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International Business
Overview
Must appraise, analyse and evaluate the pervasive issues – including sustainability, globalisation, corporate social responsibility – a small business faces after internationalisation; and appraise, analyse and evaluate new business/product opportunities within a range of sectors.
The question will be formulated “in the case of a SME” and must apply theory throughout in relation to a chosen country, America. Please fine the case study below;
The SME is a (fictional) Japanese SME, based in Tokyo, which started in 1990. Having grown from five workers initially, it now employs 100+ staff, producing a range of consumer electronic products such as televisions, DVD players, MP3 players, hi-fi equipment etc using technology licensed from a number of multinationals.
Currently it supplies only the Japanese market, and only purchases from local suppliers in and around Tokyo. TAKIMAKI had initial success in competing on price. However it has failed to grow its sales in the past two years and is finding it increasingly difficult to compete, given its need to pay for the licences, its high wage rates relative to China and Eastern Europe, and the near impossibility of hiring research graduates (who prefer to go to better paid jobs with Japanese multinationals such as Sony and Matsushita). It is therefore in a situation where its profits have been steadily reduced and it now faces the prospect of making a loss in the next financial year (its first loss since it was started).
TAKIMAKI as a company has never had contact with overseas markets. However, all of the top management team have learnt English, and several of them have studied abroad (in the USA, Canada, France or the UK).
The TAKIMAKI management team contemplating the possibility of internationalisation are doing so mainly in order to obtain production cost reductions, access to technological expertise (to allow them to avoid reliance on large multinationals), access to new markets, and ease of creating and managing an international company. They recognise, however, that they need to examine all the options available, and the requirements for a successful strategy.
There will be 2 questions to answer;
Question 1
The essay should contain relevant theories of sustainability and CSR - definitions, models and related practical examples from the United States of America. Understand, analyse and synthetize the information gathered for a newly internationalised company on one of the following sets of issues;
Advice:
The question should be split broadly;
Marks available
Criteria:
Marks for that criteria
Discussion-Content
10
Depth of research - Country specific information included
Theory presented
Practicality - Understanding of practical issues Originality of recommendations
20
Structure of Assignment
5
Literature
TOTAL for PART 1:
60
Question 2
Answer all 3 questions.
Marks Available
Depth of research - Sector specific information included
15
Links to theory
TOTAL for PART 2:
40
Helpful Resources
Agrifood Industry
Increasing consumer concerns over food safety and reliability
Increasing focus on animal welfare
Consumer desire for reducing environmental impacts and increasing purchasing of locally sourced food and more organic food
Increasing focus on using sustainable products in production of goods more generally
These challenges can be seen as intertwined with changing use of communications technology in purchasing (online issues)
Also uses of technology in supply chains (e.g. sensors) and through production and farm management
Agriculture also offers potential to develop new materials for other industries or to use older materials in new ways
Car Industry
Increasing consumer concerns over environmental impacts and congestion
Increasing push for safety and reliability
Increasing focus on sustainable power source as oil becomes more costly
These issues overlap those of an industry with global supply chains, outsourcing of key components and mergers and alliances between main assemblers
This industry has provided increasing market for electronics particularly in terms of micro-processers and computers in engine management, which is likely to grow as engine technology becomes ever more important, with potential for all electric vehicles
Also uses of technology in supply chains (e.g. tracking (RFID) sensors) and selling product via e-commerce
Methods that could be used to analyse
Financial methods (economic value)
Strategic approaches (buckets)
Scoring models
Bubble diagrams
Check lists
Why new products may be of an advantage
Maximise financial returns
Improve the competitive position of the business in terms of sales and/ or market share.
Efficient allocation of R&D resources.
Link between new product and overall business strategies, including those for social innovation, sustainability and corporate social responsibility
Maintain focus by minimising the number of new products that we need to create given our limited resources
Create a balance between long term, medium term and short term and short term product development to assist allocation of resources
Create a risk-balance between high, medium and low risk products
Ability to amalgamate these issues within an overall framework capable of being used to explicitly and clearly communicate the reasons for our decision to our key stakeholders
Please use/mention the following frameworks where possible;
Porter (1986). Value Chain
Maslow’s Hierarchy
‘Greenwash’
‘Triple Bottom Line’
‘The Pyramid of Strategic CSR’ Carrol, 1999. Visser, 2006.
Coherently Formula and International Strategy (Balance Score Card)