Stakeholders can be defined as an internal and external party to the organization which is having interest in the operations of the organization. Stakeholders can create an impact on the actions, objectives, and policies of the organization. Stakeholders may get affected by the objectives, policies, and actions of the business. Stakeholders may have a direct or indirect interest in the operations of the organization. Stakeholders of an organization can be of different types. These different types of stakeholders include management and employees, customers, investors and suppliers, banks and other financial organizations, government, trade unions and pressure groups. The term stakeholder management can be defined as the process of engaging and enrolling the stakeholders in the operations of the business so as to make them accountable, responsible, consulted and informed. Stakeholder management is concerned regarding the fit between the values or the organization and expectations of the stakeholders for determining the Continue reading
International Business Basics
Case Study: Starbucks Successful Entry into the Japanese Market
Starbucks is a chain of coffee shops created by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl in 1971 in the American city of Seattle. At first, they sold roasted coffee beans, but in 1987 the company was sold to Howard Schultz, who began to form the chain known today. At the moment (2021), it has reached annual revenue of about 24 billion dollars. The American coffee company has 32,660 coffee shops worldwide and continues to expand. For example, in China, one of the most priority markets, Starbucks Corp. It has about 3,700 coffee shops and opens new ones approximately every 15 hours – 600 locations per year. The goal by 2023 year is 6000 new coffee shops. The company is implementing plans for delivery services in the United States and other countries. The main competitors of Starbucks are Caffè Nero, Costa Coffee, Mc Café, Dunkin Donuts, Cafè Ritazza, Café Coffee Continue reading
International Trade and Investment
Today, business is acknowledged to be international and there is a general expectation that this will continue for the foreseeable future. International business may be defined simply as business transactions that take place across national borders. This broad definition includes the very small firm that exports (or imports) a small quantity to only one country, as well as the very large global firm with integrated operations and strategic alliances around the world. Within this broad array, distinctions are often made among different types of international firms, and these distinctions are helpful in understanding a firm’s strategy, organization, and functional decisions (for example, its financial, administrative, marketing, human resource, or operations decisions). One distinction that can be helpful is the distinction between multi-domestic operations, with independent subsidiaries which act essentially as domestic firms, and global operations, with integrated subsidiaries which are closely related and interconnected. These may be thought of as Continue reading
Global Geographic Division Structure of MNE’s
With large foreign operations that are not dominated by a single country or area including the headquarters, but well spread out geographically Multinational Enterprises use geographic divisions. Global Geographic (Region/Nation/Area) Division Structure is more common to European MNEs, such as Nestle. Nestle uses this structure because no one region dominates its operations. Merits of Global Geographic Division Structure The structure is useful when maximum economies in production can be gained on a regional rather than a global basis because of market size or the production technologies for the industry. A global geographic structure puts managers closer to the scene of operations than are managers at central headquarters. Regional managers are well positioned to be responsive to local situations such as the needs of regional customers and to fluctuations in resources. Thus regional divisions are often able to find solutions to region-specific problems and to use available resources more effectively than Continue reading
Regulatory Documents used in Export/Import Documentation
Regulatory documents are otherwise called as Official documents, because most of these documents are required for compliance of regulations of either the exporter’s country or the importer’s country. 1. Export Declaration Forms As per Indian Exchange Control Regulations, details of all goods (except certain exempted categories) by whatever means exported from India, are required to be declared on certain specified forms. These forms are known as Export Declaration Forms. These forms are evolved by the Reserve Bank of India to ensure that the value of all the goods exported from India is declared and the foreign exchange due there is repatriated to India. In export trade, the goods leave under the supervision of one agency (Customs/Post Office) and proceeds thereof are received through another agency (banks, etc.) These export declaration forms are so designed that they can have an effective check over the cycle of movement of goods out of Continue reading
Technology Risk in Business – Challenges of Changing Technology in Business
The changing technology environment has and still become one of the biggest challenges in international business management. Technological changes can wreak havoc on industries. In making decisions regarding technological changes, companies err in two ways. They either commit themselves to a new technology too fast and burn their fingers or wait and watch while another company comes up with a new technology that puts them out of business. The issue of when and how to react to the emergence of a new technology is a matter of judgment. However, this judgment need not be based purely on intuition. By doing a systematic structured analysis of developments in the technological environment and putting in place the necessary organizational mechanisms, technology risk in business can be considerably reduced. How can managers identify the emergence of a disruptive technology? Clayton Christensen’s research reveals that disruptive technologies are often developed privately by engineers working Continue reading