Reference no: EM132340553

Overseas IJV Module

QUESTION ONE

Select one of the European Companies (EM or HC but not CNI), described in the module Collaboration Exercise.

From the specific viewpoint of that company develop, describe and justify what you consider to be the most appropriate strategy for collaboration in the light of the facts provided during the module.

You will need to make full use of the additional notes handed out at the end of the exercise. Simply recounting what happened in the module exercise will not be acceptable.

a) The key commercial, practical and political issues involved in arriving at the optimum type of collaborative venture for this particular purpose - from the specific viewpoint of the company you have chosen.

You will need to review the key issues from the specific viewpoint of the company you have chosen.

• You should be using your experience of the collaboration exercise and the decision-making process likely to be adopted by one of the foreign partners, but NOT your own CNI team

• You could perhaps use a suitable academic model as a framework for responding to this part of the question. e.g. PESTLE and SWOT, or other if you can find something suitable.

• As the foreign partner, you will be considering that company’s growth strategy, aims and goals. Why would EM or HC prefer for one form of collaboration or other?What are the factors that they are considering?

Please ensure that you adequately consider the key benefits and risks of the proposed collaboration for the chosen company and its partner.

(circa 800 words)

b) The commercial and tactical implications of the type of collaboration selected, both on the current operations of the company and on its prospective partner. You will need to use the spreadsheet provided to illustrate the financial implications of your proposal.

From the perspective of your chose partner, you should consider the commercial and tactical implications of the type of collaboration selected, both on the current operations of the company and on its prospective partner (CNI). You will need to use the spreadsheet provided to illustrate the financial implications of your proposal.

• This requires material from the Collaboration Exercise financial spreadsheet, the presentation notes and PowerPoint slides in addition to your own notes made during the five days.

• You must consider the potential implications of the selected type of collaboration on each party’s current operational and financial position and on their respective responsibilities and commitment of resources (e.g. finance, people, technology etc.) within the company.

You need to ensure that the Types of Collaboration considered are defined in accordance with the definitions provided during the IJV module, allowing the related issues to be considered in the correct context.

(circa 1600 words)

c. The key technical, commercial and legal issues relating to this particular project, which must be addressed in the development of the contractual arrangements. N.B. it is not necessary to write a draft contract - "standard" terms and conditions can be ignored.

You should analyse the key technical, commercial and legal issues relating to this particular project, which must be addressed in the development of the contractual arrangements. NB it is not necessary to write a draft contract - “standard” terms & conditions can be ignored

• This section should refer to the ‘Legal & Contractual Aspects’ teaching session on Tuesday as well as the ‘Final Draft of Joint Venture Agreement’ and ‘Manufacturing Licence’ hand-outs.

• Analyse the critical issues to be considered and negotiated by the foreign partner leading to an agreement.  These could include brand names and market access, governing law of the contract, arbitration and termination, and intellectual property rights (IPR) etc.

Please ensure that any key risks of the proposed collaboration are considered to ensure contractual mitigations are in place, as appropriate.

(circa 800 words)

d. The key operational issues which must be addressed to ensure successful implementation of the project.

• This section should refer to the ‘Operational Planning’ session of the Collaboration Exercise.

• Analysis is required to identify key issues from the point of view of the foreign partner, and this can include: board structure, senior management secondment and training, aftermarket support and warranty etc.

(circa 800 words)

QUESTION TWO

Under the definitions used in the Module for various types of collaboration, select a Joint Venture Company or other type of collaboration either within your own company, or one with which you have some connection, and from which you can have access to the necessary information.

It is important that you explain in the introduction to the assignment exactly why you selected a particular collaboration, and also any constraints which you may have encountered in gathering relevant information.

• the introductory statement should focus on the purpose and structure of the PMA script.

• you can outline you or your company's interest or relationship to the collaboration, the availability (or not) of information and data (financial, management or other business) to completing this assessment. There may be issues of confidentiality.

Describe briefly the strategy of the company in relation to collaborative ventures, the analyse and review:

a. the contribution of the particular collaboration you have chosen towards achieving the strategy of the company

b. the performance of the collaborative project against its objectives

• This could be included as a section of the Introduction., and involve...

• a profile of the 'case study' of the selected collaboration setting its strategy, aims (goals) and objectives, against your parent company's strategy.

• where possible, outline the past or on-going performance of the collaboration, and any specific issues or difficulties experienced or continuing.

• you should perhaps use academic models, frameworks and theories to explain your company's strategic positionwithin its industry sector. Over and above the basic SWOT and PESTLE 'situational analysis, these could include:  3 Generic Strategies and Five Competitive Forces (Michael Porter), and consideration of prescriptive vs. emergent strategy.

• You may wish to consider comparing your collaboration 'case study' against actual examples such as VW-Ford AutoEuropa minivan or one within to your sector.

Approx 20% of the marks available are allocated to this section (circa 800 words)

a. a brief description of the collaborative relationship, identifying clearly what type(s) of collaboration are involved under the definitions in the module.

• provide a description of the "type of collaboration" using the definitions given during the Types of Collaboration teaching session on Saturday morning (19th January), and any brief attributes, benefits or risks in relation to your 'case study.'

• You may consider the Collaboration Exercise work that you applied with the Kepner-Tregoe 'KT' Analysis for the selection of collaborative type.

• Remember to consider your company's collaboration against the principles of 'Structure' (how does it work?) and 'Purpose' (what is it for?) of the relationship, from the module notes.

• There could be a range of examples to compare against such as China automotive Joint Venture Companies, Honda-Rover (Strategic Alliance) or Public-Private Partnerships (Beijing Line 4 Metro). dependent upon the industry sector and collaborative structure.

Approx 20% of the marks available are allocated to this section (circa 800 words)

b. a critical analysis of the objectives of the collaboration, its structure, management, and its operational and financial performance against its objectives.

• based on your knowledge and information, what is your opinion of the objectives against the collaboration's strategy. You should include the actual collaborative structure (e.g. JVC, SA etc.), board or directors or joint managing committee, and its business performance against KPIs (the specific objectives.

• This is not description and commentary, but more detailed 'analysis'(see defintion at the back of this sheet.

• There are a variety of academic frameworks and theories that could be intelligently applied to this section including Stakeholder Analysis, Organisational Charts (formal & informal), Cultural Dimensions (Geert Hofstede), and Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton).

• again actual examples such as Wahaha-Danone, Joint Strike Fighter F35 or other can be used for comparison with analysis.

Approx 30% of the marks available are allocated to this section (circa 1200 words)

c. an evaluation of the impact of the collaboration on the company, a judgment of its success, and any conclusions which can be drawn.

• what do you conclude as to how business performance has affected the your 'parent' company, good or bad?

• your evaluation may include measuring the collaboration's performance against the objectives and KPIs set, or indeed the expectations of your company.

• referral to academic models such the Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton) or theory such as Management by Objectives - SMART (Peter Drucker) could allow objective comparison.

• ..."any conclusions" could be in the final PMA section alongside any 'practical management recommendations' you may consider appropriate to the situation.

(circa 1200 words)