Individual Report
Individual report (international business plan)
Write a 2,000-word business plan that takes a small or medium-sized firm into a global market. It can be your own start-up or an existing SME or family firm from any country — but not a large multinational, and not the same idea you used in the Learning Diary.
The plan covers the whole journey: the firm and its country, the resource challenges, how you found and tested the opportunity, which market you will enter and how, a new product for that market built on the innovation models, networks and competitors, marketing, a funding plan with estimated amounts, IP protection and the benefit to local communities.
It ends with a reflection, structured with Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, on what you learned across the module — including the tutorial case studies — and how it helped you write the report. Reflection carries 30% of the marks, the largest single criterion.
Use module theories such as Porter’s Five Forces, PESTEL and Embeddedness, linked to your firm with examples; reliable sources; Harvard referencing; and graphs and tables where they make the plan clearer.
Learning outcomes assessed
- LO3Critically analyse and justify elements of the innovation process within an internationalising business.
- LO4Engage with and comment on real-world cases of global entrepreneurial businesses and showcase your own innovative mindset.
- LO5Apply functional knowledge to identify new market opportunities, investigate the creation of new ventures and understand operational challenges in foreign markets.
Requirements checklist
0 of 20 done
Rules
- Firm size: the firm must be small or medium-sized; a family firm is fine. Do not select large multinationals.
- Different idea: your chosen business must be different from the idea you submitted in the Learning Diary.
- Module theories only: “Do not use any concepts, theories, or frameworks that are outside the scope of the module. All concepts must be drawn from the module’s teaching resources.”
- Innovation rule: when entering with new products or services, you must incorporate all types of innovation.
- Funding: the funding plan must include estimated amounts.
- Reflection: structure the reflection with Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle; it is worth 30% of the mark.
- Referencing: reliable sources, cited properly, with a reference list in Harvard style. Support: the Academic Study Hub (gre.ac.uk/academicskills).
- Length and pass mark: maximum 2,000 words; pass mark 50%. To pass the module you need an overall mark of 50% across all assessments.
- Own work: coursework is marked on the understanding that it is your own work and has not, in whole or in part, been presented elsewhere for assessment. Acknowledge all material from other sources in line with the University’s regulations on Assessment Misconduct.
- Resit: if you are offered a resit, the mark is capped at 50% unless extenuation has been granted. Revise your work using the feedback and add a 200-word reflection at the start explaining the changes made or lessons learned. If it is your first submission because you did not submit before, state that clearly instead of writing the reflection.
- Deadline: 5 November 2026 (Module Handbook). Some slides show deadlines from earlier cohorts — ignore them.
Plan and word budget
- 1. Executive summary and business idea180 words · 9%
- 2. Opportunity, feasibility and resource challenges200 words · 10%
- 3. Target market and competitive environment220 words · 11%
- 4. Entry strategy and innovation for the new market220 words · 11%
- 5. Managing and growing through networks150 words · 8%
- 6. Marketing in the new market150 words · 8%
- 7. Funding the expansion120 words · 6%
- 8. Protecting intellectual property80 words · 4%
- 9. Benefit to local communities80 words · 4%
- 10. Reflection using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle600 words · 30%
1. Executive summary and business idea
180 wordsState the firm, its aim and why it matters, so the marker can judge everything that follows against it.
What to include
- Firm name; new start-up or existing firm; small, medium or family business; home country.
- The product or service, the customer problem it solves and why customers should buy it.
- A one-sentence aim for the international expansion and the target market it points to.
- The firm’s mission and basis of differentiation.
- Write this section last, as the business plan lecture advises for executive summaries.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
Business IdeaLanguage and Organisation2. Opportunity, feasibility and resource challenges
200 wordsShow how the need was found and tested, and how the firm copes with limited resources.
What to include
- How you identified the need or market gap in the home country (discovered or created opportunity; sensing).
- A compact feasibility analysis: product/service, industry and target market, organisational, and financial feasibility.
- Operational or resource challenges at start-up and how you will overcome them (team, partners, bootstrapping).
- Country information relevant to the firm, with data.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
EvidenceReasoningBusiness Idea3. Target market and competitive environment
220 wordsJustify the market choice with evidence and map the competition you will face there.
What to include
- The market(s) you will enter and why, with a PESTEL table for the target country.
- Porter’s Five Forces for the industry in the target market.
- Named main competitors and what they offer (a short table works well).
- Psychic distance from the home market and the location advantages that make this market attractive.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
EvidenceReasoning4. Entry strategy and innovation for the new market
220 wordsChoose how you enter and design the new product for that market using all the innovation types.
What to include
- The entry mode(s) for the short and long run, with benefits and drawbacks against at least one alternative, and an example of a firm that used it.
- Whether you enter with a new product/service or add innovation to an existing one.
- The new product for the target market, showing each innovation type: product, process, service and business model — and its level.
- A Business Model Canvas or summary table of what changes for the new market.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
Business IdeaReasoning5. Managing and growing through networks
150 wordsExplain how networks give the firm resources and a way to compete in the new market.
What to include
- The key network partners in the target market (suppliers, distributors, government, diaspora or investor contacts) and what each provides.
- Strong and weak ties, and the roles of social capital (efficacy, serendipity, liability).
- The risk of over-embeddedness and how you will avoid it.
- How you will compete against the named competitors through your networks; the founding team and governance.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
ReasoningEvidence6. Marketing in the new market
150 wordsShow who you will sell to, how you will position the offer and how you will promote it innovatively.
What to include
- Segmentation, targeting and positioning, with a positioning statement.
- The marketing mix, including a named pricing strategy.
- Innovative, low-cost promotion suited to an entrepreneurial firm (word of mouth, collaborative and digital channels).
- Market-research evidence for the chosen segment.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
ReasoningEvidence7. Funding the expansion
120 wordsShow how much money the expansion needs and where each part will come from.
What to include
- A sources-and-uses table with estimated amounts.
- Chosen sources (e.g. angel investors, venture capital, a named crowdfunding type and platform, bootstrapping, debt, strategic partners) and why each fits the firm’s stage.
- The trade-offs: equity given up, control, repayment risk.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
ReasoningEvidence8. Protecting intellectual property
80 wordsMatch each valuable asset to the right form of protection in the target market.
What to include
- A short asset-to-right map: name and logo, designs, inventions, content and software, trade secrets.
- Where to register, given that IPRs are territorial.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
Reasoning9. Benefit to local communities
80 wordsExplain the social and economic value the firm creates in the new market.
What to include
- Jobs, skills, suppliers, social or environmental impact, and returns to local investors.
- Whether any part of the model is social entrepreneurship, and why.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
Business IdeaReasoning10. Reflection using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
600 wordsReflect on your learning across the module and how it shaped this report — 30% of the marks, so about 30% of the words.
What to include
- Description: the module experiences that mattered most, naming specific tutorials and case studies (e.g. the Keurig soda machine, Airbnb, Uber, the TNA market-entry case, the Ryla case, the JD marketing mix).
- Feelings: what you thought and felt before, during and after them.
- Evaluation: what went well and what did not, including difficulties you met writing this report.
- Analysis: why, using module theory to make sense of it.
- Conclusion: what you learned and what you could have done differently, linked to the learning outcomes.
- Action plan: concrete steps to improve your learning and performance in similar future tasks.
Theories to use
Earns marks for
ReflectionLanguage and Organisation
Marking rubric
- Business Idea20%
- Evidence20%
- Reasoning20%
- Language and Organisation10%
- Reflection30%
What good work does
States a clear aim early (the most flexible workplace for the new way of working) and builds the market case with dated market data and a search-trend chart before describing the service.
Summarises the internationalisation logic in one table — country, competitors, entry mode, psychic distance — so the reasoning is visible at a glance.
Uses theory to make decisions: greenfield entry is justified with listed advantages and disadvantages, and competitor behaviour is read through oligopolistic reaction theory and Uppsala psychic distance.
The IP section maps specific assets to rights — copyright for website content, images and software; trademark for the name and logo — and notes that infringements must be monitored.
Gives a start-up cost breakdown (platform, production, designer, warehouse, marketing) and a matching funding split between an angel investor and crowdfunding — the estimated amounts the current brief requires.
Structures the opportunity story around sensing, seizing and transforming, and classifies the founder’s approach as causation rather than effectuation (Week 2).
Has a dedicated community-benefit section, supports the chosen segment with survey data, and positions price against named competitors.
Treats IP as territorial: register the trademark at home first, then extend protection as the firm enters new markets.
Common pitfalls
Issue: The firm is Meituan, which the report describes as an existing online platform with registered riders yet calls “a startup”, and it never states the firm’s size — although the brief rules out large multinationals.
Fix: Use your own start-up idea or a real small, medium or family firm, and state its size and type in the first paragraph.
Issue: The idea drifts between errand-running, food delivery and contactless payment, and no aim is ever stated.
Fix: Write a one-sentence aim at the start and test every section against it.
Issue: Pages of competitor narrative (TaskRabbit, Deliveroo, Fiverr), with quotes and figures, never lead to a decision.
Fix: Put competitors in a short table and analyse the industry with Porter’s Five Forces, then say how you will compete.
Issue: The entry section names no target country and no entry mode; it only says business models change with local needs.
Fix: Name the market, justify it with PESTEL, and choose an entry mode with its benefits and drawbacks from the Week 7 material.
Issue: Networks get one sentence and a figure; no network theory, ties or social capital.
Fix: Name the partners, the ties and the social-capital roles, and explain how they help you enter and compete.
Issue: Funding is one web-sourced cost figure ($70,000) and a one-line claim that the firm “crowdfunded, offering shares in return”, with no platform and no amounts per source.
Fix: Give a sources-and-uses table with estimated amounts per source, the crowdfunding type and a named platform.
Issue: The IP section breaks off mid-sentence and gives trademark advice from a patents article.
Fix: Map each asset to the right IPR type and say where it will be registered.
Issue: Marketing segments are garbled (“errands runners, and errands runners”), with no positioning or marketing mix.
Fix: Use STP and the 4Ps, with evidence for the chosen segment.
Issue: No module theory is named; the reference list is mostly web blogs and includes sources never used in the text.
Fix: Anchor each section in a named module theory and cite only what you use.
Issue: There is no reflection, and language errors make parts hard to follow; one competitor paragraph even ends “Let’s say.”
Fix: Budget 600 words for a Gibbs reflection and proofread the whole report.
Issue: Even the good samples contain no Gibbs reflection and good-1 has no funding amounts or community-benefit section; they appear to predate the current brief.
Fix: Use them for structure and evidence, but follow the current brief and rubric — reflection alone is 30%.
Templates
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle — stage prompts (Week 10 and 11 tutorial slides)
1. Description — What happened? When and where? Who was present? What did you and others do? What was the outcome? Why were you there? What did you want to happen? 2. Feelings — What were you feeling before, during and after? What do you think others felt then, and now? What were you thinking during it, and what do you think now? 3. Evaluation — What was good and bad about the experience? What went well? What didn’t go so well? What did you and others contribute, positively or negatively? 4. Analysis — Why did things go well? Why didn’t they? What sense can you make of the situation? What knowledge — your own or others’, such as academic literature — helps you understand it? 5. Conclusion — What did you learn? How could it have been more positive for everyone? What skills do you need to develop? What else could you have done? 6. Action plan — If you did it again, what would you do differently? How will you develop the skills you need? How will you make sure you act differently next time?
Gibbs reflection frames for this report
Description: In the Week {n} tutorial we analysed {case} using {framework}. Our group {what you did}, and we concluded that {outcome}. Feelings: At first I felt {…} because {…}; by the end I felt {…}. Evaluation: What worked was {…}; what did not was {…}. When writing this report I found {section} difficult because {…}. Analysis: {Theory} helps explain this: {…} (Author, year). This is why, in my plan, I {decision}. Conclusion: I learned that {…}. With hindsight I would have {…}. This links to {LO3/LO4/LO5} because {…}. Action plan: Next time I will {specific step} by {date/method}, and I will {second step}.
Funding plan: sources and uses table
Uses of funds | Estimated amount | Source | Why this source {market research / product adaptation} | {amount} | {bootstrapping / personal funds} | {…} {legal and IP registration} | {amount} | {angel investor} | {…} {launch marketing} | {amount} | {reward-based crowdfunding on a named platform} | {…} {premises, staff, stock} | {amount} | {venture capital / bank loan / strategic partner} | {…} Total | {sum} | | Equity given up: {…}; repayment risk: {…}
Innovation for the new market: all four types
Type | What changes for {target market} | Level Product | {new or significantly improved product features} | {incremental/radical; new to region/world} Process | {how you produce or deliver differently} | {…} Service | {how the customer experience or support changes} | {…} Business model | {how you create, deliver and capture value differently — revenue streams, customer relationships, key activities} | {sustaining/disruptive}
Entry mode justification frame
For the short run, {firm} will enter {country} through {mode} because {control, cost, risk, local knowledge, speed}. {Alternative mode} is less suitable because {drawback from the Week 7 material}. In the long run, as experience grows and psychic distance falls (Uppsala), the firm could move to {higher-commitment mode}. For example, {real firm} used {mode} to enter {market} ({source}).
IP protection map
Asset | Type of IPR | Where to register / how to protect Brand name and logo | Trademark | {home country and target country} Product shape or look | Design right | {…} How the product works | Patent | {…} Website, manuals, software | Copyright (automatic in the UK) | {…} Supplier lists, recipes, formulas | Trade secret | {confidentiality agreements} Reminder: IPRs are territorial — protection at home does not cover the target market.
Harvard: citing lecture and tutorial slides
Format: Surname, Initial. (Year) Mini-Lecture X.Y: Title, BUSI1764 Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation. University of Greenwich, unpublished. Example: Mujakperuo, S.O. (2026) Week 8 Lecture: Building and Managing Networks, BUSI1764 Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation. University of Greenwich, unpublished. Example: Costales, E. (2026) Mini-Lecture 2.2: Seizing Opportunities and Transforming: How to Internationalise, BUSI1764 Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation. University of Greenwich, unpublished. In text: (Mujakperuo, 2026). Add a, b, c… for several decks by the same lecturer in the same year.
Resit opening reflection (200 words)
Resit reflection (200 words, placed at the start): 1. The main feedback I received was {…}. 2. In response I changed {section} by {…}, because {…}. 3. I also changed {…}. 4. The main lesson I take from this is {…}. If this is your first submission because you did not submit before, state that clearly instead of writing this reflection.