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This document discussed the rapid changes in international business. It also discusses issues such as Foreign Exchange linkages.
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  • Chapter 1 The Rapid Change of International Business

    Firms that have substantial operations in more than one country:

    -global company (GC): an organisation that attempts to standardize operations and integrate

    operations worldwide in most or all functional areas

    - multidomestic company (MDC): an organisation that multicountry affiliates, each of which

    formulates its own business strategy based on perceived market differences

    - international company (IC)/ multinational enterprise (MNE)/ multinational company

    (MNC): a global or multidomestic company

    Globalization forces: Five kind of drivers, all based on change, that are leading international

    firms to the globalization of their operation (+ examples):

    1. political preferential trading agreements, progressive reduction of trade barriers, foreign investments by most governments, privatization of much of the industry in

    formerly communist nations and the opening of their economies

    2. technological advances in communication technology, global communication networks, internet and network computing

    3. market global firms become global customers 4. cost globalization of product lines and production helps reduce costs by achieving

    economies of scale

    5. competitive firms are defending their home markets from foreign competitors by entering the foreign competitors market to distract them

    why international business differs from domestic business?!

    - it involves three environments:

    - domestic

    - foreign

    - international

    - the kinds of forces are the same but their values often differ and changes in the values of

    foreign forces are at time more difficult so assess

    - international environment: (Def.)

    - interactions between the domestic environmental forces and the foreign

    environmental forces AND

    - interactions between the foreign environmental forces of two countries when an

    affiliate in one country does business with customers in another

    - see: International business model

    The forces:

    - environment: all the forces surrounding and influencing life and development of the firm;

    they can be external or internal

    - uncontrollable (external) forces: external forces over which management has no direct

    conrol, although it can exert an influence

    - competitive: kinds and numbers of competitors, their location, their activities

    - distributive: national and international agencies available for distributing goods and

    services

    - economic: variables (such as GNP, unit labor cost,..) that influence a firms ability to do business

    - socioeconomic: characteristics and distribution of human population

    - financial: variables such as interest rates, inflation rates and taxation

    - legal: the many foreign and domestic laws governing how international firms must

    operate

  • - physical: elements of nature such as topography, climate and natural resources

    - political: elements of nations political climates such as nationalism, forms of government, and international organizations

    - sociocultural: elements of culture (such as attitudes, beliefs and opinions) important

    to international managers

    - labour: composition, skills and attitudes of labour

    - technological: the technical skills and equipment that affect how resources are

    converted to products

    - controllable (internal) forces: internal forces that management administers to adapt to

    changes in the uncontrollable forces

    - production: capital, raw material, people

    - activities of organization: personnel, finance, production, marketing)

    The three environments in which an international company operates:

    - domestic environment: composed of all the uncontrollable forces originating in the home

    country that influence the firms life and development - foreign environment: composed of all the uncontrollable forces originating outside the

    home country that influence the firm

    - the kinds of forces are the same as those in the domestic environment but their values

    often differ and changes in the values of foreign forces are at time more difficult so

    assess

    - international environment: interaction between the domestic and foreign environment

    forces or between sets of foreign environment forces

    International Business Model:

    - the basis of the model is formed by the relationships of the forces in the three environments

    - the external or uncontrollable forces in both the domestic and the foreign environments

    surround the internal forces controlled by management

    - the domestic environment of the international firms home country is surrounded by as many sets of foreign environments as there are countries in which the company does business

    - solid lines connecting the internal forces at the home office to the internal forces in the

    foreign affiliates indicate the lines of control

    - the orange areas indicate the international environment in which personnel in the

    headquarters of the international firm work

    - light orange is the domestic environment

    - blue the foreign environment

  • Other key words:

    - international business: business whose activities are carried out across national borders.

    This not only includes international trade and foreign manufacturing but also the growing

    service industry in areas such as transport, tourism, advertising, construction, mass

    communication,..

    - foreign business: the operations of a company outside its home or domestic market; many

    refer to this as business conducted within a foreign country (sometimes used interchangeably

    with international business)

    - gloablization (economic) the tendency toward an international integration of goods, technology, information, labour, and capital, or the process of making this integration happen

    - foreign direct investments (FDI) direct investments in equipment, structures, and organizations in a foreign country at a level that is sufficient to obtain significant management

    control; does not include mere foreign investments in stock markets

    - exporting transportation of any domestic good or service to a destination outside a country or region; the opposite of importing which is the transportation of any good or service into a

    country or region, from a foreign point of view

  • Chapter 2 International Trade and Foreign Direct Investments

    Two topics directly related to exporting and production in foreign countries:

    1. International trade which includes exports and imports 2. Foreign Direct Investment which international companies must make to establish and

    expand their overseas operations

    3. not discussed: ((Foreign sourcing: the overseas procurement (Besorgung) of raw materials, components, and products ))

    International Trade:

    - volume of trade:

    - in goods and services measure in current dollars exceeded $11 trillion in 2004

    - Merchandise exports, at $8.9 trillion, were about 4.5 times what they were in 1980

    - service exports were only $2.1 trillion in 2004, but their rate of growth since 1980

    has been faster than that of merchandise exports

    - direction of trade

    - developed countries tend to trade with developed countries, with such trade

    accounting for more than 70% of their total trade, and the account for a majority of the

    exports worldwide

    - more than half of the exports from developed countries also go to developed

    countries, though this proportion has been declining for the past 35 years

    - the results for services exports are similar in many ways with those found for

    merchandise exports

    - the rise of regional trade agreements, as well as other factors, is transforming the

    volume and direction of world trade in merchandise and services

    - over 70% of world trade now occurs between members of regional trade agreements

    - major trading partners

    - number of advantages to focusing attention on a nation that is already a sizeable

    purchaser of goods coming from the would-be exporters country: - business climate in the importing country is relatively favourable

    - export and import regulations are insurmountable

    - there should be no strong cultural objections to buying that nations product - satisfactory transportation facilities

    - import channel members (merchants, banks,..) are experienced in handling

    import shipments from the exporters area - the government of a trading partner may be applying pressure on importers to

    buy from countries that are good customers for that nations exports

    Foreign investment

    Portfolio investment: the purchase of stocks and bonds to solely obtain a return on the funds

    invested

    Direct investment: the purchase of sufficient stocks in a firm to obtain significant

    management control in addition to receiving a return on their money

    - The size, growth and direction of foreign direct investment, worldwide and in the US

    - the book value (value of the total outstanding stock) of foreign direct investment was

    nearly $10 trillion at the end of 2004

    - US is the largest of this FDI, with a total value of outstanding investments 1.46 times

    that of the UK, next largest investor, and 2.4 times that of Germany, the third-largest

    investor

  • - the proportion of global FDI accounted for by the US has been declining, falling

    from 36% in 1985 to 21% in 2004, while the proportion accounted for by the EU has

    risen to 53%

    - the proportion of FDI originating in the developing countries has also been

    increasing, reaching 11% in 2004

    - on an annual basis, the US was the largest source of FDI flows in 2004, with $229

    billion in outflows, over 350% of the level of the second-largest FDI source, the UK

    - overall, over 70% of annual FDI investments flow into developed countries, with a

    majority of this investment occurring in the form of acquisitions (bernahme) of

    existing companies

    - the leader in FDI inflows as a national level was China for each of the years 2001-

    2004, the first time an emerging market has held such a distinction as the target for

    worldwide FDI investments

    - the direction of FDI follows the direction of foreign trade; that is, developed nations

    invest in each other

    - due to the new business environment, many international firms are dispersing the

    activities of their manufacturing systems to locations closer to available resources

    - deciding where to locate may be either an FDI or trade decision

    US: - FDI in the US rose from $185 billion in 1985 to $1,874 billion in 2005

    - firms from just eight nations UK, Japan, G, NL, F, Canada, Switzerland, Lux.- own about 85% percent of the total stock of FDI in the US

    Reasons for entering the foreign markets (exporting to and manufacturing in)

    - increase sales and profits

    - managers find that markets with a rising GDP per capita and population

    growth appear to be viable candidates for their operations AND

    - that the economies of some nations where they are not doing business are

    growing at a considerably faster rate

    - protect markets, sales and profits

    !!The globalization of an international firm occurs over at least seven dimensions and a

    company can be partially global in some dimensions and completely global in others!!

    - Seven dimensions along which management can globalize (standardize):

    1. product 2. markets 3. promotion 4. where value is added to the product 5. competitive strategy 6. use of non-home-country personnel 7. extent of global ownership in the firm

    - the possibilities range from zero standardization (multidomestic) to standardization along all

    seven dimensions (completely global!)

    Other key words:

    Export processing zone: a government-designated zone in which workers are permitted to

    import parts and materials without paying import duties, as long as these items are then

    exported once they have been processed or assembled

    In-bond plants (maquiladoras): Production facilities in Mexico that temporarily import raw

    material, components, or parts duty-free to be manufactured, processed or assembled with less

    expensive local labour, after which the finished product is exported

  • Chapter 3 Theories of International Trade and Investment

    International Trade Theory:

    Theories that attempt to explain why certain goods are traded internationally

    - Mercantilism: an economic philosophy based on the belief that (1) a nations wealth depends on accumulated treasures, usually gold, and (2) to increase wealth, government

    policies should promote exports and discourage imports

    - Theory of Absolute Advantage: theory that a nation has absolute advantage when it can

    produce a larger amount of a good or service for the same amount of inputs as can another

    country or when it can produce the same amount of a good or service using fewer inputs than

    could another country

    - Theory of Comparative Advantage: Theory that a nation having absolute disadvantages in

    the production of two goods with respect to another nation has a comparative or relative

    advantage in the production of the good in which its absolute disadvantage is less

    - Heckscher-Ohlin Theory of Factor Endowment: theory that countries export products

    requiring large amounts of their abundant (berflssig) production factors and import products

    requiring large amounts of their scarce production factors

    - Linder Theory of Overlapping Demands: state that because customers tastes are strongly affected by income levels, a nations income level per capita determines the types of goods they will demand; the kinds of goods produced to meet this demand reflect the countrys income per capita level. International trade will be greater between nations with similar levels

    of per capita income.

    - International Production Life Circle (IPLC) Theory: states that many products first

    produced in the US or other developed countries are eventually produced in less developed

    nations and become imports to the very countries in which their production began

    - Krugman: Economies of scale and imperfect competition explain high levels of

    intraindustry trade. Economies of scale and the experience curve can permit a nations industries to become low-cost producers without requiring that the nation have an abundance

    of a certain class of production factors

    - First-Mover Theory: firms that enter the market first will be able to gain large market share,

    permitting them to obtain the benefits of reduced costs and improved technical expertise

    early; this can discourage foreign entrants that might have to enter at higher costs

    - Marshall and Porter/ National Competitive Advantage from Regional Clusters: nations

    achieve competitive advantage through the emergence of regional clusters; four classes of

    variables that will have an impact on the ability of the local firms in a country to utilize the

    countrys resources to gain a competitive advantage (Porters Diamond Model): demand conditions, factor conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure

    and rivalry

    Summary:

    - international trade occurs because of relative price differences among nations

    - these differences stem from differences in production costs which result from

    - differences in the endowment of the factors of production

    - differences in the levels of technology that determines the factor intensities used

    - differences in the efficiencies with which these factor intensities are utilized

    - foreign exchange rates

    Trade restrictions

    (Wrong?!) Arguments for imposing trade restrictions:

  • - demand of protection for defence industries so that the country will have these

    industries out-put in wartime and will not depend on import - new industries in developing countries frequently request barriers to imports of

    competing products from developed countries

    - protectionist argue that lower hourly labour rates can flood the nation with low-

    priced goods and take away domestic jobs

    - fair competition, that is, an import duty to raise the cost of the imported good to the price of the imported article to eliminate any unfair advantage that foreign competitors may have

    - companies will demand that their government retaliates against dumping and

    subsidies offered by their competitors in other countries

    - dumping: selling a product abroad for less than the cost of the production, the

    price in the home market, or the price to third countries

    - subsidies: financial contributions, provided directly or indirectly by a

    government, which confer a benefit; include grants, preferential tax treatment,

    and government assumption of normal business expenses

    - countervailing duties: additional import taxes levied on imports that have

    benefited from export subsidies

    Two basic kinds of import restrictions:

    - Tariff (import duties): Taxes on imported goods for the purpose of raising their price

    to reduce competition for local producers or stimulate local production

    - ad valorem: an import duty levied as a percentage of the invoice value

    (Rechnungsbetrag) of imported goods

    - specific: fixed sum levied on a physical unit of an imported good

    - compound: combination of ad valorem and specific duties

    - official price

    - variable levy: an import duty set at the difference between world market

    prices and local government-supported prices

    - lower duty for more local input

    - Nontariff trade barriers: all forms of discrimination against imports other that

    import duties

    - quantitative

    - quotas: numerical limits placed on specific classes of imports

    - voluntary export restraints (VERs): export quotas imposed by the

    exporting nation

    - orderly marketing arrangements: formal agreements between exporting and

    importing countries that stipulate the import and export quotas each nation will

    have for a good

    - nonquantitative nontariff barriers

    - direct government participation in trade (subsidies, government

    procurement policies)

    - customs and other administrative procedures

    - standards (health, safety,..)

    International Investment Theories

    - monopolistic advantage theory: theory that FDI is made by firms in oligopolistic industries

    possessing technical and other advantages over indigenous firms

  • - product and factor market imperfections: these imperfections provide firms, primarily in

    oligopolistic industries, with advantages (knowledge permitting these firms to produce

    differentiated, preferred products) not open to indigenous companies

    - financial factors: companies in nations with over-valued currencies are attracted to invest

    in countries whose currencies are undervalued OR international operations allow for a

    diversification of risks and therefore tend to maximize the expected return on investment

    - international product life cycle: natural stage to avoid losing a market

    - follow the leader: when one firm, especially the leader in the oligopolistic industry, entered

    the market, other firms in the industry follow; defensive because competitors invest to avoid

    losing the markets

    - cross investment: FDI by oligopolistic firms in each others home countries as a defense measure

    - internationalization theory: an extension of the market imperfection theory: the concept to

    obtain a higher return on its investments, a firm will transfer its superior knowledge to a

    foreign subsidiary rather than sell it in the open market

    - dynamic capability: for a firm to successfully invest overseas, it must have not only

    ownership of unique knowledge or resources but the ability to dynamically create and exploit

    these capabilities over time

    - Dunnings eclectic theory of international production: for a firm to invest overseas, it must have three kinds of advantages: ownership-specific, internalization, and location-specific

  • Chapter 4 International Institutions from an International Business Persepctive

    Influence of the mainly political international institutions on international business and

    their relevance to international business:

    - int. org. such as the UN, military alliances, and ASEAN can have profound influence on

    international business

    - by providing a forum for governments to talk to each other, they contribute towards peace

    and stability, conditions that stimulate international business

    - such dialogue also results in collaborative effort that support multilateral cooperation in

    areas of immediate concern to business, such as maritime agreements, communication

    accords, and other rules and standards

    - many of these institutions support development projects, which stimulate business directly,

    through their contracts, and also through their support of the development of markets

    The United Nations:

    - five main bodies or organs:

    - General Assembly: forum where every nation has one vote

    - Security Council: focuses on peace and security; main policy-setting body of the UN

    and has 5 permanent members (China, F, UK, US, Russia) and 10 elected members

    - Economic and Social Council: addresses issues related to trade, education, health and

    other economic and social issues

    - International court of Justice: hears cases between nations

    - Secretariat: headed by the Secretary-general, is the administrative arm of the UN

    - the UN has a variety of agencies that work throughout the world to promote peace and

    stability and to facilitate trade and economic activity

    - some general ways in which the UN plays a significant role:

    - provides soft infrastructure for the global economy by setting technical standards and norms

    - prepares the ground for investment in emerging economies

    - addresses the downside of globalization

    - seeks solutions to global environmental problems

    - addresses health and education issues that require global-level solutions

    - builds the cornerstone for an independent world: trust and shared values

    North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):

    - security alliance of 26 North American and European nations

    - an armed attack against one member should be considered as an attack against all of them

    - partnership agreement with Russia

    Collective security Treaty Organization (CSTO): security alliance of six members of the

    Commonwealth of Independent States (former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

    Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): ten-member body formed to promote

    peacse and cooperation in the Southeast Asian region

    The World Trade Organization and its predecessor GATT:

    - WTO attempts to remove trade barriers worldwide

    - five basic principles:

    1. trade will be without discrimination

    2. trade should be freer; with trade barriers negotiated downward

    3. trade should be predictable

  • 4. trade should be more competitive

    5. trade should be more beneficial for less developed countries, encouraging

    development and economical reform

    - its membership is composed of the major trading countries in the world, so it has the

    potential to significantly influence world trade

    - the WTO routinely issues decisions on trade disputes between countries

    - GATT (1947-1995), greatly contributed to the growth of the trade through trade

    liberalization

    - most favoured nation (MFN) clause: agreement that GATT member-nations would

    treat all members equally in trade matters

    Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):

    - group of developed countries dedicated to promoting economic expansion in its member-

    nations

    - OECD conducts extensive research on a wide variety of national business and economic

    subjects

    - it produces highly regarded individual country surveys

    - these resource materials are valuable to researchers and businesspeople as they develop an

    understanding of markets

    OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries):

    - the major purpose is to allow developing nations to increase their price control over their oil

    they are selling on international markets

    - OPEC has had periods of marked effectiveness

    - today, despite unrest in Middle East and the ability of OPEC to influence oil prices in the

    short term, the number of non-OPEC nations that produce or soon will be producing oil has

    increased significantly

    - adding to the OPEC dilemma is the possibility that price gouging will lead to the

    development of fuel alternatives and increased conservation and, eventually, to a reduction in

    demand

    - admittedly, the popularity of SUVs in the US market suggests that the price of oil would

    have to escalate considerably to trigger this possibility

    The Group of Eight (G8):

    - group of government leaders from industrialized nations that meet regularly to discuss issues

    of concern

    - Canada, US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia

    Economic integration agreements and the effectiveness of the major ones:

    - four major forms of economic integration:

    - free trade area (tariffs abolished among members)

    - customs union (a free trade agreement plus a common external tariff)

    - common market (customs union plus mobility of services, people, and capital)

    - complete economic integration (common market plus a common currency)

    - NAFTA has been quite effective while Mercosur, whose goal is a common market, has

    faced difficulties recently, as has the Andean Community

    - the EU has been markedly successful

    Nord Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its impact:

    - NAFTA was ratified by Canada, Mexico and the US

    - its purpose is to facilitate trade among the three countries

  • - NAFTA lowers tariffs on goods moving from one NAFTA country to another and makes it

    easier for businesses to sell goods and operate in other NAFTA countries

    European Free Trade Area:

    - four-nation non-EU FTA in Europe: Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland

    - concentrate more on goods rather than services and labour

    African Trade Agreement:

    - to promote economic growth throughout the continent, African countries have formed

    regional trade groups

    - most African countries, though, have their main trade relationships with developed countries

    Mercosur (Mercosul): economic free trade area in South America modeled on the EU

    Central American Free Trade agreement: FTA amongst the US and several Central American

    nations

    Andean Community (CAN): South American five-nation trading bloc

    Asia-specific Economic Cooperation (APEC): regional vehicle for promoting open trade and

    practical economic cooperation; decision are nonbinding and reached by consensus

    Impact of the EU and its future challenges:

    -

  • Chapter 5 Understanding the International Monetary System

    Functioning of the gold standard:

    - each country sets a certain number of units of its currency per ounce of gold, and the ratio of

    their gold equivalence would establish the exchange rate between any two currencies

    - currencies were pegged to gold

    IMF (International Monetary Fund):

    - established at Bretton Woods Conference

    - basic idea is that a workable international monetary system is in the interest of all nations

    - its Articles of Agreement outline the purpose of the fund in six points:

    - to promote international monetary cooperation

    - to facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade

    - to promote exchange stability and orderly exchange arrangements among members

    - to assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments

    - to make the funds resources available for balance-of-payments corrections - to shorten the duration and lessen the disequilibrium of members balance of payments

    Bretton Woods System:

    - the gold exchange standard established after WW II worked until the 1970s

    - it collapsed due to inflation and the surplus of US dollars held outside the US

    - until then, the Bretton Woods system provided monetary stability that supported the growth

    of international trade

    World Bank:

    - lends money for development projects in middle-income and creditworthy poor countries

    - provides low-interest loans and grants for projects designed to help countries develop

    infrastructure, health and education, and other areas connected to development

    Bank for International Settlements:

    - operates as a central bankers bank - serves as a forum for central bankers discussions, leading to international monetary cooperation

    - a centre for research

    - an agent or trustee for governments in various international financial arrangements

    Floating exchange rate system:

    - three basic arrangements:

    - a free (clean) float: market demand and supply regulate the exchange rate; closest to

    perfect competition; no government intervention

    - a managed (dirty) float: governments may intervene in the currency market as the

    perceive their national interests to be served

    - a fixed peg: the value of a currency is set at a fixed rate to another currency

    - other modifications of these three:

    - having no currency and using that of another country

    - using different approaches to the peg, including operating it within a band or

    allowing it to crawl (currency is readjusted periodically at a fixed, preannounced rate

    or in response to changes in indicators)

    - having a currency board: legislated commitment to exchange domestic currency for a

    specific foreign currency at a fixed rate

  • - managing a floating exchange: a monetary authority actively intervenes on the

    exchange market without specifying or making public its goals and targets

    - independently floating exchange rates: relies on the market

    Common currency area for the Euro:

    - the Euro zone, established by the Maastricht Treaty, began trading only in euros in 2002

    - there are presently 12 members in the euro zone, and many of the newly acceding countries

    want to join

    Balance of Payments (BOP):

    - record of a countrys transaction with the rest of the world - BOP data are of interest because

    - it reveals demand for the countrys currency - if a country is exporting more than it imports, there will be a high demand for

    the currency in other countries in order to pay for the exported goods

    - this demand may well create pressure on the exporters currency, in which case it might be expected to strengthen

    - its trend helps managers predict what sort of economic environment may develop in

    the country

    - this impacts their choice of strategic risks to take in specific countries

    - BOP accounts:

    - each international transaction is an exchange of assets with a debit and a credit side

    - payments to other countries, funds flowing out, are tracked as debits (-)

    - transactions that are payments from other countries, funds flowing in, are

    tracked as credits (+)

    - the BOP is presented as a double-entry accounting statement in which the

    total credits and debits are always equal

    - the statement of a countrys BOP is divided into several accounts and many subaccounts

    - the main accounts:

    - the current account, which tracks the net changes in exports and imports of

    goods (tangibles) and services (intangibles)

    - includes three subaccounts:

    - goods or merchandise account: record of tangible exports and

    imports, the balance of this account is called the trade balance

    - services account: record of intangibles that are exchanged

    internationally

    - unilateral transfers account: a transfer with no matched return

    flow, no reciprocity

    - the capital account, which records the net changes in a nations international financial assets and liabilities

    - includes these three subaccounts:

    - direct investments: investments located in one country that are

    effectively controlled by residents of another country

    - portfolio investments: long-term investments that do not give

    the investors control over the investment

    - international movements of short-term capital: changes in

    international assets and liabilities with an original maturity of

    one year or less

  • - the official reserve account, which deals with the governments holdings of foreign currency, gold, accounts in foreign banks, and, possibly, SDRs; a

    balance of the countrys foreign currency - the BOP current and capital account add up to the total account, which, given the

    double-entry approach, is balanced

    - a deficit in the current account is always accompanied by an equal surplus in

    the capital account, and vice versa

    - a current account deficit is not, in itself, a sign of bad economic condition

    - what it means is that the country is importing capital

    - the deficit is a response to the conditions in the country

    - e.g. excessive inflation, low productivity or inadequate saving

    Special drawing rights (SDRs):

    - were established by the IMF to replace the US dollar as the main reserve asset

    - have not yet done so; SDRs do not circulate; they are an accounting entry

    - unit of account for the IMF and other international org

  • Chapter 6 Sociocultural Forces

    Culture: sum total of beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that characterize

    human populations

    Ethnocentricity: belief in the superiority of ones own ethnic group

    Significance of culture for international business:

    - to be successful in their relationships overseas, international businesspeople must be

    students of culture; they must not only have factual knowledge, they must also become

    culturally sensitive

    - culture affects all functional areas of firms: marketing, human resource management,

    production and finance

    Sociocultural components of culture:

    - aesthetics (a cultures sense of beauty and good taste) - attitudes and beliefs

    - religion (knowing the other religion contributes to understanding)

    - material culture

    - language (key to culture)

    - societal organization

    - education

    - legal characteristics

    - political structures

    Cultural aspects of technology:

    - material culture, especially technology, is important to managements contemplating

    overseas investment

    - foreign governments have become increasingly involved in the sale and control of

    technical assistance

    - technology may enable a firm to enter a new market successfully even if its

    competitors are already established there

    - it often enables the firm to obtain superior conditions for an overseas investment

    because the host government wants the technology

    The pervasiveness (Verbreitung) of the information technology era:

    - businesspeople must keep abreast of the changes in information technology to avoid

    falling behind their competitors

    - the internet enables small firms to compete in the global market, a fact that provides

    new opportunities for some firms and new competition for others

    - businesspeople who can capture information from transaction data have a significant

    advantage over those who cannot

    - the opinion in the retailing industry is that this capability is the primary

    reason for Wal-Marts success, for example

    Unspoken language:

    - nonverbal communication, such as gestures and body language

    - because unspoken language can often tell businesspeople something that spoken

    language does not, they should know something about this form of cross-cultural

    communication

    Two classes of relationships within society:

  • - a knowledge of how a society is organized is useful because the arrangement of

    relationships within it defines and regulates the manner in which its members interface

    with one another

    - two classes of societal relationships:

    - those based on kinship (Verwandtschaft)

    - those based on free association of individuals

    Hofstedes four cultural value dimensions: 1. individualism vs collectivism 2. large vs small power distance 3. strong vs weak uncertainty avoidance 4. masculinity vs femininity - those dimensions help managers understand how cultural differences affect

    organizations and management methods

  • Chapter 7 Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability

    The role of location, topography, climate, and natural resources as factor conditions in

    Porters diamond model: - factor conditions: attributes that a country inherits (basic factors), such as climate

    and natural resources, and those a country can mould (advanced factors), such as the

    labour force and infrastructure

    - they are all inherited factors that underlie inputs that companies draw on

    - local disadvantages in factor conditions can be recognized as advantages and become

    a force for innovation

    - adverse conditions such as local terrain and climate and scarce raw materials, at the

    basic-factor level, or labour shortages, at the advanced-factor level, force firms to

    develop new methods, and this innovation often leads to a national comparative

    advantage

    - hence, understanding these factors is important

    Surface features contribute to economic, cultural, political and social differences among

    nations and among regions of a single country:

    - mountains divide nations into smaller regional markets that often have distinct

    cultures, industries, and climates

    - sometimes even the languages are different

    - desert and tropical forests act as barriers to people, goods, and ideas

    The importance of inland waterways and outlets to the sea:

    - bodies of water attract people and facilitate transportation

    - water transportation has increased even after the building of railroads and highways

    - various European firms are shipping goods in barges on the Rhine waterway instead

    of using highways

    Climate exerts a broad influence on business:

    - the difference in climate conditions among a firms markets and manufacturing sites can significantly affect its operations

    - in the case of the marketing mix, a product sold for use in northern Canada may need

    protection against cold weather, while the same product used in the tropics may

    require extra cooling to resist the heat

    - heavy seasonal rains or long, very cold or dry spells can require that the firm carry

    large inventories (Bestnde) because of the difficulty of replenishing (nachfllen) stock in

    inclement (rau) weather

    - other distribution challenges related to climate include protection from the cold, heat

    and humidity

    Options available for nonrenewable and renewable energy sources:

    - non-renewable energy sources include petroleum, both from conventional sources

    and nonconventional sources such as shale, oil sands, coal and natural gas

    - other non-renewable energy sources are coal, nuclear power, and natural gas

    - renewable sources include hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal, waves, tides,

    biomass, and ocean thermal energy conversion

    - each of these energy sources has a cost that impacts its use

    - as non-renewable sources approach depletion, renewable sources will become more

    widely applied as their relative cost decreases

  • Environmental sustainability and its characteristics:

    - environmental sustainability rests on the commitment of business to operate without

    reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations

    - there are three characteristics of evolving sustainable business practices that are

    widely agreed upon:

    - limits which apply to the ecological system

    - interdependence which applies to the social system as well as to the other two

    - equity in distribution which applies to the economic system

    The stakeholders theory as a framework for environmental sustainability:

    - stakeholder theory: an understanding of how business operates that takes into

    account all identifiable interest holders

    - stakeholders theory forces a business to address its underlying values and principles

    - it encourages managers to articulate clearly how the want to do business

    - what kind of relationships do they want and need to create with their stakeholders to

    deliver on their purpose?!

    - in this way, operating with stakeholders theory leads to a public discussion about

    responsibility of the business among all stakeholders

  • Chapter 8 Economic and Socioeconomic Forces

    Purpose of economic analyses:

    - to keep abreast of the latest economic developments and also to plan for the future,

    firms regularly assess and forecast economic conditions at the local, state, and national

    levels

    - when they enter international operations, the economic analysis increases in

    complexity because mangers are operating in two new environments: foreign and

    international

    - there are more economies to study and these economies are frequently highly

    divergent

    Different categories (based on levels of national economic development and the common

    characteristics of developing nations):

    - mangers involves in international business encounter markets with far greater

    differences in levels of economic development than those in which they have been

    working in domestic business settings

    - a nations level of economic development affects all aspects of business, and we commonly group them into different categories based on their level of economic

    development, such as:

    - developed: a classification for all industrialized nations, which are the most

    technically developed

    - developing: classification for the worlds lower-income nations, which are les technically developed

    - newly industrializing countries (NICs): the four Asian tigers and the middle-

    income economies such as Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Chile, and Thailand

    - newly industrialized economies (NIEs): the fast-growing upper-middle-

    income and high-income economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and

    Signapore

    - developing nations have certain common characteristics, including unequal

    distribution of income, technological and regional dualism, a large percentage of the

    population in agriculture, high population growth, high illiteracy rate, insufficient

    education and low savings rates

    Gross national income (GNI): the total value of all income generated by a nations residents from international and domestic activities

    Gross domestic product (GDP): measures income generated from domestic activity by

    residents of the country as well as nonresidents

    Economic and socioeconomic dimensions of the economy and different indicators used to

    assess them:

    - various functional areas of a firm require data on the size and rates of changes of a

    number of economic and socioeconomic factors

    - in order to be a potential market, an area must have sufficient people with the means

    to buy a firms products - the socioeconomic data provide information on the number of people, and the

    economic dimensions tell us if they have purchasing power

    - among the more important economic dimensions:

    - GDP

    - GNI (mostly preferred as a measure)

  • - GNI/Capita: to be able to compare purchasing power; most important

    is a high growth rate which indicates a fast-growing market

    - underground economy: the part of a nations income that, because of unreporting or underreporting, is not measured by official statistics

    - currency conversion is a problem with GNI estimates when they want

    to be compared

    - to overcome this deficiency a method of comparing GNIs

    based on purchasing power parity (PPP) has been developed

    - distribution of income: measure of how a nations income is apportioned among its people, commonly reported as the percentage of income received by

    population quintiles

    - personal consumption expenditures: how consumers allocate their

    disposable income (after-tax personal income) between purchase of essential

    and nonessential goods

    - discretionary income: amount of income left after paying taxes and

    making essential purchases

    - PPP-based consumer expenditures: eliminate differences in relative

    prices; shows how the composition of consumption changes with the

    level of development

    - private investments

    - unit labour costs: total direct labour costs divided by units produced

    - financial data (such as exchange rates, inflation rates, interest rates, and the

    amount of a nations foreign debt): ch 11 - the principle socioeconomic dimensions:

    - total population rates of growth

    - age distribution

    - population density: measure of the number of inhabitants per area unit

    (inhabitants per square kilometre or square mile)

    - population distribution: measure of how the inhabitants are distributed over a

    nations areas

    Importance of nations consumption patterns and the significance of purchasing power parity:

    - marketers must know how consumers allocate their discretionary incomes, since this

    is money spent on their products

    - they must also use purchasing power parity (PPP) to understand what the true

    purchasing power of a nation is

    - consumers in a nation whose GNI appears to be too low to be a viable market may

    have some discretionary buying power when the GNI based on market exchange rates

    in converted to a GNI based on PPP

    Human-needs approach:

    - the new definition of economic development, which includes more than economic

    growth

    - it defines economic development as the reduction of poverty, unemployment, and

    inequality in the distribution of income

    Degree to which labour costs can vary from country to country:

    - hourly labour rates, especially when stated in US dollars, change rather rapidly

    - there are three factors that are responsible:

    1. real changes in compensation

  • 2. changes in productivity

    3. change sin exchange rates

    Significance for businesspeople of the large foreign debts of some nations:

    - large foreign debts may indicate that the government will impose exchange controls

    on its countrys businesses - if a large part of a countrys export earnings go to service its external debt, there will be little remaining for use by firms in the country to pay for imports of raw materials,

    components used in their products and production machinery

    - the government could impose price and wage controls

    - there is also the possibility that firms can buy some of the discounted debt to obtain

    local currency at a favourable exchange rate

  • Chapter 9 Political Forces

    Ideological forces that affect business:

    - include

    - capitalism: an economic system in which the means of production and

    distribution are for the most part privately owned and operated for private

    profit

    - communism: Marxs theory of a classless society, developed by his successors into control of society by the communist Party and the attempted

    worldwide spread of communism

    - socialism: public, collective ownership of the basic means of production an

    distribution, operating for use rather than profit

    - terminology used to describe various political positions:

    - conservative: a person, group or party that wishes to minimize government

    activities and maximizes private ownership and business

    - right wing: a more extreme conservative position

    - liberal: in the contemporary US, a person, group or party that urges greater

    government involvement in business and other aspects of human activities

    - left wing: a more extreme liberal position

    Although most governments own businesses, they are privatizing them in growing numbers:

    - why firms are nationalized:

    - to extract more money from the firm - the government suspects that the firms

    are concealing profits

    - profitability the government believes it could run the firms more efficiently and make more money

    - ideology governments sometimes nationalize industries - job preservation

    - the government has put money into a firm or industry and control usually

    follows money

    - happenstance (Zufall) e.g. German-owned firms after WW II - claimed advantages for government-owned companies:

    - they can cut prices unfairly because they do not have to make profits

    - they get cheaper financing

    - they get government contracts

    - get export assistance

    - can hold down wages with government assistance

    - direct subsidies

    - privatization: the transfer of public sector assets to the private sector, the transfer of

    management of state activities through contracts and leases, and the contracting out of

    activities previously conducted by the state

    - even governments that consider themselves capitalist and conservative own some

    businesses

    - but almost all governments with the US lagging behind- are privatizing and getting out of business

    Changing sources and reasons for terrorism and the methods and growing power of

    terrorists:

    - terrorism: unlawful acts of violence committed for a wide variety of reasons,

    including for ransom, to overthrow a government, to gain release of imprisoned

  • colleagues, to exact revenge for real or imagined wrongs, and to punish nonbelievers

    of the terrorists religion - the former Soviet Union and Easter Europe satellites no longer finance, train, and

    shelter terrorists, but they have been replaced by countries such as Iran and North

    Korea

    - radical Islamic fundamentalists represent a growing threat

    - they are infuriated by the peace moves between Israel and its Arab neighbours

    - nuclear terrorism is a new fear, as security has failed at nuclear sites in the former SU

    and enriched uranium is being stolen and smuggled around the world

    Steps that travelling international business executives should take to protect themselves from

    terrorists:

    - keeping travel plan confidential

    - keep the firm aware of where business travellers are (also in case of natural disasters)

    - use a travel management service

    The importance to business of government stability and policy continuity:

    - business can rarely thrive in a country with an unstable government or rapid, drastic

    policy changes

    - stability: characteristics of a government that maintains itself in power and whose

    fiscal, monetary, and political policies are predictable and not subject to sudden,

    radical changes

    - instability: characteristics of a government that cannot maintain itself in power or

    that makes sudden, unpredictable, or radical policy changes

    Explaining country risk assessment by international business:

    - Country risk assessment (CRA): an evaluation, conducted by a bank or business

    having an asset in or payable from a foreign country or considering a loan or an

    investment there, that assesses the countrys economic situation and policies and its politics to determine how much risk exists of losing the asset or not being paid

    - country risk assessment is now considered a necessity by most international

    businesses before they can commit people, or technology to a foreign country

    - CRA involves evaluating a countrys economic situation and policies as well as its politics

  • Chapter 10- Legal Forces

    Complexity of the legal forces that confront international business:

    - international business is affected by many thousands of laws and regulations issued

    by states, nations, and international organizations

    - some are at cross-purposes, and some diminish the ability of firms to compete wit

    foreign companies

    Public international law: legal relations between governments

    Private international law: laws governing actions of individuals and companies that cross

    international borders

    Treaties: agreements between countries, which may be bilateral or multilateral; also called

    conventions, covenants, compacts, or protocols

    The importance of foreign law:

    - miscellaneous laws in host countries can trip up foreign businesspeople or tourists

    - charges can range from not carrying an alien registration card to narcotics possession

    Contract devices and institutions that assist in interpreting or enforcing international contracts:

    - international contracts should specify which countrys law and courts apply when disputes arise

    - the UNs CISG and the EUs Rome Convention have established rules for solving contract disputes

    - arbitration: a process, agreed to by parties to a dispute in lieu of going to court, by

    which a neutral person or body makes a binding decision; is an increasingly popular

    solution

    The need and methods to protect intellectual property:

    - patents, trademarks, trade names, copyrights, and trade secrets are referred to as

    intellectual properties

    - pirating of those properties is common and is expensive for their owners

    - the UNs World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was created to administer international property treaties, as was TRIPS, a WTO agency with a similar purpose

    Nonrevenue tax puposes:

    - certain taxes have purposes other than to raise revenue; for example, some aim to

    redistribute income, discourage consumption of certain products, encourage use of

    domestic goods, or discourage investment abroad

    - in addition, taxes differ from country to country

    - tax treaties, or conventions, between countries can affect decisions on investment and

    location

    Enforcement of antitrust (monopolfeindlich) laws:

    - the US and the EU enforce antitrust laws extraterritorially

    - this is a concern for companies operating in many countries because of the

    complexity of dealing with so many laws in different jurisdictions

    Extraterritorial application of laws: a countrys attempt to apply its laws to foreigners or nonresidents and to acts and activities that take place outside its borders

  • The risk of product liability legal actions, which can result in imprisonment for employees

    or fines for them and the company:

    - product liability: refers to the civil or criminal liability of the designer or

    manufacturer of a product for inquiry or damages it causes

    - in several ways, product liability is treated differently in the US legal system than it

    is in other countries

    - e.g. only in the US does one find lawyers contingency fees, jury trials of these cases, and punitive damages

    - also the principle of strict liability has been adopted in Europe, defendants are

    permitted to use state-of-the-art defenses and countries can put a cap on damages

    - product liability is virtually unknown in Japan

    US laws that affect international business operations:

    - many US laws affect international business operations, both of US and of foreign

    companies

    - the US applies federal employment laws to any US company operating anywhere

    - this extraterritoriality means that US companies operating in foreign countries

    are required to follow US employment law as applies to US nationals

    - the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act also apply to

    US businesses in their foreign operations and to foreign businesses that conduct

    operations in the US

  • Chapter 11 Financial Forces

    - Financial forces:

    - foreign currency exchange risks

    - national BOP

    - inflation

    - national monetary and fiscal policies

    - taxation

    - tariffs

    - debts

    Foreign exchange quotations: the price of one currency expressed in terms of another

    - mainly reported in the worlds currency exchange markets in terms of the US$ because

    - it is a main central reserve asset of many countries: asset, usually currency,

    held by governments central bank - the most used vehicle currency: currency used as a vehicle for international

    trade or investment

    - and intervention currency: currency used by a country to intervene in the

    foreign currency exchange markets, often to buy (strengthen) its own currency

    How money can be made and lost- in the foreign exchange (FX) markets: - foreign exchange (FX) markets are worldwide and collectively involve more money

    than any other market

    - on most days, you can trade money 24h somewhere in the world

    - as a result, there are ample opportunities for buying and selling foreign currency

    - making or losing money in these markets depends on exchange rate movements

    FX quotations, including cross rates:

    - spot rate: the exchange rate between two currencies for delivery within two business

    days; is reported for all currencies

    - forward currency market: trading market for currency contracts between 30, 60, 90

    or 180 days in the future; for the most heavily traded currencies, 30-, 60-, and 90-day

    rates are reported

    - forward rate: exchange rate between two currencies for delivery in the future,

    usually 30, 60, 90 or 180 days

    - trading at a premium: situation in which a currencys forward rate quotes stronger than spot

    - trading at a discount: situation in which a currencys forward rate quotes are weaker than spot

    - cross rates: are exchange rates for trading directly between non-US$ currencies

    - how the foreign exchange market actually operates:

    - most transaction is done over the counter

    - prices consist of a bid price and an ask price, with the bid lower than the ask

    - bid-ask spread, difference between the two, provides a margin for the bank or

    agency

    - FX markets are large, liquid and competitive

    Causes of exchange rate fluctuation:

    - basic supply and demand of the currency

  • - interest rates

    - inflation rates

    - expectations of the future

    - monetary and fiscal policies

    - world events

    Currency exchange control:

    - many developing countries have instituted a system of currency exchange controls,

    which restrict the se of local and foreign currencies

    - developing countries often have far less hard (convertible) currency than they need

    - they therefore ratio the hard currency

    - anyone wanting hard currency may have to apply to the government agency,

    specifying how much is wanted and the use to which it will be put

    Financial forces (such as tariffs, taxes, inflation, and the balance of payments) affect

    international management:

    - business managers must be prepared to react to financial forces that can affect their

    business

    - tariffs are an added cost that, because they are changing, are not always predictable

    - taxes also increase costs, but they tend to be more predictable in the short term

    - inflation may impact where capital is sourced as well as the cost of doing business

    - the balance of payments may impact the ability to move funds

    - in general, the effects of these forces tend to increase costs or constrain the

    movement of funds

    Exchange rate forecasting:

    - efficient market approach: assumption that the current market prices fully reflect all

    available relevant information

    - random walk hypothesis: assumption that the unpredictability of factors suggests

    that the best predictor of tomorrows prices is todays prices - fundamental approach: exchange rate prediction based on econometric models that

    attempt to capture the variables and their correct relationships

    - technical analysis: an approach that analyzes data for trends and then projects these

    trends forward

  • Chapter 12 Labor Forces

    Forces beyond management control that affect the quantity and quality of labour in a

    nation:

    - labour quantity and quality are forces beyond a companys control - labour quality: the skills, education, and attitudes of available employees

    - labour quantity: the number of available employees with the skills required

    to meet an employers business needs - a finite number of employees are available in any labour pool with the skills required

    to meet an employers needs - populations are aging and are projected to decline in many developed countries in

    coming years

    - labour is shifting significantly from rural to urban locations, especially in developing

    nations

    - unemployment remains a problem in many regions and particularly among youths

    between the 15 and 24

    - large numbers of immigrant labourers, often unskilled, are moving within and

    particularly between nations

    - although process is being made, an estimated one in seven children between the ages

    of 5 and 17 is a labourer and most of these children labourers are in the developing

    countries

    The reasons people leave their home country to work abroad:

    - in many parts of the world, wars, revolutions, racial and ethnic battles, and political

    repression cause people to flee

    - others go to other countries in hopes of better jobs and pay

    Brain drain: the loss by a country of its most intelligent and best-educated people

    Reasons that some countries have guest workers:

    - guest workers move to a host country to perform specific kinds of jobs, usually in

    service, factory or construction work

    - but when a countrys economy slows, its native workers may want the jobs held by guest workers

    - racial friction has developed in some countries because of guest workers

    Factors associated with employment policies, including social roles, gender, race and

    minorities:

    - ICs typically must adjust labour practices to succeed in international markets, due to

    a range of factors influencing employment policies and practices

    - even where laws have changed to prohibit the practice, cultural, historical and other

    factors cause social status to be relevant consideration regarding employment practices

    - although women are making progress toward equality in many nations, sexism

    remains a problem throughout the world

    - women continue to have higher level of illiteracy and lower levels of wages than

    their male counterparts in virtually all regions of the world, and they are

    underrepresented in business and political positions of authority

    - racism also remains an issue worldwide

    Differences in labour unions from country to country:

  • - historically, labour unions have tended to be more political in Europe and more

    pragmatic in the US

    - in response to globalization of businesses, many unions have begun to establish

    international collaboration in an effort to extend their influence


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