| Course | GB528 Global Strategy |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 10 |
| Paper type | Strategy recommendation |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB528 Unit 10
Southeast Asia Through Indonesia, and What It Forgoes: A Unit 10 Strategy Recommendation for a Paint Maker
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB528: Global Strategy
Unit 10 Strategy Recommendation
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The paint maker, its options and every figure are composite and illustrative; the frameworks and sources cited are real.
The Recommendation
Ohio Valley Coatings should commit to Southeast Asia, entering through a majority joint venture in Indonesia and building a regional system around the Rayong concentrate plant, with an investment of about [$180 million] over five years. In choosing this path, the firm accepts three costs: it gives up the chance to buy a listed Turkish paint producer that would have given it immediate scale and a base for Europe; it accepts slower profit than an acquisition would bring; and it accepts dependence on a distribution partner that may one day become a competitor.
The Investment
The [$180 million] has three parts. About $60 million is Ohio Valley's share of the Indonesian venture, including the Karawang plant. About $70 million expands the Rayong concentrate plant to serve Indonesia and later other markets in the region. About $50 million is reserved for entry into a second Southeast Asian market, likely Vietnam or the Philippines, in years three to five, if the Indonesian venture meets its measures.
Organizing Frame: The AAA Triangle
Ghemawat (2007) describes three strategies for dealing with differences between countries. Adaptation changes the offer to fit local conditions. Aggregation groups countries to gain economies of scale across them. Arbitrage exploits differences between countries, such as lower labor or materials costs. Most firms, he argues, should emphasize one or two of the three rather than all at once.
Adaptation. The Unit 7 analysis set out what Ohio Valley adapts in Indonesia: tropical additives, colors, pack sizes, price tiers and painter programs. These adaptations cost little relative to the venture's revenue and address what customers see and use.
Aggregation. The Rayong plant aggregates the region. Resin emulsion and tint concentrate made in one plant for several markets give scale no single country could. Purchasing remains global. The tinting system and brand are the same across markets, so each new market adds volume to a shared platform.
Arbitrage. The strategy uses little arbitrage. Indonesian labor is cheaper, but paint making is not labor-intensive, and finished paint is too heavy to export far. The firm should not count on cost differences for its advantage in the region.
The strategy wins by adapting the parts customers see and aggregating the parts they do not, not by finding a cheaper place to make paint.
Why Southeast Asia Rather Than Turkey
The alternative was to buy a listed Turkish producer with a strong national brand and dealer network, at a cost of several hundred million dollars. The acquisition would have given Ohio Valley immediate scale, an established position in a large market and, through Turkey's customs arrangement with the European Union for manufactured goods, a base for exports to Europe.
Three considerations favor Southeast Asia. First, the Indonesian venture needs much less capital to start and can grow step by step, while the Turkish acquisition would commit the firm to a large single bet. Second, Rugman and Verbeke (2004) found that most multinationals' sales remain concentrated in their home region and that extending into a second region is hard; Southeast Asia offers several growing markets that one regional system can serve, while Turkey would be a single market with its own currency volatility. Third, the seminar in Unit 6 showed that Ohio Valley's case for Turkey rested on different reasons from its case for Indonesia, and the firm has studied Indonesia far more closely.
The Accepted Costs
The Turkish producer. If it is bought by a competitor, Ohio Valley may not get another chance at that scale in Turkey. The firm accepts this, because it cannot fund both strategies and believes Southeast Asia offers more room to grow.
Slower profit. The joint venture and the regional plant will take three to four years to reach full profitability. An acquisition would have earned profits from the first year. The board must accept lower returns from international operations in the near term.
Partner dependence. The venture depends on its partner's distribution. The term sheet and the tinting-machine measure from Units 5 and 9 manage this risk but do not remove it.
Implementation and Sequence
The first eighteen months follow the Unit 9 plan: incorporating the venture, building the Karawang plant, launching on Java and expanding to Sumatra. The Rayong expansion begins in year two, timed so that added capacity arrives as the venture's volume grows. The second Southeast Asian market is evaluated in year three, using the same tests of distribution, climate and competition applied to Indonesia. Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) describe how transnational firms build capability step by step, with each subsidiary adding to the network's knowledge; the Karawang application lab proposed in Unit 8 would become the center of tropical formulation for the region.
Measures
The board should track five measures each year: market share on Java and Sumatra, the venture's operating margin, utilization of the Rayong plant, days to resolve technical complaints, and the share of tinting machines under the venture's own contracts.
Reversal Conditions
The recommendation should be reconsidered if any of four conditions occurs.
The venture misses its share target by a wide margin. If market share on Java remains below 2 percent at the end of year three, the distribution model is not working.
The partner breaks the terms. If the share of tinting machines under venture contracts falls below 90 percent, or the partner launches a paint brand, the venture's basis is compromised.
Rayong cannot reach scale. If the regional plant's utilization stays below 60 percent by year four, aggregation is not delivering its benefit, and the regional system should be reconsidered.
A better path to Europe appears. If the Turkish producer or a similar target becomes available at a much lower price, the board should weigh it again, since European growth would complement rather than replace Southeast Asia.
Conclusion
Ohio Valley's best path abroad is a regional one: adapt in Indonesia, aggregate across Southeast Asia, and grow market by market. The choice gives up a faster route to scale in Turkey and accepts slower profit and a dependent partnership. It does so with its eyes open and with conditions that would show, within three years, whether it was the right choice. If those conditions are met, the regional system built around Indonesia and Rayong will give Ohio Valley a second home region, which few paint makers of its size have achieved.
References
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Harvard Business School Press.
Ghemawat, P. (2007). Managing differences: The central challenge of global strategy. Harvard Business Review, 85(3), 58-68.
Rugman, A. M., & Verbeke, A. (2004). A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400073
Reading the GB 528 Unit 10 instructions
The final GB528 assignment asks you to recommend an international strategy for the firm you have studied. State the direction, the investment and the costs you accept in the first paragraph. Organize the argument with a strategy framework, such as Ghemawat's AAA triangle, and explain how each element applies. Compare the recommendation with the main alternative and explain the choice. Set out the accepted costs, the implementation sequence and the measures. End with the conditions under which the firm should reverse or revisit the choice. Expect about eight pages, beginning with a one-page recommendation and ending with reversal conditions, citing global strategy sources in APA 7.
How the GB 528 Unit 10 example is put together
The recommendation opens with the direction, the 180 million dollar investment and three accepted costs. The investment is split among the venture, the Rayong expansion and a reserve for a second market. Ghemawat's adaptation, aggregation and arbitrage are applied in turn, and the highlighted sentence states that the strategy adapts what customers see and aggregates what they do not. A section compares the Turkish acquisition, citing Rugman and Verbeke on regional sales. Each accepted cost is explained. The implementation sequence cites Bartlett and Ghoshal on building capability, five annual measures follow, and four reversal conditions, from share below 2 percent to Rayong utilization below 60 percent, close the paper.
GB528 Unit 10 rubric: what earns full points
The final GB528 recommendation earns its marks through a clear choice, costs accepted in the first paragraph and conditions that would reverse it. Stating direction and investment up front earns early credit. Applying a framework element by element, including the one the strategy uses least, shows understanding. Comparing the recommendation with a real alternative carries significant weight. Explaining each accepted cost shows honesty. A sequence and measures tied to earlier units show integration. Reversal conditions stated as measurable thresholds show judgment. Ghemawat on managing differences, Rugman and Verbeke on regional strategy and Bartlett and Ghoshal on the transnational are the recommendation's APA 7 references.
GB528 Unit 10 help: mistakes that cost points
Many GB528 Unit 10 recommendations describe opportunities in several regions without choosing one. Others choose but never say what the choice gives up. A common gap is the alternative: a recommendation is stronger when it explains why a real option, such as an acquisition elsewhere, was rejected. Some writers never name the evidence that would make them reconsider. State the choice, investment and costs first, organize with a framework, compare the main alternative, explain each cost, sequence the steps, set measures and finish with reversal conditions as numbers. Reusing measures from the implementation plan keeps strategy and execution connected, and it lets the board judge the strategy with figures it already receives each quarter rather than with new ones invented for the purpose.
Get a GB528 Unit 10 example written to your instructions
Collect your earlier GB528 papers, or a list of what each concluded, and send them along with the rubric and prompt for Unit 10. A custom recommendation commits the firm to one direction in its first paragraph, prices what it gives up, treats the strongest alternative fairly and closes on reversal conditions. It is ready within 24-48h, and the first costs nothing. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB528 papers and MBA samples
- GB528 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- GB528 Unit 2: Industry Analysis
- GB528 Unit 3: Case Analysis
- GB528 Unit 4: Entry Mode Comparison
- GB528 Unit 5: Partner Evaluation
- GB528 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- GB528 Unit 7: Strategic Analysis
- GB528 Unit 8: Value Chain Audit
- GB528 Unit 9: Implementation Plan
- GB527 Unit 10: Operations Report
- GB526 Unit 10: Leadership Development Report
- GB525 Unit 10: Executive Summary for the Board
- GB520 Unit 10: Human Resources Strategy Proposal
GB528 Unit 10 questions, answered
What is Ghemawat's AAA triangle?
Pankaj Ghemawat described three strategies for dealing with differences between countries: adaptation, adjusting to local conditions; aggregation, grouping markets to gain scale; and arbitrage, exploiting differences such as labor cost. He argued that firms seldom succeed at all three together and should choose deliberately. A recommendation using the triangle should say which strategies it pursues and which it declines.
How should the recommendation treat the alternative it rejects?
Seriously. Describe the strongest alternative fairly, concede what it would do better, and state the specific reason it loses. A rejected option given one sentence suggests the conclusion came first. Graders in most sections read the quality of the rejection as evidence of the quality of the choice, since any direction looks good when compared with nothing.
Should a strategy recommendation include financial projections?
Usually, at least in outline. The cost of a direction is partly financial, so a projection of investment, revenue and margin over several years makes the trade-off concrete. Keep figures consistent with earlier units and label assumptions. Where the course has not covered valuation, a simple projection with stated assumptions is usually enough.
Where can I find a free GB528 Unit 10 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB528 Unit 10 strategy recommendation committing a paint maker to Southeast Asia, with the AAA triangle, the rejected Turkish alternative, accepted costs, measures, reversal conditions and APA 7 references.
Why does the strategy use little arbitrage?
Paint making is not labor-intensive and finished paint is too heavy to export far, so cheaper Indonesian labor offers little advantage. The strategy relies on adaptation and regional aggregation instead.