Emerging Issues in International Business and Global Strategy

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Emerging Issues

The relationship between MNCs’ strategies and executive staffing

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Lakshman ◽  
C. Lakshman ◽  
Christophe Estay
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of business strategies with executive staffing of multinational companies (MNCs). Design/methodology/approach Based on in-depth interviews conducted with top executives of 22 MNCs’, the authors identify important connections between international business strategies and staffing orientation. The authors used the qualitative research approach of building theory from interviews; thus, creating theoretical propositions from empirical evidence. Findings The authors find that when the pressure for global integration is high, MNCs use more parent-country national (PCNs) (ethnocentric staffing) as against the use of host-country managers (HCNs) (polycentric staffing) when this pressure is low. Additionally, MNCs using a global strategy are more likely to use an ethnocentric staffing approach, those using a multi-domestic strategy use a polycentric approach and firms using transnational strategy adopt a mix of ethnocentric and polycentric approaches. Research limitations/implications Although the authors derive theoretical patterns based on rich qualitative data, their sample is relatively small and comprises mostly of French MNCs. Generalizability to a broader context is limited. However, the authors’ findings have critical implications for future research. Practical implications The authors’ findings provide critical managerial implications for MNCs in matching their HR strategies with business strategies. These are important for effective strategy implementation. Originality/value Although MNC staffing orientations have been studied for a long time, their relationship to international business strategies is still not clearly understood. The authors contribute to the literature by investigating the relationship between MNCs’ business strategy types with staffing orientations.

Expansion decision: HC Securities and Investment

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali H. Choucri ◽  
Anne Dietterich ◽  
Victoria Gillern ◽  
Julia Ivy
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
International Business ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
Academic Level

Learning outcomes Expected learning outcomes: To respond to the case question, students would analyze macro- and microeconomic differences to determine HC Securities’ preferred global strategy and appropriate market entry mode. The case demonstrates how instability in a local market, in this case Egypt, can force a company to go global. It also demonstrates how two superficially similar markets, Singapore and Hong Kong, provide different opportunities for HC Securities and require different global strategies: Singapore provides a jumping-off point to its predominantly Muslim neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, whereas Hong Kong gives access to China and could provide a new customer base of Asian investors willing to invest in Africa and the Middle East. Case overview/synopsis Brief overview of the case: The case introduces the Egyptian investment company HC Securities, which is facing challenges related to Egypt’s political instability and economic slowdown. HC Securities’ CEO, Mr. Choucri, feels expansion to one of the Asia-Pacific countries could help with the company’s growth and stability. He identifies Hong Kong and Singapore as the most compelling locations because of their sophisticated economies and growth potential in the investments industry. This case provides information about each market, allowing students to respond to the question “What should Choucri do to assure a market-based solution for his company?” Complexity academic level Student level and proposed courses: The case is appropriate for use in undergraduate courses in international business or strategic management. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code International Business.

Global health and international business: new frontiers of international business research

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 158-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Ahen
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
International Business ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
New Research

Purpose The purpose of this study is to revisit the interdisciplinary roots of international business (IB) by challenging the compartmentalized and obscured nature of certain major themes in current IB research. Here, the author broadens IB’s natural scope by introducing the links with global health while preemptively removing the existing limits of critical perspectives. Design/methodology/approach The study synthesizes ignored common insights from IB and global health governance. It supplies a select composite of emerging themes mostly at the interface of IB and global health as foundational proposals for reengaging IB for radical social change. This is in response to the urgent calls for inquiries into the “extra dimensions” of IB in answering wicked questions of global sustainability, injustice and inequality and other emergent grand challenges whilst embracing novel conceptual, theoretical and empirical opportunities. Findings This study demonstrates that IB research in its current form is reductive, quintessentially compartmentalized and evidently weak in responding to the emergent wicked problems of global scale. This is because several layers of complex, burning interconnected questions with roots in IB hardly receive exposure in research although they are the very existential and emerging issues with massive impacts on populations both in home and host countries. Practical implications This study sets new research agendas for critically studying IB and global health topics of vital relevance to reflect the changing frontiers of knowledge production in the fourth industrial revolution. Originality/value This study calls for deeper and broader discussions about the limitless opportunities of cross-fertilization of IB and other disciplines whilst highlighting the heretofore-overlooked connections between IB and environmental and medico-techno-scientific disciplines.

Friedman's Follies: Insights on the Globalization/Regionalization Debate

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Rugman ◽  
Chang H. Oh
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Popular Book ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
International Business Strategy

In this paper we deconstruct the popular book by Thomas Friedman which argues that the world is integrated through the advent of a new form of globalization based on the Internet. We use the logic of international business strategy to demonstrate that Friedman's examples of worldwide integration are special cases which ignore the empirical realities of multinational enterprises (MNEs). We provide empirical evidence to demonstrate that the world's largest MNEs do not operate globally, but sell and produce the vast majority of their output within their home region of the triad. We develop a new analytical framework to explain the limited nature of Friedman's thinking, and we contrast this with the more robust frameworks available in international business. The latter frameworks, which take into account country level and regional level barriers to integration, are better at explaining the activities of MNEs. We conclude that, from the viewpoint of international business strategy, the prescriptive thinking from Friedman is misleading if it is believed that a global strategy is feasible. Instead, MNEs need to develop strategies to accommodate the realities of intra-regional integration and to overcome the liabilities of inter-regional expansion across the triad.

Auntie Anne’s: searching for the right recipe for China

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Marlene Mints Reed ◽  
Les Palich
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wharton School ◽  
Business In China ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

Subject area International business. Study level/applicability Undergraduate level course in international business. Case overview Two fellow students at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Wen-Szu Lin and Joseph Sze, reconnected after finishing their MBAs and decided to launch a franchise together in China. The franchise they decided upon was Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. The company had experienced strong growth in Asia with over 85 stores in Thailand, 30 stores in Korea, 25 stores in Malaysia and 8 stores in Japan. Because of these successes, Win and Sze had forecast smooth sailing for their franchise in Beijing. However, things were not as smooth as they had expected. The first challenge was the impounding of their second shipment of pretzel mix for a few weeks. Other problems that they faced had to do with Lin’s inability to write Chinese, although he could speak the language, the lack of regulation of food and ingredients in China which led to their producing some poisonous products, and problems they had with their own employees. Lin and Sze were searching for ways to overcome the cultural and other challenges they faced in Beijing with their franchise. Expected learning outcomes At the conclusion of the case discussion, students should be able to identify the appropriate global strategy for Auntie Anne’s in China; identify whether Lin and Szu were intending to use a production orientation or the marketing concept in introducing Auntie Anne’s Pretzels into China; list and describe challenges the two entrepreneurs encountered in China; develop a list of actions that American businesspeople should follow in anticipating setting up a business in China; and outline a strategy for Lin and Szu to use in attempting to save the Auntie Anne Pretzel franchise in China. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 5: International Business.

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