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MGTC44![]() A 3rd year undergraduatecourse in the Division of Management, University of Toronto at Scarborough |
The following where questions asked on previous Final Exams |
March 2008
There is no perfect answer here, I am looking for how you think in answering this question. (In marking this question, the personal opinion of the professor will not effect your mark, so feel free to write your honest opinion)
QB1
Given the context of Canada-China trade, present and future potential ,
- and all the ramifications, what would you advise the Mayor of Toronto
and the Prime Minister of Canada if you were in a position to give such
advice. (At the time of writing this question April 26th, the City of Toronto
has backed away from giving an Official Reception for the Dalai Lama).
(8 marks)
or
QB2
If you were working for a Markham based company, that did a lot of
business in China (PRC), and your company president was invited to a meeting
in Toronto, with the Mayor, to meet the Dalai Lama, would you go …. If
the Chinese Embassy sent a letter to members of the Canada-China Trade
Council saying something about the Dalai Lama? (8 marks)
QB1 Answer Some students that got good marks on this question mentioned a recent David Crane article in the Toronto Star that talked about the importance of developing more trade with China and our overdependence on trade with the U.S. Students who "answered the question" are students that specifically phrased their answer in terms of advice to give to the Mayor and the P.M. A number of students spent too much space talking about what a peaceful guy the Dalai Lama is and did not get around to the advice part. Keep in mind that my questions are not just asking you to remember some story, they are also challenging you to takle knowledge of a story and turn it into information you can use to make a decision - in this case the decision of what the Mayor and PM should do.
An example of a good point here came from a Chinese-Canadian student who said "at a time when China is in need of natural resources for manufacturing it would not be in China's best interests to break their ties with Canada.."
Another
student pointed out the thousands and thousands of Chinese-Canadian business
people from Hong Kong and China who would keep business going no matter
what Beijing said. This students says China-Canada trade is too complex
to be effected by a threat like this and they seriously doubted whether
the Chinese government would do anything if the P.M. met the Dali Lama.
QB1
Answer - interestingly, a surprising number of students answered that
they would NOT meet the Dalai Lama - the threat of the Chinese government
seemed to be to strong. Many students responded by saying how powerful
the Chinese government was over its people and said China could hurt Canda's
trade. I found this a bit hard to understand since China's trade with Canada
is actually small compared to trade with Japan and in turn very small compared
to the U.S. My personal opinion is highly critical of this perspective
but I gave good marks to students who argued this way if they showed good
logic in their points - this is a good example of how you can disagree
with the professor, and still do OK on a question.
One
student said "It would be nearly impossible for my company to reverse the
PRC's attitude towards the Dalai Lama ... the weight of the PRC government
is too strong to stage a cultural revolt"
Another
student wrote "The Chinese government is very tough on political issues
especially when Taiwan and Tibet are concerned. That's why they are threatening
with billions of dollars of trade"
Students
who said they would not meet te Dali Lama because of threats from the Chinese
- received little marks unless they explained what the threat might be
and how important it could actually in terms of Canada's total trade.
You
also have to know Canadian geography here - the story explains that while
B.C. accounts for more than 50% of the softwood lumber to the U.S., Quebec
accounts for 25% - there are a lot of logging companies in the forests
north of Montreal and Quebec City. This is not just a "West Coast" issue,
it also involved Quebec politics and Ottawa has always been very sensitive
to doing anything in international business that negtively effects the
economy in Quebec
Answer:
There was a small story in the Toronto Star Dec 7th "Chinese Premier
warns against Protectionism"
Canada's
ability to successfully do business with China depends on the good/bad
relations between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. is our largest trading
partner, and China is our fastest growing source of imports. The Chinese
Premier said "reducing Chinese exports to the United States will not bring
jobs back to the U.S.". The Americans are upset that China exports a lot
of cheap consumer products to the U.S., but appears to be making it difficult
for Americans to export products and services to China. This is history
repeating itself - this is just like how the Americans complained about
the Japanese in the 1980's.
While
it is tragic that it originated in China, in truth a disease spreading
worldwide could have originated anywhere
-
the nature of our world these days and the circumstances of global travel
and international business are such that any medical situation like this
can cause people in other countries to be at risk in a short period of
time.
-
If I was giving the exam several years ago, I might ask about the "mad
cow" disease that effected the beef industry drastically in the U.K. and
also scared the beef industry in North America - which in turn would effect
fast-food chains like McDonalds
In
answering this question one should note the obvious close business links
building between China and Canada – also the very large number of people
in Canada from China which may make our population fearful of contact with
Chinese people and Chinese products. It would be racist to accuse all Chinese
of being “at risk” from SARS and as Canadians we would not tolerate this
– but in the marketplace, customers “vote” with their wallets and there
were many stories in the print and TV and radio media about people avoiding
Chinese businesses where they feared contact with persons from Guangdong
-
the situation got so bad that by the second week of April 2003, many Chinese
businesses reported a drop of 70% to 80% in business as Canadian and Chinese-Canadian
people feared contact
-
in fact several politicians, including the Prime Minister have made a point
of having their picture taken eating in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown
in Toronto to try to quell unrealistic fears
-
typically Chinese companies have had a price competitive advantage importing
products into Canada
-
- how will this be effected by SARS – will companies try to source products
from South Korea, Philippines -etc
-
contingency plans
-
political environment
-
social / cultural environment
Your
last lecture was about supply chain management – there are many things
about a company in international business that would be effected if the
supply chain from China was disrupted
Also, somewhere in this answer you should say directly, or indirectly that intl business is not about boxes moving around, it is people too – people do the business, not companies, so if the Canadian government restricts passengers from China (like the Americans did first week in April) this may have an effect on business people from China being able to travel to Canada and do certain things that need to be done – similarly, business people traveling to Asia to source materials and components may avoid travel to China and Vietnam and any other place that the media identify as a risk.
Also, as people move around, other demographics become effected. A story that broke in the news April 14th was about a large religious group in Toronto composed of Philipino people that all attended a particular Church - it was widely reported that hundreds of these people were placed in quarantine - which might have an effect on the Canada-Philipino business community.
It is impossible to predict how students may pick various things to answer this question so when I mark it I will be looking for
Old CanadaExport Questions |
.