There are five stages in the evolution of the transnational corporation. These stages describe significant differences in the strategy, worldview, orientation, and practice of companies operating in more than one country. One of the key differences in companies at these different stages is in orientation. Stage One–Domestic The stage-one company is domestic in its focus, vision, and operations. Its orientation is ethnocentric. This company focuses upon domestic markets, domestic suppliers, and domestic competitors. The environmental scanning of the stage-one company is limited to the domestic, familiar, home-country environment. The unconscious motto of a stage-one company is: “If it’s not happening in the home country, it’s not happening.” The world’s graveyard of defunct companies is littered with stage-one companies that were sunk by the Titanic syndrome: the belief, often unconscious but frequently a conscious conviction, that they were unsinkable and invincible on their own home turf. The pure stage-one company is Continue reading
International Business Basics
Theoretical Perspectives on Firm Internationalization
After the World War II, there has been rapid growth in international trade in both goods and services, resulting in various transactions across national borders for the purpose of satisfying the needs of individuals and organisations. The result of this global competition has forced organisations to expand their business by finding out new markets at home and foreign countries making them ‘Transnational firms’. Transnational Corporations (TNC) is defined as a firm that has power to co-ordinate and control operations in more than one country, even if it does not own them. The significance of TNC lies mainly in its ability to co-ordinate and control different transactions within transnational production networks, ability to take advantage of distribution factors of production and ability to be flexible in locations. The growing TNCs led to various patterns and trends in international business like rapid growth in world trade and investment, cross border mergers and Continue reading
Managing Political Risk in International Business
Political environment could involve a risk to businesses, domestic and foreign. Such risk is called political risk. Political risk is that perception by the businesses that their interests will get deteriorated when certain political upheaval happens. Political risk can occur in both democracies as well as in the totalitarian set ups as well. Political Risks are of different types. There are micro and macro political risks. Micro political risk is the one that affects a particular firm or class of firms. Usually firms owned by one class of businessmen, say, the foreigners from certain country, a particular business family or region/state. Micro political risk risk can be hedged. Macro political risk affects all. There is no sparing of any business, any nationality, any trade or industry. Formulating and Implementing Strategies to deal with Political Risk The following course of action, suggested by John D Daniels and Lee H Radebaugh will Continue reading
Commodity Price Stabilization in International Business
Many developing nations exports are concentrated in only one or a few primary products and thus unstable export markets, worsening terms of trade, and limited access to world markets for the products can significantly reduce export revenues and seriously disrupt domestic income and employment level. In addition, many developing nations feel that developed nations tend to insist that developing nations open their markets to industrial products from the developed world, yet refuse to open their markets to agricultural goods from the developing world. For example, United States have used aggressive antidumping and countervailing duties to limit access to their markets. As noted, the export prices and revenues of developing countries can be quite volatile. In an attempt to stabilize export revenues and prices, International Commodity Agreements (ICA) have been formed by producers and consumers of primary products about matters such as commodity price stabilization, assuring adequate supplies to consumers, and Continue reading
Control in Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)
There are various methods of classification of management control in Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). By levels of control here it is meant whether the parent / corporate level managers or subsidiary/country-level managers are involved. The former might be called higher level and the later lower level control. Depending on the sphere of focus we have two types of control called Strategic control and Operational control. In the MNE’s context, strategic control is the responsibility of parent and operational control is the preserve of the subsidiary. Another way puts ‘management control, tactical control and transactional control’ as the 3 levels of control respectively carried out by the corporate top management, collectively by corporate & subsidiary management and subsidiary management in the case of MNEs. Of course, whether an MNE’s structure is ethno-centric, geo-centric, multi-domestic/poly-centric or region-centric is another factor that influences the exact distribution of responsibility. The forward looking information is provided Continue reading
What Pricing Policy should a Global Company Pursue?
Viewed broadly, there are three alternative positions a company can take toward worldwide pricing. 1. Extension/Ethnocentric The first can be called an extension/ethnocentric pricing policy. This policy requires that the price of an item be the same around the world and that the importer absorbs freight and import duties. This approach has the advantage of extreme simplicity because no information on competitive or market conditions is required for implementation. The disadvantage of this approach is directly tied to its simplicity. Extension pricing does not respond to the competitive and market conditions of each national market and, therefore, does not maximize the company’s profits in each national market. 2. Adaptation/Polycentric The second pricing policy can be termed adaptation/polycentric. This policy permits subsidiary or affiliate managers to establish whatever price they feel is most desirable in their circumstances. Under such an approach, there is no control or fixed requirement that prices be Continue reading