 |  International Business : The Challenge of Global Competition, 8/e Donald Ball
Wendell H. McCulloch,
California State University Long Beach
Paul L. Frantz,
California State University Long Beach
Michael Geringer,
California Polytechnic State University
Michael S. Minor,
University of Texas Pan American
Human Resource Management
Internet AssignmentsStudents: Included here are some internet/case assignments that you can use to review
or that your instructor may give as assignments. Your instructors have been
given the answers to these questions and may choose to give them out to you
or not.
This case is designed to:
- Expose you to the pragmatic side of living in another country;
- Give you experience in using the Internet to find out information about
living in another country;
- Place you in a position of having to make a decision about whether to accept
an overseas assignment.
It's a dream come true - your first overseas assignment! You can hardly wait to
tell your spouse and son. Since you received your MBA from a prestigious university
five years ago, you've been working for a large international company in Los Angeles.
Because of your job performance and potential, you've been designated for fast-track
consideration for top management. You knew that it was possible that you would
have an overseas assignment, but had not really thought about it until recently
when your company decided to emphasize its UK operations. You've mentioned an
overseas assignment in passing to your spouse, but have not really discussed the
possibility in depth.
You currently earn $160,000 per year, have an eight year old son named Josh, and
have a three year old golden retriever named Sparky. Josh is on his school's football
team and dreams of being a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Your spouse is
a university professor, teaching in UCLA's business school.
Your boss called you into his office this morning and told you that "the
chance of a lifetime" had just opened up for you in your company's London
office. The assignment would be for three years. At the end of the three years,
you would return to the US, but possibly to a different location than Los Angeles.
Your boss hints that your long-term career with your company could be in jeopardy
if you pass up this opportunity. He also asks you to make a proposal regarding
the compensation package that you feel would be necessary in order to accept the
London assignment.
Neither you nor your spouse has ever traveled abroad. Living in London should
not be too much different than living in Los Angeles because after all, English
is spoken there. Before you break the news to your spouse and child, and before
you tell your boss your final decision, you need to do some serious homework and
explore the many angles of accepting the position. A good place to start is the
Culture, Travel and Language site at MSU-CIBER: International Business Resources
on the WWW
http://ciber.bus.msu.edu/busres/Static/Culture-Travel-Language.htm
You are free, however, to use whatever additional Internet resources you can find.
Case Instructions:
Answer the following questions:
- What is the general cost of living in London compared to Los Angeles? One
source of the information can be found here http://www.expatforum.com/Resources/icol.htm
. You may, however use other sources.
- How does the climate of London compare to that in Los Angeles?
- What about your spouse? Are there universities in London with business schools?
Will he/she be able to work in London?
- What about Josh? How does the school system in London compare to that in
Los Angeles? Will Josh be able to play football?
- Will you be able to take Sparky with you? Go here to find out about taking
pets overseas: http://www.maff.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/
.
- How much will it likely cost you and your family to make a trip back to
Los Angeles from London? Hint, try a site like Expedia.com http://www.expedia.com
and search for round trip airline tickets to Los Angeles from either London
Heathrow or London Gatwick.
- What about taking your appliances to London? Go here to find out about electrical
voltage differences: http://ciber.bus.msu.edu/busres/Static/offsiteStatic.asp?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaglobalworld%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dlocal%2Fvolts%2Epl;amp;ResourceHTML=Culture-Travel-Language.htm;amp;CategoryTitleText=Culture%2C+Travel%2C+and+Language
- What compensation package will you provide to your boss? Be specific.
- What other questions do you think that you should ask?
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education