Chapter 2: Literature review
(~1200 words)

The topic and literature review questions that I choose:
What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding the benefits of free trade?

Introduction
To complete the Literature review, organize the content into three sections: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion:
1. Introduction:
• Introduce the topic you are researching and its relevance for SMEs that are looking to expand to a foreign market.
• Provide the literature review question.
• Briefly outline the structure and content of the next section of the Literature review(i.e. the Body).

Body
2. Body (or another title, e.g. the topic you are researching):
• Start by defining the concept that is inherent to the topic of your Literature review. This can also be the topic itself. For example, if your Literature review is about market segmentation then define what market segmentation is. This would be your dependent variable.
Here are some guiding questions:
o How is this concept defined in the existing literature? What are the competing definitions, if any? Which definition is best suited for your Literature review and why? Or do you combine definitions to create your own?
• Introduce and discuss competing theories in relation to the dependent variable.
o Develop themes, highlight major determinants, and influential studies.
o Compare and contrast the various findings, arguments, theories, and approaches in the literature about the topic (areas of agreement, disagreements, limitations?)
• Identify key determinants/independent variables and discuss indicators with which you can measure them.
o Remember that the indicators are also derived from the existing literature and they may have been mentioned in the methodology sections of the sources you have already consulted.

Conclusion
3. Conclusion
• Provide a summary of what you have found in the existing literature as presented in the Body.
• Highlight the key information that is relevant for the SME to know regarding the topic of your Literature review and expanding to a foreign market.

Conceptual model

Chapter 3: Macroeconomic analysis
(~800 words, excluding graphs)

Two of the topics that I choose is inflation and interest rates, aggregate supply and demand

Inflation and Interest rates
The recent developments of interest rates. How has it changed and what factors have affected it? Discuss it both from supply and demand of money perspective. Inflation: What is the inflation rate and what caused inflation in your country? What kind impact does low or high inflation have on the companies in the country?

Aggregate supply and demand
Explain aggregate supply and demand and use it to describe certain economic developments in your export country? Based on this research describe what will happen with GDP and prices in the future. Apply this to predict the future demand for your service you want to offer in the country.

Chapter 4: Situation analysis and Competitive strategy selection
(3 tables and ~500 words)

Part 1: Situation analysis

Part 1/A: Organisational /Internal Analysis

This part should contain the following:
• RACE framework
o The RACE framework summarises the key online marketing activities that need to be managed as part of digital marketing. RACE covers the full customer lifecycle. The framework is used as a reference point of your health check analysis. Per stage you will have to indicate the highlights of the company’s digital performance.
• Tools like Nibbler
o Nibbler is an online analytical tool that will help you find the strong and weak elements of your company’s digital performance. The findings of Nibbler and/or other tools should be placed below the different stages of the RACE model, based on their relevance.
• 3 media types
o This is a framework that is used to classify the type of the different channels/media (owned, earned, and paid media)used by the SME.

Part 1/B: Market/External Analysis

Part 1/C: TOWS/ Confrontation matrix

Part 2: Determine, select, and/or adjust Strategy

Chapter 6: Advice
(~300 words)
Following the completion of the earlier chapters int he Market exploration report, you now have enough information to provide an advice whether exporting the service to the selected foreign market has the potential to be successful.

Based on your thorough evaluation:
• Provide an advice whether the SME should export its service to this country;
• Explain the underlying reasons for your choice and support them with at least 2-3 distinctive arguments that are logically derived from the various analyses in the report.
• Optional: Provide one counter-argument and a rebuttal in order to strengthen your advice.

Reference List

Appendix I: Literature relevance table

Chapter 2: Literature review (~1200 words)
This chapter of the Market exploration report is related to Business Research and contains three key elements: Literature review, Conceptual model, and Appendix I: Literature relevance table. Each of these elements is discussed below in detail.
Literature review
The purpose of the Literature review is to provide the current knowledge on a topic related to Market expansion. Your task is to synthesize and critically evaluate the existing academic literature in order to establish what is currently known about this topic. You are free to choose the topic for the Literature review as long as it is generally related to Market expansion. The Literature review should provide a thorough answer to the question: What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding [topic of your choice]?
Some suggested topics and literature review questions are:
IBA-Economics :
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding the role of central banks in stabilizing the economy?
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding the objectives of the European Central Bank?
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding the benefits of free trade?
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding the effects of international trade barriers?
IBA-Law :
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding offer and acceptance in [export country]?
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding defect and consent (e.g. Mistake, Undue Influence, Misrepresentation, Duress)?
Marketing & Sales:
• What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding market segmentation?
You are free to use any of the listed topics OR adjust one to your interests OR use another topic that you come across during the lectures in these courses. Keep in mind that you have limited space to provide a good Literature review. This is why it is important to choose a topic that is not too broad. You are welcome to consult with your lecturers the feasibility of the topic you want to write about before you make a decision.
To complete the Literature review, organize the content into three sections: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion:
1. Introduction:
• Introduce the topic you are researching and its relevance for SMEs that are looking to expand to a foreign market.
• Provide the literature review question.
• Briefly outline the structure and content of the next section of the Literature review(i.e. the Body).

2. Body (or another title, e.g. the topic you are researching):
• Start by defining the concept that is inherent to the topic of your Literature review. This can also be the topic itself. For example, if your Literature review is about market segmentation then define what market segmentation is. This would be your dependent variable.
Here are some guiding questions:
o How is this concept defined in the existing literature? What are the competing definitions, if any? Which definition is best suited for your Literature review and why? Or do you combine definitions to create your own?
• Introduce and discuss competing theories in relation to the dependent variable.
o Develop themes, highlight major determinants, and influential studies.
o Compare and contrast the various findings, arguments, theories, and approaches in the literature about the topic (areas of agreement, disagreements, limitations?)
o Synthesize and critically evaluate what you find, DO NOT just describe and summarize the sources.
• Identify key determinants/independent variables and discuss indicators with which you can measure them.
o Remember that the indicators are also derived from the existing literature and they may have been mentioned in the methodology sections of the sources you have already consulted.
3. Conclusion
• Provide a summary of what you have found in the existing literature as presented in the Body.
• Highlight the key information that is relevant for the SME to know regarding the topic of your Literature review and expanding to a foreign market.
IMPORTANT! Be aware that the Literature review must be based on at least 5 academic sources. Academic sources are considered to be: peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly and scientific books, and professional research reports and white papers from reputable international organizations (e.g. European Commission, UN, World Bank, OSCE, etc.) and business consultancies (e.g. BCG, McKinsey, etc.)
Conceptual model
As an extension to your Literature review, you also need to provide a Conceptual model. The Conceptual model is a visual representation of the key concepts and the relationships between them as discussed in the Literature review, including the indicators that are necessary in order to measure them. In the Conceptual model, you need to make a clear distinction between the dependent variable, independent variables (and mediating variables, if any) and their respective indicators.
The example below, provides a Conceptual model for studying sales growth on e-tail platforms. This indicates that the student conducted a Literature review for the question “What is the current knowledge in the literature regarding sales growth on e-tail platforms?” and found out that online recommendation systems, price promotions, and satisfaction with the browsing experience on the website of the company determine the decision of online buyers to buy a certain product, which consequently leads to sales growth. Additionally, the Conceptual model points out the indicators that are necessary in order to measure the independent variables. The key takeaway here is that the Conceptual model is derived from the content presented in the Literature review. It is NOT a part that is distinct from it. You can consider it to be a visual summary of the key concepts and the relationships between them that you already discussed in the Literature review

Appendix I: Literature relevance table
Finally, in the Appendices at the end of the report, you also need to provide Appendix I: Literature relevance table. The Literature relevance table compiles a detailed overview of the sources that you reviewed and cited in the Literature review.
To complete the Literature relevance table follow these guidelines:
• Provide information for atleast 5 different academic sources. This is the minimum number of sources that you must use to develop your Literature review;
• Organize the sources in a descending chronological order,i.e.start with the most recently published source;
• Use “Landscape” format for the table;
Chapter 3: Macroeconomic analysis (~800 words, excluding graphs)
This chapter of the Market exploration report is related to IBA-Economics.
The macroeconomic analysis of the Market exploration report focuses on the foreign market where the service SME could potentially export the selected service. The core task of this chapter is to explore the economic macroenvironment of the foreign market for exporting the selected service and identify opportunities and threats. To fulfil this task, you must explore of the following macroeconomic factors:
• Inflation and Interest Rates
• Aggregate Supply and Demand
Below, you will find a short description and guiding questions for each of these topics.
Inflation and Interest rates
The recent developments of interest rates. How has it changed and what factors have affected it? Discuss it both from supply and demand of money perspective. Inflation: What is the inflation rate and what caused inflation in your country? What kind impact does low or high inflation have on the companies in the country?
Aggregate supply and demand
Explain aggregate supply and demand and use it to describe certain economic developments in your export country? Based on this research describe what will happen with GDP and prices in the future. Apply this to predict the future demand for your service you want to offer in the country.
 
Chapter 4: Situation analysis and Competitive strategy selection (3 tables and ~500 words)
This chapter of the Market exploration report is related to Marketing & Sales (M&S) and contains two major parts: Situation analysis and Determining appropriate Strategies. Each of these parts is discussed below in detail.
The purpose of this chapter in the Market exploration report is to:
• Perform Organisational/Internal analysis for your selected SME;
• Perform Market/External analysis for your selected SME;
• Develop a TOWS/Confrontation matrix based on your findings;
• Select strategies for the SME that best fit the service offered by your SME and export country.
Part 1: Situation analysis
To be able to meet the objectives of this chapter, you should apply the so-called SOSTAC framework. The SOSTAC framework is the leading framework for developing marketing plans. The first step, when applying this framework is to perform a situation analysis of the macro and micro environment. The results of the situation analysis will help you determine the position of the SME in the export country in relation to the competitors and provide you with the input for creating the TOWS/Confrontation MATRIX. The content of the assignment for this part, should be delivered in 3 tables. Remember to always justify/explain your choices.
Part 1/A: Organisational/Internal Analysis
This part should contain the following:
• RACE framework:
The RACE framework summarises the key online marketing activities that need to be managed as part of digital marketing. RACE covers the full customer lifecycle. The framework is used as a reference point of your health check analysis. Per stage you will have to indicate the highlights of the company’s digital performance.

• Tools like Nibbler:
Nibbler is an online analytical tool that will help you find the strong and weak elements of your company’s digital performance. The findings of Nibbler and/or other tools should be placed below the different stages of the RACE model, based on their relevance.
• 3 media types:
This is a framework that is used to classify the type of the different channels/media (owned, earned, and paid media) used by the SME. Example below:

 
Part 1/B: Market/External Analysis
This part should contain the following:
• External factors that may influence your strategic decisions :
o External considerations may include scanning the environment for trends to predict what is likely to happen in the near future. Provide the highlights of PESTEL for your SME (and perhaps Porter’s Five Forces Model). Examples: new technology, new potential services, threats of substitute services, legal/legislation issues, etc…
o Describe cultural differences (in the home versus the export country) and the impact on organisational behaviour and strategic choices of your SME.
• Competitor Analysis:
In the Competitor analysis, you should determine and analyse the competitors of the service SME in the export country, including their competitive advantage in terms of price, reputation, customer service and size. Similarly, you should determine the competitive advantage of the service SME over its competitors. To limit the scope of the Competitor analysis, please focus on 2 direct and 1 indirect competitors and visualize your findings in a comparison table. You should also determine the Competitive Positionfor your SME. Justify/explain the results/outcomes/choices.
• Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix / Growth-Share Matrix :
In this part of the Marketing & Sales task, please consider more services of the selected SME (if possible, i.e. if the SME offers more than one service). Provide a BCG matrix for max. 3 services of your SME, which are potentially relevant as an offered service in the chosen country of export. You need to estimate the expected relative market share of each service in the export market. These estimations should be explained/justified (e.g. using information regarding these services in the home country and services of competitors). Based on the BCG Matrix, you should select the best service of your SME for export to the chosen country.
In order to align the analysis in Part 1/A and Part 1/B, you are encouraged to use the same indicators/criteria from the Organisational/Internal Analysis in order to analyse the competitors in the export country. For example, you can do Nibbler not only for your SME but also for your competitors. You might also consider additional marketing related criteria, such as 4P’s, market share, and value proposition that might help you to better understand the competitive environment.
Part 1/C: TOWS/Confrontation matrix
The TOWS/Confrontation matrix is an extension to the SWOT analysis framework. By adding a relationship between the internal and external factors, the TOWS/Confrontation matrix does not simply provide a review, but also helps to make a decision about the overall direction to improve the market. To develop the TOWS/Confrontation matrix, you should follow the template provided by the Marketing & Sales lecturers during lectures. To complete the matrix, use the marketing information presented in Part 1/A Organisational/Internal Analysis and Part 1/B Market/External Analysis, such as the quality of the website, social media following, after-sales support, online reviews and much more. Crucial to justify/explain the outcome, results, choices, etc.. e.g. below the matrix! E.g. highlights of or referring to key elements of Part 1/A and 1/B is expected.
IMPORTANT! Part 1/A Organisational/Internal Analysis and Part 1/B Market/External Analysis will not be graded. You must include them in order for the M&S lecturers to be able to assess the TOWS/Confrontation matrix. The TOWS/Confrontation matrix will be graded.
Part 2: Determine, select, and/or adjust Strategy
Based on the situation analysis you performed in Part 1, you will need to determine, select, and/or adjust strategies for your SME.
Your task in this part consists of two steps:
• Choose two of the strategies below for your SME that best fit the export country. This must include the consideration of the following theories:
o Strategy based on Competitive Position
o Michael Porter’s Competitive Positioning Strategies
o Ansoff Growth Strategy Matrix a.k.a. Product/Market Expansion Grid
• Provide a justification for your choices based on the evidence derived from your previous analyses in Part 1.

Chapter 6: Advice (~300 words)
Following the completion of the earlier chapters in the Market exploration report, you now have enough information to provide an advice whether exporting the service to the selected foreign market has the potential to be successful. Based on your thorough evaluation:
• Provide an advice whether the SME should export its service to this country;
• Explain the underlying reasons for your choice and support them with at least 2-3 distinctive arguments that are logically derived from the various analyses in the report.
• Optional: Provide one counter-argument and a rebuttal in order to strengthen your advice.
Your advice must be based on the research you have performed! You should not introduce any new information that was not mentioned or analysed in the earlier chapters.
Reference List
• Provide a comprehensive list of references for all the sources cited in the report
• Order all entries in alphabetical order
Appendices
• Appendix I: Literature relevance table (Business Research)
Lay-out requirements
• Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides (applicable to figures and tables)
• Font: Calibri 11 points
• Line space: 1.15
• Alignment: Justified
• Separate paragraphs with one empty line Reference all material with APA 7th edition