Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MB0053 International Business Management
1.The world economy is globalizing at an accelerating pace. What do you mean by globalization? Discuss the merits and demerits of Globalization.
Ans: Globalization: Describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of political ideas through communication, transportation, and trade. The term is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology, and military presence. However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio cultural, political, and biological factors. The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone through the process can be said to be globalized Against this view, an alternative approach stresses how globalization has actually decreased inter-cultural contacts while increasing the possibility of international and intra-national conflict. Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways Industrial - emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign products for consumers and companies. Particularly movement of material and goods between and within national boundaries. International trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to$12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955.China's trade with Africa rose sevenfold during 2000-07 alone. Financial - emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for borrowers. By the early part of the 21st century more than $1.5 trillion in national currencies were traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade and investment Economic - realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and capital Job Market- competition in a global job market. In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies. With the advent of the information age and improvements in communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers compete in a global market, wages are less dependent on the success or failure of individual economies. This has had a major effect on wages and income distribution Political - some use "globalization" to mean the creation of a world government which regulates the relationships among governments and guarantees the rights arising from social and economic globalization. Politically, the United States has enjoyed a position of
power among the world powers, in part because of its strong and wealthy economy. With the influence of globalization and with the help of the United States own economy, the People's Republic of China has experienced some tremendous growth within the past decade. If China continues to grow at the rate projected by the trends, then it is very likely that in the next twenty years, there will be a major reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the United States for the position of leading world power. Most of us assume that international and global business are the same and that any company that deals with a no ther country for its business is an international or global company. In fact, there is a considerable difference between the two terms. International companies: Companies that deal with foreign companies for their business are considered as international companies. They can be exporters or importers who may not have any investments in any other country, apart from their home country. Global companies: Companies, which invest in other countries for business and also operate from other countries, are considered as global companies. They have multiple manufacturing plants across the globe, catering to multiple markets. The transformation of a company from domestic to international is by entering just one market or a few selected foreign markets as an exporter or importer. Competing on a truly global scale comes later, after the company has established operations in several countries across continents and is racing against rivals for global market leadership. Thus, there is a meaningful distinction between a company that operates in few selected foreign countries and a company that operates and markets its products across several countries and continents with manufacturing capabilities in several of these countries. Companies can also be differentiated by the kind of competitive strategy they adopt while dealing internationally. Multinational strategy and global competitive strategy are the two types of competitive strategy. Multinational strategy: Companies adopt this strategy when each countrys market needs to be treated as self contained. It can be for the following reasons: Customers from different countries have different preferences and expectations about a product or a service. Competition in each national market is essentially independent of competition in other national markets, and the set of competitors also differ from country to country. A companys reputation, customer base, and competitive position in one nation have little or no bearing on it stability to successfully compete in another nation. Some of the industry examples for multinational competition include beer, life insurance, and food products. Global competitive strategy: Companies adopt this strategy when prices and competitive
conditions across the different country markets are strongly linked together and have common synergies. In a globally competitive industry, a companys business gets affected by the
changing environments in different countries. The same set of competitors may compete against each other in several countries. In a global scenario, a companys overall competitive advantage is gauged by the cumulative efforts of its domestic operations and the international operations worldwide. Q2.The international trade theories explain the basics behind international trade. Compare the Absolute and comparative cost advantage theories with the help of example
Ans. International business is a broad term, collectively used to describe all commercial transactions (private, government and semi-government) that take place between two or more nations. International business is a newly coined term, but the concept is quite traditional. Actually, the term international business is derived from international trade. In ancient days, producers of a country used to export their surplus production to neighboring countries and later with the further development of trade they started exporting goods to far off countries as well. This was the establishment of an era of international trade. With further developments, more competitors came into the international markets, as a result of which producers started marketing their goods at international levels; this was the time when international trade turned into international marketing. With further advancements, producers started establishing their production facilities in foreign countries and the era of globalization arrived; this was the time when researchers coined the term international business. There are many thinkers who have worked in the field of international business and they have put forward various theories in order to justify the concept of international business. These theories collectively explain why business firms of one country should go to another country, although the industries of that country also produce the same goods and market them. So these theories explain the basis for international business. Some of the most important theories of international business are given below: The absolute advantage theory: The absolute advantage theory was given by Adam Smith in 1776; according to the absolute advantage theory each country always finds some absolute advantage over another country in the production of a particular good or service. Simply because some countries have natural advantage of cheap labour, skilled labour, mineral resources, fertile land etc. these countries are able to produce some specific type of commodities at cheaper prices as compared to others. So, each country specializes in the production of a particular commodity. For example, India finds absolute advantage in the production of the silk saris due to the availability of skilled workers in the field, so India can easily export silk saris to the other nations and import those goods in which other countries find
absolute advantages. But this theory is not able to justify all aspects of international business. This theory leaves no scope of international business for those countries that are having absolute advantage in all fields or for those countries that are having no absolute advantage in any field The comparative cost theory: After 40 years of absolute advantage theory, in order to provide the full justification of international business David Richardo presented the Richardian model comparative cost theory. According to the comparative cost theory, two countries should do business with each other if one country is having an advantage in the ability of producing one good relative to another good as compared to some other countrys relative ability of producing same goods. It can be well understood by taking an illustrationIf USA could produce 25 bottles of wine and 50 pounds of beef by using all of its production resources and France could yield 150 bottles of wine and 60 pounds of beef by using the same resources, then according to absolute advantage theory France finds clear advantage over USA in the production of both beef and wine. So, there should not be any business activity between the two countries. But this is not the case according to the comparative cost theory. Comparative cost theory suggests relative comparing of the beef and wine production. In relative comparing we can find that France sacrifices 2.5 bottles of wine for producing each pound of beef (150/60) and USA sacrifices 0.5 bottles of wine for producing each pound of beef (25/50). So, we can see that production of beef is more expensive in France as compared to USA. Comparative cost theory suggests USA to import wine from France instead of producing it and in similar manner theory suggests France to import beef from USA instead of producing it. In this way, comparative cost theory well explains the driving forces behind international business. Opportunity cost theory: The opportunity cost theory was proposed by Gottfried Haberler in 1959. The opportunity cost is the value of alternatives which have to be forgone in order to obtain a particular thing. For example, Rs. 1,000 is invested in the equity of Rama News Limited and earned a dividend of six per cent in 1999, the opportunity cost of this investment is 10 per cent interest had this amount been deposited in a commercial bank for one year term. The previous example suggests that it would be profitable for India to develop and export software packages rather than textile garments to the USA. The vent for surplus theory: International trade absorbs the output of unemployed factors. If the countries produce more than the domestic requirements, they have to export the surplus to other countries. Otherwise, a part of the productive labor of the country must cease and the value of its annual produce diminishes.
Thus, in the absence of foreign trade, they would be surplus productive capacity in the country. The surplus productive capacity is taken by another country and in turn gives the benefit under international trade. According to this theory, the factors of production of developing countries are fully utilized. The unemployed labor of the developing countries is profitably employed when the surplus is exported.
Q 3.Culture is more often a source of conflict than synergy. As an Indian manager, what management style and corporate culture you should be aware of while travelling to Japan and to USA?
Ans3. Regional integration has been defined as an association of states based upon location in a given geographical area, for the safeguarding or promotion of the participants, an association whose terms are fixed by a treaty or other arrangements [citation needed]. Philippe De Lombaerde and Luk Van Langenhove define regional integration as a worldwide phenomenon of territorial systems that increase the interactions between their components and create new forms of organization, co-existing with traditional forms of state-led organisation at the national level.[1] According to Hans van Ginkel, regional integration refers to the process by which states within a particular region increase their level of interaction with regard to economic, security, political, and also social and cultural issues.
In short, regional integration is the joining of individual states within a region into a larger whole. The degree of integration depends upon the willingness and commitment of independent sovereign states to share their sovereignty. Deep integration that focuses on regulating the business environment in a more general sense is faced with many difficulties.
Regional integration initiatives, according to Van Langenhove, should fulfil at least eight important functions: The strengthening of trade integration in the region The creation of an appropriate enabling environment for private sector development The development of infrastructure programmes in support of economic growth and regional integration The development of strong public sector institutions and good governance; The reduction of social exclusion and the development of an inclusive civil society Contribution to peace and security in the region
The building of environment programmes at the regional level The strengthening of the regions interaction with other regions of the world.[4]
The crisis of the post-war order led to the emergence of a new global political structure. This new global political structure made obsolete the classical Westphalian concept of a system of sovereign states to conceptualise world politics. The concept of sovereignty becomes looser and the old legal definitions of an ultimate and fully autonomous power of a nation-state are no longer meaningful. Sovereignty, which gained meaning as an affirmation of cultural identity, has lost meaning as power over the economy. All regional integration projects during the Cold War were built on the Westphalian state system and were to serve economic growth as well as security motives in their assistance to state building goals. Regional integration and globalisation are the two phenomena challenging the existing global order based upon sovereign states at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The two processes deeply affect the stability of the Westphalian state system, thus contributing to both disorder and a new global order. In broad terms, the desire for closer integration is usually related to a larger desire for opening to the outside world. Regional economic cooperation is being pursued as a means of promoting development through greater efficiency, rather than as a means of disadvantaging others. Most of the members of these arrangements are genuinely hoping that they will succeed as building blocks for progress with a growing range of partners and towards a generally freer and open global environment for trade and investment. Integration is not an end in itself, but a process to support economic growth strategies, greater social equality and democratisation. Q5.The decision of a firm to compete internationally will be strategic. While formulating global marketing strategies, how should a firm deal with segmentation, market positioning and international product policy?
Ans:5 Strategic objectives assist in the implementation process of the organisations objectives or goals.While implementing an international strategy, an organisation has to identify the opportunitiespresent in these countries, explore the various resources available, their strengths and capabilitiesand plan to work on their core competencies. The objective should be formed in a way that it is notdeficient or immeasurable. The strategic objectives must help the organisation to achieve their mission and vision.Most of strategic objectives focus on producing greater profits and returns for the business owners;others focus on customers or society at large. The strategic objectives are as follows:- Measurable To measure progress against fulfilling the objective there must be at least oneindicator.- Specific A clear message as to what needs to be achieved is provided.- Appropriate With the given vision and mission of the organisation, objectives must beconsistent.- Realistic Objectives must be an achievable target given the
organisations abilities andopportunities in the environment. This means that objectives must be challenging and attainable.- Timely To accomplish the objective there need to be a time frame.When strategic objectives are thoroughly implemented, it will result in strategic competitivenessthat improves the performance and innovation of these organisations. When objectives fulfil theabove conditions, there are many profits for the organisation. The profits are:First, they help guide employees throughout the organisation towards achieving the commongoals. This aids the organisation to concentrate and conserve valuable resources and to worktogether in a timely manner.- Second, challenging objectives help encourage and inspire employees throughout theorganisation to higher levels of commitment and effort. A research has supported the concept thatindividuals work harder when they are motivated toward specific goals, instead of being askedsimply to do their best.- Third, for different parts of an organisation there is always the potential to follow their own goalsrather than the overall company goals. Though these intentions are good, these may work at crosspurposes to the organisation as a whole. Thus, meaningful objectives help resolve divergencewhen they occur.- Finally, appropriate objectives offer a standard for rewards and incentives. They not only result inhigher levels of motivation by employees but they will also help ensure a greater sense of equity or
fairness when rewards are allocated.There are other objectives that are even more specific. These are commonly referred to as short-term objectives that are essential components of action plans. They are critical in implementing anorganisations chosen strategy
Q6. Global sourcing industry is on a growth run as there are sound business reasons to it. Discuss these reasons with examples. Ans6: Global sourcing is described as the practice of sourcing cost effective and best goods and services across geopolitical boundaries in order to cater to global markets. Global sourcing strategy is aimed at exploiting global efficiencie in all areas of manufacturing, trading and services to enable offering clients and customer the best possible product or service. Usually, efficiencies that prompt firms for global sourcing are low cost skilled labour, low cost raw material, proximity to key markets, time zone differences and other economic factors such as tax exemption and low trade tariffs.
Indian industries have successfully levered global sourcing strategies in their global trade operations and sourcing has been the driving force behind the development and expansion of Indian foreign trade in the recent past. Global sourcing strategy has made Indian industry more globalised as buyers from all over the world are bidding for Indian goods, particularly services,
to enable executing their contracts on time, reduce prices and generate efficiency in the system through increased competition. Indian industries, in order to reap the benefits of sourcing opportunities, has opened global offices and subsidiaries to tap opportunities on all fronts, i.e., manufacturing, trading, skilled services and call centres. As we know, manufacturing costs vary from country to country due to factors such as currency conversion and cost of living. Due to different factor endowments of countries, the costs of labour and materials may differ, for example, labour cost is far lower in developing countries like India than in North America and Europe. For companies that have labour intensive work, this difference in costing results into significant savings in terms of salaries, wages, post retirement benefits, fringe benefits and other benefits.
In a globalised set up, trade and commerce of skilled services such as IT enabled services, software development and testing, purchasing, engineering and integrated chip designing, knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), off shoring and home shoring is growing much faster than trade in merchandise. India, with its demographic dividends has been benefitted from all such developments as the level of skill and knowledge held by Indian professional allows them to provide high quality services to their clients in developed countries. The main reasons for skills sourcing to India are represented pictorially below:
