... Case Connection China in Africa: A Big Step Forward, or a Bigger Step Backward? Entering an untapped international market can strengthen a business tremendously—but what if the costs outweigh the benefits for the market itself? China has long been an important player on the global stage, but recent advances in manufacturing, natural resources, and energy production have catapulted the expansive country to the forefront of international trade. Currently the world’s fastest growing major economy, China is set to eclipse the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2016. Among various domestic and international plays, one of China’s most fascinating uses of its newfound economic might is a considerable interest—and investment—in the continent of Africa. As its economy grew throughout the 2000s, China began establishing oil and mining firms across Africa. In return for the cooperation of African governments, China built new roads, bridges, and other varieties of desperately needed infrastructure. The economic powerhouse’s inroads into the African market quickly widened, and so did the scope of its investments. For every new mining and drilling operation, China built new governmental buildings, sports stadiums and housing complexes. China’s most prominent declaration of its intent to strengthen ties with Africa, however, was the construction of the $200 million African Union building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Today, China’s trade with Africa exceeds $190 billion—up...
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...Borders Review Questions 1. What countries represent the largest global business opportunities for the next decade? What factors determine the size of the opportunity? 2. Why do companies tend to thrive in global markets when their country of origin enjoys a comparative advantage in their industry? 3. Explain how to calculate the balance of trade. How does the growing United States trade deficit impact the economy? Why? 4. Explain the meaning of “strong” currency and “weak” currency. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? 5. Why is outsourcing such an attractive way for firms to tap into foreign markets? What are the risks of foreign outsourcing? 6. Outline the potential pros and cons of the 3 key strategies for developing foreign markets: exporting, licensing and franchising, and direct investment. 7. Explain how countertrading works. What are the benefits and drawbacks for both parties that engage in countertrading? 8. What are the key elements of sociocultural barriers to trade? How can companies overcome these barriers? 9. How has NAFTA impacted the U.S.? Overall, do you believe that it was a positive move for the U.S.? Why or why not? 10. What is the overarching goal of the European Union? What role has been played by the introduction of the euro? Application Questions 1. An ever-growing world...
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...ASSIGNMENT ON TOYATA’S GOBAL PRODUCTION STRATEGY Submitted to: Mr. Md. Zillur Rahman Course Coordinator Course Code: MGT-601 Course Title: Strategic Management & Case Analysis Department of Business Administration Sylhet International University, Sylhet Submitted by: Shakhor Ranjan Dash Roll No. 11382 MBA 2-2 Submitting Date : 30.11.2012 Dell Case: Question 1 :: What are the advantages to Dell of having manufacturing sites located where they are? What are the potential disadvantages? Answer: Dell’s manufacturing sites are in Brazil, China, Malaysia, Ireland, and the U.S. Advantages of these locations are that some of them are low cost (Brazil, China, Malaysia and, relatively, Ireland), they have educated work forces that are highly productive, and they are near large regional markets. Dell Case: Question 2 :: Why does Dell purchase most of the components that go into its PC from independent suppliers, as opposed to making more itself? (Does does little more than final assembly of components into PC) Answer: Dell outsources because it enables Dell’s business model to be successful. Dell’s comparative advantage is in pricing, customization and rapid order fulfillment, all advantages gained through supply chain management and logistics. By outsourcing, Dell does not carry risks connected to inventory such as obsolescence, Dell can maintain flexibility in its manufacturing, and Dell has lower coordination...
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...Market Economies: Why there is a need to reformulate marketing tactics used in emerging markets. Emerging Markets – An overview Emerging market economies are those economies which exhibit high growth and investment potential. Emerging economies are generally found in East and South Asia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Latin America and Middle East. These economies are characterized by improving standard of living, other than that they have large growing middle class population who have high aspirations and ambitions for the future. All these characteristics make these economies attractive destinations for exporting goods, investment and outsourcing. Emerging economies of the world possess several advantages which have led to their rise. The major advantages that have been observed in these economies are availability of cheap labour force and highly qualified work force which have made these economies challengers in the global market. Another major characteristic of these economies is that their growth rates are much higher than the developed countries of the world. The new international challengers are the top firms operating in these emerging economies who have now become key contenders of the world market. A very good example of the above discussion is Orascom Telecom - which is an Egyptian telecom provider who on the basis of managerial capabilities and superior technology has become one of the major telecommunication provider in Africa and Middle East . Its...
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...China’s Slowdown Has a Global Impact 1. Which negative effects and in which countries will China’s slowdown cause? The fact that economic growth in China, the world’s second-biggest economy after U.S. has been slowing since 2007’s peak has made impact on the rest of the world. There are various negative effects due to slowdown such as lower energy and raw materials prices for the rest of the world. Maruli Sitorus, a palm oil plantation owner has stated that his income has been halved over the past years as prices for palm oil-used in cooking oil and fuels-have slipped. He refers this slip to the weak demand from China. However, China’s objective is to reshape its economy to be less reliant on construction and heavy industry, and more reliant on consumer spending. Mr. Sitorus, had to cut the number of workers on his 25-hectare farm from 12 to 6 and put off fertilizing his fields and fixing his trucks. Another example of negative effects of China’s slowdown took place in Australia. Anthony Walsh, managing director for Ausco Modular, an Australian company that builds temporary camps for mine workers in Karratha, a mining town on Australia’s northwest coast. He has stated that a fifth of rooms once occupied by miners flown in from Australia’s east are empty, rents went down by 20%. Due to the fall, unemployment rate in Australia, a mining powerhouse is 5.7%, it’s highest in 4 years. While China’s slowdown hurts places like Australia, it also means low energy...
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...Walmart: Global Strategic Expansion - Executive Summary Since introducing its first international store in 1991, Walmart has transformed itself from an American retail giant into a global one, leveraging a wealth of resources to strategically expand operations. Although Walmart must contend with several formidable competitors, the retailer has successfully opened thousands of stores across the globe; most frequently, it has added international units through the acquisition of foreign retailers, which simultaneously reduces its competition and furthers its dominance. Walmart has differentiated itself by coupling its understanding of political, economic, legal, and cultural systems within target markets with its low-cost, high-quality approach to mass retail. Utilizing simultaneous strategic multiple thrusts, Walmart has developed layers of competitive advantage to establish itself as the world’s leading retailer. Focusing on strategic expansion, Walmart currently operates 9,826 stores across twenty-eight countries, allowing it to capture global scale efficiencies by creating a coordinated and integrated network of interdependent stores. Each unit within its network is regarded as a source of ideas and capabilities, and innovation is diffused across the company through initiatives such as a market-by-market training program that helps increase the company’s responsiveness to local demands and preferences. Thus, Walmart has established itself as a transnational corporation by developing...
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...transform from a global PC manufacturer to a marketing and services powerhouse by producing products faster, cheaper and more efficiently. The most effective way for Acer to grow was to engage in expanding its operations, marketing and selling activities to another market. In this case Acer decided to take the company globally and begin building a solid market in China. It's believed that if China becomes the company's "home" market, Acer will capture critical economies of scale that will allow it to develop innovative new products that will succeed in China as well as the rest of the world. Acer's chief technology officer, believes that Acer's knowledge of China's market will help the company achieve its growth and market share objectives. Acer implemented initiatives that placed them in a better position than Lenovo. At first Acer was suffering from poor brand recognition. Consumers were concerned about the quality and the reliability of its products. One of the ways that Acer overcame this obstacle was acquiring Gateway which created a path for Lenovo to their entry barriers for the U.S. marketplace. Also by Acer entering into the Chinese market, they sought to take advantage of cheaper labor, economies of scale, and the availability of highly paid engineers. In comparison, Acer and Lenovo relied on acquiring U.S. based companies in order to expand globally. As stated earlier Acer acquired Gateway to help expand their territory, while Lenovo...
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...NATIONAL OPINION POLL: CANADIAN VIEWS ON ASIA © Copyright 2014 Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT THE ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION OF CANADA _________________________________________________ 2 ABOUT THE NATIONAL OPINION POLL: CANADIAN VIEWS ON ASIA ________________________________ 2 METHODOLOGY KEY FINDINGS ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 EXPLAINING CANADIANS’ VIEWS ON ASIA DETAILED FINDINGS ___________________________________________________________ 7 ____________________________________________________________________________________ 17 SECTION 1: PERCEPTIONS OF ASIA __________________________________________________________ 17 SECTION 2: VIEWS OF CANADA-ASIA ECONOMIC RELATIONS ____________________________ 23 SECTION 3: PROVINCIAL PERSPECTIVES ON CANADA-ASIA RELATIONS _______________ 31 SECTION 4: CANADA-ASIA ENERGY RELATIONS ___________________________________________ 35 SECTION 5: PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN ASIA ________________________________________ 39 SECTION 6: CANADA-ASIA SECURITY ISSUES ______________________________________________ 41 SECTION 7: DEMOGRAPHIC FINDINGS ______________________________________________________ 43 APPENDIX: READING THE TABLES _____________________________________________________________________ 49 NOP 2014...
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...ANALYSIS OF STARBUCKS CASE Laurent Werro, Nikola Volchkov, Yuki Toyoshima, Jérôme Jayet Starbucks is a company that was founded in 1971 in Seattle by Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Ziev Siegl. It is a specialized coffee roaster and distributor. The Company now operates in four areas: Americas which includes the US, Canada, and Latin America; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); China/Asia Pacific (CAP). (1) GROWTH AND SUCCESS FACTORS Starbucks pays attention to product quality and shop atmosphere. They brought back the trend of coffee drinking and they also created a social trend. People come to Starbucks for different reasons but most important for high quality coffee. The comfortable atmosphere while drinking a high quality coffee created a gathered spot for customers where they enjoyed meeting a friend, read a book or work. All these factors created a unique "Starbucks experience". By doing so they earned the customers loyalty, some of them were visiting bars up to 18 times a month (2). They also created a partnership with the coffee growers and worked directly with them to ensure the highest quality of their products. Starbucks international rapid expansion is due to joint ventures with local partners and licensing agreements. Starbucks decided to set some criteria to their partners in order to keep the Starbucks experience across the globe. “Starbucks brand is built on passion and you can easily feel the passion of our partners in any of our international stores”...
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...available in China since the site’s inception in 1999, service was slow and unreliable due to extensive Chinese government censoring of international content. Google’s major U.S. competitors, Yahoo! and Microsoft MSN, had each entered the Chinese market as ISPs years earlier, agreeing to self-censor. In addition, escalating competition from Chinese search engine Baidu.com was quickly eroding Google. com’s Chinese market share: between 2002 and 2007, Baidu.com’s market share increased from a mere 3%1to a dominant 58%2 Also, during the same time there were cases of privacy breach in China by the companies which further made it difficult for Google to come to a decision. . In early 2006, just as Google was planning to launch Google.cn, it became known that Yahoo! China had turned over private user e-mail data to the Chinese government and that this had led to the ten-year, eight-year, and four-year prison sentences of Chinese cyber dissidents Shi Tao, Li Zhi, and Jiang Lijun. In addition, Microsoft had recently shut down the blog of famous Chinese political blogger Michael Anti (a penname for Zhao Jing) at the request of the Chinese government4. Clearly any decision made by Google to enter China would have to take into account concerns about user privacy and government surveillance The criticism: Google’s decision to self-censor Google.cn attracted significant ethical criticism at the time. The company’s motto is “Don’t Be Evil,” and prior to entering China, Google had successfully...
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...Economic Integration 4. Benefits from of Economic Integration 5. Arguments for of Economic Integration 6. Arguments against of Economic Integration 7. Economic Integration of Asia 8. Economic Integration of America 9. Economic Integration of Europe 10. Economic Integration of Africa 11. Modes of Economic Integration 12. Problems of Economic Integration 13 Danger of Economic Integration 1. Meaning and Level of Economic Integration: Meaning of Economic Integration: Economic Integration means agreements between groups of countries in a geographic region to reduce and ultimately remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to ensure free flow of goods, services and factors of production between each other. Example: GATT and WTO are the biggest association of more than 140 member countries, which strive to reduce the barriers. However, more than regional, WTO has a global perspective. By entering into regional agreements, groups of countries aim to reduce trade barriers more rapidly than can be achieved under WTO....
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...business, Haier’s also focused on technology research, manufacturing, trade and financial services. Eventually, the global revenue of Haier for 2005 was RMB 103.4 billion. 1.1 Ownership of The Company According to Financial times, as far as transforming moments in a CEO’s Career, Mr. Zhang Ruimin is the chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Haier Group. Mr. Zhang’s current goal is to further enhance Haier’s leadership in Chinese and global markets and strengthen the reputation of Haier’s brand worldwide. In 1984, Zhang Ruimin was appointed as the director of the Qingdao Refrigerator Factory, a small, ailing collectively-owned factory in the Shandong province of China. Under his leadership and unique management philosophy, the company has since grown to become the Haier Group as now to be the China leading’s home appliance brand, and one of the world’s largest home appliances makers with the distribution presence over 100 countries. Mr. Zhang’s management philosophy is a blend of international management principles and Chinese wisdom with innovation and excellence as its cornerstones. It is the driving force behind the motivation and enthusiasm of Haier’s staff over 50,000 employees...
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...During periods of recession, an economy usually experiences a relatively high unemployment rate. There 3 main types of unemployment. The easiest type of unemployment to explain is known as frictional unemployment. Frictional unemployment is unemployment that occurs because it takes workers some time to move from one job to another. It is frictional because the labor market does not automatically match up all available jobs with all available workers. Instead, job search requires time for the right worker to find the right job. Both workers and society benefit when job applicants are matched to the appropriate job. Sources of frictional unemployment include the following: people entering the workforce from school; imperfect information (information about the availability of jobs); people re-entering the workforce after raising children; people changing unemployers due to quitting or being fired (for reasons beyond structural ones); people changing careers due to changing interests; people moving to a new city (for non-structural reasons) and being unemployed when they arrive. Economic science considers frictional unemployment is normal and is not cause for alarm. Moreover, frictional...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 02 2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK............................................................................ 02 3. GLOBALIZATION OF FOOD SYSTEMS IN CONTEXT................................ 03 a. Urbanization.................................................................................................. 03 b. Economics, health and education................................................................. 04 c. Employment................................................................................................... 05 d. Technology and facilitating mechanisms..................................................... 06 4. CHANGES IN DIETARY PATTERNS ............................................................... 07 a. Dietary convergence ..................................................................................... 07 b. Dietary adaptation ....................................................................................... 08 i. Lifestyle changes and adaptation of meal patterns........................... 08 ii. Street foods......................................................................................... 09 iii. Supermarkets .............................................................................
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...marketplace. In the year 2006, over 40% of Wal- Mart stores were internationally located. Wal-Mart decided to target emerging markets as the starting point for international expansion in Europe, nations with growing populations in Latin America, and in Asia is targeted China. “The first international store was opened in Mexico City in the year 1991. By forming a joint venture with the Mexican retail conglomerate, Cifra, Wal- Mart was able to overcome cultural differences (Ball al 396).” After some experience with Mexican partners, Wal-Mart succeeded to expand further in Mexico, and entered Brazil and Argentina. Wal-Mart became one of the first international retailers in China. “In the year 2006, Wal-mart out bided its largest competitor in China and acquired Trust-Mart, a chain of over 100 super centers located in 20 cities in China (Ball al 396).” This acquisition made Wal- Mart the largest network of food and department stores in China. Canada was entered in 1994 by the acquisition of 122 Woolco stores. Wal-Mart quickly transformed the Canadian stores to profitable operations. After two years the Wal-Mart started making profit in Canada. Also, Wal- Mart is looking into the possibilities of entering the Indian market and thinks that this...
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