Learning Journals

Session 8 began with an individual presentation in which we learned about Austria, Roman's chosen country and where he was born. It was fascinating to learn more about Austria's policies and initiatives, as well as its freshly established plans, in order to better its economic growth in the EU and abroad. Following that, we discussed franchising as well as the licensing process. We were then exposed to the different categories of market entry form, which is export modes, intermediary modes, and hierarchy modes. Export modes: The company outsources its local marketing to a third party (typically an agent, importer or a distributor)  Between using export modes (external partners) and hierarchical modes are intermediate modes.  The firm owns and controls the foreign entrance mode/organization in hierarchical modes. Session 9 In today’s session, we started with the individual presentations from the previous class and the ones due today. Lea presented about the Netherlands, Talia...

In today’s session, we immediately started out by doing our individual presentations with Filippo presenting Italy. I presented about Luxembourg and Emil presented about Bulgaria. It was interesting to learn about the various countries and especially their stance in and regarding the European Union.  Then, the professor explained the three different categories of market entry forms. Exports, whether indirect or direct through agents, regulated through sales branch, contractual – license or franchise, management or service contracts (partnership agreements), or investments (for example, greenfield investments) are all possible entry modes. Acquisition or joint venture tactics are two other ways to enter the market. ​​We saw Tesla selling automobiles in China as an example. Because the Chinese market is so large, they built a factory in China to cater to it. Many of the automobiles produced in Chinese manufacturers, however, end up on the European market. They manufacture automobiles...

In today’s first session, we started with a review of the last class and the history of the European Union. Then, the professor showed us the national anthem of the European Union and we also discussed the national anthems of the other countries. We also learned about the difference between free trade agreements and the custom unions. The FTAs are more a pact where they individually set customs and other agreements differently for the third parties while the custom unions are more of a pact that sets the same barriers and customs for third parties while having no customs and other non-tariff barriers within the union.  Q1: Which are the 10 top countries your country exports to? United Kingdom, United States, China, Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, Canada, Japan, Norway, and South Korea. Q2: Which are the 10 top EU countries your country exports to? Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, Sweden, and Czech Republic. Q3: Which are the 10 top countries your c...

In this session, the professor started by giving us tips for the websites when doing our individual assignments. Then, we dived into the European business environment book, Doing Business in Europe, where the professor suggested us chapters to read. We also registered our countries and dates and will be presenting accordingly and the group assignment will be a video submitted into turnitin on the last session.  Then, we moved on to the historical context of the European Union before World War 2, with attempts that were made to organize states to maintain peace and stability. The list was grand in all the attempts, meetings, and organizations that were made before the creation of the European Union.  Afterwards, we were divided into 4 groups and did our group assignments for case study 1 and 2. My group, Chanakan and I, did the case study on Carrefour and here is our answer.  Because the launch of the concept was so powerful, with well-developed infrastructures and  f...

We started the class with the review of the previous class, which was about debt and deficit. Up to a level of 85% of government debt is supportive to growth. We also know alot of government investments and spendings which has led to the development of technological advances, leading companies to take advantage of the progress.  We also learned that politicians tend to hesitate in building infrastructure as they have to maintain it but most importantly, because it takes time to get results as they want to be re-elected. They tend to promise taxpayers to reduce tax or give exceptions.  Quantitative easing can be issued through government bonds and when we buy that bond, we are simultaneously lowering the interest rate and in turn, keeping inflation low and stable. On the other hand, governments use quantitative easing to increase the money supply in the economy—this leads to an increase in consumer spending, bank lending and bank reserves. Inflation means there’s a growth in GD...

The course contents of the class were thoroughly explained and discussions were made in class that were related to the European Business environments, including employment rates, GDPs, and employment benefits.  The professor went on and explained about the government debt and deficits and the introduction of the Maastricht criteria for the EUROZONE members to guarantee price stability. Financial consolidation is not an option for the government as they are increasing their debt. Other solutions such as quantitative easing (introduction of new money by central bank) and the current PEPP program (pandemic emergency purchase program) and the debt cancellation were also touched upon. We also learn that inflation increases on nominal government debt. Moreover, starting from 2021, the introduction of the EU debts were issued to fund and support its own governments.  We then separated into 4 groups and worked on answering the questions in the respective solutions. Since my team did i...