Intercultural Letter Assignment (5%) & Marking Rubric

COMM 3020

Using information discussed in class, writea formal business letter, using direct style that addresses the following topic:

You are a manager with a company [make up the name and letterhead of the company] that has been hired by a client who is looking to expand their company's business globally.The client has hired you to do some research into a particular country (you get to pick the country!) and to report back to them.

Your first step is to writethis formal letter to the president of your client company (John Malizia, President, Summit Inc., 123 Main Street, London ON N1B 2C3) to discuss this possibility.In doing so, you need to think about Canada's ever-expanding international trade efforts and what must you know about particular cultures if you want to do business with them.

Choose a country such as China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Australia, or any other country mentioned in the lectures or of which you are aware of their 'business culture'.Choose a country where you have NOT lived or worked.Do not choose the U.S. as it is too similar to Canada.

You will need to address four things in this letter to the client:

1) why you are considering this particular country

2) whether the country with which you are considering doing business is a high or low context country and why it is high or low;

3) what are the basic 'business' cultural values, beliefs and traditions that you may need to be aware of in dealing with this country (requires a bit of research on the internet...must include 4-5 points minimum - see the next page for two good sites for business etiquette)

4) next steps? what is it that you would like to see from the client ie. Is this a letter for information purposes only? Do you need a meeting? Do you need the client to do something on your behalf?

Thanks.John