| Course | BU 231 Global Business Environment |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 7 |
| Paper type | Risk and mitigation paper |
| 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 7
Six Things That Could Go Wrong in Japan: A Risk and Mitigation Paper for a Vermont Hand Balm Maker, Each Risk Traced to Cash and Each Mitigation Given Its Leftover Exposure
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 231: Global Business Environment
Instructor Name
April 14, 2026
Six Things That Could Go Wrong in Japan: A Risk and Mitigation Paper for a Vermont Hand Balm Maker, Each Risk Traced to Cash and Each Mitigation Given Its Leftover Exposure
The composite Vermont balm maker Hollow Brook Botanicals plans to enter Japan by exporting its hand balm through an importer that holds a Japanese marketing authorization license, with a Japanese label and a smaller gift tin added. Before the owners commit money, they need to know what could go wrong. This paper writes each risk as a specific event, not a category, traces the route by which that event would reach the firm's cash or operations, attaches a specific mitigation and states the exposure that remains once the mitigation is in place. It borrows the distinction Miller (1992) draws between uncertainties in the general environment, in the industry and specific to the firm to make sure no layer is missed.
General Environment: The Yen Falls Further
The event is a further fall in the yen against the dollar during the first year of sales. The route into the business depends on the invoice currency. Hollow Brook plans to invoice in dollars, so a weaker yen raises the importer's cost in yen, squeezes its margin at a fixed shelf price and leads to smaller or later reorders. The risk is real. Data from the World Bank (2026) put the yen's average at about 110 per dollar in 2021 and about 151 in 2024, and Japan's Ministry of Finance publishes records of its market interventions, including dollar sales to support the yen during 2024 (Ministry of Finance Japan, 2024).
The mitigation is a price band written into the supply agreement. The dollar price is fixed while the yen trades within 8 percent of an agreed reference rate, and outside that band the parties share the movement equally by resetting the price at the next order. This keeps the importer from absorbing an extreme move alone and keeps Hollow Brook from promising a price it cannot hold. The remaining exposure is volume: even with shared movement, a much weaker yen raises the shelf price or cuts the importer's margin, and Japanese customers may buy less. That exposure cannot be hedged away by a small firm and should be accepted as part of the entry.
Industry: A Label Claim or Ingredient Fails Japanese Rules
The event is a regulatory nonconformity discovered after shipment, such as a label claim that regulators treat as an unapproved efficacy claim or an ingredient outside Japan's cosmetics standards. The route into the business is a lot that cannot be released for sale, relabeling costs and a delay while the importer corrects its notification. Japanese rules prohibit the sale of cosmetics that do not conform to the standards or that are improperly labeled (Japan External Trade Organization [JETRO], 2011).
The mitigation is to make the importer's regulatory review a condition of the first shipment, with the full ingredient list, preservative information and label draft approved in writing before any product leaves Vermont. The adaptation plan already removes the word heal from the label. The remaining exposure is a rule change after launch, which the importer is better placed than Hollow Brook to monitor; the agreement should require it to give notice of any change affecting the products.
Industry: A Quality Complaint Becomes a Recall
The event is a quality complaint in Japan, such as a report of skin irritation or contamination in a lot, that leads the importer to recall product. The route into the business is the direct cost of recall and replacement, a claim by the importer for its costs and damage to the brand in its first market. The licensed importer must maintain systems for complaints and recalls and report harmful-effect information to the health ministry within 30 days (JETRO, 2011), so it will insist that Hollow Brook stand behind its product.
The mitigation has three parts: extending the firm's product liability insurance to cover sales in Japan, keeping retained samples of every exported lot in Vermont for testing and agreeing on a recall procedure in the contract so costs are divided by cause. The remaining exposure is reputational. Insurance pays claims, but a recall in the first year could end the Japanese business regardless of who pays.
Firm-Specific: Dependence on One Importer
The event is the importer ending the relationship, losing its license or going out of business. The route into the business is immediate: the importer is the party of record for the brand filing and speaks to regulators, so Japanese sales stop until a new licensed partner files again. Hill and Hult (2019) warn that firms relying on a single foreign agent can find their market access depends on a partner whose interests diverge from their own.
The mitigation is contractual and practical. The agreement requires the importer to cooperate in transferring the notification and label files if the relationship ends, and Hollow Brook keeps its own copies of every document supplied. The owners also identify a second licensed importer during the first year, without signing, so that a replacement can be approached quickly. The remaining exposure is several months without sales during any transition, which the firm can absorb because Japan will be a small share of revenue in the first two years.
Firm-Specific: The Importer Does Not Pay
The event is late payment or nonpayment on an open-account order. The route is a direct loss of cash on product already shipped and possibly relabeled for Japan, which makes it hard to resell elsewhere. The mitigation is staged credit: the first two orders are paid in advance, and later orders move to 30-day terms only with export credit insurance from a commercial insurer or the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The remaining exposure is the insurance deductible and the relationship cost of asking for payment in advance, which a well-established importer may resist.
Firm-Specific: The Balm Melts in Transit
The event is heat damage in a shipping container. Beeswax balms soften at summer temperatures, and an ocean container crossing the Pacific in July can arrive with deformed product. The route is lost inventory, replacement shipments and a poor first impression with the buyer. The mitigation is scheduling ocean shipments between October and May and using temperature-controlled freight for any summer order. The remaining exposure is the higher freight cost of summer shipping, which the price model should include.
The Register in One Place
The table summarizes the six risks, the route of each into the business, its mitigation and the exposure that remains.
The register shows that the largest remaining exposures are the ones outside the firm's control: currency and reputation. Both argue for keeping the first stage of the Japanese entry small enough that a bad year damages the firm's plans without damaging the Vermont business, which is the approach the final recommendation in Unit 8 must reflect.
| Risk event | Route into the business | Mitigation | Remaining exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yen falls further | Importer margin squeezed; smaller reorders | 8 percent price band, shared movement beyond it | Lower volume at higher shelf prices |
| Label or ingredient nonconformity | Lot held; relabeling; delay | Importer approval before first shipment | Later rule changes |
| Quality complaint and recall | Recall costs; importer claim; brand damage | Insurance for Japan; retained samples; recall clause | Reputation in first market |
| Importer exits | Sales stop until new filing | Transfer clause; own document copies; backup importer | Months without sales |
| Nonpayment | Cash lost on relabeled stock | Advance payment, then insured terms | Deductible; relationship cost |
| Heat damage in transit | Lost inventory; poor impression | October to May shipping; cooled freight in summer | Higher summer freight |
References
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
Miller, K. D. (1992). A framework for integrated risk management in international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 23(2), 311-331. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490270
Ministry of Finance Japan. (2024). Foreign exchange intervention operations. https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/reference/feio/index.html
World Bank. (2026). World development indicators: Japan [Data set]. https://data.worldbank.org/country/japan
Reading the BU 231 Unit 7 instructions
The Unit 7 instructions ask you to identify the main risks a company faces in entering the chosen market and propose ways to reduce them. Most versions list categories to consider, such as political, economic, financial, legal, operational and reputational risk, but the strongest papers turn categories into specific events. Each risk should come with a mitigation, and many rubrics now ask what exposure remains after mitigation. A risk register or table is often expected. Sources should support the size of the risk where data exist, for example exchange rate history. Expect four to six pages, APA 7 throughout, building on the entry mode and adaptation choices from earlier units.
How the BU 231 Unit 7 example is put together
The sample defines a risk as an event with a route into the business and holds to that definition throughout. Each of the six sections follows the same pattern: the event, the route to cash or operations, the mitigation and the remaining exposure. The currency section uses World Bank exchange rate data and the finance ministry's intervention records to show the risk is real, then sets a price band with shared movement beyond it. The recall section ties the importer's reporting duties to the contract terms the firm must accept. The importer dependence section includes a transfer clause and a backup partner. A closing table places all six side by side and shows that currency and reputation are the exposures the firm cannot remove.
BU 231 Unit 7 rubric: what full points look like
Herzing rubrics for this unit commonly assess risk identification, analysis of impact, quality of mitigation strategies and support from evidence. Identification earns full points when risks are concrete events relevant to this firm and market, covering more than one level of the business environment. The impact criterion rewards a clear explanation of how each risk reaches revenue, cost or operations. Mitigation scores highest when each strategy matches its risk and when the paper states what the strategy does not fix; the sample's remaining exposure column is built for this. Evidence counts where the paper can size a risk, as with the yen's movement since 2021. A risk register table and clean APA formatting support the organization criterion.
BU 231 Unit 7 help before you submit
Many Unit 7 papers list political, economic and legal risk as headings and fill them with general statements that apply to any country. Another common loss is offering a mitigation that does not match the risk, such as buying insurance against a currency swing. Students often skip the remaining exposure, which suggests every risk can be eliminated. Some papers include dramatic risks, like war or expropriation, while missing ordinary ones, such as a customer that pays late or product damaged in shipping. Likelihood and impact grids are fine, but ratings without reasons add little. Finally, keep the risks connected to earlier decisions; a firm exporting through one importer faces dependence risk that a subsidiary would not.
Get a BU 231 Unit 7 example written to your instructions
Send us the Unit 7 instructions and the rubric from your BU 231 classroom, with the market and entry mode the assignment fixes. We write a custom example that writes each risk as an event, traces its route into the firm, prices every mitigation and states the exposure that remains. First custom sample free, back in 24 to 48 hours.
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BU 231 Unit 7 questions, answered
How many risks should the register hold?
Enough to cover the routes that matter and few enough that each is treated properly, which is usually five to eight events rather than a page of categories. Where the instructions fix a number, use that. One way to test the list is to ask whether two entries would be answered by the same mitigation; if they would, they are probably one exposure written twice.
Should I use a likelihood and impact grid?
Use one if the instructions ask for it, and write the reasoning beside every rating either way. The grid is a summary device rather than a measurement, and a marker looks for why an event was rated as it was. Ratings appearing without a basis, or arriving at a tidy spread across the squares, tend to have been assigned to fill them.
Can I say a risk is unlikely without data?
You can state a reasoned judgment provided you label it as one and give the reasoning. What fails is presenting an estimate as a finding, or attaching a percentage to an event nobody has measured. Point to what you read, say what it supports, and be explicit where the published record thins out rather than closing the gap with a confident number.
Where can I find a free BU 231 Unit 7 sample paper?
Everything in the Unit 7 risk and mitigation paper, including the register table and references, is free to read above. If your firm faces other risks or a different market, a custom sample can be written from your instructions at no cost, usually within about 48 hours.
How many risks should BU 231 Unit 7 cover?
Enough to cover each level of the environment, usually five to eight. The sample treats six, spread across the general environment, the industry and the firm itself. Fewer risks handled fully, with a route, a mitigation and a remaining exposure, score better than a long list with one line each.