Fallon Barker
MGT / 350
December 22, 2012
Decisions in Paradise Part 1
Karen Allen

Development of business processes in new locations can often be time consuming; this is due to the need for defining and identifying any short term or long term issues that may arise in the course of starting up the business and keeping it running. A thorough evaluation of the local economy, location, population, cultures, language, and threat assessments is paramount to ensuring that a business is successful, while bringing a welcome addition to the local economy and culture.
Kava is located in the South Pacific; this location is excellent for agriculture and tourism. The issues any businesses expecting to develop and become successful have to identify on Kava are natural disasters, such as tsunami, floods, typhoons, and volcano eruptions. Others are terrorism and health issues such as HIV and avian flu. These issues are all factors when developing mission goals, human resources, building permanent structures and developing a business plan for the new operation. Along with natural and man-made disasters the understanding of local customs and cultures and positive interaction with the government are also of importance.
Any decisions made entails taking into account all of the above issues. Natural disasters affect the importing and exporting of goods that a business manufactures or buys to build or make their products. These disasters also affect timelines due to work stoppage, the need for solid foundations when building a permanent structure is important. Identifying safe areas in which to build these structures ensure it is safe from most of the natural disasters. Location also is important for workers who must travel to work. Is the location in an area that is safe, secure, and still within the local community. Building strong working relationships with the local communities, government agencies, and religious sects are also important in determining the mission of the organization, and working within the local customs and cultures. If all of these factors and forces are not taken into account when developing a business, the chances of failure or setbacks are much greater.
There are different stakeholders when developing and building a business in new locations, whether in a company’s home country or in a foreign country. The decisions made affect not just stockholders and employees, but the local community and government entities as well. Stockholders are affected when a business loses income, this loss of income can come from many different sources. One source is natural disasters, this issue affects work stoppage, damages caused by the disasters, and the chances of import and export shipments delay.
The loss of workers due to a natural disaster can also have an effect on business, the security and safety of these workers is paramount in keeping a business running. The cost of providing adequate safety measures for a business and its employees can also affect stockholders as the need for health insurance premiums rise due to the location and the disaster threats for that area. Employees from out of country and local workers are affected by natural and man-made disasters. The possibility of illness, injury, and loss of income due to the local environment threats affects employee pay, insurance, and ability to work.
Other issues such as language barriers, religious beliefs, and cultural differences can affect employees, without the integration of workers who can identify and work within these diversities, there are risks of worker retaliations, religious retaliations, alienation of local nationals and loss of inexpensive labor. The cost of bringing employees in from out of country can be costly, the need for passports, work visas, increased salary, and security measures, are doubled. The more outside employees the higher the costs of running the organization, the more local work force the lower the cost of running the company.
The local population is another stakeholder when developing and opening a new business. Factors can be anything from loss of income for some businesses due to the type of business developing or loss of quality workers. A positive for local business and economy is the influx of foreign workers living on the economy, this can help boost local business income, that otherwise is stagnant. Local and federal government entities are affected when new businesses from a foreign country are established; this is due to the possibilities of terrorist threats, the need for heightened security measures will exist, which increases the need for a stronger military presence and local police forces. Positives to the opening of a foreign business are increased revenues for the country due to taxes on the business, visa fees, and influx of foreign workers spending money, which boosts the economy.
In conclusion, there are many stakeholders and issues that need to be addressed when establishing a new business in a foreign country. Having touched on many of these issues and stakeholders, there is still a considerable amount of work to be accomplished in order to develop this business on Kava. In the next few weeks there will be opportunities to make adjustments and recommend plans and goals for the way ahead. Identifying some of the obstacles is the first step in ensuring that this business gets off the ground with a solid foundation beneath it, and ensuring ultimate success, while helping the economy and local population.