| Course | BU 231 Global Business Environment |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Adaptation plan |
| Length | About 1,150 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Business Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 231 Unit 6
What the Law Requires and What the Buyer Prefers: An Adaptation Plan for a Vermont Hand Balm in Japan, Priced Change by Change
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 231: Global Business Environment
Instructor Name
March 31, 2026
What the Law Requires and What the Buyer Prefers: An Adaptation Plan for a Vermont Hand Balm in Japan, Priced Change by Change
Hollow Brook Botanicals, the composite Vermont skin care company followed through this course, decided in Unit 5 to enter Japan by exporting through an importer that holds a marketing authorization license. This plan sets out what the firm must change about its hand balm and how it sells it. The plan separates the changes Japanese regulation compels from the changes that customer or buyer preference only suggests, specifies each one at the level of a label, a size or a payment method, and prices the alternatives where there is a choice. Cost figures for packaging and labeling are the firm's own quotes and are constructed for this composite case; figures about Japan come from published sources.
Why Separate Compelled From Preferred
Levitt (1983) argued that global markets reward standardized products sold everywhere at low cost, and that firms adapt more than customers require. Later research found a more mixed picture. In a study of export ventures, Cavusgil and Zou (1994) reported that product adaptation and support for the foreign distributor were associated with stronger export performance, especially when the firm had international experience and the product was culturally specific. For Hollow Brook, the useful lesson from both is discipline. Compelled changes are not optional and should be done at the lowest cost. Preferred changes should be made only when they are likely to pay for themselves, and each should be tested rather than assumed.
Changes Regulation Compels
Four changes are required by Japanese rules. First, a Japanese-language label has to carry the licensed importer's name and address, the notified brand name, a manufacturing number and the complete ingredient list, largest amount first, written with the approved Japanese ingredient names kept by the Japan Cosmetic Industry Association (Japan External Trade Organization [JETRO], 2011). Hollow Brook's American label already lists ingredients in the international naming system, so the work is translation to the approved Japanese names, not reformulation.
Second, the claims must change. The American tin says the balm "heals dry, cracked hands." Japanese cosmetics may not carry unapproved efficacy claims, and exaggerated or misleading claims fall under the law administered by the Consumer Affairs Agency (JETRO, 2011). The Japanese label will describe the product as a hand balm for dry hands and list its ingredients, without the word heal. Third, the paper carton around the tin must carry the material identifier mark required for paper packaging under Japan's container recycling rules (JETRO, 2011). Fourth, the importer must confirm the preservative in the body lotion against the positive list in Japan's cosmetics standards before the lotion ships; the balm, which contains no added preservative, is the lower-risk first product for that reason.
Pricing the Label Choice
The label is the one compelled change with a real choice attached. Option A is an over-sticker in Japanese applied by the importer in its licensed facility on top of the American carton. The importer quoted 45 yen per unit, about $0.30 at 150 yen to the dollar. Option B is a dedicated Japanese carton printed in Vermont. The printer quoted $0.09 per carton above the American carton, plus $1,500 for design and plates. Even with Option B, the product must pass through a facility licensed for packaging, labeling and storage before release, because the importer must judge each lot before it ships (JETRO, 2011). Option B removes the sticker cost but not the importer's handling.
The choice depends on volume. At the first-year forecast of 6,000 tins, Option A costs about $1,800 and Option B about $2,040. At the second-year forecast of 12,000 tins, Option A costs about $3,600 and Option B about $1,080. The plan is to use stickers for the first year, while the Japanese copy may still change after buyer feedback, and to switch to printed cartons once the label text has been stable for two orders.
Changes Preference Suggests
Three changes are suggested by the Tokyo buyer or by Japanese buying habits, and none is required. The first is size. The buyer asked for a smaller tin at a lower price for gifting and for carrying in a bag. The plan adds a 20-gram tin alongside the two-ounce tin, using the same formula and a tin size the Vermont supplier already stocks. The added cost is a second label design and a separate lot stream, which the firm estimates at $900 in the first year. The smaller size also tests whether Japanese customers accept the product before they commit to the full tin.
The second is gift packaging. Seasonal gift-giving is part of Japanese retail, and the buyer suggested a two-tin gift box for the summer and year-end gift seasons. The plan tests one gift box design in the first year at a cost of $1,100 for 500 boxes, and continues only if at least 60 percent sell through in the season. The third change the plan rejects: the buyer mentioned that a yuzu-scented version would suit the store. A new scent means a new formula, new stability testing and a new notification, and it abandons the unscented simplicity that defines the brand. It is not worth the cost at this stage.
Payment and Channel Adjustments
Payment methods are a preference in Japan rather than a legal requirement, but they shape which channels work. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported that cashless payments reached 42.8 percent of consumer spending in 2024, with credit cards making up about 83 percent of that total and code payments, the QR-based apps, about 10 percent (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry [METI], 2025). Cash therefore still accounts for more than half of spending. Because the importer sells through retailers, the stores handle payment. For online sales, the plan asks the importer to list the balm on an established Japanese marketplace that offers card, code and convenience store payment, rather than asking Hollow Brook to build Japanese checkout on its own website. Hill and Hult (2019) note that channel choices in foreign markets often matter more than product changes, and this is a case where the right channel removes an adaptation the firm would otherwise have to build.
The Plan in Summary
Hollow Brook will make four compelled changes, all of them to the label and claims except a preservative check on the lotion, at a first-year cost dominated by the $1,800 sticker option. It will make two preferred changes, a 20-gram tin and a tested gift box, at about $2,000 combined, and it will decline a new scent. It will leave payment to the importer's retail and marketplace partners. The formula of the hand balm does not change at all, which protects the asset the brand is built on and keeps the firm's first year in Japan a test of the product customers already buy in Vermont.
References
Cavusgil, S. T., & Zou, S. (1994). Marketing strategy-performance relationship: An investigation of the empirical link in export market ventures. Journal of Marketing, 58(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299405800101
Hill, C. W. L., & Hult, G. T. M. (2019). International business: Competing in the global marketplace (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Japan External Trade Organization. (2011). Guidebook for export to Japan 2011: Cosmetics. https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/mexico/mercadeo/1Ecosme.pdf
Levitt, T. (1983). The globalization of markets. Harvard Business Review, 61(3), 92-102.
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2025, March 31). 2024 ratio of cashless payment among the total amount paid by consumers calculated. https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2025/0331_001.html
Reading the BU 231 Unit 6 instructions
The Unit 6 instructions ask what a company must change about its product, pricing, promotion or distribution to succeed in the chosen country. Most rubrics want each change specified, not described as a general intention, and many ask you to distinguish changes required by law from those driven by customer preference. Costs or at least rough estimates for major changes are commonly expected. The plan should connect to the entry mode chosen in Unit 5, since a distributor, licensee or subsidiary handles adaptation differently. A typical length is four to six pages with APA 7 citations and sources for any legal requirement you state. Charts or tables can help present costs.
How the BU 231 Unit 6 example is put together
The sample opens by explaining why it separates compelled from preferred changes, citing one source that argues against adaptation and one that finds it can pay off. The compelled section lists four changes, each tied to a Japanese rule. The label decision gets its own priced comparison: a 45-yen over-sticker against a printed Japanese carton with a $1,500 setup, worked out at 6,000 and 12,000 tins, with a rule for switching. The preferred section adds a smaller tin and a gift box with a sell-through test, and it turns down a scented version because a new formula would need testing and a new filing. The payment section uses national cashless data to hand checkout to existing channels, and a summary totals the plan.
Reading the BU 231 Unit 6 rubric
A Herzing rubric for this unit usually grades the specificity of the adaptations, their justification, the cost analysis and the use of sources. Full points on specificity require changes stated at the level of a label line, a size or a payment method; the sample's claims rewrite from heals to for dry hands is an example. Justification scores well when each change is tied to a law, a buyer request or evidence about customers. The cost criterion rewards numbers, even estimates, and a comparison of alternatives, which the label section provides. Instructors also look for restraint, a plan that says what will not change and why. Sources should include the regulator's rules and at least one scholarly perspective on adaptation.
BU 231 Unit 6 help: mistakes that cost points
A common mistake is promising to adapt the product to local tastes without naming a single change. Another is treating every difference as a required change, which inflates cost and ignores the value of a consistent brand. Students often forget that label claims are regulated and copy home-market wording into a foreign plan. Many papers give no costs at all, which leaves the instructor unable to judge feasibility. Some plans ignore the entry mode; if a distributor applies labels, the plan should say so. Finally, be careful with sweeping claims about local preferences. Tie each preferred change to a buyer request, a published statistic or a test with a stated success measure, as the sample does with its gift box.
Get a BU 231 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Forward the Unit 6 instructions and the BU 231 rubric, with the product and market your section names and any earlier country work the assignment builds on. We write a custom example that sets the home baseline, decides element by element, separates compelled changes from optional ones and prices each. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
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BU 231 Unit 6 questions, answered
How specific does a change need to be?
Specific enough that somebody could hand it to whoever does the work. A label change means the language, the required marks and what has to leave the front panel. A pricing change means the currency, the payment methods customers use and what the figure becomes. Vague direction is the commonest reason a plan with sound reasoning behind it still scores in the middle.
Where do the regulatory requirements come from?
From the authority publishing them for the market in question, cited with its document and date, and from the course materials pointing you there. Rules on labeling, safety marks and category licensing differ between countries and are revised, so treat what you find as a dated finding to be confirmed rather than a settled fact, and never as advice to a real business.
Can I keep almost everything the same?
Yes, if you argue it. Standardization has real advantages in cost and in brand consistency, and a plan defending it against the compelled changes is a legitimate answer. What does not work is leaving elements unexamined and calling that a decision. Go through each one, say why it stays, and be explicit that the required changes are separate and not optional.
Where can I find a free BU 231 Unit 6 sample paper?
The complete Unit 6 adaptation plan is above, free to read with its cost comparison and margin notes. When your product or country differs, send the unit instructions and a tailored free example will be written to them, usually delivered in under two days.
Does the BU 231 Unit 6 plan need real cost figures?
It needs figures you can explain. The sample labels its packaging quotes as constructed for a composite firm and draws every fact about Japan from published sources. Instructors accept reasonable estimates when the basis is stated and the plan compares alternatives with them.