write short review of 4 short articles(3 paragraphs each)

Overview

The point of having you subscribe to the print and digital versions of The Economist for 12 weeks is to get you reading and thinking about international business in today’s world.  The Economist, however, is not strictly speaking an IB journal.  It deals with a wide range of fields–politics, economics, culture, society, literature, the law, etc.  Yet, I guarantee, as you get into the habit of picking up the current issue and reading the articles of your choice, your knowledge base of the international environment in which multinational firms do business will increase qualitatively.  Plus, I hope our classroom discussions will increase your intellectual curiosity about different countries.

The Economist Assignments

As you read the weekly Economist articles related to international topics and issues, you are responsible for filling in the information as outlined in the excel template that I have designed for this purpose (as explained in class). Read as many articles per issue as you want.  Read about any topic that you like.  I expect you to read about a wide variety of countries and a wide variety of topics.  For example, don’t read ONLY business-related articles, ONLY political ones, or ONLY about one specific country.  Cast a wide net.  Just bear in mind that this is an international business class and I am interested in your learning about topics that shed light on the institutional environments worldwide. Do not write about articles that deal predominantly with a U.S. focus (e.g., U.S. politics).  Be sure that there is a dominant international side to your entries. Do not write “the U.S.” in the Focal Country Column.  At the same time, do not write “international,” or “multinational” as vague categories.  You need to write the specific name of one country, or 2, or 3 (etc.) that the article directly deals with. 

You will be graded for the accuracy, depth, and thoroughness of your entries and insights as you identify key points and analyze their contribution to your understanding of the international business. A word to the wise:  Select your articles carefully.  Choose those that have some depth about an international issue and that you can write about/interpret.

Grading

Grading these assignments is not a science.  If you follow directions and write thoughtful entries, you should receive full credit.  Here is a non-exclusive list of things that I deduct points for: 

• 2 points off if you use bullet points.

• 2 points off if I have to download your assignment in order to read it;

• 2 points off (for each entry) for many grammatical errors/typos, etc.

• 4 points off if your “What you learned” section (penultimate column) is sub-par (for each entry);

• 4 points off if your “Questions I have”(final column)  section is sub-par (for each entry);

• 4 points off if you copy text from another source (= plagiarizing) or from one of your previous submissions;

• 10 points off if an entire entry (row) is missing, 20 points off if 2 entries (rows) are missing, etc. 

• 10 points off if the entire entry (row) is about an article that deals with the U.S. or an American issue. This is an international business class; your articles should reflect what you are learning about the institutional environment of countries outside of U.S. borders.