Importing refers to the purchase of foreign products for use or sale in the home market. Importing involves searching foreign markets for acceptable products and sources of supply, providing for transfer of the product to the home market, arranging financing, negotiating the import documentation and customers procedure, and developing plans for use or for resale of the item of service. Thus, successful importing depends on more than good buying; it requires planning for acceptance of the product and delivery of the promised benefits. The importing firm has the responsibility to determine whether the foreign product or service will meet the needs to the home market. Essentially the import process comprise the following five stages: Determining market demand and purchases motivation. Locating and negotiating with sources of supply. Securing physical distribution. Preparing documentation and customs processing to facilitate movement among countries and organizations. Development a plan for resale or use. 1. Continue reading
International Business
International Business Management deals with the maintenance and development of a multinational operation across national borders, whose manager has the knowledge and the skills to manage and handle cross-cultural processes, stakeholders and business environments in a right way.
Country of Origin Effect in International Marketing
The Country of Origin Effect is the influence that the manufacturer country has on the positive or negative consumer judgment. Studies have shown that when a customer becomes aware of the country of origin of a product his/her image about the product is influenced either positively or negatively according to his perceptions. Consumers tend to have a stereotype about product and countries that have been formed by experience, hearsay, myth. These stereotypes are generally broad and vague according to which they judge a specific country or a specific product to be the best: French Perfumes, Italian Leather, Chinese Silk and Japanese Technology are all examples of such stereotypes. Therefore the country, the type of product, and the image of the company all its brand play a crucial rule in deciding whether the country of origin will engender a positive or a negative reaction. Country Image: Precursors to Country of Origin Continue reading
Globalization of an Existing Business – Need, Process and Impacts
Interdependence and integration of individual countries of the world is called globalization. The globalization integrates not only economies but also societies. The globalization process includes globalization of markets, production, technology and investment. However globalization has two important components, one is globalization of market and other is globalization of production. Today, a company can view the entire world as one country for its business operation. In fact the businessmen were doing their operations even in the past. History indicates that business operations were existing across the countries even in the old days. Therefore the concept of global business is as old as civilization. Crossing national and political boundaries for the purpose of business may be called as globalization. Globalization has the following features: Planning and operating to expand business throughout the world. Removing the differences between domestic and foreign markets. Buying and selling goods and services from one country to another Continue reading
Top Reasons for Mergers and Acquisitions in Global Scenario
Mergers and acquisitions are considered as one of the routes by which organisations can expand their presence into new markets across geographies or product segments. Essentially these forms of expansion are external in nature in that they all have an element of foreign presence attached to them. These methods of expansion of business have the advantages of reducing risks as there is a new local knowledge or expertise which is added onto the organisation. There are potential for the acquired organisation to bring in new knowledge and synergies to the total organisation which may be valuable in operating in the new market conditions. But along with the advantages to the organisation there are also associated disadvantages also of falling into debt due to the leveraged nature of the acquisition and higher risk of bankruptcy of the organisation. These factors are analysed below. Too much Debt and Risk of Bankruptcy Mergers Continue reading
Levels of International Strategy
The globalization of the economy, internationalization of businesses and emergence of new markets are all key themes in contemporary business. Whereas international business may once have been the province of organisations with sufficient scale and reach, these types of companies — typically multi-national corporations – no longer have a monopoly on this kind of business. Increasing numbers of firms, of varying scale, are confronted with compelling reasons for expanding their activities across multiple national boundaries. In some cases, such motivation includes the knowledge that success in international markets is a pre-requisite for survival; if competitor organisations succeed in international markets, they may achieve the scale and liquidity which affords them sustainable competitive advantage. There are mainly three levels of international strategy. They are; Corporate Strategy Business Strategy Functional Strategies Short description of these three are given bellow, 1. Corporate Strategy: Corporate strategy attempts to define the domain of businesses the Continue reading
Emerging Trends in Global Organizational Structures
Though global organizational structures tend to depict certain kind of rigidity, structure tends to change and new trends emerge. Mixed Nature of Structures Because of growth dynamics, companies change their organizational structures. Simplified organizational structures get replaced by complex or mixed structures. Until organizational re-structuring is made, new acquisitions might report to headquarters. Circumstances prevailing in a particular country, product, or function might necessitate separate handling until a re-structuring is effected, apart from the overall structure. The structure of 100% subsidiaries is different from that of JVs. 100% subsidiaries enable a deeper network of communications. Overall structure may be incomplete and less revealing. PepsiCo is organized by product lines, namely soft drinks and snacks. This would seem to imply that each product line is integrated globally. However, each line has its own global division, which separates it from domestic operations. Structures Evolve to Suit Growth and Need A company that Continue reading