(One page executive summary, and an eight
to ten page double-spaced text)

THE OUTLINE:(Due on or before November 9, 1998 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time)

1. The Purpose:

The purpose of the Business Project Memorandum is to force you to consolidate and synthesize the information gathered from the course into an organized, professional business proposal. Your Outline should address points 2 to 7 in detail.

2. Your Role:

You are to assume the role of a professional consultant from Country "A". Country "A" may be any country of the world (i.e., the United States, Chile, or Japan). Your boss or client has selected you to provide a detailed Business Project Memorandum for a fictitious or real business transaction that is being considered between two competing Latin America countries.

3. Your Assignment:

You are to choose the type of the transaction (i.e., From exporting Mexican glass products to Colombia or Puerto Rico; to importing Chilean wine into Costa Rica or Venezuela; to bringing in a German automobile engineer to work in Volkswagen of Mexico or Volkswagen of Brazil; to making sophisticated portfolio or direct investments in the Cayman Islands or Panama).

4. Scope of Assignment:

In addition to deciding the type of transaction, you are to decide the extent or scope of the transaction (i.e., from giving an overall report on the possibilities of exporting Argentine meat to Bolivia or Peru - from first determining if there is a market, to recommending the formation of Carne Gauchos S.A. de C.V. , to determining the port of entry, to the type of transportation to be used (air or boat), to obtaining the necessary permits; OR, on the other hand, you can deal specifically with one minute problem particular to your transaction - how to get the Mexican glass manufacturer to actually send its products through a Just In Time Inventory schedule to Colombia or Chile ).

5. Objective and Strategy of Business Plan:

You must clearly set forth the objective you wish to obtain, and how you plan to obtain that objective.

6. Indicate Likely Problems or Difficulties:

Not even the best business plan will guarantee that the business venture will escape difficulties, problems, or unforeseen hardships. So list the likely difficulties which may be encountered, how to avoid them, and finally, how to overcome them should they arise.

7. Give a Final Assessment or Conclusion:

Give your client or boss a summation of the previous six points and advise him or her of why you think your plan will succeed or not.

COUNTRY REPORTS

The purpose of the report is to provide a basic summary of the political and economic conditions of the country to your boss. Your company is considering to expand its business in one of five Latin American countries. Upon reading each report, your boss should know if the country looks favorable and warrants further consideration, or if the country should be scratched from the list of possible countries. The following list sets forth suggested items which may be addressed in the reports. You are encouraged to add any items which you think your boss may find important. Each Country Report should be two to three pages in length.

1. Political Background
   • Official name of Country or Dependency
   • Political Status (if independent give date of independence, and the country from which independence was obtained)
     If not independent, indicate type of dependency, and name of controlling country.
   • Type of Government
   • Branches of Government
   • Past incidents of Political Instability
   • Current Political Climate
   • Involvement of Government in the Economy (address both favorable and unfavorable involvement)
   • Past and current political disputes with other countries
2. Basic Information
   • Official Language
   • Literacy Rate
   • Infant Mortality Rate
   • Life expectancy for males and females
   • Population
   • Labor Force Population
   • Skilled Labor Force v. Unskilled Labor Force
3. Basic Economic Information
   • Past and Current Economic Climate
   • Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
   • Per Capita GDP
   • Inflation Rate (current and past)
   • Name of National Currency
   • Stability of National Currency
   • Current Exchange Rate
   • The Foreign Investment Climate
   • The cost and time of forming a business entity
   • Amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
   • Countries with the largest amount of FDI
   • Amount of External or Foreign Debt
   • Condition of Economic Infrastructure (highways, airports, railroads, ports, telephones, televisions, radio, mail system, and degree of computerization)
   • Size and sophistication of market
   • Amount and quality of competition

1. Group One
   • Anguilla
   • Antigua & Barbuda
   • Argentina
   • Aruba
   • The Bahamas
   • Barbados

2. Group Two
   • Belize
   • Bolivia
   • Brazil
   • British Virgin Islands
   • Cayman Islands
   • Chile

3. Group Three
   • Colombia
   • Costa Rica
   • Cuba
   • Dominica
   • Dominican Republic
   • Ecuador

4. Group Four
   • El Salvador
   • Falkland Islands - Las Malvinas
   • French Guiana
   • Grenada
   • Guadeloupe
   • Guatemala

5. Group Five
   • Guyana
   • Haiti
   • Honduras
   • Jamaica
   • Martinique
   • Mexico

6. Group Six
   • Montserrat
   • Netherlands Antilles
   • Nicaragua
   • Panama
   • Paraguay
   • Peru

7. Group Seven
   • Puerto Rico
   • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
   • St. Kitts & Nevis
   • St. Lucia
   • St. Vincent & The Gernadines
   • Suriname

8. Group Eight
   • Trinidad & Tobago
   • Turks & Caicos
   • Uruguay
   • U.S. Virgin Islands
   • Venezuela