segmentation, Culture and Forecasting in Multiple
Markets
Case: Toyota Repositioning the Brand in Europe (A): Case No. IMD198
Class 14: Friday January (Morning/Afternoon)
Understanding Business Practices in Brazil and Russia
Reading: BRICS report, Oxford Pb
Class 15: Saturday January (Morning/Afternoon)
Retailing in BRIC nations: Example of Russia
Case: Lenta of St. Petersburg, Russia
Class 16, Tuesday, January (Afternoon).
Forming Partnerships in BRIC nations: Example of Brazil
Case: Philip Reade (Stanford Case)
Class 17, Thursday, January (Afternoon).
Examining Public Private Partnership in Brazil
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5. Case:GlaxoSmithKline in Brazil: Public-Private Vaccine Partnerships
Classes 18, Friday (morning or/and afternoon)
Market Entry into Russia
Case: Foreign Investment in Russia: Challenging the Bear (TB0015)
Classes 19 and 20, Friday (morning and afternoon)
Project presentations and course wrap-up.
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