Read Chapter 8 –Global Management and take Quiz 8 by Thursday at midnight.
Key Points from Chapter 8-Global Management included:
- Most every company in the U.S. has been and continues to be affected by the growth of globalization. Over the past several decades Globalization has been facilitated by trade agreements, containerization of shipping (which has significantly reduced shipping costs), and general world economic growth.
Many U.S. companies now sell and manufacture in a number of different countries as well as buy products and services from many different countries. Globalization has provided U.S. companies with expanded markets to grow their businesses, as well as lower cost sources of supply for materials and services to become more competitive.
With the current US government administration working to change the competitive balance of trade with a number of other countries such as Europe, Mexico, Canada, and China, there may be changes in some of the existing trade agreements, but unlikely to be a general global retrenchment of global trade. We are very dependent on other countries for many of the goods that we use every day such as most of the electronic products that we use such as smart phones, TV’s, cameras, and calculators); much of our clothing, including shirts, jeans, and shoes, and many food items. We would have a much different life style without globalization and free trade.
- In order for companies to be effective in selling and/or producing products in other countries, they must: understand the economic and cultural differences in each country; understand the political risks and the legal environment, and the local competition. In order to be effective in international markets, companies must adjust their products or services to local needs and conditions,
A company that has done this well is Coca Cola, as they have over 2,000 different products that they sell, and each one is tailored to the tastes, cultural, and economy of each country. KFC is another company that has been quite successful in serving global markets as they have adjusted their products, service, décor and pricing to fit the specific needs of each county they have gone into.
Companies that have not done as well are Mattel, who makes the Barbie Doll® when they tried to sell them in China and were very unsuccessful. They were not aware of the fact the Chinese girls do not play with dolls as American girts do. Lowes, the home improvement retailer also did not do well in China as they did not recognize that Chinese do not do their own home improvement work but rather hire a contractor to do it. I is very important the companies do their homework and determine the specific conditions in each country before they begin to set up operation in that country.
ITEM 2: Review the following videos about the impacts of globalization to gain a better understanding of both the positive and negative impacts on different groups. They will be helpful for this week’s discussion board.
Econ. Impact of Globalization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRZ9QvQFrBk
Positive Impact of Globalization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHahwQHN4ps
Globalization Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0nFD19eT8
ITEM 3: Discussion Board 1-Globalization and Free Trade and Biz Café Summary Results
It has been argued that free trade benefits all countries, citizens, and economies who participate.
Globalization-Identify various groups such as U.S. workers, U.S. businesses, the U.S. government, U.S. consumers, developing countries, etc. that are affected by globalization and free trade.
Which groups are positively affected and which groups are negatively affected and how?
As a U.S. business manager or owner, what are some of the things that you would do to take advantage of the benefits of globalization and free trade?
As a U.S. business manager or owner, how would you deal with any of your employees affected in a negative way by the globalization decisions that you would make that might be advantageous to your company but not necessarily to the employees?
Post on Week 10 Part 1, Discussion Board-Globalization and Free Trade comments on these issues as your initial post.
Read and comment on the posts of at least three students with arguments that either support their views or oppose them.
Final Post-did your views change after reading the other student’s posts? Post your final views and reasons for changes to your initial views and/or reasons for not changing.
Post on Part 2 Week 10 Discussion Board the results from Biz Café first and second set results.
Post for FIRST SET OF ROUNDS: Total Revenues (for all 16 rounds); Cumulative Net Income (net income for all 16 rounds); Customer satisfaction (at the end of the 16th round); Total Number of Cups Sold for all 16 rounds; Total Advertising Expenses (for all 16 rounds).
Post for the SECOND SET OF ROUNDS: Total Revenues (for all 16 rounds); Cumulative Net Income (net income for all 16 rounds); Customer satisfaction (at the end of the 16th round); Total Number of Cups Sold for all 16 rounds; Total Advertising Expenses (for all 16 rounds).
Post an explanation of why your results were different for the second set of Live Rounds? What did you change from the first set that led to the different results (either better or worse).
Discussion Board is due on Friday at midnight.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED
Sample Solution