Management Of An International Business: Decision Making, Marketing And Expansion

Selecting Specialist Managers for Setting Up Business in a Foreign Country

With the increase in globalization, various businesses have an idea of expanding their business to the international markets. The given report will be discussing four detailed questions with regard to management of an international business (Cascio 2018). The questions range from different departments and components of a business such as decision making, analysing the markets, marketing, expansion and human resource management.

The case suggests that the business sells extremely high tech optical products which are presently manufactured in London. The company is on a strict budget and plans to send three expatriates to set up the business properly. The three main expats that should be sent to Argentina are a product specialist, an unlocker and an auditor.

The product specialist is required to be sent because when a new venture is being started it is extremely important to see to it that a responsible specialist manager is present who has an idea of the use of machinery and is aware of the installation process. Hence, one Physicist or a Physics engineer would be required to be sent. The product specialist will be able to guide the factory workers as to how organize and maintain systematic procedures with regard to the functioning of the business in Argentina (Bratton and Gold 2017). Very often, during expansion plans, when a product specialist is missing, the foreign workers try to take advantage of the situation and the idea fails. If the person has the ability to speak in Portuguese then it would be better for him to adapt to the surroundings. Knowledge of the local language is extremely important as it helps in understanding the problems aced b the local employees. The specialist is advised to have the experience of project management.

Next in line is the unlocker. The unlocker refers to the person who is an excellent knowledge of the laws and legislature of the company. Knowledge of the laws and legislature in a foreign land goes a long way in keeping the business in a safe zone. It is advised that the person has extensive knowledge about the Brazilian rules and regulations. It is also suggested that the person is aware about the governmental agencies as well as the tax system of the country (Renwick, Redman and Maguire 2013). A business is generally set up to earn profits and hence the tax structure is quite relevant. The person needs to understand the income, production and consumption details of the sales.

Feasibility Analysis of Expanding Indian-Based Company’s Operation to Europe

It is advised that he has extensive knowledge about acquisition. This employee must know the Brazilian foreign trade rules and laws. He must be familiar with the government agencies involved and the taxes both for production and sales. It is very confusing, because Brazil taxes heritage, consumption, income, production and property. It is advised that he has a knowledge of acquisition would help.

The third expat who should be sent to Argentina is an auditor. The auditor will make sure that all business transactions are carried out successfully and that keeps a check on the various activities of the firm. It will be his job to check all balance sheet and other statements (Marchington et al. 2016). There exists certain difference between an accountant and an auditor. An auditor is usually external to the business operations and functions as a facilitator of perfection. The auditor will be checking whether all the operations are being carried out according to the set rules and regulations.

The given question is related to decision making. In the given case study an Indian company plans to expand the business and has various options. The business relates to competitive automobile industry (Purce 2014). The company is open to three locations which re the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and the Spain. Hence, in order to select a suitable location which will help the company in serving the European market, the given comparative analysis has been done in order to compare the three companies with respect to certain point of distinctions like Government legislature, level of technology, labour costs, Operational costs and Infrastructure.

Components	UK	Czech Republic	Spain
Government Legislature	The government legislature in the United Kingdom is very strict. They have laws pertaining to almost all the aspects of the business. This makes it extremely business for an organization to function (Wild, Wild and Han 2014).	Although the environmental analysis of the country is good, it is not suitable to set up the business there. The government there functions in a different manner which makes it difficult for any business to set up out there.	Spain has a good business environment. There exists certain laws however; they are not as strict as in the other countries. The government wants to promote its business and is therefore providing various business opportunities for other business houses to work and set up their business there.
Operational Costs	The operation costs are extremely high	The costs are quite huge	Spain has comparatively low costs
Cost of labour	The labour costs are very high with high with high wage rates	The labour costs are medium with comparatively high rates of wages (Cavusgil et al. 2014)	At Spain, the cost of labour is quite low with low wage rates
Infrastructure	The infrastructure in the country is very well developed	The infrastructure is not suitable to set up a company with the current global requirements.	The business and infrastructure is very well developed
Transportation	UK has a good logistics system	It does not have a good logistics system	Spain has an adequate system of logistics as compared to Czech Republic.
Technology	The country has an access to advanced technology	Czech Republic has a medium level of technology	Technology is well developed at Spain
Ease of doing business	Not always, due to various restrictions. Conducting a business at United Kingdom means a business has to go through various steps and legislative procedures (Armstrong et al. 2015).	Even at the Czech republic, the government is quite strict about conducting the business and hence it is difficult to conduct the business.	Easy due to presence of various subsidies from the government`s side in order to boost the Foreign Direct Investment.

Portugal

From the given analysis it can be stated that for the company based in Mumbai, the best available alternative is Spain. If the company sets up its business in Portugal, Spain it will benefit because of favourable conditions. The airport system in the given place is extremely well developed which makes it easier for the firm to operate in the given market. The financial systems are also very adequate along with the education and training. In that manner, the company will be able to hire good employees and prosper (Beamish 2013).

In the future, a country which will be able to overtake China in the merchandise sector. This will be explained by conducted a macro environmental analysis of India where the labour costs, transportation and other relevant costs will be discussed. India has a business friendly environment as it is a developing country which is constantly planning to expand its operations and therefore it taking over the Chinese is easier.

Advantages of Retail Industry in India

The retail industry in India aims to become one of the most fast paced industries in the country and has been successful in this domain. The retail industry of India accounts for its 10 per cent GDP and gives employment to around 8 per cent of the people.  Due to the fast paced growth rate of the internet, urbanization and middle class population recently becoming affluent, India has become a paradise for the retail arena. As per Barney (2014), the market size of the country will increase by 60 per cent and will reach around US$ 1.1 trillion in two years.

The primary reason why the dynamics have changed and the ball  is now in India`s court is because the country has witnessed an extremely high growth rate due to the increase of the young generation and changing lifestyles of the middle class population. The second reason, the country has been able to improve its retail industry has been due to its increased growth in the merchandise sector.  The given section has analysed the external environment of India through PESTLE Analysis which will help to understand the Indian scenario in a better manner.

Factor	Relevance to India
Political	The current government is extremely motivated towards promoting the business aspect in the country. The motto Make in India has been favourable for various business policies, government legislations and taxes. The country also provided various incentives for the local businesses which makes the country a paradise for any new company.
Economical	The economy of the country has been growing at a tremendous rate and is quite stable. Recently, the company started the Goods and System Tax Regime, which makes its operations further organized (Wheelen et al. 2017).
Socio-Cultural	The population of the country is high and a majority of this population is the young crowd which is more inclined towards entrepreneurial skills, making the country suitable for a growing retail sector.
Technological	Technology goes a long way in determining the business environment of any country. India is well vested with good connectivity, machines and 3g as well as 4g connectivity. The government is trying to support the local industries as well to compete with the foreign markets.
Legal	Various legal changes like minimum wage rate have had a huge impact on the various industries. The process of recycling has also influenced the country`s business atmosphere.
Environmental	This is the only aspect which is not adequate in India and there exists a huge amount of air pollution as well as water pollution in the given country (Wilson et al. 2016).

From the various factors it can be witnessed that India has all the suitable factors for overtaking the excellence of the merchandise industry from China.

A product can be defined as a set of offerings made by the company that help a firm to gain popularity in the market.  However, according to De Mooij (2013), as the company plans to expand its operations to the given country it needs to look after the attractive offerings in Japan. The walkers have introduced a wide variety of products which include French fries, squares, sticks, max, cheese and bacon mix, salt shake, quavers and others (Walker.uk 2018). It can make several customizations to the given product like offering reduced sizes to ensure trial testing and adding their cuisine tastes to attract and retain the population

Price

The price of the product refers to as the value of the product which the customer is willing to pay for the particular product. Slack (2015), states that the price of the product needs to be set according to the market segment and consumer chosen. In UK the price is 30p to 2.50 pounds but the prices may vary according to the different markets. In Japan the prices can be set according to different standard and income of the customers. The people in Japan do not have an income level same to that of the United Kingdom and therefore it is essential for the company to reduce the price in order to attract the consumers.

Comparative Analysis of Three European Countries

Place

Place refers to the places where the given product will be sold. Generally snacks like the Crisps are sold in local markets and super markets. In Japan, the chips can be sold in various stores, mini markets, and super markets. Targeting areas like schools and colleges is advised because the younger generation and the school kids are extremely fond of crisps and hence the given place is suggested.

Promotion

Promotion refers to the advertisement strategy as adopted by the firm to attract the customers. The promotion can be done through normal marketing which includes advertisement in television, magazines and newspapers. Various campaigns can also be set up so that the customers get attracted to the product. Social media advertisement can be done using mass media as a huge percentage of the Japanese population use various social media applications.

Personnel

The personnel refer to the people who are appointed to promote the product. In Japan, it is suggested that the company employees the local employees as Japanese is a difficult language for expats but is widely spoken in the country.

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Barney, J.B., 2014. Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. Pearson higher ed.

Beamish, P., 2013. Multinational joint ventures in developing countries (RLE International Business). Routledge.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J.R., Rammal, H.G. and Rose, E.L., 2014. International business. Pearson Australia.

De Mooij, M., 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications.

Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Renwick, D.W., Redman, T. and Maguire, S., 2013. Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), pp.1-14.

Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Walker.uk., 2018.  Walkers Crisps | Walkers UK. [online] Available at: https://walkers.co.uk/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018].

Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management and business policy. pearson.

Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2014. International business. Pearson Education Limited.

Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D., 2016. Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw Hill.