How to Do the BBS11603 Country Comparison Dashboard
You have a five-page limit, a group of three to five people, and a brief that asks you to compare Malaysia with a country you picked about ten minutes ago. Most groups lose marks not on design but on source and year labels, uneven effort and a Section A that reads like the dashboard. This guide shows you how to plan a BBS11603 country comparison dashboard properly, from the first meeting to the PDF upload.
Quick answer: how to do the BBS11603 country comparison dashboard
Pick one Malaysian business and one target country, split Section B into political and legal, economic, and cultural panels, pull each number from a named source with its year, and fit everything into five pages. Each member writes the 20-mark globalisation subsection separately. Cite in APA 7th and name the file exactly as the brief says.
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What BBS11603 Assignment 1 actually asks for
BBS11603 Introduction to International Business, September 2026 session, sets a group report worth 30 per cent of the module. Your group acts as an international business consulting firm advising a client that wants to expand from Malaysia into a foreign country. The client can be a real Malaysian company or an imaginative one with specific products.
The assessment tests the first learning outcome: describing differences between countries in political, economic and cultural terms. That is why the dashboard is comparison-driven. A panel that describes only Malaysia, or only the target country, earns little.
Marks split at a glance
| Section | Who writes it | Marks | What it contains |
|---|---|---|---|
| A: Globalisation analysis | Each member, individually | 20 | Definition with academic references, at least three drivers, one real-world globalisation issue |
| B: Comparative country dashboard | The whole group | 80 | Political and legal, economic, and cultural comparison, Malaysia against the target country |
Section B carries four times the marks of Section A, yet students often spend the last night on the dashboard. Reverse that: book the dashboard work first, and let members draft Section A in parallel.
Step-by-step plan for the dashboard
- Choose the business and the country together. Prefer a country where English-language data is easy to find and where your product has an obvious market reason.
- Assign owners: one person per panel (political and legal, economic, cultural), one for design and one for references. In a group of three, combine design and references.
- Build a source sheet before writing. Each row holds the indicator, value, year and URL.
- Draft each panel as a table first. Text and charts come from the table, not the other way round.
- Choose a tool (Canva, PowerPoint, Google Slides or similar) and fix colours, fonts and chart style on page one.
- Add the investor and negotiation implications. These turn description into analysis and carry real marks.
- Check against the brief line by line, export one PDF, and rename the file as instructed.
The five-page dashboard layout
The brief caps the dashboard at five pages, excluding the cover, references and appendices. This split keeps each page to one idea.
| Page | Panel | What goes on it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Client and country snapshot | Business, product, why this target country, three headline facts |
| 2 | Political and legal systems | Type of government, legal system (common, civil or religious law), one business example per country |
| 3 | Economic systems | GDP and GNI comparison with year, market, command or mixed classification, investor implications |
| 4 | Cultural differences | At least four Hofstede dimensions, values and norms, etiquette |
| 5 | Negotiation, management and recommendation | What the client should do differently in the target market |
Raw tables, full chart data and screenshots belong in the appendices, which sit outside the page limit.
Where to get reliable data
Markers check whether your numbers are recent and sourced. Use official or established databases, not blog summaries, and write the year next to every figure.
| Source | Use it for | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| World Bank World Development Indicators | GDP, GDP per capita, GNI per capita (Atlas method) for both countries on one basis | World Development Indicators DataBank |
| IMF World Economic Outlook | Growth outlook and forecasts, useful for investor implications | IMF World Economic Outlook releases |
| Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) | Official Malaysian statistics and national releases | DOSM portal |
| The Culture Factor (Hofstede Insights) | Hofstede scores for Malaysia and the target country | Country comparison tool |
Keep the same source and the same year for both countries wherever you can. Mixing a 2025 figure for Malaysia with a 2022 figure for the target country makes the comparison unfair, and a careful marker will see it. The IMF publishes its World Economic Outlook roughly twice a year, with updates between, so check which edition you are quoting.
If your group wants to see a written model before settling its own structure, our BBS11603 model answer extract lays out Section A and the dashboard panels as tables. For writing support on the report, see our management assignment help in Malaysia.
GDP versus GNI: the comparison students muddle
The brief asks you to compare both. GDP counts output produced inside a country’s borders. GNI adds net income from abroad, so it reflects what residents actually earn. Report both, state the year, and say which one you used for per-capita comparisons.
The World Bank indicator for GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$), is NY.GNP.PCAP.CD, and the data runs through 2025 on its page. Pull Malaysia and your target country in the same download so the years match.
Section A without the usual damage
Each member writes their own subsection of about the same size. Define globalisation with a textbook or journal source, such as Hill and Hult’s international business text or Ghemawat’s work on semiglobalisation. Then explain three drivers, such as falling trade barriers, technology and cross-border investment, and give one real issue, for example a trade war or a supply-chain disruption.
The common trap: members copy the same textbook paragraph. The marks are individual, so a shared opening paragraph looks like copying. Choose different examples, pick different issues and use your own sentences.
Checklist before you submit
- Both countries appear on every comparison panel.
- Every number carries a source and year.
- At least four Hofstede dimensions are covered, with implications for negotiation and management.
- The economy of each country is classified as market, command or mixed, with a reason.
- Investor implications are stated, not implied.
- Dashboard is five pages or fewer, excluding cover, references and appendices.
- APA 7th in-text citations and reference list, with the charts credited.
- One PDF, named in the exact pattern in the brief, uploaded through the channel the brief names, before the deadline.
Common mistakes that cost marks
- Decorating instead of analysing. A beautiful page of icons with no “so what” scores below a plain table with a clear implication.
- Undated statistics. “Japan’s economy is big” is not evidence.
- Hofstede without application. Listing scores and not linking them to negotiation, management or etiquette is the most common gap.
- Stereotyping. Hofstede’s scores describe national averages. Say so, and avoid treating them as fixed rules for every person.
- Wrong file name. The brief warns of a deduction, and it is the easiest mark to protect.
- Unequal contribution. Agree owners early so one person does not rewrite the whole thing at midnight.
What students find hardest
Most groups tell us the same three things. First, fitting three comparisons into five pages without cramming. Second, finding a primary source for a recent number when search results show old blog posts. Third, coordinating a group when each member also has an individual section.
The fix is boring and works: a shared source sheet, a fixed page plan and a mock-up with placeholder text by day three. You can see our approach in the international business assignments sample, or compare the requirements against a related international business brief.
If the deadline is closer than the work, our report writing help offers model answers and structured guidance. You remain responsible for how you use them and for your institution’s rules, and our about us and how it works page explains the process.
Ready to plan your dashboard with an expert? Submit your requirements for guidance.
FAQs
Can we use a real Malaysian company for the BBS11603 dashboard?
Yes. The brief allows a real existing Malaysian business or an imaginative one with specific products or industry. A real company gives you annual reports and news to cite, but you must still describe its expansion plan accurately and avoid claiming facts you cannot source.
How many Hofstede dimensions do we need?
At least four, according to the brief. Covering all six is safer if space allows. For each dimension, show the Malaysia and target-country scores with the source year, and explain what the gap means for negotiation and management.
Should the dashboard use GDP or GNI?
Both. The brief asks you to compare GNI and GDP using the latest cited data. State the year, the source and the unit, such as current US$, and note that GNI per capita from the World Bank uses the Atlas method.
Can we go over five pages if the appendices are full?
No. The five-page limit applies to the dashboard itself, excluding the cover, references and appendices. Supporting charts, raw statistics and images go in the appendices, but the main argument must stand on the five pages.
Do all group members upload the PDF?
The brief asks for one submission per group as a single PDF, through the channel it names. Agree who uploads, check the file name against the brief, and confirm the upload well before the stated deadline.
Is Section A written by the group or by each member?
By each member, individually, for 20 marks. Each person defines globalisation with academic references, explains at least three drivers and gives one real-world issue. Avoid reusing identical wording across members.
About the expert
Amirul Azam holds an MBA from the University of Malaya and works in marketing, management, organizational behaviour and international business, including brand management, digital marketing and strategic management. He has spent over a decade in managerial roles in marketing and advertising, has six years of experience providing academic assistance, and has completed 2,341 orders.
References
Ghemawat, P. (2003). Semiglobalization and international business strategy. Journal of International Business Studies, 34(2), 138–152. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400013
Hill, C. W. L., & Hult, G. T. M. (2019). International business: Competing in the global marketplace (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
International Monetary Fund. (n.d.). World economic outlook. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO
World Bank. (n.d.). GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) [Data set]. World Bank Open Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD
