BUS 695
Homework Overview Sheet

1. Text Reading:
1. Why do companies decide to enter foreign markets?
2. What are the positives and negatives of the impact of government policies and economic conditions in host countries?
3. What are political risks?
4. What are economic risks?
5. What are the concepts of multidomestic competition and global competition?

2. Current Events: http://www.roanoke.com/news/business/colorofmoney/2274592-12/money-and-happiness-are-not-unrelated.html Money and Happiness are not related
By Michelle Singletary

Elizabeth Dunn is an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and Michael Norton is an associate professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School. They wrote “Happy Money: the Science of Smarter Spending”. In this book they discuss how Money on its own does not give you overall happiness but the way you spend it can buy you happiness. They say ‘Shifting from buying stuff to buying experiences, and from spending on yourself to spending on other, can have a dramatic impact on happiness’. They tell you how to spend money in less typical but more pleasing ways. Here are their five principles. 1. Set aside money for experiences like vacations. 2. Have a special treat something you normally wouldn’t buy. 3. Buy Time. Hire someone to mow you lawn. Less stress. 4. Pay now consume later. Purchase a high end vacation now you will be less likely to be frugal on your vacation because it doesn’t hit you all at once. 5. Invest in others. Giving can be a satisfying thing especially if you’re helping someone in need. You will feel a self-reward.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/business/technology/2268635-12/app-helps-users-notify-the-er-of-their.html

App helps users notify the ER of their pending arrival
By Laurence Hammack

Lewis Gale Regional Health Systems is partnering with iTriage (a health care technology company that has developed a way for smartphone users to communicate with the providers before they even check in). So now if you’re headed for the hospital you can notify the ER of your pending arrival and your symptoms. The app is free and once it is downloaded you can see the closet provider that you’re near. The providers have to pay an annual fee to iTriage and the benefit is to receive communication from the app users. Lisa Edwards and emergency room director for Lewis Gale Hospital Montgomery said “Getting a head-up about the patient’s pending arrival and symptoms gives us the opportunity to prepare and better mobilize our resources to care for their specific medical needs.” This app will also let you know emergency room wait times. Sure I think this is a good idea but it’s not going to get you in and out of the ER any faster.

3. Review and Reflection of Class Work from Previous Week:
1. Strategic offensive principles include relentlessly building competitive advantages and then convert it into sustainable advantages.
2. When choosing which rivals to attack go for market leaders that are vulnerable, runner-up firms with weaknesses in areas where the challenger is strong, struggling enterprises on the verge of going under and small local and regional firms with limited capabilities.
3. The business universe is divided into an existing market with boundaries and rules in which rival firms compete for advantage, and a yet-to-be “blue ocean” market space with no rival and a wide-open long-term growth and profit potential for a firm with the right strategy and product.
4. The importance of timing is knowing when to make a strategic move is as crucial as knowing what move to make, moving first is no guarantee of success or competitive advantage, and the risks of moving first to stake out a monopoly position must be carefully weighted.
5. The horizontal scope is the range of product and service segments that a firm serves within its focal market. A vertical scope is the extent to which a firm’s internal activities encompass one, some, many, or all of the activities that make up an industry’s entire value chain system, ranging from raw material production to final sales and service activities.