...In 2008 when the global economy took a turn for the worst Canada managed to come out on top. This is thanks to the export of natural resources and commodities. The Canadian government immediately took charge and start making budget cuts in order to have a full recovery by 2015. (D.R., 2011) Canada has a large threat in its path; its dependence on the outside world. Canada fared much better than was expected while other countries throughout the world declined and fell into a recession. There are nine specific key indicators that are important to consider when talking about Canadian economy. These are employment, unemployment, composite leading index, housing starts, consumer price index, real gross domestic product, retail sales volume, merchandise exports, and merchandise imports. (Statistics Canada, 2011) Employment and Unemployment In November 2011 the unemployment rate was set at 7.4%. The average unemployment rate in Canada from 1976 to 2010 was 8.53. (Trading Economics, 2011)The employment force is the number of people employed plus the number of people looking for employment. (Trading Economics, 2011) Unemployment includes those not looking for work, people in the military, and people institutionalized. (Trading Economics, 2011) Canada was able to add 93,000 jobs in June 2011, in effect dropped the unemployment rate to below the 8% mark. The gains in the labour force will offset nearly all of the losses that were a result of the downturn in 2008. (Contenta...
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...“If there is anything more than evident than my success as a businessman, it is my faithfulness to the word of God.” - Cecilio K. Pedro, TOYM Awardee for Entrepreneurship, 1991 Filipinos Go Global: Cecilio K. Pedro Krish Rainjit R. Salas Faced with a great Goliath in life, this businessman turned to his master for help and wisdom. The story of Cecilio K. Pedro and the Lamoiyan Corporation, makers of Hapee Toothpaste is a triumph of faith over adversity. Cecilio Pedro is President and General Manager of Lamoiyan Corporation which not only produces one of the top three toothpaste brands in the country, already being exported to Europe and Asia, but also manufactures detergents, fabric softener and other household care products that enjoy significant market shares in the Philippines. Mr. Pedro is a recipient of many awards, among them, the Agora Award for Marketing Excellence in 1993, the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Award in 2002, and the Aurelio Periquet, Jr. Business Leadership Award in 2003. A devout Born-again Christian, he is very active in his Church and has been involved in many socio-civic causes. He was President of the Manila Jaycees from 1992 to 1993 and President of the JCI Asia-Pacific Jaycee Senate in 2003. Everything can be an opportunity If there is an entrepreneur who does not have the word "loss" in his vocabulary because he believes that anything and everything can be an opportunity, it is Cecilio Pedro. Further, he has shown how an opportunity can transform...
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...STRATEGIES FOR COMPETING IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS: A GLOBAL INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE Why Companies Expand into Foreign Markets Companies opt to expand outside their domestic market for any of four major reasons: * To gain access to new customers, raw materials, capital, skills and expertise – expanding into foreign firms offers the potential for increased revenues, profits, and long term growth even more so when home markets are mature. * To achieve lower costs and enhance the firm’s competitiveness - Sales volume from one country isn’t enough to fully capture manufacturing economies of scale. * To capitalize on its core competencies - A company with a competitively valuable competency or capability might be able to leverage themselves and make this competency work in a foreign market, too. * To spread its business risk across a wider market base - Companies may move abroad to diversify their risk associated with being in a single economy (e.g. foreign exchange risk, political risk). If the economy in one area falls, the firm might be ok in different economic markets. In addition to why companies expand into foreign markets, there are four other situational considerations unique to international operations: * Country to Country Cost Variations – Differences in wage rates, workers productivity, inflations rates, energy costs, tax rates, government regulations, etc crate sizeable variations in manufacturing costs from country to country. Plants in some countries...
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...analysis of risks. Although not being extremely profitable in the first year, they continued to market and drive their business to success, matching risk with profit. Having a diverse workforce to handle global market. Worked together using their background and talents acting as an entrepreneurial team. Thinking about the environment to reduce waste and utilize the internet and technology (e-commerce). Hired smartly and trained to work more efficient and independently. Globalized their market more increase revenue and profit. Aware of each stakeholder. Didn’t borrow any money to start business Demand capital, good idea, planned, information management, budgeted and accounting, marketing, and employee relations with diversity and globalization. Managerial know-how! * Who are the stakeholders of iContact and how are their needs balanced by the company? Stakeholders include: Well trained and diversified employees including Ryan and Aaron, customers (small businesses impacting large businesses), environmentalists, surrounding community of N. Carolina, stockholders if any, web supplier or internet team? Needs are balanced because the two serve stakeholders in side and outside the business, social responsible and seem to have efforts balancing competing values and interests. Involved more than just the owners to increase vision of the company-diversification for customer satisfaction and increased profit. The two know the needs of the organization and to fill the...
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...Globalization – McDonald’s as a corporation has over 33,000 restaurants worldwide, in 119 countries, and serves over 64 million customers a day (About McDonald's. 2010). These figures alone are evidence that globalization is a very important goal for this business. McDonald’s company mission is to improve their social and environmental performance, and work towards a sustainable future (About McDonald's. 2010). McDonald’s global strategy is called “Plan to Win”, in which the company centers on People, Products, Place, Price, and Promotion (About McDonald's. 2010). This strategy has earned them the number one place in global foodservice retailers. As with all companies, globalization can be impacted by both external and internal sources. With McDonald’s now found worldwide, the sheer number of external influences that can affect the management team rises exponentially. With international business, the management team must look at different cultures, different advertising strategies, different economies, and possibly even different product lines to entice customers from many different countries. This can put an extreme amount of pressure on a management team to make sure that all four functions are adapted to the location of the business. With each location in a global environment, the strategy of planning, organizing, leading and controlling, would have to adapt to each site. This means that from the executive level, to the front...
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...Introduction The United States workforce will be influenced in the next 20 years by several forces. The big shift in U.S. population size and composition (diverse, aging); advanced technology; globalization; and environmental and resources pressures. Technological advances and globalization are changing the way the workplace is structured, and creating a greater demand for less traditional and more flexible working arrangements. U.S. organizations to be able to respond effectively to globalization, and technological advances challenges, must have a workforce with greater range of experience, knowledge, and skills. Effective diversity management, skills development, and workplace training is very essential to stay competitive in a global environment. In addition increase labor productivity will be required to keep pace with global competitors. Environmental pressures, especially climate change and natural resources, will be another powerful force impacting the U.S. job market in the next 20 years. There are several factors that will influence the United States workforce in the next 10 years. Aging population, technology advances, and global competition. According to the bureau of labor statistics, the percentage of older workers (age 55 and over) will increase significantly, while those age (25-54) will decline, as well as those age (16-24)? Between the years 2005 and 2010, the population of (65-69) years old will rise by 17% and then explode...
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...In the 1990s, Singapore aspired to be a "global city" serving world markets and major multinational corporations. In 1965 Singapore became independence country. The lion city had become a manufacturing center with one of the highest incomes in the region and a persistent labor shortage Singapore was characterized by an export-oriented economy, relatively equitable income distribution, trade surpluses with the United States and other developed countries. Singapore is a small island had no resources other than its strategic location and the skills of its nearly 2.7 million people. In 1988 it claimed a set of economic superlatives, including the world's busiest port, the world's highest rate of annual economic growth (11 percent), and the world's highest savings rate (42 percent of income). Singapore is found that lived by international trade and operated as a free port with free markets. Its small population and dependence on international markets meant that regional and world markets were larger than domestic markets. In1988 the value of Singapore's international trade was more than three times its gross domestic product ( GDP). The country's year-to-year economic performance fluctuated unpredictably with the cycles of world markets, which were beyond the control or even the influence of Singapore's leaders. In periods of growing international trade.In 1985-1986, Singapore could reap great gains, but even relatively minor downturns in world trade could produce deep recession...
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...Nike Corporation is one of the largest marketers of athletic apparel and sportswear equipment in the world and was founded in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. According to Nike.com (2009) it had record earnings of 19.2 billion dollars and continues to grow at a steady pace. Nike sold its products in a 140 countries and successfully discovered that manufacturing its products was not the only method to successfully produce the results it was looking for but instead marketing and designing its products and contracting the manufacturing out to global factories 600 throughout the country. With the company’s success come painful lessons learned along the way. This paper will describe the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that Nike Corporation faced as a result of its global business ventures. In addition, it will touch on the roles the host governments played in manufacturing Nike’s products and will summarize the strategic and operational challenges that Nike Managers face in dealing with the interworking of global business. Nike as well as other global companies in the industry has the option to manufacture their products domestically or internationally in either situation there are challenges. If a company chose to the domestic approach it could potentially be more expensive, however, the organization and its manufacturing facility contractors would have to adhere to U.S. labor and safety laws in the areas of wages, code of conduct, working...
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...has formulated a specific expansion strategy in the past based on its particular market situation. Both Daewoo and Hyundai now look to international global expansion for future success. Expansion & Supply Chain The direct competition with each other in the Korean car market had an enormous influence on each firm’s past globalization strategies. The Korean automobile industry has been dominated by Hyundai since the 1970’s. By 1993, Hyundai had established a 50% market share in the Korean market, whereas Daewoo only held 20% (Bowon, 2005, p. 148). In 1993, Hyundai also enjoyed 58% of the market share of automobile exports by Korean companies, whereas Daewoo’s exporting efforts had failed (Bowon, 2005, p. 148). Moving forward from 1993, Daewoo and Hyundai took into account their competitive position against each other when deciding how to conduct their global expansion strategy. “Daewoo focused on expeditiously achieving economies of scale by targeting the East European markets for its overseas capacity expansion, in a way to overcome its manufacturing cost disadvantage in the domestic market vis-à-vis Hyundai's. . . Hyundai's globalization strategy, exporting supported by technological advancement, was driven by an implicit assumption of its competitive advantage vis-à-vis Daewoo's” (Kim, Bowon. Supply Chain...
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...Battersby, L. 2012, ‘Telstra to cut 651 jobs in revamp’, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 August, viewed 29 September 2012, <http://www.smh.com.au/business/telstra-to-cut-651-jobs-in-revamp-20120821-24jwi.html> Summary Battersby (2012) reported that Telstra will cut about 235 staff from call centres due to more customers access to Telstra services on the Internet rather than through a call centre. Some of these jobs will be shifted to existing partner contact centres which in Philippines. This action will be supported by the figure which indicated that the ratio of consumers using online services has raised from 8 per cent in 2010 to 30 per cent now while call volumes are in a declining trend. Application of concepts There are some concepts related to socio-cultural environment and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in this action taken by Telstra. As the company stated, jobs cut is necessary and it is an aggressive push to costs cut, which caused by changes in customer preferences (Battersby 2012). Richard (n.d) outlined that a successful business must be aware of changes in cultures in societies in order to stay competitive advantage and stay in minds of customer preferences. Further, the growth of Internet use has become as abundant evidence leads to emerging of global culture; therefore global strategy should be revised as social cultural environment changed (Morrison 2008). According to Dani Rodrik (cited in Tan n.d), professor of international political economy...
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...Coca-Cola As the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, Coca-Cola is certainly no stranger to global marketing. Established in the US, Coca-Cola initiated its global expansion in 1919 and now markets to more than 200 countries worldwide. It is one of the most recognizable brands on the planet and also owns a large portfolio of other soft drink brands including Schweppes, Oasis, 5 alive, Kea Oar, Fanta, Lilt, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Powerade. Despite this, Coca-Cola often struggles to maintain its market share over its main rival PepsiCo in some overseas markets, particularly Asian countries. Arguments for Standardization Converging customer needs and preferences It is proposed by Levitt that the forces of globalization driven by technology...
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...Does the term ‘globalisation’ deserve the significance it has acquired in recent years? Introduction Globalisation conjures a myriad of ideas in the mind of individuals due to the varying experiences it has presented over the years. It has become very significant in the 21st century with a deep rooted historical background dating as far back as the 19th century. It is possible to assert that globalisation has transformed our world giving rise to many opportunities although there are numerous risks. However, globalisation has much significance as it affects all our lives. It has benefited many as barriers have been lowered and it has fostered the increased integration of economies. According to Allen and Thomas (2000) ‘Globalisation is a ‘process which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions- assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact-generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and exercise of power’(Allen and Thomas,2000, p.348). This essay will argue that the term globalisation does deserve the significance it has acquired in recent years, by exploring four themes through the lens of technological advancement, capitalism, the economic dimensions and the impact on the British economy. Globalisation as a concept is not particularly new but it has a historical background which predates 1870 and can be traced even further to earlier periods. Contemporary...
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...A DECADE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AT UNILEVER 7 November 2012 • Originally founded in 1872, and incorporated in 1929, Unilever was facing a difficult time when upon their discovery that the organizational architechture and strategy they were employing was not benefiting the company. • The company was under a decentralized structure for generations. o Managers looking for a change o The decision was to go global • It was mid-1990 and initial changes were made with minmal results. o Managers tried again and rebuilt the company from the inside out o Between 1990-1996 Unilever introduced the concept based on regional business groups o The groups and divisions coordinated activities in the regions • It is now the year 2000 a slight change was apparent; however, the company was still behind their competitors. Again, management decides change is warranted o Unilever decides change the number of brands form 1600 to 400 o Reduce the number of manufacturing plants from 380 to 280 o Management wants all of this completed by the year 2004 • It is extremely difficult to change. The process is compounded when you are a multinational business trying to reshape your thumbprint. That in itself can take years Unilever managed to change and they no doubt are yet continuing to perfect that change. As we can only get better. A DECADE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AT UNILEVER Change while yet simple to say is one of the most difficult processes to perform. It...
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...There is no denying that outsourcing is a major phenomenon on a massive global scale. The Information Technology field is a major contributor to global outsourcing. Outsourcing is currently a major social and political issue in the United States. At stake are thousands of jobs ranging from help desk operators to software programmers. The financial impact outsourcing has on the global economy is also a key factor. As time passed, companies recognized the need to cut operating costs, reduce personnel and save their resources. Hence, outsourcing came to the forefront as a way to stay competitive. Developing nations like India and China have come to light in recent years as they have a wealth of computer engineers and programmers who will work for low wages. Outsourcing has become such a common practice that it is now considered a benefit to the world economy, and knowing that outsourcing is a $400 billion a year industry and IT outsourcing is a vital part of the industry. A slump in IT outsourcing would mean a loss for the global economy andThe world must accept that outsourcing is a major staple to the world economy. However, with every step forward, come two steps back. Companies continue to outsource jobs overseas, leaving thousands jobless in the United States. Companies have emphasized costs cutting and profits rather than focus on the social change outsourcing has done to American Society and the economy. The era of technological outsourcing has essentially lowered the...
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...Global Operations Management Unit 2 DB 1.) If this firm is a high-tech manufacturing firm, what resource and operational factors should be considered in this decision? As new firms, lots of wise but difficult decision has to be made. In Bit Technology’s case deciding where to locate its facilities internationally requires indebt research. Things that this company should consider are the location, systemic, operational, managerial as well as organizational aspects. As far as location and operational factors are concerned, target market and production area might become significant factors in relation to the proximity either to the potential or current customers (target market within the USA) or to production market located in China. With this being said, operation managers should compare which market becomes more cost-effective and time-efficient to be chosen as location. To continue, the external and internal dynamics of the selected market or location should be scrutinized thoroughly in relation to the attractiveness of the climate and culture, for instance; the stability of political conditions and economic indicators as well as social structure and technological capacities. The factors that affect the technical feasibility of a high-tech manufacturing firm include building function, equipment, energy costs, maintenance cost, the cost of management and design of the system, human resources costs etc. As a result, the main factors include costs, of transportation, target market...
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