Select one of the five topics found on the listed below and research the topic. Address the questions that are listed in the *e-project area.

1. Firms rely on gathering and analyzing the general, industry, and competitor environments to assess their potential for global growth and profitability. Go to the website for the US retail chain Walmart at http://www.wal-mart.com. Walmart's global expansion plans are extensive. List how each of the six segments of the general environment prompted Walmart to expand into the markets that it has. Target is a major US competitor of Walmart. Check out the Target website at http://www.target.com. What are the firm's plans for global expansion? What types of opportunities and threats would prohibit Target from taking Walmart's route? Would the students consider Target a future key global rival of Walmart?

*e-project: What US firms offer global Web shopping in other countries' currencies and shipping specifications? How do their non-US websites compare with their US websites?

2. Cisco Systems ranks as one of the greatest success stories of the last decade. The firm used acquisitions to gain access to R&D at a pace that accelerated from four companies in 1995 to twenty-three companies in 2000. This strategy allowed Cisco to adopt and integrate innovations faster than its competitors. But when the Internet bubble burst in early 2000, venture funding for the kinds of start-ups on which Cisco had been feasting (i.e., those spawning networking innovations) evaporated. The firm faced two immediate problems: (1) dealing with the complexity of managing the integration of a fast-growing stable of new technology products, and (2) learning again how to innovate without acquisition. Look up Cisco Systems (http://www.cisco.com) on the Web and try to discern what the firm is doing to adjust to its new industry circumstances.

*e-project: Discuss how the Internet has become a vital component in increasing the speed, ease, and frequency of today's large mergers and acquisitions.

3. Convenience stores in Japan, such as the corner Seven-Eleven, and supermarkets in Britain, are capitalizing on Internet commerce by offering their customers easy access, e-service, attractive prices, and selections. Located at http://www.7dream.com, Seven-Eleven allows shoppers to surf, order, and pay for merchandise with cash, the most-trusted payment method in Japan, a country with a comparatively low crime rate. Locate the website of Britain's large supermarket chain, Tesco, at http://www.tesco.com. What types of services offered would appeal to you? What do you see as a deterrent to introducing these and other eCommerce services into supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores in the United States?

*e-project: This chapter explains the different methods of entering foreign markets. Using sources on the Internet provided by your government's trade division, the US State Department (http://www.state.gov), the US Dept. of Commerce (http://www.commerce.gov), and private resources such as http://www.china-venture.com, plan the export of a new line of USA-brand baseball hats to Shanghai and Beijing, China. Assume that you plan to manufacture the hats inside China and distribute them through local stores within those two cities.

4. Many retail industries, such as DVD sales, are ideal for web-based organizational and selling structures. Visit the sites of some of the most popular venues: Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com), Wherehouse.com (http://www.wherehouse.com), and CD Universie (http://www.cduniversie.com). Can you define the type of organizational structure each company uses? What attempts are being made by each to diversify and expand into other businesses?

*e-project: Suppose you want to launch your own DVD sales company on the Internet that will have an immense global reach to the large Spanish-speaking market around the world. Suppose further that you have hired a web design firm to construct a site for you. Based on your research of top sites, how will you describe your web design and business level strategy for this project? What organizational structure is appropriate to implement the business-level strategy selected?

5. Women in the United States are advancing to top positions in some of America's leading firms. Today, more than 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies have women in 25 percent of their corporate officer teams, increasing from 5 percent in 1995. The advancement of women in this area sounds promising. Go to the Working Woman website at http://www.workingwoman.com to see which companies were rated as leaders hiring women executives. What practices in these companies promote the selection of women for managerial roles?

*e-project: Amazon.com has revolutionized the Internet shopping industry, a fact that can, in large part, be accredited to Jeff Bezos, America's number-one CEO of an Internet-based company. Learn about Bezos's background through the Amazon home page and other web resources. What was his initial strategy in creating Amazon? Was he able to implement the strategy effectively? What successes spurred him to expand and diversify his web-based business?