Exam 8: Global Strategy

The problems associated with exporting include

In Porter's model, a specialized factor of production would include

After a firm decides to compete internationally, it must select its strategy and choose a mode of entry into international markets.

Walmart depends on its distribution, warehousing, logistics, and data management core competencies developed in domestic markets when entering international markets (Chapter 8 Strategic Focus).

A U.S. manufacturer of adaptive devices for persons with disabilities is considering expanding internationally. It is a fairly small company, but it is looking for growth opportunities. This company should primarily consider the option of

As an indication of the importance of economies of scale, Ford Motor Company runs a single global business developing cars and trucks that can be built and sold through the world. By 2015, Ford intends for about 75% of the vehicles it sells to be variants of about 5 basic platforms.

Disney suffered lawsuits in France at Disneyland Paris as a result of the lack of fit between its transferred personnel policies and the French employees charged to enact them. This is an example of

International diversification is a strategy through which a firm expands the sale of its goods and services across borders of global regions and countries into a potentially large number of geographic locations of markets. Instead of entering one or a few markets, international diversification means that the firm enters multiple markets.

A global corporate-level strategy assumes

Coca Cola and PepsiCo approach international growth differently. Coca Cola is the world's largest snack-food producer and relies on overseas sales to make up for slower sales volumes in North America. In contrast, PepsiCo which is less diversified, derives only 32% of it sales from North America, an indication of the importance of international markets to its performance.

The chief risks in the international environment are political and cultural.

A transnational strategy is an international strategy in which the firm seeks to achieve both global efficiency and local responsiveness.

A global corporate-level strategy differs from a multidomestic corporate-level strategy in that in a global strategy,

Which pair of industries would NOT be considered as "related and supporting" under Porter's diamond model?

Case Scenario 2: Heartsong LLC. Heartsong LLC is a designer and manufacturer of replacement heart valves based in Peoria, Illinois. While a relatively small company in the medical devices field, it has established a worldwide reputation as the provider of choice of high-quality, leading-edge artificial heart valves. Most of its products are sold to large regional hospital systems and research hospitals around the world, though primarily to customers in the U.S. and Europe. Specialty heart centers are another emerging, but fast-growing market for its valves. Heartsong has recently embarked on an expansion strategy that requires it to increase its volume, which in turn will demand more component parts than it can source domestically - both from an economic and volume standpoint. The firm has determined that such growth is only viable if it produces these parts itself overseas for a lower cost, or outsources the production entirely to a joint venture it establishes with a local manufacturer, which could both produce the parts more cheaply and in higher volumes. It is considering starting up an owned production facility in Luxembourg, or seeking a joint venture with a precision manufacturer in China. -(Refer to Case Scenario 2) The advantages of a joint venture with a precision manufacturer in China is shared costs, shared resources, and shared risks, but there may be problems integrating the two corporate cultures.

The Haier Group is an example of a firm using the multidomestic international corporate-level strategy as a means to build its global brand name (Chapter 8 Strategic Focus).

Firms with core competencies that can be exploited across international markets are able to

The growing number of global competitors heightens the requirements to keep costs down and there is the desire for more specialized products to meet customer needs. These two pressures make transnational strategies increasingly necessary.

Italy has become the leader in the shoe industry because of related and supporting industries such as a well-established leather-processing industry which provides the leather needed to construct shoes and related products.

The amount of diversification in a firm's international operations that can be managed varies from company to company and is affected by manager's abilities to deal with ambiguity and complexity.