International Business Strategies - Research Proposal Example

International Business Strategies Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Research background 3 Research Aims 4 Research Objectives 5 Literature Review5 Research Methods 7 Research Approach 7 Research Limitations 8 Ethical Considerations 8 Reference List 10 Research background The impact of globalisation within the economy has emerged and has been contributed towards by the internationalisation of corporations with the development of new markets. International businesses have been essentially the province that was held by organizations which had a significant amount of reach and scale. Such companies were essentially large business houses or multinational corporations which enjoy a monopoly over their business. Globalisation has been pushed up by the rise in the number of firms which have been confronted with valid reasons that have triggered them to expand their economies across the national boundaries. In certain cases, the motivation shall encompass the knowledge within firms that tells them that it is critical for their survival. Here, one can take the example of a company whose competitor which has ventured into the international markets. Here, if the company does not invest in an international strategy, then the company might suffer from a loss of liquidity and scale losses and an eventual loss of competitive advantage. The deeper analysis of empirical studies has indicated that international expansion has been suggesting that the evident potential is not straightforward for any business. This also brings in question, the realistic existence of best practices that shall be relevant in terms of a business strategy. Here, it can also be questioned that is there any possibility of international best practices for expansion strategy to be transferrable for any business. In the other scenario which is reliant upon the expertise of a specific business sector, the culture within a nation and the market within which the business shall operate (Baotright, 2000). Big businesses that have been successful and that have attained sophistication in their business practices have found that most of the international business attempts fail to deliver what looks promising while attempting the venture. Additionally, these failures abstain from featuring in one specific economy alone. It has been observed by retailers, transporters, manufacturers as well as energy based companies that the expansion formats in the international context have been more difficult to achieve than their planning stages (Barkeneyer, 2009). The strategise that were developed as a part of the international business strategy has been developed by successful managers and have been looked into every aspect of it including the international market size, access strategies, market share, analysis, international business laws and regulations. Examples can be taken from the retail sector where the US based Wal-Mart had to sell off their German subsidiary to their domestic rivals, Metro despite being strong market players (Felsted and Jopson, 2011). On the other hand, Tesco Plc also had to give up on its flagship store of Fresh n Easy in the US as it became a high loss making enterprise (Felsted, 2011). What is being indicated through these examples is that even the largest of the players have failed miserably in their international strategy. Hence an international strategy can go wrong with the best of the businesses and with the most right kind of formulation of strategy. In this context, the paper is an attempt towards the development of insights into the ethics and ethical considerations of a business while developing an international business strategy. The paper attempts to highlight that strategic planning can be thought of as a continuing capability that has to keep on evolving. The insights into ethical considerations have been developed in the context of India specifically as it is believed that the nation can offer diverse examples and situations which shall provide insightful and meaningful ideas towards the concept of ethics and ethical considerations in business. Research Aims The aim of this research is to develop strategic thought into the idea of international business strategy through which the paper shall seek to identify the relevance and importance of ethics and ethical business practices taking the case of an emerging nation, India. It is belied that such a research shall contribute towards the literature by creating an analysis of the critical roles played by business ethics alone in framing a business success or being the case for its downfall. The Indian business scenario is very dynamic for which it is necessary to develop a crucial view over business ethics while planning the Indian entry. Through such an analysis, the research shall hold prominence in dealing with the ethical compliance and adherence issues for future business expansions in the international context. Research Objectives International business strategy is a long run action plan that develops specific designs for each specific business in an attempt to achieving pre decided targets and missions in the new business territory that has been defined. India is today among the second largest growing economies in the world and is playing a critical role in determination of the global business scenario. The nation is among the most favoured nations for FDI flow (Payne and Raiborn, 2001). Hence, while speaking about India, one really talks about the two views of a business. The first concerning flow of MNC’s into India as joint ventures, the other is the outflow of businesses from India to other nations. In this view, it is important that both India and the foreign MNC’s view the diversity in cultures and traditions and the importance of the role of social responsibility while doing business with India. Here, the research can bring forth the 5 key objectives that have been attempted to be addressed within this paper. 1. To provide views over the importance of ethics in business for India as well as foreign MNCs. 2. To identify the critical impacts of ethics in business practices. 3. To appreciate the benefits and drawbacks associated with ethical compliances. 4. To develop grounds in support of ethical business practices through evidences Literature Review As indicated by Czinkota, Ronkainen and Moffett, (2009), the formation of a business strategy is to be conceived as a standard activity that shall experience the expansion through a specific stimulus. This means that the perception of competitive advantage is based on some sort of technological or business advantage and this is one of the most critical considerations for any business which wants to expand itself into the international markets. Such an organization also seeks to experiment with its resources and capabilities and also judge its preparedness to take on to a larger scale of operations. As argued by De Burca, Brown and Fletcher, (2004) the reasons for going towards an international expansion can be numerous but the very first in the list is the competitive strategy which is in connection with the industry, the competitors or even access to a greater customer base. The second reason for going international for a business is in terms of gaining or sharing technological advantage. Businesses with high end technologies want to move to nations which are early adopters of the same in order to develop newer markets. The third reason comes in terms of cost benefits that come through higher economies in labour, cost of fund, specialisation opportunities and even search for some specialised skills. Other strategic factors that drive international business strategy are in consideration with the control over personnel, development within the value chain and the access to necessary financial resources after a realistic assessment of the risks associated (Muhlbacher, Leihs and Dahringer, 2006). Other factors that drive any international business strategy pertain to the nature of market within which entry is planned. Such differences can be seen in the maturity of western nations as against the markets within emerging economies (Doole and Lowe 2008). It has been said that most international business strategies move towards failure not owing to the lack of adequate research but because of the lack of comparability of the market research dilemma. This is important because of the conflict that arises with the cultural values while developing the research problem within the host country. Here, it is important to note that the culture within Western nations is in stark contrast to the culture in Easter countries or even the Middle East. Globalisation has been held responsible for such differences in the contemporary business scenario. In this context, one can look into the different aspects of Indian businesses for building ethical business practices and thereby appreciate the importance of consideration for cultures and values of the host nation. 1. The adoption of global standards and avoiding the practices which include transfer pricing and the taxes by foreign MNC’s. 2. The problem of corruption and the use of bribery to get things done continue to be a critical problem in international business. 3. Use of Corporate influence and power including political involvements for the formulations as well as execution of public policy at different governmental levels. 4. Environmental consciousness on the part of businesses is critical for the businesses in an attempt to seek certain CSR achievements. 5. Use of healthy practices in the HR which allows and mandates safe working conditions, standard wages and protection of child labour. Research Methods As argued by Wolcott (2001), a strong qualitative research is responsible for puzzling issues and revealing the complexity of things rather than the simplicity within them. However, it can be envisaged that such research can only be undertaken with the planned and a balanced approach to reveal the phenomenological data that is found through secondary research. The investigation within this research shall pursue a qualitative a study of data to represent the rich and a detailed picture to develop how ethics and management differ in the context of India from other western nations. The study shall also seek the differences in business strategies that are to be pursued by businesses while planning market entry in India. Through the qualitative study the research shall make use of journals, newspapers, books and such other published literature that shall seek evidences of citing ethics and ethical considerations in the context of international business in India. Such a study shall aim towards the development of generalised situations into ethical business practices in developing nations and more specifically eastern regions of the world. The research shall also provide a guideline into how critical it is for companies to consider ethics in business and what could be the possible consequences of unethical business practices in general terms. Research Approach The research aims towards the adoption of deductive approach towards the qualitative study. The results developed within this research shall be collected based on secondary data available through publicly available sources. Such data are subjective in nature and hence, the research needs the interpretation of the researcher to be based on strong theoretical grounds relevant to the research study. The deductive approach addresses the research problem by way of development of theory in the context of this research and thereby bases the analysis through the knowledge of such theory. The findings and results follow the literature study in a waterfall analysis manner. Hence, it is believed that the deductive approach shall be best suited for the purpose of this research. Research Limitations The key limitation within this research shall be pertaining to the identification of ethics which are general or universal for all kinds of business sectors. The analysis of cases within their research as examples might be able to represent only a few business spheres but in reality the situation might be quite different wherein the ethical issues true for one sector like might not hold good for all the other sectors. In this case, the generalisation of ethics and ethical practices for all kinds of business becomes difficult and irrelevant for development of a sweeping statement. In order to overcome this problem, the researcher shall try to focus on the ethical issues which are specific to more than a single industry. Here, industry specific ethical considerations shall be ignored for analysis within the scope of this paper. Additionally, the research shall also attempt to use the common types of ethical considerations within the research that are particular to India and not delve into the specific ethical issues that are highlighted by well known foreign companies while operating in India. Ethical Considerations The paper shall primarily make use of secondary data for the purpose of answering the research questions presented within this paper. This shall include published journals, newspaper articles, books and web based content. The analysis shall speak about the key issues faced by the concept of Ethics and Ethical management in the context of India. This shall involve a lot of research pertaining to case studies of ethical business practices within the nation by international business houses and MNC’s. Such analysis might have an influence over the readers who might be contemplating an entry within the country. The drawback presented within this research with reference to ethics and ethical management in India might deter such business decisions that might be forthcoming from foreign companies. Views presented within this paper might also impact company image and the business practice perceptions. Additionally, the qualitative study makes use of published journals, articles, newspapers, magazines and books. Each one might present a completely different perception and evaluation of the opinions on the views over the Indian ethical business practical and the ethical scenario for international businesses in India. The views presented have been taken true and have been reflected in this paper but it might not hold true in reality. The findings in this paper are personal opinions of the researcher as a result of the study conducted. These views are subject to misinterpretation and misrepresentation by communities who do not confirm with the opinions. Reference List Baotright, R. J., 2000. Globalisation and ethics of business. Business ethics Quarterly, 10, pp. 1-6 Barkeneyer, R., 2009. Beyond Compliance –below expectation? CSR in the context of International development. Business ethics: A European Review, 18, pp. 273-289. Czinkota, M., Ronkainen, I., and Moffett, M., 2009. Fundamentals of International Business. New York: Wessex. De Burca, S., Brown, L. and Fletcher, R., 2004. International Marketing: An SME perspective. Harlow: Prentice Hall. Doole, I. and Lowe, R., 2008. International marketing strategy; analysis, development and implementation. London: Cengage. Felsted, A. and Jopson, B., 2011. Bridging the pond is a stern test for retailers. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 August 2014]. Felsted, A., 2011. New Tesco chief faces world of tough challenges. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 August 2014]. Muhlbacher, H., Leihs, H. and Dahringer, L., 2006. International marketing: a global perspective. London: Cengage. Payne, D. M. and Raiborn, C. A., 2001. Sustainable Development: The Ethics Support the Economics. Journal of Business Ethics, 32(2), pp. 157-168. Wolcott, H. F., 2001. Writing up qualitative research. London: Sage. Read More