SECTION A: CASE$50$ MARKS$($This case is created from various articles written in the Jamaica Gleaner by Karena Bennett and Steven Jackson$)$The Jamaica Broilers Group $($JBG$)$ is a sixty$-$year$-$old Jamaican conglomerate that operates in three main regions $-$ Jamaica, the United States, and Haiti. Their output includes broilers $($whole chickens and chicken parts$),$ hatching eggs, table eggs, animal feed, and baby chicks. Their best$-$known brand is The Best Dressed Chicken $-$ a leader in its home market of Jamaica. The Group is led by Chairman of the Board Robert Levy and Group President and CEO, Christopher Levy.USAThe takeover of Gentry's Poultry in the United States of America last week $($September $2019)$ marks Jamaica Broilers Group's entry into chicken production in that market. "This is the first that we are selling processed chicken in the USA. Prior to the acquisition of Gentry's, we sold fertile hatching eggs as well as baby chicks," said senior vice president of finance lan Parsard. Jamaica Broilers earns about $40$ per cent of its revenue and $30$ per cent of annual profit from its US operations.The Gentry deal in the form of an asset purchase agreement was executed through Jamaica Broilers' US$-$based subsidiary Wincorp Properties. Wincorp took over the day$-$to$-$day operations of the plant with immediate effect and will rebrand it as a The Best Dressed Chicken operation.Gentry's Poultry Company was started informally in the $1940$s by Matt Gentry, who incorporated and expanded the business in the $1950$s but maintained the family ownership, according to the company's website. The South Carolina based company operates a poultry processing plant that sells fresh chicken products to restaurants, institutions, grocers, and brokers. Gentry's serves customers in South Carolina and neighbouring states, said Parsard.The US National Chicken Council says the United States has the largest broiler chicken industry in the world with some nine billion chickens produced annually. It names Georgia, Alabama,Arkansas, North Carolina, and Mississippi as the top producing states. The USA is a member of the preferential trade agreement USMCA $($formerly NAFTA$).$HaitiHaiti Broilers SA$,$ the Haitian operation of poultry producer Jamaica Broilers Group, JBG$,$ has steadily grown the business over the past five years. For the financial year ending April $2019,$ the gains continued with growth in revenue by $$150$ million to just shy of $$2\mathrm{.}4$ billion. But Haiti, a member state of CARICOM, is now engulfed in chaos from demonstrations dating back to February $2019,$ and a new wave in September $2019.$ The conditions there are disrupting the gains made by the poultry company. The demonstrations against the president of Haiti have been deadly and disruptive to people's lives and economic activity. There is anger in Haiti over the falling value of the local currency, concerns about corruption and shortages of food and fuel, and there are demands for President Jovenel Mo$$se to resign."If we look at what has happened over the last five years, we saw increase moving out of small losses in $2015$ and transitioning to a fairly significant profit. That, unfortunately, has been interrupted because of the riots happening in Haiti," JBG Senior Vice$-$President of Finance lan Parsard told shareholders during the company's annual general meeting held at its home base at McCooks Pen, St Catherine, on Wednesday."The operations have been affected by a number of riots and roadblocks, to the extent where weare having difficulties moving feed for our mills up to the farm where we have layers in production. Our staff is under threat just to turn up to work and navigating the roadblocks in Haiti is a completely different story from what transpires in Jamaica," he said."Before, we were doing processed chicken, selling baby chicks and feeding the market; right now, we are just focusing on the production of table eggs to limit our risk exposure," he said."Having done that, hopefully, we will be in a better position to withstand the current event and, of course, really pray for a turnaround in short order," he added.Haiti Broilers controls more than $30$ per cent of the country's table egg market, and Parsard is hoping that Haiti's high demand for the product will help the business get back on track, despite the unrest. "What we have said to our staff is not to put themselves at unnecessary risk. As best as possible in the environment that we are in$,$ let's try to keep things alive and when we do have the opportunity to sell, we will," said the JBG executive.Local put in charge of Haiti operationsSignaling continued commitment to its most tumultuous market, Jamaica Broilers Group Limited, JBG$,$ promoted a local from within as general manager, while continuing to plot the turnaround of its Haitian operation amid the pandemic and continuing political unrest there.Haitian Carl$-$Eric Staco, who will also continue to hoid his title as sales manager, is tasked with driving up earnings. He has been in charge since last October and reports to JBG President & CEO Christopher Levy. JBG said Staco first came on board as trainee manager in April $2011,$ and has since worked in various areas of the business, including logistics$,$ operations and sales.His last big appointment, prior to this promotion to GM$,$ was as sales and marketing manager in July $2019.$The United Nations has warned of the prospect of heightened political tensions, fearing the insecurity and structural inequalities may result in both an upsurge in protests and violent crackdowns by the authorities in the coming months. Levy, while acknowledging the continued upheavals in Haiti, said at JBG$\text{'}$s annual general meeting in Kingston $[$in February $2021]$ that opportunities for growth still exist within that country. "Haiti is an interesting one; just the volatility there. But we do feel there are opportunities to just continue building out Haiti step by step," said Levy. $"$We want some more stability, but we do feel that Carl is the right man at this time. He's got his hands on the wheel and we are excited to see how this plays out," he told shareholders.Going Forward in $2021$JBG is also spending another US$$3$ million on a loading bay project and is in the middle of expanding its poultry$-$processing plant in South Carolina, United States. "The US will continue to be a strong growth engine to the organisation. We do feel that opportunities there will continue to present themselves. We are expanding our plant in the US$.$ The challenge that we face is that the customers are considerably larger than we are, so we want to keep things going,"Levy told shareholders.Poultry producer Jamaica Broilers Group, JBG$,$ says it has dealt with the issues that negatively impacted its last quarter, including currency losses and depressed markets in Haiti, which is one of the world's Least Developed Countries $($LDCs$).$ Now it is keeping watch on the coronavirus but is bullish about the company's performance in the periods ahead. "Overall, the outlook for the company is very positive. The growth in the US markets continues, and the Best Dressed Chicken operation in South Carolina provides some exciting potential for the future," said lan Parsard, senior vice$-$president for finance for Jamaica Broilers."We are paying close attention to the developments of the coronavirus, internationally as well as in the region. The implications for Jamaica could be significant, given our tourist industry and the linkages into the local economy. The developments on the global stage are also being examined carefully for potential impact on our international businesses. At this time, our greatest asset is being flexible and doing fast execution," he said."The relatively flat sales revenue is due primarily to disruptions in Haiti. We lost sales, as distribution of our table eggs into the markets we served were at times impossible," Parsard said.On the foreign currency side, the company experienced foreign exchange movements of $$226$ million, and is now considering hedging against future currency exposure. $"$FX losses associated with transactions such as purchases of US dollars are also expected to reduce significantly, as we have modified our procedures which now require approval at the senior executive level before execution."Additionally, we are working with various financial partners to implement hedging strategies to reduce variability in FX purchases. We are confident that the levels of FX losses going forward will be minimized," the company said. Parsard said that since January $2021,$ the results from Haiti have been encouraging, but the group continues to monitor the situation carefully, and additional risk$-$mitigation strategies are being implemented to ensure the operations stay resilient.Question $1[50$ marks$]$a$.$ Assess the method of entry to the lucrative US market used by the Jamaica Broilers Group $($JBG$)$ when they acquired Gentry's Poultry. In your assessment, outline at least three $(3)$ benefits and three challenges they would face from this method of entry versus the other possible entry strategies.$[15$ marks$]$b$.$ Compare how factors $($at least three$)$ in the social or political environments have affected or may continue to affect the operations of JBG in the Haiti market versus in the USA market.$[15$ marks$]$c$.$ Using three $(4)$ of the Driving, Forces that affect global marketing and integration, explain the impact these forces may have on Jamaica Broilers' efforts in the Haitian OR USA markets.$[8$ Marks$]$d$.$ There are considerable differences and similarities among Jamaica, Haiti, and the USA. If the USA is said to be a low$-$context culture while Haiti is a relatively high$-$context culture, explain the impact this difference in culture will have on how JBG operates in these two countries. In your explanation, highlight at least three $(3)$ issues pertaining to low$-$context and high$-$context cultures and use relevant examples to illustrate your points.$[12$ marks$]$