1.international marketing in general is influenced by socio-cultural, background, religious beliefs and customs which can not be overviewed. the cultural dimension provides the chance and challenge to marketers. so the investigation is significant which will make the decision accordingly and more correctly. with the following we will introduce the necessity in detail.
custom is the most important factor influence the marketing. in fact, successful marketing people saw the close connection between custom and customers: the way to turn people into customers is to make your product part of their customary actions. sometimes whole industries are created around a custom (halloween costumes) and at other times, customs are created around a product (valentine’s day cards). in both cases, marketers took advantages of the basic human need for ritual. cultures distinguish themselves by their rituals, even when they share a common language.collecting knowledge about local custom is best done up close and first hand. getting “on the ground” information is well worth the cost that it may entail. if your first trip to a new country is for the purpose of selling a product rather than investing the potential to sell one, you may be disappointed. marketers have to learn how, why, and when the target market goes about its business in order to make your product fit.another should be taken into consider is language: most of the world’s national boundaries are set along linguistic perimeters. especially names, which are important in every language and for marketers, brand names are paramount. arriving in a new market with a great new product that’s saddled with a bad brand name could spell disaster. even established international companies have problems with their names: siemens is rarely spelled correctly anywhere but germany, and few people in east asia can pronounce nestle property, nor can westerners pronounce hyundai. investigation of the language was surely key in naming the product. also, the history cannot be neglected. every country and culture, whether it’s as ancient as india or as young as the czech republic, has a history that will greatly affect both the market and the marketer. understanding that history will enable a marketer to approach the culture in a more subtle manner, and it will certainly cause an adjustment of schedule. on the other end, a culture that has been marked by independence for some time will have few fears of foreign operations and may find the subtle approach far too lackluster and slow.marketers may bring their own business to the process and should take care to separate themselves, at least emotionally, from their personal and cultural history. oftentimes, this includes racial prejudices that are difficult to shake, earlier political disagreements that have never been fully settled, of old unhealed war wounds.
moreover, when entering the foreign there will be many other aspects should be learned, such as religion, the family, the education ect. the investigation of the culture dimension will provide insights for the managers, and then they will deal with the business easily and appropriately. in some cases, it runs along gender lines.generally speaking, the investigation of socia-cultural influences will benefit the the marketing: engage your know-how to increase security; get important details to reach your most important prospective customers; reduce your costs for goods credits and hence: increase your profit. the managers need to put great emphasis on the investigation.
2. entry model (think 2 different entry model) in addition to evaluating 2 alternative market entry modes. also discuss the factors that influence affirms choice between the alternative.
there are a variety of kinds to enter another market, the simplest form of entry strategy is exporting, and more complex forms include truly global operations which may involve joint ventures. the following will introduce joint venture and fdi, also compare the difference between them.
joint ventures
joint ventures can be defined as "an enterprise in which two or more investors share ownership and control over property rights and operation". joint ventures are a more extensive form of participation than either exporting or licensing.
there are five common objectives in a joint venture: market entry, risk/reward sharing, technology sharing and joint product development, and conforming to government regulations. other benefits include political connections and distribution channel access that may depend on relationships.
the key issues to consider in a joint venture are ownership, control, length of agreement, pricing, technology transfer, local firm capabilities and resources, and government intentions.
fdi:
foreign direct investment (fdi) is defined as “investment made to acquire lasting interest in enterprises operating outside of the economy of the investor.” the fdi relationship consists of a parent enterprise and a foreign affiliate which together form a transnational corporation. in order to qualify as fdi the investment must afford the parent enterprise control over its foreign affiliate.
for an investment to qualify as fdi, physical capital must be created in the foreign country (such as manufacturing facilities, or factories.) this physical capital is controlled by a firm based outside of the receiving, or host country.
foreign direct investment is considered to be a very stable investment because it involves the creation of physical capital. fdi is consi
dered to be a long term investment because physical capital is not easily liquidated.
compare the two modes:
modejoint venturesdirect investment
conditions favoring
this modelarge cultural distance
assets cannot be fairly priced
high sales potential
some political risk
government restrictions on foreign ownership
local company can provides kills, resources, distribution network, brand name, etc,
partners’ size, market power, and resources are small compared to the industry leaders;small cultural distance
assets cannot be fairly priced
high sales potential
low political risk
advantagesovercome ownership restrictions and cultural distance
combines resources of 2 companies
potential for learning
less investment required
sharing of risk and ability
joint financial strength
may be only means of entry and
the source of supply for a third country.greater knowledge of local market
can better apply specialized skilled
can be viewed as an insider
disadvantagesdifficult to manage
dilution of control
greater risk than exporting a & licensing
may be impossible to recover capital
disagreement on third party markets to serve higher risk
requires more resources
and commitment
may be difficult to manage the local resources
case:
quebecor world will print 20 billion directory pages a year in mexico, equal to more than 75 per cent of the mexican directory market. which make use of the following two points: fdi by acquisition; fdi will increase capacity, and competitiveness of target.
different modes of entry may be more appropriate under different circumstances, and the mode of entry is an important factor in the success of the project. if the partners carefully map out in advance what they expect to achieve and how, then many problems can be overcome.
3. acquisition (large consumer manufacture):
introduction:
under the condition of modern enterprise system and market economy, “acquisition” often refers to a legal act for an enterprise to acquire the control power and managing power of another enterprise through a certain channel. which is also known as a takeover, is the buying of one company (the ‘target’) by another. an acquisition may be friendly or hostile. in the former case, the companies cooperate in negotiations; in the latter case, the takeover target is unwilling to be bought or the target's board has no prior knowledge of the offer.
types of acquisition:
the buyer buys the shares, and therefore controls the target company being purchased. ownership control of the company in turn conveys effective control over the assets of the company, but since the company is acquired as a going business; such transaction carries all of the liabilities accrued by th
at business over its past and all of the risks that company faces in its commercial environment.
the buyer buys the assets of the target company. the cash the target receives from the sell-off is paid back to its shareholders. such transaction leaves the target company as an empty shell. a buyer often structures the transaction as an asset purchase to "cherry-pick" the assets. a disadvantage of this structure is the tax that many jurisdictions.
recently, along with the development of the economic, the scale of the acquisition becomes overwhelming and the phenomenon more normal. the main ways of acquisition of chinese listed companies by foreign capital are the following: acquisition by agreement, acquisition by offer, increasing to issue b share to certain people, indirect acquisition, entering into chinese listed companies by way of joining the process of changing state assets creditors’ rights into stock interests, forming chinese-foreign joint ventures and so on. based the background of economic globalization, acquisition of chinese enterprises by foreign capital has become the main international direct investment way by foreign countries. chinese listed companies are their main objects.
example
agilent's acquisition of ibm's array and charge test assets combines ibm's technology and product knowledge, its large installed base, and its market recognition. the acquisition is being integrated into agilent's hachioji semiconductor test division. agilent has assumed full responsibility for ibm's wide installed base of fpd manufacturers in japan, taiwan and korea, as well as ongoing commitments in application support, product support and future requirements. fpd manufacturers have long understood the value of array testing, such as post-process cost savings, expedited yield ramp-up and stabilization of the production process. moving forward, by building upon the foundation of both agilent's and ibm's technology and expertise, agilent expects to set a new industry standard for fpd array testing in terms of absolute measurement sensitivity and speed. they also expect to deliver to customers improved manufacturing processes at lower cost-of-test, ultimately enabling more affordable fpd products.
acquisition is an effective approach for enterprises to enter into foreign markets. so acquisition can not only enlarge the client base of company, but also make it more competitive for foreign product cost. and it can also provide more distribution channels of export market.
q last ：
american theory of hrm---- international boundaries & ‘cultures ----
hofsted culture dimensions.
人力资源引入:
(a) human resource management is the theory, techniques, methods, and tools for studying the adjustment of people and their relations in the organization, connection between work and its relations, matching the people and work in order to fully develop human resource management, tap people’s potentials, motivating people, promoting the work efficiencies and meeting the organizational objectives.
and another quote from tom keenoy is that hrm’s main purpose is to “provide a legitimate management ideology to facilitate the intensification of work”. to achieve this objective, the meaning, historical development and theoretical underpinnings of hrm are outlined.
globalization has potential implications for virtually all of the research needs and directions we already have identified. today's increasingly global, competitive marketplace has driven considerable changes in labor markets, and has transformed the practice of human resource management. expanded multinational operations within large companies, combined with increased technology and communication capability, have led to vast diffusion of global “best practices” in hrm.
引出文化差异现象，提出并分析问题
(b) however the core of cross-cultural management cultural differences affect the efficiency of organizations through people’s minds, values and behavior. it is also humans (for example, the managers) who implement cross-cultural management.
a global organization needs to understand cross-cultural differences both inside and outside the organization. managing global boards and senior executive committees requires a sophisticated understanding of cultural differences in interaction patterns and in attitudes towards time, influence, and problem solving styles. generally speaking, there are three cultural dimensions defined: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism.
as far as i know, the most significant influence in cultural difference is the power distance. it is the distance between a manager and subordinate. among most oriental corporate cultures, that is a high power distance culture that managers make the decision and superiors appeal to the entitled more privileges. in such situation, it is not be regards if a subordinates have a disagreement with their managers. but in the west , when the employee got different ideas, he will go to discuss the problem with his boss. conflict and misunderstanding must occur if two or more intercultures meet up.under this situation, the international managers must pay attention to the clashes and be aware of. how to work the subordinates together efficiently and more cooperatively is important too.
the second dimension hofstede indicated is the uncertainty avoidance which is the lack of tolerance for risk and the need for formal rules. they feel safe and prideful when they keep working hard at the one place so an excellent manager should keep his employee away from unpredictable risk. on anther hand the employ
ee would like to be worked within groups rather than independently cause of the less risk-taking. but in most western countries, high job mobility occurs in those countries such as usa, denmark, singapore. they think the job when they change their jobs, more and better jobs can be hunted. and they can get more experience cause they like challenge. a competent manager should pay attention on the rules setting between different uncertainty avoidance. the misreading of that may affect the initiative and the aspiration of the subordinates.
then there is also a large discrepancy on the individualism. it is a concern for yourself as an individual as opposed to concern for the group. the priority of self-concern or group-concern varies from different cultures. for example, most western employees like to work with their own plan for defending their interest. that is a high individualism. they just simply work in their own ways, follow their own rules, and achieve their own objective. it is good for a company to gather as much ideas as they can when starting a new program. but how to manage these individuals to reach the group goal should be the awareness for managers. i think who is good at this should be good at grouping, troubleshooting, and coordinating skills.
cross-cultural management is a fascinatingly complex subject. cross cultural knowledge and awareness can assist executives to improve management skills. more importantly, it can also help business leaders make the right strategic decisions. the above three dimensions illuminated the most important cultural differences that affect on hrm. international managers ought to be able to aware not only the cultural difference but also the intercultural communication.
