1. Today, international businesspeople must think globally about production and sales opportunities. Many global managers will eventually find themselves living and working in other cultures, and entrepreneurs might find themselves taking flights to place they had never heard about.
a. What can companies do now to prepare their managers for international markets?
b. How can entrepreneurs and small businesses with limited resources prepare?
2. In the past, national governments influenced the pace of globalization through agreements to lower barriers to international trade and investment.
a. Is rapid change now outpacing the capability of governments to manage the global economy?
b. Will national governments grow more or less important to international business in the future?
3. Two students are discussing why they are not studying international business. “International business doesn’t affect me,” declares the first student. “I’m going to stay here, not work in some foreign country.” “Yeah, me neither,” agrees the second. “Besides, some cultures are really strange. The sooner other countries start doing business our way the better.”
a. What arguments can you present to counter these students’ perceptions?
4. Imagine that you and several classmates are the top managers of a company seeking new international markets. Select your company’s industry and product line, and then choose a country to enter.
a. Is it important for the company to balance the need for global efficiency through
large-scale production with the need for cultural responsiveness through local
product adaption?
b. Will cultural differences between the home and host countries require alterations in
personnel or corporate practices?
Ethical Challenges
1. You are the CEO of a major US apparel company that contracts work to garment manufacturers abroad. Employees of one contractor report 20-hour workdays, pay below the minimum wage, overcrowded living conditions, physically abusive supervisors, and confiscation of their passports so they cannot quit. Local officials say labor laws are adhered to and enforced, though abuses appear widespread. You send inspectors to the offending factory abroad, but they uncover no labor violations. A labor-advocacy group claims that supervisors coached workers to lie to your inspectors about conditions and threatened workers with time in make-shift jails without food if they talked.
a. Should you implement a monitoring system to learn the truth about what is
happening?
b. Do you help the factory improve conditions, withdraw your business from the
country, or simply do nothing?
c. How might your actions affect relations with the factory owner and your ability to do
business in the country?
2. You are vice president of operations for a US–based software firm that is exploring building a software-design operation in India. Typically when international firms enter the Indian market, they quickly learn how a caste system can affect business activities. Although officially banned, the caste system still dictates everyday life for many people in India.
You are confident regarding the likelihood of business success there, but you have strong
misgivings about the caste system.
a. Do you think it will be possible to import and uphold a US management style in India despite lingering effects of the caste system?
b. How do you think your company’s stakeholders would feel about your company simply adjusting to local management practices?
