Refer to the instructor's
objectives for the course. For each objective:
- Assess how well you've mastered that capability .
- Identify what has helped you get to your current level of
capability.
Identify one objective on which you'd like to work after the
course is over. How might you go about that?
Though this section of the course is not as theoretically oriented as
the first section of the course, the
overarching framework is that of making organizational decisions that
will maximize returns to key organizational assets, and that will
strengthen those assets. These are the essential goals of corporate
strategy, business
(or competitive) strategy, and functional
strategies. These
are also important to determining the appropriate form of
international business: you have to know what your core asset
is before you can determine whether licensing or contracting production
are reasonable alternatives to exporting or FDI. (Of course,
regulations and barriers you face from your home country or a host
country will play a role in this decision, as well). Finally,
identifying unique assets is the first step in applying the OLI (or
"eclectic") model to decisions whether to engage in FDI.
Identification of an organization's unique or key assets is an
important part in determining the location
and organization of procurement and production. Organizations
generally want to own operations that are part of their core assets,
but may contract other operations -- sometimes within a stable network
of providers, sometimes by selecting the best deal in the open
market. International differences in trade barriers and
feasibility of FDI will also affect these decisions, and affect the
decisions where to engage in what sorts of operations. Use the
examples in this moderately complex table
to help you understand some of these contingencies.
International
marketing is an important example of a functional strategy in the
international arena. International
financial management and international
human resource management are also important. What
are the six components of an international marketing plan? I've
emphasized that the decisions for each component must support the
decisions for all the other components, and must be a function of the
roles that international marketing play in the organization's overall
business strategy -- which is based in part on the nature of the
organization's strategic assets (a.k.a. organization-specific
advantage). Be able to play with these components: if I
provide a basic scenario (sector, size of organization, and its key
assets or advantages), you should be able to create a quick-and-dirty
marketing plan in which all the elements work together.
[Important though minor point: "marketing" is a heck of a lot
more than "advertising"!]
What are key considerations in managing a company's human resources
internationally?
Assets are what an
organization "owns" or at least invests in and manages (like key
employees). Environment is what an
organization can't control
-- except by choosing in what environments it operates. What are
key dimensions of the cultural
and economic,
political, and legal
environments of countries? Be able to describe (very quickly
and not in much detail)
- the actual
characteristics of one of those dimensions for the country
(outside the US) that you've focused on this quarter, and
- the ways in which those characteristics influence which
industries, activities (e.g., production, assembly, sales, design), and
regions in that country receive FDI from the US.
- Don't focus on the country's trade or FDI policy as its
environmental characteristics -- focus on characteristics of the
country domestically, not its relationships with other countries.
Learn the simple definitions for key
terms of currency exchange. Why should a firm or other
organization, which operates almost entirely in one country, hedge
its exposure to foreign exchange risk? How can an exporter
avoid exchange risk, given the choices
in international payments?
Be able to define key
export documents. What are the key
variables and choices in payment for exports? Which are more
advantageous for the exporter? What determines which choices are
made in a given export arrangement?
Use your knowledge of (a) the influences of currency fluctuations on
international trade and investment to project (b) what impacts a
substantial fall in the value of the US dollar would have on different
regions of the US, or on different regions of the country you focused
on this quarter.
From the readings for RP5:
- Be able to describe Fordism as a once-dominant logic of US
capitalism -- note that it relied on mass production and mass
consumption (how? what institutional arrangements supported
each?) When and why did it end? How would you characterize
the logic of "post-Fordism"?
- Briefly explain why Canadian regions (i.e., groups of
provinces) experienced such different economic trends during the 1980s.
- What have been the differing effects of NAFTA on
US regions?
- How would you try to explain the differing effects of NAFTA
on US regions?
copyright
James W. Harrington, Jr.
revised 3 December 2009