The chosen company is ConAgra and we are to choose fromSixteen countries are considered for exploration: the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and what Goldman...

The chosen company is ConAgra and we are to choose fromSixteen countries are considered for exploration: the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and what Goldman Sachs has dubbed the “next eleven” or N-11 (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea , Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam).The acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) was initially publicized by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs in 2001 as countries representing the change in global economic power as it moves away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world. At the time, it was predicted that BRIC economies will exceed G7 economies by 2027. In addition to economic growth, the four countries also account for more than 25% of the world’s land area and greater than 40% of the world’s population.The BRIC countries began to meet as a group in 2006, and eventually initiated a formal political organization which held its first summit in 2009. Shortly thereafter South Africa lobbied to join the group of four nations and became a member nation in 2010, thus changing the acronym from BRIC to BRICS.Given the rapid growth of these economies after the 2001 research, in 2005 Goldman Sachs then proceeded to identify those nations the firm had identified as potential successors to BRIC. This group was dubbed the Next-11 (or N11), and consisted of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam. The N11 countries share these same characteristics of rapidly growing populations and consumer market potential, plus significant current or potential industrial capacity.(Dominic Wilson and Ann Stupnytska, “The N-11: More Than An Acronym”, Goldman Sachs Global Economic Paper No. 153, March 2007)To understand why MBA graduates should be knowledgeable about the emerging economies and their importance to twenty first century corporate strategy, you should view the following Webcasts and explore the country discussions by Goldman Sachs analysts. Discuss them in your Team Study Group Area; you may wish to refer to these sources in your global industry analysis (week 2) and in your country level analyses (weeks 4 and 5). You may also wish to consider whether this focus may need to be modified in today’s environment, given the most recent political /,military events in Russia and the economic slowdowns in China and Brazil. If you find new analyses that call into question the validity of this BRICS focus, please post those in the Webliography for all of us to consider. Of course, you should notify faculty and TA when you do add to the weibliography.Each one of you will work on two countries out of 16 listed..youtube.com/watch?v=fOdcQ3emyzM”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOdcQ3emyzM (The BRICS dream).youtube.com/watch?v=_McZngdkJJc”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_McZngdkJJc (Emerging Economies).goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/outlook/schwartz-china-2014-index.html”>http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/outlook/schwartz-china-2014-index.html (China opportunity)Question:Strategy Project Assignment Part Two:Each individual team member will analyze the client company’s potential opportunity in two different countries, using macro-level business and economic indicators of POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND LEGAL opportunity and risk and specifying trends that are likely to affect the country’s business and economic potential over the next 3-5 years. This is an individual written assignment.(9% of course grade)For each of the selected countries, compare :1. Market Opportunity. For example, you may use Five Year Economic Forecast, including GDP and Personal Disposable Income (PDI) as indicators of ECONOMIC opportunity;2. Country Risk (Threat) Factors (If you use a Risk Rating, specify the factors that constitute the risk); including political, economic, social, technological risks3. Business Environment. (If you use an overall rating, specify the factors that constitute the business environment rating; e.g., are they POLIITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, TECNOLOGICAL, LEGAL indicators?) (Opportunity or Threat?)4. e-Business Readiness Rating or a similar measure of ability to provide TECHNOLOGICAL support via electronic business communications. (Opportunity or Threat?)Read the rationale behind any ratings and dig deeper by reading EIU news stories and other sources about the political, economic, financial, business and regulatory environments in each country. Whenever you use a rating from a source, include a brief summary of the main country conditions that contribute to the ratings.Be sure you are comparing the same (Opportunity and Threat) factors for each of the countries. If you use different sources for a risk rating, for example, explain the difference in your comparison and give your assessment of how the countries compare on the underlying conditions that contribute to the different ratings.Use a summary table to present the data, but your analysis should be in text. Given the Opportunityfactors and the Threat factors in the two countries, how will you weight those factors; e.g., consider:· What strategies might be required to mitigate the business risks? Is it more difficult or costly to mitigate one type of risk than another?· Independent of PDI, might buyers be more accessible in one country than another?Considering these trade-offs, explain the rationale for your assessment of relative opportunity and risk and conclude with a recommendation for one country as the better entry option. The paper should be 10 to 15 pages, double spaced, with a separate 1-2 page .umuc.edu/content/enforced/140193-026588-01-2158-GO1-9043/strategy%20project%20information/Executive%20Summary.docx?_&d2lSessionVal=wLhNpOmGIqRnFnWP4f9Dpu1AO”>Executive Summary.Databases:(BTI) Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) is a rich source for country reports.bti-project.org/home/index.nc”>http://www.bti-project.org/home/index.ncAt the top of the page is a link to Country Reports, which links to Regions, which link to individual countries.ABI/Inform(in UMUC library .umuc.edu/library/libresources/index.cfm#list”>http://www.umuc.edu/library/libresources/index.cfm#list): Select the ABI/Inform Complete database from the list. To get to country content from the ABI/INFORM Complete home page, click on the Browselink toward the top left-hand corner of the screen and then scroll down to the Country Reportssection. You’ll then see links for:* EIU Country Data* EIU Country Finance & Forecast Reports* EIU ViewsWire* Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service* Oxford Analytica Country Profiles* Oxford Economics by Country Industry Forecast* Oxford Economics Country Economic ForecastThe ViewsWire link expands into several categories, which can be expanded into more sub-categories. (To find country risk ratings, for example, you can click on the ViewsWire link and then on Economyand then on Country risk ratingand then on the link for the country/countries of interest. There are 128 documents for Brazil, for example, 126 for Russia, 128 for India, 128 for China, and 23 for the U.S.)