Your task is to write a proposal for the research project.

Proposals are informative and persuasive writing because they attempt to educate the reader and to convince that reader that your project idea is worthwhile. The goal of the writer is not only to persuade the reader that the project is viable, but also to make the reader believe that the solution is practical and appropriate. In persuasive proposal writing, the case is built by the demonstration of logic and reason in the approach taken in the solution. The effectiveness of your proposal will depend on your ability to explain the nature, context and scope of your intended project.

It is recommended that you follow the below listed order, however a few proposals flow better with sections in a different order – this is fine, just be sure that there is a logical flow to your writing.

Your proposal should consist of the following:

1. Clear statement of research question – Very clearly state what you will be studying. Be sure that this is understandable to someone who doesn't know much about your field of study. If needed, define terms. To test your explanation – give this to a friend not in your subject area. If he/she doesn't understand, try again!
2. Project Goal and Objectives – Goals and Objectives are often confused with each other. They both describe things that a person may want to achieve or attain but in relative terms may mean different things. Both are desired outcomes of work done by a person but what sets them apart is the time frame, attributes they’re set for and the effect they inflict. Both the terms imply the target that one’s efforts is desired to accomplish.

Examples

• Goal: Our after-school program will help children read better.
• Objective: Our after-school remedial education program will assist 50 children in improving their reading scores by one grade level as demonstrated on standardized reading tests administered after participating in the program for six months.

NOTE: Sections 1 and 2 are the most important parts of your proposal. The rest of your proposal supports these statements. They don't need to be long

– one short paragraph should be enough. The rest of your proposal will explain why you want to explore this question, how you will do it, and what it means to you.

3. Background/Statement of the Problem/Significance of the Project – Be succinct. Clearly support your statement with documentation and references, and include a review of the literature that supports the need for your research or creative endeavour. A discussion of present understanding and/or state of knowledge concerning the question/problem or a discussion of the context of the scholarly or creative work. This section presents and summarises the problem you intend to solve and your solution to that problem. What is the question that you want to explore in your research and why is this an interesting and important question? In thinking about the significance, try to take the position of an educated newspaper reader. If she or he were to see an article about your research in the paper, how would you explain the importance of your project?

4. Project Design / Methodology – Design and describe a work plan consistent with your academic discipline. This may include academic research, use of population samples, experimental and control groups, or other methods of data gathering and statistical analysis. The work plan may include archival research, translating, ethnographic fieldwork, solitary thinking, or other forms of analysis and synthesis of ideas and concepts in the arts and humanities. This section of the proposal should explain the details of the proposed plan. How will you go about exploring your research question? What will be your methods?

Be specific on what you will be doing. The reasoning behind the research opportunity is to make sure that you have a meaningful experience. If the reviewer can't tell what part of a project you will be doing, he/she can't evaluate your experience.

5. Project Timeline – Give an overview of when you are going to do specific steps of your project. The project modules are 12 weeks, so keep this in mind when devising your timeline. Don't be too ambitious.

6. Anticipated Results. This section may also include an interpretation and explanation of results as related to your question; a discussion on or suggestions for further work that may help address the problem you are trying to solve; an analysis of the expected impact of the scholarly or creative work on the audience; or a discussion on any problems that could hinder your creative endeavour.

Introduction

The trend of globalization has led to various cultures entering the worldwide stage. In today's global world of business, a significant contribution to success is culture. Better opportunities for business along with profits can be possibly discovered in several nations around the world. Better understanding along with a better acceptance of various cultures can result in communication becoming more efficient, which in the end gives rise to success. Hence, the study of culture is a vital part of global business management. The culture of a particular place may affect the way the work is being performed in that place. A political stability, as well as revolution, can dramatically affect a nation's culture.

To understand the impact of culture in business practices as well as decision making that the management does require understanding of the differences between various cultures. Several models along with classifications of culture have emerged in order to provide a frame of reference for comparison. Such cultural frameworks are used for the purpose of encompassing the cultural variations that may bear an essential influence on the internationalization of various organisations, the manner of the firms are organised and  human resource management practices.

1. Statement of the Research Questions

What is the role played by culture in influencing the decisions related to international expansions of the firms and also on their performance?

What impact does culture have on the mode of entry of the organisation?

How does culture influence the performance of an organisation?

2. Project Objectives

To find the role of culture in international expansion decisions as well as performance

3. Statement of the Problem

The various studies that have been conducted on culture explore how culture affects the decisions regarding entry, negotiation as well as the success of the joint venture. Various theoretical concepts drive a research in these studies and the role of culture is peripheral. This lack of emphasis on culture has resulted in the creation of a gap in the literature. Literature discussing the effect of culture on the different topics completely or examines the way culture can be used for various topics is hard to find. The present paper tries to study this by carrying out a primary review of the various articles regarding culture in significant journals of global business. The aim of such a review is the examination of the findings related to culture from papers focusing on related problems. This will increase the possibility of providing an analysis of the role that culture plays in international business.

3.1  Literature Review

Culture has been defined as the mind's collective programming which causes a distinction of the members of a particular cultural group from that of the other group (Hofstede, 2001)

It is a shared idea of a group of people with each group having its own conception as well as reaction to various scenarios. Culture may act as a barrier to communication (Daniels, et al., 2004). The globalization trend has resulted in putting individual cultures into a perspective that is global. (Penny. & Chris, 2008) also gave suggestions that were practical for the purpose of communication in global business while (McLean & Lewis, 2010) spoke about the management that was cross-cultural, the influence of diversity existing in culture, cross-cultural communication and cross-culture awareness training. The following literature review explores the relation between culture and internationalisation, entry mode as well as the performance of the organizations.

a. Internationalisation

A significant international business theory is the internationalization theory which discusses the steps taken by MNE while moving to foreign markets from the domestic market. Psychic distance is an essential aspect of the theory, which is, the difference that exists in between the domestic market as well as the foreign market. Studies have revealed that businesses first expand into countries that are at a lesser distant (Li, et al., 2001) which are culturally similar to the domestic country of the organisation. Besides this, as per the  internationalization theory, as the experience along with knowledge of the organisation rises with respect to foreign markets, MNEs will start to expand into markets that are culturally distant. Several studies confirm this relationship (Eriksson, et al., 2000). However, researchers have also come up with results contrary to this which has hindered the generalizability of these results. This shows that there is a requirement of further research on the role played by the cultural distance on internationalization.

b. Entry Mode

Types of  the entry mode of a firm can vary from full ownership to exports. Joint ventures exist in between these two modes. Numerous articles have investigated the way culture impacts the MNEs' decision to adopt a particular entry mode.

Few studies have revealed that with the increase in cultural distance between nations the level of ownership also increases (Pan, 1996). Another study showed that the possibility of a joint venture increases as the cultural distance becomes high (Brouthers & Brouthers, 2001). More studies have shown that MNEs are at a higher probability of using licensing especially with the aim of exploiting the benefits of technology when the cultural distance increases (Arora & Fosfuri, 2000).

Few of the studies could not establish any relation of cultural distance with respect to the structure of control The variations that exist between nations regarding uncertainty avoidance, as well as long term orientation, were found to have an impact that was negative on the probability of setting up a joint venture rather than a subsidiary that was owned wholly. Variations in masculinity and also power distance resulted in joint ventures being chosen instead of full ownership (Barkema & Vermeulen, 1997). However, these differences of effects regarding the factors were not revealed by other studies. On the contrary, a research  revealed vast differences in these factors between nations resulted in  joint venture being used highly.

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)