The targeted Course Learning Outcomes for this assessment are:
CLO1: Articulate and apply the core concepts and theories in the political economy of international business.
CLO2: Integrate the key historical developments in international political economy so as to contextualise and respond to current issues and problems in international business.
CLO3: Critically analyse and synthesise your conceptual knowledge of how international business and organisations impact on politics, culture and economics.
CLO4: Develop independent and critical research skills to synthesise theoretical and empirical data relating to the real-world issues of international political economy and the role of global business therein.
Assessment details
Question:
Your essay should be written in response to the following question, which should act as its title:
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is [FIRM] really a [NATIONALITY] company?
For example:
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is BP really a British company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Huawei really a Chinese company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Honda really a Japanese company?
Structure
Follow the essay advice given in tutorials, and on the assignment development modules in the course resources section.
Introduction
Corporate national identity in the 21st century (a brief overview of the core points of the Reich Tyson Debate, and other perspectives on corporate national identity)
Your firm’s corporate national identity (answer the question about corporate national identity as it relates to your firm. This should take up half of the essay or more)
Conclusion
Tips:
Remember that the core question of corporate national identity (as debated by Reich and Tyson) was not merely whether firms conducted operations at home or abroad (these are all international firms by definition), but whether their national “home” is relevant to their business decisions and strategies. Therefore, simply listing the foreign activities of a firm does not necessarily tell us that the company is a “Reich-type” global firm, just as listing its home activities does not prove it to be a “Tyson-type” national firm. Instead, look for evidence that a firm is making decisions relating to the location of its activity that suggest a loyalty to its home country, or a reflections of its national values that can’t be explained by merely business strategy
Good essays will show a grasp of the the Reich-Tyson debate on corporate national identity, but will supplement this with other relevant (and more recent) scholarly material, some of which you will find in the Canvas reading list. You do not have very much space to do this, so the core skill here is crisp and efficient writing, getting straight to the point and not merely describing or summarising the Reich and Tyson articles.
Good essays will also show a thorough and critical search for relevant firm data. You may use information from the firm itself (its website, annual reports, statements from its leaders), but remember to maintain a critical and skeptical approach to this information. Just because CEO says that his/her firm is a proud citizen of its home country, this does not mean that it is true.
Choose a firm that will allow you to get flesh out the question of corporate national identity: make sure it is a multinational enterprise (MNE) rather than a small local firm, and make sure you can get enough data on the firm to analyse its operations in sufficient detail. Note that you may not select BHP, as this was the example I discussed in the lecture.
It will be important to show some sense of the firm’s history in the course of discussing its national identity, but avoid getting too bogged down in this. It is not necessary to give a year-by-year account of the firms history, especially if this comes at the expense of thoroughly discussing its contemporary operations.
In determining your firm’s national identity, consider the full spectrum of its actions: supply chains, R&D, production, direct and indirect employees, ownership, headquarters, and leadership. You may not be able to cover all of these aspects in the space allowed, but better responses will identify which of these are the most relevant for you firm’s industry and its claim to national identity.
Remember to maintain high standards of referencing and proof reading – this is always where a lot of good essays loose marks. See this RMIT guide to the Harvard referencing system for help with the correct formatting of citations and references.
Assessment Criteria
This assessment will measure your ability to:
Appropriate use of theories to establish and address the question (20%)
Depth of relevant empirical data and linkages between data and argument (20%)
A clear argument with a logical and cohesive structure and clear prose (20%)
Use of relevant scholarly journal articles, and additional high-quality reference materials (20%)
Correct referencing of all sources using in-text citations and an alphabetised reference list (20%)
so what this assignment really mean that choose 1 firms and whether they are from really the country brand?, in example, I choose cocacola brand, I will find about whether cocacola brand is really from America , link with the theories that exist, in example like tyson reich, and etc
