Project 4: Creating an International Business Plan

Scenario

You continue to provide promising global strategy advice for MediCorp, Inc. The company has been so pleased with your contributions to their strategic planning and development that they would like you to assist with a new endeavor. Leveraging its strength in manufacturing genetic testing devices, MediCorp now wants to diversify its offerings and expand within the field of medical devices. This is a large field that extends to a myriad of products. MediCorp has asked you to identify a medical device that the company can use as a vehicle for expanding into another country. Choose from the list of medical devices and countries provided and note your choice in the ‘Project 4: Choice of Medical Device and Country’ discussion area.

Choose a country as a location for MediCorp’s expansion and create an international business plan that guides the company’s operations in that country and grows MediCorp’s business within the selected device’s NAICS industry subsector. You will need to develop a strategy that examines MediCorp’s potential customers, business operations, financial projections, and implementation metrics. As this client’s business grows, Maryland Creative Solutions CEO, Jillian Best, emphasizes that it is critical for you to provide clear and concise analysis in your reports to MediCorp. She remarks, “Success with these reports could mean big things for MCS as well as for each of you. Let’s finish strong.”

Introduction

Building on the lessons from your Capsim simulation and your analyses, you will now craft an international business plan that calls on you to devise a marketing strategy, develop financial projections, and create a strategy implementation plan for the company to market a new product in another country by relocating one or more activities from MediCorp’s value chain in the United States to your selected country.

You will have two weeks to develop your international business plan.

Step 1: Assess the Characteristics of MediCorp's Potential Customers in the Selected Country 

Email

Subject:  Marketing Plan
From:      Jillian Best, CEO, MCS
To:           You

Hi,

Let us continue crafting an international business plan for another country.

First, select a country from the list in the discussion area as a new market for MediCorp to expand into, and decide on a medical device from the list that MediCorp can use to drive expansion. To help with your analysis of the industry, you will need to identify the NAICS code for the industry subsector to which your selected  device belongs. Then, begin to develop a six- to seven-page marketing strategy for MediCorp.

As you begin your marketing strategy for MediCorp, first analyze the characteristics of the company’s potential customers in the new market and address the international cultural differences.

I’ll send additional instructions shortly about the elements that need to be analyzed. You will assess the characteristics of the customers, industry, market, company, and other factors how to analyze MediCorp’s own characteristics and how those characteristics will influence this and develop a relevant marketing strategy.

Thanks for your hard work!

Jillian

Step 2: Develop a Marketing Strategy 

Email

Subject: Marketing Strategy

From:     Jillian Best, CEO, MCS

To:          You

Now that we know more about MediCorp’s potential customers, we need to examine some key attributes of the company to adequately prepare it for international expansion.

Include the following components in your marketing strategy:

selection of new medical device for MediCorp to introduce in the selected country

MediCorp's main competitors in your selected medical diagnostics devices industry in the selected country

market and segment growth of your selected medical device over the next three years in your selected country.

Where does MediCorp add value as a way of gaining a competitive edge?

Recommendation of relocation of one or more activities from MediCorp’s value chain in the United States to your selected country, using Porter’s Value Chain analysis.

the legal business entity to market the products in the country (review Modes of Entry for help)

impact of the country’s legal, ethical, and cultural standards on MediCorp’s operations in the country (review Governance and Accountability for more information)

Jillian

Step 3: Make Financial Projections in the Selected Country As you continue to work on your international business plan prepare market share estimates for MediCorp’s medical device in the selected country and revenue forecasts for the next three years. This analysis will form a portion of your final international business plan. In the next step, you’ll examine another element of the business plan, strategy implementation. Step 4: Prepare Strategy Implementation Plan The next step is to specify the major factors to be tracked for strategy implementation using the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard: the learning and growth perspective, business process perspective, customer perspective, and financial perspective. Next, you will combine your marketing strategy and your financial, governance, and implementation analysis into a final report. Step 5: Complete Your Final Business Plan INBOX: 1 New Message Subject:    Final Business Plan From:        Jillian Best, CEO, MCS To:             You It’s been a pleasure working with you on this project. I’m looking forward to seeing the final deliverables. The international business plan should be 10–12 pages, excluding cover page, executive summary, reference list, and appendices. Any tables, graphs, and figures should be included as appendices. Your plan should have one-inch margins and be double spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. In-text citations and references should abide by APA format. The plan should be organized using headings and subheadings to improve its readability. Your final international business plan should include the components outlined in the international business plan template. Congrats! Jillian