International Business Journal - Article Example

International Business Journal International business management entails the competencies, skills and qualificationsrequired to supervise, manage and run commercial transactions that take place between two or more nations, regions and countries that are beyond their political boundaries. International business is conducted by both governments and private firms and individuals for profit and political reasons. Private firms and individuals pursue international business for profit while governments do it for profit and political reasons meant to foster alliances and political goodwill among nations.

International business involves the cross boarder transaction of goods, services and resources between two or more countries. This includes the trade in resources that include skills, capital and people among other items for international production of tangible goods and services like insurance, finance and construction. This papers seeks to discuss international business management by giving an in depth analytical criticism and review on a recent article in international media about international business.

The article titled Twitter Confronts Obstacles on Members, Ads by Yoree Koh, Jonathan Cheng and Inagaki Kana for the Wall Street Journal on November 3rd 2013 talks about Twitter’s foray into the international market scene. The article main idea is centered on Twitter’s financial performance in some of the countries outside the US where they have largest clients and users. The article focuses on the effect of this market on the company’s financial performance in the overall global market.

Twitter is an online social media company that is used for networking and micro-blogging that enables users to read and send text messages called tweets. The use of twitter requires that an individual registers for the creation of an account that bears one’s personal details and unique identification username. 75 percent of Twitter’s users are based abroad, but only 25% of the company’s revenues come from its non-United States residents (Koh, Cheng and Inagaki np). Twitter is the verge of floating its shares to the public for the first time ever through an initial public offer is the world stock exchange.

This is seen as substantial opportunity by the company, but also as a challenge, which will be faced in converting its global public following into sales and profits (Koh, Cheng and Inagaki np). International business management requires the careful consideration of indigenous cultures and traditions of new markets that firms venture into in order to be able to function and operate effectively. Failure to consider cultural issues that companies face in international markets can lead to the failure of businesses in these markets because their products and services will not be accepted in these new markets.

Potential clients that a firm is not respectful of their culture, opinion and way of life, thus it is extremely important to bear this mind and act accordingly attribute this to the perception. According to Koh, Cheng and Inagaki, messaging service companies like Twitter and Facebook must mind cultural differences in their various international markets. They give the example of Japan where users of Twitter accounts tend to keep their accounts private ad their circles of friendships are small.

This is compared with users from Brazil whose accounts remain public ad liberally follow one another. To raise more revenue Twitter embarked on introducing advertising in what is referred to as Ads into their site and users online accounts, which was first introduced in Japan in 2008. The Ads have been successful in Japan despite the country being a flagship for social media advertising compared to other countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and the US. The article provides useful insights into the social media world by providing unknown facts and figures about the market and its major players.

Most Asian countries have their own social media networking sites that are intrinsic to those nation’s unique needs. These sites are seen and act as competition for global companies like Facebook and Twitter with their direct access in China (Koh, Cheng and Inagaki np). Twitter has a large user base in Japan and South Korea (SK) where it is struggling to attract users in SK while in Japan it has few users of its advertising services ad platform. It also emerges from the article that a majority of Twitter accounts are created in large numbers during global events like calamities, disasters like the Arab Spring, Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami.

It is important for international business managers to investigate and evaluate unique market demands for their various foreign markets in order to remain relevant and stay ahead of their competitors. International markets are characterized by markets where customers have diverse cultural backgrounds that must be considered when venturing into such markets in order to attract and maintain clients. Work Cited. Koh, Y., Cheng, J. and Inagaki, K. Twitter Confronts Obstacles Abroad on Members, Ads.

The Wall Street Journal. Web. 05:30 Am 4th November 2013. Retrieved From: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303843104579170021424938 000