two questions need to be solved
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
1. Please choose and write up any 2 of questions 1 through 4 below below in a well-written, well-structured essay. Each question is worth 50 points. I suggest using concise language and that you choose those questions regarding topics that interest you most. Please limit the resulting document to a total of five pages, single-spaced, 10-point font or bigger.
2. This exam is not a team project; it is to be completed independently.
3. Please submit an electronicversion of your completed exam in Word Doc format with your last name inserted in the title of the documentto the instructor by through the link on Blackboard by Saturday, June 1, 2019.
(1) How Does Strategy Respond to Environmental Factors
ImprimaCorporation is based in the United States and is examining the prospects for expanding into international markets with its main product, 3D printers for personal computers. Generally, 3D printers are made from standard parts. However, when sold internationally, some modifications are made to adapt the product’s power supply (e.g., voltage requirements and shape of the plug for electrical outlets) and internal software to suit specific language requirements. Consider the various attributes of the market for 3D printers and how Imprima should respond to them in the process of formulating strategy.
(i) From Imprima’s standpoint, what are the main drivers to be considered when selecting an overall approach to international expansion and how do they impact the firm’s decisions?
(ii) What are the relative advantage(s) of the strategic choices faced by Imprima?
(iii) What are the market related factors that typically affect strategic decisions to be more globally integrated versus locally responsive? (E.g., in the case of Imprima language is a factor that necessitates adapting the product software to certain markets). Please give several examples of how and why the most important of these factors can lead to product adaptation for the local market.
(iv) Imprima management is concerned that its pricing might be too high, given the lower income level of typical consumers in many international markets. What steps can Zebra take to help reduce the pricing on its laser printers?
(2) Selection of Countries for a Global Business and Strategies for Participation
“Instead of selecting country-markets on the basis of stand-alone attractiveness, managers need to consider how participation in a particular country will contribute to globalization benefits and the global competitive position of the business.” Being a serious global player means much more than simply having X percent of your revenues from outside the USA and being involved in Y number of countries. “Being present in ten countries that include the United States, Japan, and Germany is far more important, in most industries, than is being present in thirty countries that exclude these three but include many small, less advanced countries…To have a global level of market participation requires significant global market share, a reasonable balance between the business’s geographic spread and the market’s spread, and presence in globally strategic country-markets.”
(i) What are the most important criteria for determining what are, and what are not, globally strategic markets? Please describe these criteria in detail and provide some relevant examples.
(ii) What are the specific benefits to the firm of participating in globally strategic markets? Please describe these benefits.
(iii) How should the changes associated with the phenomenon of globalization influence firm decisions regarding selection of countries for participation? What changes should firms actively monitor and how should firms interpret them?
(3) Activity Location in the Global Value Chain
Each functional or value-adding activity, from R&D to manufacturing to customer service is a candidate for globalization under a strategic approach implemented with a global mindset. Thus the firm should configure each stage of its value chain at the most appropriate location worldwide in terms of minimizing system costs and maximizing system revenues. It should then optimally coordinate the activities at these disparate locations for maximal organizational benefit. Where to locate all the activities in the firm’s value chain reflects a trade-off between traditional country considerations and the global strategic importance of each location.Thinking about the competitive or strategic advantages a firm might possess versus the comparative advantages that might be present in a particular location:
(i) First, please define these two concepts and describe the origins of each.
(ii) How might the firm go about combining these two advantages in order to achieve optimal, organizational results in terms of increased profits, competitive advantages, and so forth?
(iii) In reality, most companies have some duplication of their value chain in each of the countries where they do business. Why would having a certain amount of duplication be an advantage to the firm? Please elaborate.
(iv) Research and development is a critical function for most firms. For the global firm, what factors should be considered when deciding where to locate the R&D function? Please describe each of these briefly. Which of these factors do you think is most important for computer manufacturers such as Dell and Toshiba, and why?
(4). Identifying and Exploiting Opportunities
For sophisticated international firms, assessing global markets, opportunities and challenges is an ongoing process. Levi Strauss is the largest manufacturer of trousers, notably denim jeans. Countries differ in their tastes and fashions, which necessitates adapting products and services. Levi regularly seeks new opportunities to sell its products and reduce its worldwide operating costs. As it enters new foreign markets, Levi must surmount various challenges. For example, the firm had to substantially adapt its approach in Islamic countries, where women are discouraged from wearing tight-fitting attire and generally do not interact with male sales personnel. In Japan, local preferences and the smaller physique of many Japanese required Levi to make its blue jeans tighter and smaller. Levi does much of its manufacturing in low-cost countries, in order to reduce production costs. Levi sells its trousers in over 100 countries, and international shipping and logistics pose various challenges. Recently, in order to find new markets and cost-saving ideas, Levi managers decided to conduct a global market opportunity assessment.
(i) Summarize the process that Levi should undertake when performing such an assessment, and provide some examples of what Levi management might learn in the course of such an assessment.
(ii) Describe the screening methodologies that Levi could employ in order to find potential foreign markets.
(iii) Identify some key global macro trends that might affect Levi’s international business, and how the firm could take advantage of these trends (e.g., Levi might find new customers in particular world regions). What are some of the lessons learned by other companies and how could Levi’s take advantage of these lessons.
Solution Preview
Business Outlook
Introduction
The largest percentage of the economy thrives as a result of the different business enterprises that are run globally. In the United States, the economy falls under mixed economy that is: command economy and free-market economy where the free market economy is more prevalent. The United States is stated as one of the highest-ranked economies in the globe. One of the major factors why this is the various established organisations found here and their global outreach. The different organisations run big and successful business that serve a wide range of target markets which enables
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