Decision-Making in International Business Assignment Sample

Table of Contents

Ques 1

Ques 2

Ques 3

Ques 4

Ques 5

References

Managing Across Borders - Ques 1

Internationalization means creating products with idea that it can be sold to other countries except home country (Susman, 2017). Some of the means of internationalization are:

i) Compatibility

Currently, most of the organizations produce devices, hardware and software that are compatible with the other devices that are manufactured in their geography. But this restricts that scope of internationalization as no matter how good their product is it won’t be useful for individuals in other geographies (Barbara, 2014). Hence, in order to increase the scope of their product, it is very important to manufacture / create such devices that are compatible with any devices. Hence, it can be said that increasing compatible is surely one of the means of internationalization.

ii) Multi Lingual Usage

It is well known fact that each geography has its own language of operations. In other words, most of the products (especially software) work in that particular language. So if any organization plans to sell its product / software to other countries, it has to make sure that it is understandable by them. This is possible when the product / software is published in multiple languages. It can be interpreted that multi language usage while creating a product or feature is surely a way of internationalizing the product.

Managing Across Borders - Ques 2

Although there are many qualities that are expected from a manager, some of the very essential qualities that are looked upon in the manager in the western cultural context are:

i) Leadership

For a manager, it is quite important to lead his team effectively. In other words, he should maintain the team spirit and coordination among his team members. He should have the ability to lead each situation and individual differently.

ii) Communication

It is very important for a manager to be an extremely good communication so that he can effectively communicate each of the tasks that a team needs to complete. He should be able to clearly communicate the goals and objectives of each project to the team.

iii) Knowledge

Since he will be the senior most member of the team, it is very important of him to have deep subject knowledge so that he can help his fellow team members in times of difficulties. (Becker & Glasscoff, 2014)

iv) Time Management

At any given point, a team will be handling multiple projects. Hence, a manager should be able to decide on the priorities of the team as a whole. He should be able to allocate the tasks and deadline accordingly.

v) Reliability

Both external and internal stakeholders should have full confidence on the manager. From external stakeholder’s point of view, he should deliver the projects with full efficiency and from internal, he should be available to listen to their issues and problems and act on them.

Managing Across Borders - Ques 3

In the business world, cash cow means any business that gives steady income or profits that are far more that is invested to acquire the business (Pearce, 2020). Although, it is true that multinational enterprises look for those countries where they could get cheap resources as compared to their home country. But this is win- win situation for both the parties. This is essentially done by companies to reduce the total cost (as they can get cheap resources over there) and hence increase the profits. If they carry operations in their country, the cost will be very high as both resources and labour are costly, but while at the same time if the operations are carried out in the host country, they are cheap. The only possible reason why MNEs opt for doing that is to reduce the bottom lines of the company and increase the margins of cash reserve.

One very good example is IT companies moving their large base to cheap countries like India, Vietnam etc. Companies like Accenture, Cognizant etc. have huge base in low cost countries because the humane resource is very cheap over here. Also, the fixed cost is relatively low in countries like India and Vietnam. Hence, they shift their base from high cost home country to low cost host country. This is also beneficial for home countries because they have scarcity of jobs and such MNEs give them ample number of jobs. But there is nothing to be criticizing MNEs for this because this is beneficial for both the host country and home country.

Managing Across Borders - Ques 4

As a part of cultural leadership there are four types of culture based norms and beliefs that needs to be considered, they are folkways, mores, taboos and laws:

i) Folkways

There are customs or the traditions which are socially approved that have been following since a long time. For instance, in the USA when you visit some else house, you have to belch loudly after eating dinner that is norm over there. (Horne, 2011)

ii) Mores

Mores are norms but mostly considered as that of morality. For instance, attending prayer is Church is considered as mores. It is not written anywhere that needs to be done but everyone does it. Mores are those norms that you are expected to do them morally.

iii) Taboos

Taboos are opposite of Mores. It is nothing but breaking the Mores. For instance, no one should attend the church in nude. It is not written anywhere that is prohibited but no one does it, also if someone does it is it would not be considered right.

iv) Law

Laws are also norms but more formally stated. They are the rules which are made by the state. State has right to punish anyone who does not follow those rules (norms). For instance, you cannot kill someone it is law and if you do it you will be severely punished for breaking the law.

Managing Across Borders - Ques 5

The fundamental patterns of cultural differences are:

i) Different communication styles

One aspect is the language used for communicating; this may vary from culture to culture. Second, is the importance given to the different forms of communication?

For instance, in USA very informal language of communication is used while in Europe, the language used is very formal.

ii) Different attitudes towards conflicts

While certain cultures believe that conflicts are good to have as it is very important to represent your opinion while certain cultures believe that conflicts should be avoided.

For instance, in eastern countries it is believed that conflicts just mean wasting your time while in the USA; people are taught to deal with conflicts directly.

iii) Different approaches in completing tasks

The approach to complete the tasks varies from person to person. While some believe that collaboration and coordination is the best approach to complete the task while others believe that autonomy and independence is the best way to complete the task.

While Asian cultures places a very high importance in developing relationships that the beginning of project while Europeans-Americans tend to start with work right.

iv) Different attitudes towards disclosure

While some cultures are hesitant to discuss their emotions, personal lives or the reasons of dispute with colleagues while others are more open about it.

For instance, the Asian cultures are more open about sharing their thoughts, emotions with others while Americans are equally reluctant to share the same.

v) Different decision-making styles

The roles individuals play varies widely over the cultures. While in certain cultures, the autonomy is given while in the other cultures, the autonomy is not given.

While in US, decisions are often delegated to the sub-ordinates while in Latin and European countries, high value is given that the decisions are taken by self.

References for Managing Across Borders

Susman, Gerald I. (2017). Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and the Global Economy. Young et al., 2013. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 281. ISBN 1-84542-595-2 Ingham, Barbara (2014). International economics: a European focus. Pearson Education. p. 336. ISBN 0-273-65507-8.

Pearce, John A. (2020). Strategic management : formulation, implementation, and control. Robinson, Richard B. (Richard Braden), 1947- (7th ed.). Boston: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-229075-7. OCLC 41488602.

Craig M. Becker, Mary A. Glascoff, (2014) .Process measures: a leadership tool for management, The TQM Journal, Vol. 26 Issue: 1, pp.50-62, https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-02-2013-0018.

Nederpelt, Peter van (2012). Object-oriented Quality and Risk Management (OQRM). A practical and generic method to manage quality and risk. MicroData. ISBN 978-1-291-037-35-7.

Hochschild, A. (2019). The Economy of Gratitude, In D.D. Franks & E.D. McCarthy (Eds.), The Sociology of Emotions: Original Essays and Research Papers, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Horne, C. (2011). Social Norms. In M. Hechter & K. Opp (Eds.), New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. Arnold, Matthew (2011). Culture and Anarchy. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017

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