Case Study: International Business Venture

This case is about starting a new business in a foreign country. It involves research, marketing, finance, technology, and personal ethics. The main purpose of this is to help you practice some of the project management skills you are developing as part of your course.

Part 1: Initiating

Background Scenario:

You and several of your entrepreneurial friends have extensive experience and interests in a foreign country. You have decided to start a project to launch a new business in that country. The main goals of the International Business Venture Project are to prepare a business plan, get financial backing, handle legal issues, and develop marketing materials and other necessary items to open a business by one year from now. One of your success criteria is to recoup your investment costs after two years in business.

Here are some examples of business ideas:

For example, perhaps several of your team members have travel planning experience and want to start a travel excursion company in New Zealand. Your target market will be people over fifty who want to plan group excursions for birthdays, reunions, and other special events. Your company would provide full-service travel, including booking flights, hotels, restaurants, guided tours, and entertainment. Or perhaps your team wants to start a home health care business in Italy. Or you want to start a financial planning firm in Indonesia. Try to pick a business and country that interests you.

Tasks

1. Create project charter for the New Business Venture Project. Assume the project will take one year to complete and cost at least $100,000 plus $10,000 per team member. Recall that the main project objectives are to prepare a business plan, get financial backing, handle legal issues, and develop marketing materials and other necessary items to open the business by one year from now. Your project team will not get paid for the hours they put into this project, but once the business opens, they

will be compensated. You will incorporate the business and hire a lawyer to help with this and other legal issues. Use the charter template provided on the companion Web site and review the sample in the text